♪ [engines revving] - This is Virginia International Raceway.

[engines revving] This three-mile race course is known as one of the most beautiful racetracks in the world, and it's here where our own race begins once again.

♪ Four new teams have submitted their DNA, and are ready to rev it up in a race unlike any other, a nationwide dash to find family.

Over the next ten days, all the teams will discover new relatives, but only one will speed away with $50,000 and the title of Relative Race champion.

So buckle up, for the most high-octane action yet.

Welcome to an all-new season of Relative Race.

Let's go meet our teams.

[engine revving] ♪ Anitra: Hi, I'm Anitra Lewis.

Paul: And I'm Paul Lewis.

Both: And we're from Leland, North Carolina, and we are Team Blue.

Paul: We've been watching this show, and we noticed something: no blue team has won.

That's gonna change.

- Right.

That changes now.

♪ Both: Team Blue.

Anitra: We met in college.

He found me annoying and obnoxious, so whenever he shut me down, I didn't-- I don't take no for an answer.

I am more impulsively competitive, where I'm going to beat you, I will win, I will not lose, and he's more-- - More of a cerebral assassin.

[Anitra laughing] Anitra: I work as an English professor at a community college.

Paul: I work as a therapist, and I make house calls, and I just help families with whatever they're struggling with in their lives.

Anitra: My biological mother gave birth to me when she was 16 years old, and she already had a child, and she put me up for adoption.

I was in foster care for 18 months, and my mother told me that, when they adopted me, they had to force me to use my legs, because the foster home that I was in, I just sat in a chair all day.

When I was seven years old, my adopted father picked me up from school, and on the way home, he said, "You're adopted."

I felt shocked, even at that young age, and I didn't really know what to do with those feelings then.

I've always wondered why, uh, my mother made the decision to keep my sister and not me.

Hopefully, that's a question that, um, I can get answers to.

If we win Relative Race, then we're going to use that money to expand our family.

- Yeah, we're gonna adopt.

Anitra: We want to pay it forward.

♪ JD: I'm JD Barnes, and I'm 48 years old.

- I'm Jenn Barnes, and I'm 47 years old.

We are from Draper, Utah, and we are Team Black!

JD and I got married at a very young age.

I was 18, and JD was 19.

Everyone thought we were crazy, and I can see why, in all honesty.

But it's lasted 29 years, and we're still going strong.

[baby sounds] JD: In our life, we've been able to amass six children.

Jenn: We have five grandchildren, two little boys and three little girls.

[kids yelling] Oh, there's our grandkids.

Both: Hello.

[laughing] JD: Right out of high school, I served in the U.S. Navy for three years.

I do corporate consulting now, and I also love being a boys lacrosse coach.

Watch it in, next, next, next.

I coach lacrosse because it is the perfect platform and opportunity to help boys see how to overcome adversity and challenges in their life.

...You gotta get up in this!

- I'm lucky enough to stay at home with my kids and grandkids.

It's a very busy and fulfilling full-time job.

I had a very typical childhood, I believe I know most of my family, but that is not the case with JD.

JD: About 12 years ago, my grandmother told me that my father wasn't my biological father.

It's amazing how the earth totally shakes up in just one second of information.

It made me feel very grateful for the father who raised me, but also very curious about who my biological father was.

I wanna go on this journey because I feel a great responsibility in doing so.

I feel like I owe it to my biological father, his family, and my own family to know who he is.

♪ - I'm DeShae Pardon.

- And I'm Chris Pardon.

Both: We're from Ruston, Louisiana, and we're Team Green!

♪ - I'm 34, and I work as a social service director at a nursing and rehab center.

- I'm 40-ish, and I work in insurance.

- Chris and I have been together for 10 years, and I tricked him into marrying me about seven years ago.

- We have one three-year-old son, and his name is Houston.

- We love to spend time together as a family, and just going to different restaurants in town, going to the park, things like that, we just really enjoy spending time together.

I like to be completely organized and prepared for any situation.

- We've actually been spending the last few weekends getting her familiar with map reading.

- We have been studying every aspect of the show.

There may or may not be a notebook with strategy that I will not disclose.

- Look, the other teams really don't have a chance.

- Bless your little hearts.

- The reason that we're coming on the show is to help DeShae find her family.

- When I was born, my biological mother placed me up for adoption, and I was adopted into a wonderful family.

When I was pregnant with Houston, I was very emotional.

I really started getting curious and wanting to know more, because that was the only thing that was mine, biologically.

So, ever since then, I've wanted to find someone that I was genetically linked to, but he is the only thing that I have that shares my blood, and so I really want to find other people that, you know, share my DNA and so that I can share him with them.

♪ One thing that I do have is the hospital bracelet with my birth mother's name on it, and it says "Debora J.

Campbell."

I'm so happy and grateful to have just that bracelet.

I mean, that is the only thing that I have, but it does connect me to her because at least I'm able to have a name, and that's more than most people, you know, may have on the same journey that I'm on.

♪ - My name is Ray Campbell.

- And I'm Nicole Campbell.

- We're from Randallstown, Maryland.

