“Good Answer! Good Answer!”
Anyone who has watched television in the last three decades will recognize those words as a familiar response on “Family Feud,” one of television’s most popular game shows.
Four family members from Boerne will appear on Family Feud’s first show of the new season Oct. 1, representing the Mancillas family on stage — months after the show was taped.
“It was a great experience. It’s one of those ‘bucket list’ things you achieve,” said Andrea Cabanas — who, along with her husband, Alfonso, sister Alyssa Martinez and her husband, Isaac, and youngest sister Amanda Mancillas, made it on stage and competed in the Steve Harvey- hosted game show.
Mancillas is the family name of the three sisters, from the San Benito, Texas area.
Cabanas said she remembers sitting and watching the game show long ago, when their grandparents would watch them while their parents were working.
She gives all the credit to sister Alyssa for making Family Feud happen for them.
“Alyssa is the one that always wanted to be on the game show. She wins with lottery tickets, she wins in Vegas, she wins all the time,” Cabanas said. “While we all were, ‘Wow, that would be fun,’ she’s the one who put in the application and let them know a little bit about of us.”
It would be 10 months before receiving a reply, she said. A Zoom interview was conducted with Family Feud production team members, who want to know more about the family and ask questions similar to those that Harvey poses to families on stage.
“After we were chosen, they flew us to Atlanta ... in late January, put us up in the hotel, they shuttled us over,” Cabanas said.
Arriving at the studio, the family sat among the audience, watching as other families took the stage and participated.
“This is your final audition,” she said. “You don’t know if you’re going to come out on the show. If you don’t show the energy and enthusiasm, you go home.”
While watching other families compete, they heard their call: “Mancillas, you are up next.”
“You go to the back area and you’re busy preparing, getting makeup ... that’s when it all becomes real,” she said.
The sign hanging behind them was spelled wrong, with an “e,” and the show originally listed them from California instead of Texas.
But by the time they hit the stage everything was ironed out, the quintet was amped and ready, and host Harvey took the stage.
“Talking to Steve Harvey, it’s like an out-of-body experience,” she said. “When you leave the stage, you’re like, ‘I was just on stage with Steve Harvey.’” For Andrea, the moment became real when she went up front, shook hands with her opponent, heard the question ... and hit the buzzer. “The buzzer, that’s one of the most exciting things,” she added.
When the family lined up, Andrea was up first.
“On stage, they picked me to be the family spokesperson because I am the most enthusiastic,” she said with a laugh. “I’m like the cheerleader of the family, the one who hypes everybody else up. We all have our different personalities. I try to hype everybody, no matter what.”
Beside her stood her husband, Alfonso Cabanas, then San Benito resident (their hometown) Amanda Mancillas, with Alyssa Martinez and husband Isaac rounding out the lineup.
Of course, the entire family is forbidden to discuss what transpired — whether they won, if they took part in the Lightning Round, when two of the five take center stage and answer questions.
In the Lightning Round, a combination of 200 points earns the duo, and their family, the grand prize, in the neighborhood of $20,000.
Alfonso Cabañas is a criminal defense attorney practicing in Kendall County, a member of the Boerne 100 and is a volunteer soccer coach at Boerne Soccer Club. Andrea is marketing director for Cabañas Law Firm and volunteers her time at their sons’ schools in Boerne ISD.
Isaac Martinez, also a Boerne resident, is a funeral director in Boerne, while wife Alyssa is a teacher at Northside ISD. The team also includes Amanda Mancillas, who resides in San Benito.
The family is organizing a Watch Party for the Wednesday, Oct. 1 event and will share the location with family and friends for the group showing.
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