Local contestant to appear on Fox game show The Quiz With Balls

Ginna Minervini and family feature in ‘City Lights, Country Might’ episode, airing July 28-29

By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff

Longtime locals might know Ginna Minervini from her Temanos Counseling Services practice, or from being on the Panida stage as part of the Angels Over Sandpoint Follies variety show. But tune into Fox on Monday, July 28 or Hulu on Tuesday, July 29 and you’ll see a familiar face, as she and members of her family were contestants on the game show The Quiz With Balls.

Hosted by comedian Jay Pharaoh, the show pits two families against one another in a contest of knowledge across 10 categories featuring five rounds, with six possible answer choices per question. Answer incorrectly and a massive ball — or balls, depending on the host’s discretion — rolls down a ramp and knocks the unlucky contestant into a massive pool of water to the delight of a live audience, and is eliminated from the game.

Each correct answer will halt the ball before it makes impact, and earn that team an escalating cash prize amount. The winner is awarded $100,000 if the last family member who hasn’t been dunked gets their answer right.

Minervini joined her niece, nephew and two of her brothers on the show — all flying from their various homes in Florida, New York and Sandpoint to Antwerp, Belgium, where filming takes place.

“I grew up in New York with five brothers,” Minervini said. “My brothers went to Florida and my niece, Spencer Minervini — she is a singer, so she has tried out for The Voice, so she’s in that field. She has a modeling agency, so it was a scout who reached out to her to do a ‘city vs. country’ Family Feud kind of thing.”

In the “City Lights, Country Might” theme, the Minervinis represented the “city” side of that matchup, with the Ludemann family, of Iowa, portraying the “rural” side — dressing in flannels and overalls, and playing “country nice,” while the Minervinis put on some big-city sass.

Once on location in Belgium, Minervini said the process was “very comfortable,” with plenty of banter and a practice round.

“When we met the other team, the Ludemanns, we’re like, ‘Uh oh, they’re pretty sharp,’” she said.

During the game — the results of which Minervini isn’t allowed to disclose until the air date — she said the categories included subjects like literature (naming the titles of a particular author’s book), elements on the Periodic Table, “rivers of America” and “happy hour.”

“I think we did really good on the rivers,” she said. “You’re not just using your brain, you’re using intuition. You know, ‘My gut’s telling me this.’”

As for the “happy hour” questions, “the Minervinis are really into vodka now,” she added.

The mechanics of the game made participation extra exciting.

“There’s a conversation [among teammates], where you can talk it through,” Minervini said. “Then you stand in front of what you think is the right answer, and then the balls come down and stop right behind you, or they push you into the water.

“There’s a lot of anticipation, and it’s noisy and there’s this ‘whoosh,’” she added.

Despite some of the categories being general, the questions could get quite specific, resulting in a lot of collective head-scratching.

“Everybody is guessing, so you didn’t have to feel really stupid if you didn’t get the right answer,” Minervini said.

However, getting the wrong answer meant being bowled into the pool below — “and it’s like at least 10 feet down,” she said.

Not to fear, though: “They have a hunk of a lifeguard, because some people can’t swim,” Minervini said, adding that when she met Rolf, her first reaction was “I feel like jumping in the water right now.”

The Minervini vs. Ludemann episode is the eighth of the show’s second season, and the family was flown in for three complimentary days at an Antwerp hotel where they met other contestants, then stayed for a further three days on their own. The filming day took eight to 10 hours, which could have been a slog, but Minervini said her family’s attitude was that, “You know, this is a show. Let’s just relax and have fun.”

Find out who prevailed in the “City Lights, Country Might” episode of The Quiz With Balls on Monday, July 28 and streaming on Hulu on Tuesday, July 29.