Both: And we are Team Red.

- I'm 40.

- I'm 42.

- And we actually work together at a telecommunications company.

- We've been married for 10 wonderful years.

We have two daughters, Reagan and Cameron, 19 and 9.

- I love to make music... ♪ ...there's work.

♪ ♪ Every time we do our dirt and work and chase... ♪ This is my passion, the one thing in life that I would do for free.

♪ What we do is a reflection of us, not you.

♪ ♪ We never walked a mile in your shoe... ♪ I love competition, because I mostly win.

I'm allergic to losing.

Nicole: I love to cook.

I definitely love to cook for my family.

People are so happy when they're eating.

Ray: I was adopted at birth.

I don't know anybody at all in my biological family.

No one.

Like, there's nobody that I can identify with that looks like me.

I was born in D.C. to a single mother.

Um, she kept me for about three weeks, and then I was given up for adoption.

From what I understand, I had an older brother who was 18 months older than me, um, and they wanted to give him the best, so, um, I was the fallout; I had to be given up for adoption.

I felt like I came in second place, like, I started at second place, and I never got a chance to be first place.

I can never get it in my mind and help myself understand how that happened, so that bothers me beyond what I can even put into words.

Emotionally, I'm still four years old, three years old, a baby, seven years old, I'm still that age, trying to understand where's my mom, or me being given away for adoption and a brother who was kept.

That child lives in you all the time, so every time I come in second, I'm adopted and put up for adoption again.

That hollowness, that emptiness is that thing that keeps me up at night, that keeps me waking up in spells, that wondering.

This right here will help me, whether the story I heard was right or wrong or what have you, that it's no longer a guess.

Just give me an answer so that I can begin to heal and appreciate and understand.

[engine revving] So we're standing there, right, and this car comes zooming down, wow.

Anitra: Like, all right, it's real now, let's do it.

DeShae: So, the other teams probably don't look at us as competition, but I'm ready to dominate.

JD: I knew for sure we wouldn't be babysitting kids in these suits.

- [laughing] JD: But outside of that, anything else was possible.

- Hello, teams.

All: Hey.

- And welcome to Virginia International Raceway.

♪ Are you ready to go?

[cheering] Well, over the next ten days, you are going to be following clues, paper maps, and your own instincts to try and find new family members faster than your competitors.

You'll all be driving identical cars, matching your team color.

Now, inside the cars are backpacks.

Inside the backpacks are paper maps to every state.

And this season, for the first time ever, you'll also be able to keep your smartphones and the GPS that goes with it.

[screaming] - What!

- He says we can keep our smartphones.

So we are cheering... - So excited, everybody was so happy.

- ...So excited.

- And there were high-fives all around.

- If I can use my GPS, we are golden.

- Yeah, I'm just messing with you.

[disappointed sounds] Nope.

- Psych, you're not getting them.

- And now we don't like Dan anymore.

- You'll be using the infamous flip phones, with no GPS or internet access, which means it is time.

Pull out your phones and put them in the basket.

Ray: If I'm putting my phone away, I felt like someone was taking like, my third child from me, you know, the one that can control my bank account and social media and... the good child.

Dan: By now, you all know the real rules.

Each day, each team will be given a different allotted time, because you're each driving to a different city.

Once you arrive, you've gotta take a city selfie, then you'll each overcome a challenge.

Once you find your relative, your clock stops.

The team that goes over their allotted time the most each day will be given a strike.

Three strikes, and you're out of the race.

This season, the team that comes closest to their allotted time each day will automatically receive a first-place prize, which should benefit you in the next day of the race.

Do you wanna know what tomorrow's first-place prize is?

All: Yeah.

Dan: The winning team will penalize the other three teams.

How?

At some point during the race tomorrow, the other three teams will have to pull over and wait for five minutes while the winning team just keeps on moving down the road.

And so I ask you, who's gonna make it all the way to day ten and your own shot at $50,000?

And, most importantly, who is ready to get this race started?

All: We are!

- Team Blue!

- Red Team, Red team.

- I love the enthusiasm.

But, it's not gonna be easy.

You're standing in pit row, on one of VIR's most difficult tracks, and behind you are two stock racing cars.

Your first challenge starts right here, right now.

Now, in this challenge, you must work as a pit crew to swap out all four tires, the front tires to the back, and the back tires to the front.

Now, we're gonna have two safety inspectors on hand, watching you at all times to make sure that you pass safety inspection.

Once you pass inspection, you're ready to hit the track.

You will run to your individual cars and pull out onto a racetrack with formula one pace cars already running.

Chris: We actually race around the track with formula racing cars.

I'm in heaven.

Dan: Complete two laps, and head out on a journey unlike any other.

All: Yeah!

Dan: Oh, I forgot to mention that each pit crew requires four team members, which means, for the first part of this challenge, you're gonna be paired up with one of the other teams.

- Dan tells us that we're gonna be paired up with another team, and honestly, I got a little nervous, because I didn't want to rely on their skillset, because we have to win.

Dan: To determine the teams, I'm going to randomly draw two sets of keys out of this helmet.

Team Green.

