Wednesday, November 6, 2019

GenFriends: Relative Race-Days 6 & 7 Plus Bonus Interview with Dan!



After taking a week off due to Cheri traveling to London for RootsTech GenFriends is back to catch up with Days 6 and 7. While there, Cheri was able to connect with Dan and find out what's ahead for Relative Race! 

Day 6 finds Team Green leaving from the home of Chris's cousin. She gifts DeShae with a ring that says "Wherever life takes us, we go together".  DeShae assures her that they will keep in touch and help her find her biological family.

Anitra from Team Blue receives a drawing that compiles photos of her mother, father, sister and herself to create a family portrait. This is the first time Anitra has seen a photo of her father! She also learns his name is Micheal.

Team Red Nicole and Ray are determined to work hard to not receive their third strike while Team Black struggles with an accident closing the road that would get them to their destination quicker.

The teams are told that there is something special in their cars on Day 6.  Each team receives a "Golden Ticket" that enables them to visit one more relative in the event they strikeout. A very special bonus for the teams this year!

"Flix and Pix", the challenge for Day 6. was a series of emojis representing a movie title. The teams had to look at the emojis and guess the movie! DeShae proclaimed herself "The Emoji Queen" while J.D confessed that he had never used an emoji! In fact, he said he couldn't understand why an adult would send an emoji to another adult! Too funny!

Anitra was greeted by her grandmother's sister and told the story of her birth.  At the age of 17, her mother gave birth to her at home. Knowing she wasn't able to take care of her second child in a year, Anitra's biological mother called 911 and surrendered Anitra.  Then Anitra was asked if she would like to visit her mother's grave.  An emotional visit followed that allowed Anitra to tell her mother she was grateful for her choice to give her up and thank her for the life her adoption provided for her.  

Team Black's journey to find their relative was hampered by rain that stopped them from being able to drive on muddy roads. They were met by a person who drove them in his truck to where family members were camped. J.D. was introduced to his maternal grandmother's brother and many cousins. They helped him get to know his father and grandmother through the stories they shared.

Ray met a paternal cousin who was able to help him add more names to his pedigree chart. This time it was the names of his great grandparents. He was shown census records from 1920 and 1930 that showed him entire family units.

DeShae was curious as to whether or not the "Debbie" on her baby bracelet referred to the sister of the uncles she had met and if she was her aunt or her mother. Arriving at her relative's home, DeShae was introduced to her Aunt Deborah. Another name from her list to cross off as she looks for her biological parents. With Debbie being her Aunt and not her mother, she realizes that her connection to the Love family is trough her father. But which of the two brothers left is her father? Debbie didn't know for sure.

The benefit for the winner for Day 6 was immunity for Day 7.
The results were:
1sr-Team Blue
2nd-Team Red
3rd-Team Blue
4th-Team Black gets their second strike

Always the gentleman, J.D. says if it helped Team Red stay in the race for another day, they will gladly take the strike.


Day 7 was by far the most emotional day thus far on Season 6.

With Team Blue having immunity, they were able to take some time to test Anitra's mapping skills! Paul ended up driving around in circles for 20 minutes!!

Aunt Debbie gave DeShae an heirloom heart to take with her on her journey.

With the pressure of having two strikes, Team Red prepares for Day 7 by mapping out the various routes out of the city.
Team Black heads out of the campground realizing they would be passing close to their home on the way to their destination.

Day 7's Challenge "Animal Antics" was a charade like game where the teams had to act out an animal with a description such as "Snobby Lion" and Crazy Dolphin".  Hysterical!

Once the teams guessed 5 correctly they were on to their relative's homes.

Anitra learned more about her father from her first cousin. She shared the scroll given to her on by her cousin Andre and was able to add her own name to it.

When DeShae asked who her relative was, she was told, "I am your father!".  Finally! She met Mike her biological father and she was able to meet 91-year-old Grand Mary! DeShae was also told she has a 1/2 sister. So many tears were shed as the long-awaited answers to her questions about her biological family were being answered!

Jenn met a 3rd cousin on her mother's side who was able to share photos of great grandparents.

The minute Ray got out of the car and saw who was waiting for him, he knew, and so did the viewers. It was his brother Lamont waiting for him! Again the tears were flowing as the brothers met for the first time. Lamont told Ray he did not know about him.  He was able to share that he felt their mother did not want to disappoint her parents by having another baby and made the choice to give him up for adoption. Ray also discovered that he and Lamont had different fathers. He had always thought they shared a father as well as a mother.  A trip to the cemetery to see his mother's grave almost did us all in! The emotion was raw as Ray apologized to his mother for his anger over the adoption.

Day 7 was a large box of tissue episode!!

The results didn't help.

Coming in first place with the reward of 5 minutes of GPS on Day 8 was
Team Green!
Team Red came in second
And sadly Team Black was last and received their third strike sending them out of the race.
They do however have their Golden Ticket which will allow them to visit one last relative.
Had Team Blue not had immunity they would have been in last place, although they probably would have traveled much faster than they did and not practiced Antira's map skills!

J.D. and Jenn will be missed!!  We thank then for allowing us to join them on their journey and hope that J.D. will be able to find out more about his father and connect with others in his paternal line.

Watch as Melissa Barker, Kathryn Lake Hogan, Mary Kircher Roddy join the panel to talk about Days 7 & 8 and then see the interview Cheri had with Dan at RootsTech London!



Did you know that Team Blue-Paul and Anitra are doing a Podcast called 
"After the Race" that comes out on Wednesdays?
We never can get enough Relative Race!
Here's the link!

Contact our panelists:

Melissa Barker-A Genealogist in the Archives
Kathryn Lake Hogan-Looking 4 AncestorsMary Kircher Roddy -MKR Genealogy
Cheri Hudson Passey-Carolina Girl Genealogy


We'd love to hear your thoughts about Days 6 & 7!
Didn't get to see it or want to watch again?
Here's the link.  Or download the app.




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Thanks so much for stopping by!

Helping you climb your family tree,






4 comments:

  1. Just recently heard about the show. Now going to have to binge watch! Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Aw, thanks! We started out a few years ago on the In-Depth platform but moved to my channel when they closed up show a few months ago. Lots of fun!

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  2. Yes, I haven't seen most of the shows. Need a weekend off :-) Thank you for the links!

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    1. Thanks, Diane! Make sure you have lots of tissues handy!!! Lots of laughter and tears!

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