Cedar Rapids’ Loeffler family wins two rounds of ‘Family Feud’

CEDAR RAPIDS — Decades of watching the popular game show “Family Feud” prepared Cedar Rapids City Council member Pat Loeffler and his family to win the episodes of the show that aired Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

In the Tuesday episode, Loeffler and his family won $20,000, beating out the Davis family to move onto a second round. The family then defeated the Turner family to win the second round that aired Wednesday evening.

The Loefflers’ third round will air at 5:30 p.m. Thursday on Fox. The family will host another watch party at Double Z Bar and Grill, 629 Ellis Blvd. NW. They can’t talk about how far they got in competition — filmed in May — until their appearances conclude.

Tuesday night’s watch party was packed with friends, family and local officials, including City Manager Jeff Pomeranz, Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell and council members Scott Olson and Ashley Vanorny, among others. Democrat Liz Mathis, the state senator seeking Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District seat, also made an appearance.

“The support is incredible,” Loeffler said. “ … It's so awesome to be able to spend this time with them and share it. That's what it's about.”

Loeffler said it was “surreal” to win the game show hosted by comedian Steve Harvey that pits five members of one family against five members of another family. Each family competes to guess the most popular answers to questions asked the audience, winning cash and prizes as they go.

Loeffler participated in the show with his wife, Kymm, daughters Bri and Alyssa and his son, Jordan.

Loeffler said his wife joked, after they’d had a daughter, they’d have to have two more children to compete on “Family Feud.”

“You put things out in the universe to make things happen. Otherwise, it's not going to happen for you unless you make it happen,” Loeffler said. “My wife made it happen. She brought our family back together, and it was great bonding time.”

While the Loeffler family didn’t get the top answer to start the first episode, they won the next question. When Harvey asked contestants to name a place you’d be shocked to see the real Santa on Christmas Eve, Loeffler correctly guessed the top answer, a bar or club, to earn 42 points.

Lots of practice

Loeffler said his many years of watching the show paid off.

“My wife is always grilling me,” he said. “We're grilling each other on questions … We watched it ever since we were kids.”

Kymm scored 177 points out of the 200 needed in the “Fast Money” round of the first episode, where one contestant has 20 seconds to answer five questions while another contestant is backstage. Once those answers are revealed to the audience, the other contestant is asked the same questions with a time limit of 25 seconds. Loeffler surpassed 200 points to win that round.

In the second episode Wednesday night, the Loefflers didn’t win the “Fast Money” round so they will only received $5 per point for the 175 points they had earned.

One of the “Fast Money” questions was to name something of yours that’s on its last legs, to which Loeffler responded “underwear.”

Jaymz Larson, owner of Double Z’s, joked at the Wednesday night watch party that he knew what he’d give Loeffler for Christmas — “a pair of underwear.”

Loeffler told the Double Z’s crowd the questions get harder as contestants advance, and it’s easy to get lost in the moment under the stage lights, in front of the live audience and with Harvey “in the slickest suits ever.”

The cash

As for how the family will spend the cash prize, Loeffler said his children could use some of the money, and the family also has considered donating some of it to charities because the Loefflers feel they’re in a good position in their lives. They also might take a trip, but nothing’s decided at this point.

With future rounds of “Family Feud” still on the horizon, Loeffler said he couldn’t say how much money the family ended up winning — but to stay tuned.

“It was fun,” Loeffler said Wednesday. “It was just as incredible time as it was the first time.”

Loeffler said the family was “very fortunate” to have been able to compete and that he’s eager to talk about the whole experience once it wraps up.

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