Team Green, the question is, who are you going to be partnered with?

The answer is Team Black.

Team Green and Team Black, that means you're gonna make up one pit crew, the other crew consists of Team Blue and Team Red.

Now, are you ready?

All: Yeah!

[engines revving] - Pacesetters, start your engines.

Teams, your Relative Race starts in three, two, one, GO!

[teams talking indistinctly] - Go ahead.

Nicole: Are you doing it the right way?

Jenn: Come on, guys, come on, come on, come on.

Nicole: So, the challenge starts, we have a power drill, and it's tightening it up.

- Yeah.

- I don't know.

I don't know how to switch it forward.

- They're having troubles with the lug nuts, they're having trouble with those air guns.

- We got Team Red, and it wouldn't have been our first choice because... Anitra: They don't seem to know a lot about cars.

- Yeah.

- You're turning it the wrong way.

Paul: That one will tighten so you've gotta go with this end.

DeShae: Is it up?

That gun-thingy was really hard to do.

- Did you flip it?

- I don't know how to flip it.

- I barely know how to pump my own gas, so I don't know how to take tires off.

- Let me show you how this works.

There we go, it's going backwards, it's going backwards.

We had to give a little bit of direction throughout the whole thing.

[drilling] - Is that it?

- Yeah, one.

Go.

We're gonna win.

I gotta-- If we're gonna win, we've gotta boss people.

- Got it.

JD: Go, go, go.

- Team Green already has one tire off.

Boy, this is-- this is moving fast.

Paul: They weren't getting theirs right, you I just said, you know what?

I'll get 'em; I'll take them off.

- He did the whole thing, the whole thing.

Paul: And I'm saying to myself, we better not get a strike for this.

- That's exactly what he says.

- Come on, guys, we got this!

- Go, go, go!

- It's Green and Black, right now, that is in the lead.

Team Red and Team Blue, they're definitely a little bit behind right now.

Anitra: Get the-- - Give me that one, give me that one.

Nicole: I would like all of America to know, on the drill, you just had to press a little button to get it to go over.

But, I didn't realize that until afterwards, so I know now.

- I felt like we got this.

- I don't know what it'll look like on camera, but it felt good.

Anitra: we're working on it, we're moving fast, we finally got a good rhythm going... - While we had these formula cars speeding by us about 100-plus miles per hour.

JD: Chris?

Chris: Got it.

JD: There's an inside and an outside.

It was a little frustrating, because, uh, it didn't seem as though they could hear me with all the noise of the track going on.

- Good.

[talking indistinctly] - Inspect us.

- We get back in line, and we ask for the inspector to check it.

- All of the lugs on your right rear tire are on backwards.

- Oh, dang it.

- That's what I was trying to tell ya.

- I think I might have put them on backwards, and, of course, safety check failed.

Nicole: Oh, okay.

Put it down.

After we got all the tires rotated, we looked for the inspector, like, we know we're gonna get that green light, thumbs up, go ahead.

And he says to us... - No.

Lug nuts are backwards, both rear tires.

- We gotta lift it back up.

- The inspector is saying the lug nuts on the back are backwards.

I didn't do those.

[Anitra laughing] - [indistinct] if that's what you're saying.

- There's only two sides to the car.

We messed them both up.

- Please inspect us.

- It's good.

- Team Green, Team Black, get on the track.

- He gives us the thumbs up, and we all tear off to our cars.

[DeShae yelling] - I turn and look... - Green and Black are done.

Ray: And you could tell they were snickering a little bit, and the competitive just kind of kicked in just a little bit.

[door closing] DeShae: Let's do this!

- Are you kidding me?

DeShae: JD and Jenn pretty much kept up with us, but they take off on the racetrack earlier.

JD: We know that we don't have to be that fast, we just have to be faster than Team Green.

Come on, let's get 'em.

- It's Team Green, they're on our tail.

[cars zooming by] - Woo!

[laughing] DeShae: At first, we start going on this track, I realize that Chris is living his dream and I'm living my nightmare.

Ooh, ooh!

Maybe I should just cover my eyes.

- Oh, shoot, Team Red and Team Blue haven't left yet.

- Make sure they're tight.

Nicole: Just tighten them all up.

- Right.

Nicole: Oh, we've gotta come back over here, we've gotta come back over here!

Hurry, hurry, hurry!

- Team Red and Team Blue are waiting for final inspection.

- No, front lug nut's loose.

- Loose lug nuts.

- Loose lug nuts in the front.

- Driver side.

He did do those.

- Thanks for the support.

[laughing] DeShae: Chris forgot for a second we were driving a Hyundai.

Chris: Oh, there's a guy behind us.

DeShae: Chris.

- Oh no.

He thinks he's gonna pass us.

He is definitely not gonna pass us.

- What?

Chris: I can't let the formula car pass me, so I did what any respectable driver would do: I kept swerving back and forth and went faster so he couldn't get around me.

- Chris, you're in a Hyundai!

Slow down!

Chris: No, there's no way he's gonna pass us.

JD: As we leave the track, it was exhilarating to be first.

[honking] - Woohoo!

Goodbye, teams!

Paul: And the black and green cars ride by, honking at us, and I'm like, "Oh, really?"

The safety inspector... - You're good!

Dan: Give them a thumb up.

Team Blue, Team Red, hit the track.

Your race is on!

- Then we have to get to the car, and I'm thinking, we've gotta get to this car fast.

- Man.

- It's all right, it's all right.

- What!

We never gonna work at that pace, never.

Paul: I wanted to say some things, but this is a family show.

[Anitra laughing] - I don't even know how long we were behind.

Woo!

[laughing] Paul: Getting passed by those formula one cars was nuts!

- They were so fast!

Nicole: Just doing our regular thing.

I don't wanna wreck out and flip over.

- So, we were driving around, and Blue Team decides they're gonna zoom past us like the formula cars.

[makes crashing sounds] - Come on!

Anitra: [laughing] Blow their [indistinct] off.

Ray: And I swore I saw one of them wink at me and the other one look at us and said, "Your fault."

It just felt bad all the way around.

Anitra: Now we've got to find out where we're going.

- It's time, It's time to dominate.

Dan: Our last car has now exited the track, and the real race, the race to find family, has begun.

♪ - Should we find out where we're going?

Chris: Get the envelope.

- Your next destination is St. Louis, Missouri.

- Graham, North Carolina.

DeShae: Charlotte, North Carolina.

- Woo!

- Washington, D.C.!

- Ahh-ha-ha!

I'm super excited.

- Now, the real race really begins.

Jenn: Just don't crash the car.

JD: And we're trying to like, navigate and-- - Strip off those suits and go.

- --get all our stuff off.

[Paul laughing] - I think I'm gonna drive.

- Dang, Gina.

- So, last night, I mapped out all of the directions out of the IR.

- Is Charlotte one on the list?

DeShae: But of course, I did not map us to Charlotte.

- Which way, which way?

- I don't know yet.

- What about the atlas?

Paul: Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, and New Jersey.

We're in the middle of nowhere.

- And we don't know how to get out.

JD: I feel like we've gotta get this way.

Chris: We were trying to get a plan before we got out of here, so we know what direction we're going.

DeShae: Okay, I don't know what direction Charlotte is, and it's not written on here, so you do it.

This may be harder than we had anticipated.

- Oh, look at that man right there, cutting his grass.

- Yeah, does he have a shirt on?

- I hope we're going the right direction.

- Never ask a man without a shirt on how to get somewhere.

Paul: Oh-oh.

Anitra: What?

Paul: That said North Carolina State Line.

Anitra: So, we need to go the opposite direction.

- So, we're going le wrong way?

We don't know where we're going.

Anitra: I tell him to make a U-turn.

- Yeah, and guess what?

Hey.

Anitra: There's Black.

Paul: We passed the Black team.

Uh-oh.

Anitra: Uh-oh, what does that mean?

Are we going the right way or the wrong way.

Paul: What does that mean?

Jenn: Does it worry us that we just passed Team Blue?

They passed us once.

We were pretty sure Blue Team was lost.

♪ - So, we need to go through Greensboro.

- We need to go to Greensboro.

And we have notes on that.

Once we were able to pinpoint where Charlotte was, I knew turn-by-turn directions.

I love us.

[Chris laughing] I love our notes!

I love our little notebook.

- North Carolina State Line.

- [indistinct].

- I mean, we're in North Carolina, so.

- I trust you.

I can tell you, I feel good, we're good.

I mean, it may be a long way, it may be a windy road, but it's one road.

- We continued to drive for maybe 15 more minutes-- JD: We're confident we're going the right direction.

Jenn: --and then, out of the blue, Blue Team passed us again.

- Blue Team.

- Oh my gosh, Blue Team.

- Oh, baby, I'm so-- - That's the second time we've seen them going the wrong way.

- So, double bad.

- Double bad.

- Then we realize, we don't actually...

Both: Know where we're going.

- Duck and cover.

- [indistinct] JD: Hey, miss... Paul: Can you help me?

JD: Grandma JoAnn reassured us that we were on the right path.

Jenn: Okay, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Paul: Ha-ha!

He helped us out, big time.

Yeah!

And I think we're good.

Dan: With the backwoods of Virginia in their rearview mirrors, all four teams charge forward, with two days to reach their destination cities.

- We should've learned how to do some pose.

- Some what?

- Some cool pose for our selfies, like... [camera shutter] Dan: JD and Jenn on Team Black strike a pose on their way to St. Louis, Missouri, with an allotted time of 11 hours and 54 minutes.

♪ - Country road.

Anitra: I hate country roads so much.

- That song?

- No, being on them.

- Oh.

Dan: Team Blue, Anitra and Paul, wind their way out of the country towards Washington, D.C.. Their allotted time is four hours and 27 minutes.

♪ DeShae: Dang, we can't be beat.

- Day ten, here we come.

Dan: Team Green, DeShae and Chris, confidently make their way to Charlotte, North Carolina, with an allotted time of two hours and 47 minutes.

♪ Nicole: ♪ Do you remember the time... ♪ Okay, we're not going to celebrate.

We need-- we need to-- we need to-- - Remember that time when you ended up in Tennessee?

- We got lost?

[Nicole laughing] Dan: Also heading to North Carolina is Raymond and Nicole on Team Red.

They'll be searching for their relative in the city of Graham, and have the shortest allotted time of the day, at one hour and ten minutes.

- Our official backpack.

- All the good goods.

What else do we have in there?

- Dun, dun, dun!

- Do you even know how to turn it on?

- Yes.

I think.

We pull out our super high-tech phone, and-- - No, it's a flip phone.

From the 90s.

- We should send Team Black a text message.

- Okay.

So, we decided we were going to send Team Black a little text-- Aah!

[Chris laughing] There's a bee that landed straight on my forehead.

[DeShae laughing] Way to rock this challenge.

[ding] JD: Team Green?

Jenn: Aww.

Gosh.

What do we say back?

I don't even know how to work this phone.

- Turns out the hardest part of this entire race... - Sending a text message.

Clearly, I have forgotten how to do my texting.

- Figure it out.

- Team Black's response?

Let's just say it didn't come back quickly.

I bet Team Black's trying to figure out how to text message.

[laughing] - I don't even know how to go backwards on this phone.

Do you know how to go backwards on this phone?

- I just have a feeling that there's a caption down here somewhere that says "72 hours later."

- I need a space.

- We don't care if we have spaces.

If they don't know how to decipher our language, then too bad.

- We planned on sending back a lengthy text message... [JD chuckles] [ding] [DeShae gasps] Aww.

Dan: With destinations on the horizon... Chris: Charlotte, give us a sign.

- A sign.

Dan: All of our teams prepare for their first city selfie of the race.

Nicole: We should be getting into Graham now.

- Should we get off at the stadium?

- We go-- - Hey, hey, what does it say?

- Right there, right there.

Right there.

Nicole: Graham.

Ray: Oh.

- Ooh, there's a sign, right there.

Ray: Graham city limit.

- Welcome-- Welcome to Washington, D .C.!

There's a sign that says "Welcome to Washington, D .C."!

- Does anything say "St. Louis"?

DeShae: Got the phone?

Chris: Yep, yep, got it, got it.

Paul: Careful getting out.

Nicole: Take the phone out.

[laughing] - Duck down.

Good, good, good, good.

- You get in, since you're the tallest.

Ray: Sounds good, I'm good, she's good.

- And then, the flip phone.

- Where is the camera on this dumb flip phone?

Chris: I don't know how the other teams did, but we rocked our selfie.

[camera shutter] - Perfect.

- Oh, that's perfect.

- Send it in.

Woo!

[camera shutter] Chris: Perfect.

- Okay.

- Send it, send it, send it.

♪ [ding] - Let's go, let's go.

[camera shutter] - Oh, Team Red.

No.

Nicole: Okay.

- Are you going to go straight or turn?

What is your thought?

- I don't have a thought.

- Okay.

[camera shutter] Nicole: Did you take it?

Can you see it?

Ray: No, no, no, that ain't right.

♪ - For the first time, we have an actual address where an actual relative is going to be waiting for us.

- We need a map.

- You ask people at the gas pumps, and I'll go inside.

We're gonna rely on the people of Charlotte, so don't fail us.

We need help.

- So, we get into names of streets that sound like flowers.

We start going down this street, and we notice that every street sign was a different flower.

Well, our street that we're looking for is a flower.

- Geranium.

- Geranium.

Boom!

Hah-ha-ha-ha!

Chris: Do you know where Parkwood Avenue is?

Man: Parkwood would be right off of Dayton's.

DeShae: Luckily, the guy knew exactly where the street was.

Chris: Come on, back in the car.

We ended up taking the selfie at a credit union.

And I'm gonna go right above your head.

[camera shutter] - Now, that's the problem, we were trying to take a selfie.

Ussies is more conducive to two people; do you know what I mean?

So, if it's two people, we take an ussie.

Send it!

[ding] Jenn: Here we go, baby.

- This is it.

- And there it is, right off the bat.

Both: 1208.

- It's a white house.

- 1208!

1208!

Yes!

[Anitra clapping] ♪ Chris: Come on, come on, come on.

So, we pull up to the driveway, and I really start to get excited.

[knocking] And, uh, we're waiting a little bit longer than we thought we should.

[door opening] - Hey, we're over here.

- Ah!

- We were actually at the wrong house.

Hi, I'm Chris, and this is DeShae.

- Hi, I'm Tory.

- And I'm Jazzmyn.

Both: Who are we related to?

- We're related to you, DeShae.

We're your first cousins.

- Oh my gosh!

What?

Oh my gosh.

- I'm Jazzmyn Brown.

- And I'm Tory Crawford.

Jazzmyn: We're half-sisters... Tory: and our dad is DeShae's uncle.

Chris: Wow.

- Oh my gosh.

- Oh.

DeShae: I'm in complete shock, because I wasn't expecting to meet someone so close to me on day one.

The only person I know that looks like me is my son, so it's crazy to look at someone who looks like me.

- I did notice a resemblance, and it was crazy to see that.

DeShae: For 34 years, I've wanted to find someone that I was biologically related to, and I've finally done that today.

Oh, this is crazy!

Tory: So, why don't you guys come in, and we'll chat a little bit.

- Okay.

Dan: Back in St. Louis... JD: I really need help, we're lost.

Dan: Team Black struggles to find their relative.

- Excuse me!

[JD whistles] - We're on a TV show.

We're looking for a relative.

So, is there a way that you could pull over and let me ask you some questions?

Dan: While Team Red... - Excuse me, do you know where 306 Old Farm Drive is?

Dan: ...catches a break.

- We see, uh, a gas man, who just happened to be there on the street, and he was more than willing to help.

- He actually drove us.

We followed him.

- Yeah.

Nicole: Thank you!

Okay, so awesome, awesome, awesome.

- Sorry to bother you.

Do you guys know where St. Vince is?

No.

Nobody's heard of it.

I mean, we're just wasting time now.

Anitra: Okay, that's good.

Stop right here.

Paul: All right.

Anitra: All right.

Walking up the pathway, I'm feeling nervous, a little anxious.

I love this.

[laughing] - Hi, I'm Paul, this is my wife, Anitra.

- Anitra, hi.

- Hi.

- Hi.

- I'm Paul, nice to meet you.

- Paul, I'm Andre, nice to meet you as well.

Paul: Andre, okay, cool.

Both: So, whose relative are you?

- Anitra, I'm your relative.

- How are you related?

- How are we related?

- We're cousins.

[laughing] - That's awesome!

- Can we get a little...?

All right, awesome.

- That's awesome.

Nice to meet you, man.

- My name's Andre Kearns, I'm Anitra's cousin, and I'm a genealogist; I'm the family historian.

Anitra: When he said, "I'm your relative," it was a little overwhelming, because this is the first biological relative I've ever met.

- I'm the family historian-- - Really?

- --and so I get really energized by meeting new family members and trying to figure out how we're all connected.

So, what I do know is that I'm related to you through my father.

- Nice!

- That's so cool!

Anitra: He was a genealogy master, so I don't know what kind of connections we're gonna uncover, but it-- this is a possibility to answer a lot of questions that I have about where I come from.

- Well, why don't you guys come in, and I can learn a little bit more about your experience and share a little bit about the family.

Anitra: All right.

Paul: Awesome, let's do it.

[laughing] - This man is an angel.

This is better than a police escort.

We need to ask him if he's our relative.

JD: No one knows anything, I don't know anything.

Totally at a loss.

Nicole: Left right here, babe, right here.

Oh, yes, thank you, gas man!

- So much for racing.

- Relatives, here we come!

- Yeah.

Nicole: So, we find our relative's address, and I'm really excited to meet the first relative of the show.

But if I'm being honest, I'm a little nervous too.

Ray: As I'm about to run up to the door, I'm thinking, once I knock on this door, life is changed forever.

[knocking] - As the door creaks open, my heart is beating, and a beautiful family appears.

- Hello.

- Hi, I'm Ray, this is my wife, Nicole.

Woman: Hi, Nicole, hi Ray.

I'm Isabelle.

- Hi.

- This is my niece, my son, my husband, and my sister, Effie.

- Hello, Effie.

My question is, whose relative are you?

- I'm your relative.

Ray: You're my relative?

- Yes.

You're my cousin.

- Wow!

[laughing] Isabelle: Hello!

♪ Ray: I-- I tell ya, I probably felt four years old again, and like I was being embraced and accepted.

It was really, really emotional, and it felt life-changing, right in the moment.

- Hi.

- Oh man.

- My name is Isabelle Hallman, and I'm Ray's cousin.

It was such an honor for me to be the first person-- the first blood cousin that he met.

- You are the-- the first connection of any kind of blood that I have other than my little baby girl in my whole family.

This is-- Isabelle: Now you have a lot.

- Yeah.

Isabelle: Yes, you have a lot.

Ray: You have no idea.

Isabelle: You're not alone, you're with us.

Come on, baby, come on, sweetie, it's okay.

Oh, it's okay.

We're here, sweetie.

Oh, it's okay.

Ray: It makes me feel like finally I begin to open these doors, to fill in these spots in my life where I didn't know.

It made me feel like I finally had the first steps to the beginning of the rest of my life.

Isabelle: I will remember this always, always.

It was so powerful.

It was like I could feel the energy, so I know he feels as though he is alone.

But I want him to know he's not.

He will never be alone again.

He has us.

- This is amazing.

♪ JD: This address doesn't even seem to exist.

- We're just driving around aimlessly until... - St. Vincent.

- St. Vincent!

Oh!

Are you serious?

We just happened to stumble right onto the street.

Oh, oh, oh!

Oh!

JD: 27 right here.

Holy smokes.

- Oh!

JD: There's really no way to describe that moment just before you're about to be put in someone's path that you didn't know before.

- Hi.

- I'm JD, this is my wife, Jenn.

- I'm Lisa Turley, this is my husband, Jeff.

- Hey, Jeff, how are you?

- Nice to meet you.

- JD.

- Yeah.

- I'm your first cousin on your dad's side.

Do you know my dad?

- Yes.

- And Lisa tells me that I'm her first cousin, so my love for Lisa in that moment was absolutely perfect and genuine, and I will never be able to thank her enough.

- My name is Lisa Turley, I'm a registered nurse, and I'm JD's first cousin on his father's side.

- Thank you.

Jenn: Family is everything to us.

Lisa: Everything?

- Everything.

- I agree.

Jenn: And so, the more family we can find, the happier we are.

- Yeah.

Fold it in, make more.

Lisa: It was kinda crazy that we're actually related so close, and we just didn't know about JD at all.

- You're gonna get a whole bunch more family that you didn't know about, but you will be welcomed in with more than open arms, I promise you.

[crying] JD: Thank you.

Lisa: You're amazing, both of you, already, I love you.

- Lisa is so kind, and she immediately invites us inside.

But the burning question on my mind is, "Do you know my dad?"

- I know you have so many questions about family, and so, let me share.

JD: Lisa takes us into this room where she's spread out all this information about my father's family.

Lisa: So, this is your uncle, this is my dad, and he served in World War II.

JD: Your dad?

Lisa: My dad.

So that makes us cousins, but once removed.

JD: Lisa showed me a picture of my uncle for the first time, and I asked if we had any pictures of my father, but all she had for me was a document.

Lisa: I did know your dad.

- What was his name?

Lisa: His name is Steven Wilson, and he has passed away.

- How long ago did he pass away?

- He passed away at the age of 32; he was young.

He was hit broadside by a semi-truck.

I am so sorry.

JD: My biological father had already passed.

In that moment, I worried that, had I done all this for some lost purpose.

Lisa: You were nine.

[crying] - Did he know about me?

- I don't think he knew.

We, as a family, didn't know about you.

We didn't know.

- And then, I could see how hard it was for Lisa to share that news, and I realized how much I already cared about her.

And then I thought, that's what I'm now looking forward to, is how many actual connections can I make between now and the end.

I think I always suspected that there would be something like this, where he wouldn't be able to meet me.

- I have no doubt that he would have wanted to have met you.

JD: Lisa had to share incredibly difficult information with me, maybe some of the hardest information I would ever hear.

But because of who she is and her love and her concern, she was exactly the person I needed today.

♪ - You are a DNA match to my father, and so I do know that a lot of our shared matches descend from the Harvells.

Anitra: Andre is so willing to share everything that he knows about my genealogy.

- The Harvells were influential in founding this one-room schoolhouse to educate freed men and freed women and their children; and really, a lot of our family was educated in that one-room schoolhouse.

That completely changed the trajectory of our family.

- I mean, this is-- I...

I'm from Charlotte, I teach at a community college, I've always been-- I mean, my family's always pressed education... - Yeah.

- I mean, this-- it makes so much sense.

[laughing] It makes so much sense.

- Education is a deep-rooted value in our family.

What I'm about to share is proof that I spend way too much time on genealogy.

[laughing] - Oh my goodness!

Wow.

[Andre laughing] - There were so many names on that list, and to know that all of those people are part of my personal history is even better.

Andre: I told you, you have a lot of family.

[Andre laughing] - Oh my goodness.

- He has literally put in the wrench work in curating a family tree, and it is amazing.

Andre: So, they are the ancestors to everybody on this chart.

So, Anitra, the exciting thing for us is that, somewhere on here, is your mother and father.

Anitra: It was a little overwhelming, because it answers-- or, possibility to answer a lot of questions that I have about where I come from.

Andre: And I can't wait to do all I can to help you uncover exactly where you fit into the family.

♪ DeShae: This is gonna be so much fun.

- Yes, it is!

DeShae: My cousins take us to this really awesome paint shop, and we instantly clicked.

We're related through your dad's side, but where does my side come in, because I don't know anything about my side.

- We have no idea.

When our dad passed away, we lost connection with them.

DeShae: With that side.

Jazzmyn: Yeah.

DeShae: Because they lost their dad at such a young age, Tory and Jazzmyn don't know their dad's side of the family well enough to tell me how I fit in.

But, my cousins did have some family pictures to share, so we sat down and were able to look at those while our paintings were in the kiln.

- This is our grandfather, your grandfather as well.

This is Zeb Love.

He was the conductor of the Amtrack, and that's why trains are a really big thing.

Everyone calls it "The Love Train," Zeb Love, so our family is known as being the love train.

Jazzmyn: And it's so crazy, because that's your family's last name.

Tory: Literally, yeah.

Oh.

Jazzmyn: I'm really glad that we could be the first piece of the puzzle.

We really opened up a book for her that she's been searching for for years.

DeShae: Since your dad is my uncle, one of those people would be my parent.

Tory: Right.

There's Ricky, there's Debbie, our aunt, then we have Gary and David.

DeShae: That's crazy.

Six possibilities, and one of these names is my biological parent.

I cannot wait to see where this journey is going to take me.

♪ Isabelle: Let's have a seat; I have something for you.

Since genealogy is my passion, I went ahead and made some charts for Ray.

This chart is for your mom's side of the family and for your dad's side of the family.

Ray: My cousin, Isabelle, gives me a chart.

But these charts are different.

They're blank.

We're not really sure how we're related, because we met through a DNA match.

Isabelle: I want you to go on the road, and as you're going, you get to fill out all your information.

- [indistinct], write it out?

- Everyone who you run across, absolutely.

Ray: She has faith that we'll fill these charts up.

I'll finally get to see a full picture of who my entire family actually is.

I thank you, I really, really-- Isabelle: Oh, anytime.

I'm so glad you did this.

Ray: This is something that I've been wondering my whole... just-- and now I'll be able to fill this out.

- Yeah.

With names.

Dan: As the evening drifts into night, all four teams anxiously prepare for the results of this first day of Relative Race.

Welcome, teams.

I know it's been a really long day for all of you, and I know you're anxious to hear the results.

But before we get to those, I want to know who you met.

Team Red.

Ray: So today, for the first time ever in my life, I've met blood connected directly to me, and it's my cousin, Isabelle.

Here she is, introduce her to the whole world for everyone.

- Hi.

Everyone: Hi.

- Raymond, what was it like to meet family?

Ray: To actually see it for the first time, something I've dreamed about, something I've seen in my dreams, and then to actually be with family, and it is the best feeling, I can tell you right now as we sit here.

It's still the best feeling I've had, probably top five feelings in my entire life.

I love it.

- Team Green.

DeShae, who did you meet?

- Today, y'all, we met my first cousins, and they are Team Green.

- They are beautiful!

That is so cool.

- It's just been a really awesome day.

- Mm.

I'm so happy for you.

And you know what, guys, it's only gonna get better.

Anitra, who did you meet?

Anitra: I met my cousin, Andre, who is not only incredibly cool, but a master genealogist.

He had this huge off-the-table-onto-the-floor family tree.

- Tall as Ray.

[laughing] - I'm so excited we were connected.

- And finally, JD, who did you meet?

JD: I found out I have an amazing family that didn't know [clears throat] that I existed.

This is just a small portion of what's waiting for me.

But I also found out that my dad didn't know that I was his before he died at a very young age.

So today, we've had all the feels.

DeShae: I think we all want, you know, to be able to form those connections and build those relationships, and it just is really heartbreaking.

And then we met [clears throat] a real angel, my cousin, Lisa.

- Hi everyone.

JD: It's been an incredible day, filled with all kinds of emotions, and we couldn't be more grateful.

Dan: JD, our heart goes out to you.

But now you know who he was, and now you're gonna find out, through these relatives tonight, and hopefully others, all about him and other parts of your family.

That's what we hope for.

JD: We're excited for the next, uh, part of the journey, and we couldn't be more grateful for this part of the beginning, and for all that you guys have done for us.

And Team Red and Blue and Green, we know that you guys are rooting for us.

Dan: Well, teams, it's time to find out the official results of day one.

- My heart started beating so fast.

That was when it became a little anxious.

Dan: Today's first-place team will win a benefit of having the other three teams pull over on the road tomorrow for five minutes.

Finishing in first place, eight minutes over their allotted time, Paul and Anitra, it's a good day for you.

You finished in first place.

- What!

- What!

[laughing] - That's insane.

- Now, that means that Team Green, Team Red, and Team Black, we're gonna see you sitting on the side of the road at some point tomorrow.

Finishing in second place, ten minutes over their allotted time-- so, keep in mind, only two minutes separated first and second.

DeShae, all that preparation paid off.

You finished ten minutes over your allotted time.

Congratulations to Team Green.

And so it comes down to Team Red and Team Black.

One of you will receive the first strike of Relative Race.

Finishing 35 minutes over their allotted time, and finishing in third place, Team Red.

Team Black, you finished 45 minutes over your allotted time, ten minutes behind Team Red, and you have picked up your first strike on Relative Race.

What I will remind each of you, every day is different, every day brings new challenges, and every day brings new family.

And that's what this show is all about.

Good night, and good luck.

- Good night.

- Good night, see y'all.

- Good night, love you guys.

Tomorrow's a new day, Black; you got this.

- Love you guys.

- Love you all.

[exhales] - If we had gone the right way on the interstate, we would've won.

Andre: Crushin' it.

[Anitra laughing] We talk about winners.

- It's not a strike.

We're safe, I'll take it, but we still have to pull over for five minutes tomorrow.

- Well, that wasn't what I expected for today.

- Coming in last is rough, yeah.

- Yeah.

- Seeing it, you know, JD on the first day knew that his dad was gone, that-- that teared me up, and I've never cried so much in my life, but being on this journey is just that.

You never know, it might be the best story, it might be something hurtful.

- It was wonderful to learn my father's name and to learn a little bit about his life.

- It made me really sad for him, because we're all on this journey to find family.

- That's what I'm now looking forward to, is how many actual connections can I make between now and the end.

- That one kind of rocked my spirit a little bit, but... - We love you, JD.

- Yep, we love you.