
Episode 2
Season 11 Episode 2 | 57m 16sVideo has Closed Captions
Carolen meets a cousin with heartbreaking news about her sister. Nolin meets two brothers.
The teams begin adding to their family trees. But first, a remote-control challenge sends them flying high for points. Thadeuss discovers that his love for art runs throughout his biological family. Carolyn meets a cousin with heartbreaking news about her sister. Nolin meets two brothers with amazing stories. Jon meets a cousin and learns about the hard life his mother has led.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback

Episode 2
Season 11 Episode 2 | 57m 16sVideo has Closed Captions
The teams begin adding to their family trees. But first, a remote-control challenge sends them flying high for points. Thadeuss discovers that his love for art runs throughout his biological family. Carolyn meets a cousin with heartbreaking news about her sister. Nolin meets two brothers with amazing stories. Jon meets a cousin and learns about the hard life his mother has led.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipDan: Previously on Relative Race, four new teams begin a journey of a lifetime as they stack, crush, and race to find new family.
Nolin discovered a new sister.
Kayla: And I mean it's like we were already... [emotionally] already family.
Dan: Carolen learned her father is still alive.
Carolen: I just feel overwhelmed with joy.
Dan: Kentrelle saw a photo of his mother for the very first time.
Kentrelle: I see a girl version of me.
What in the world?
- Oh wow!
Dan: And Thaddeus met his biological father.
Thaddeus: It was just um, bowl of emotions.
Dan: But in the end, teams Blue and Black tied for first place.
- We came in first-- in first place- Tia: [clapping] Team Black!
- another team tagged along by default but we came in first place.
Tia: [laughing] Dan: And Team Red received their first strike on the race.
[intense music] DNA tells us who we are and where we came from.
Following their own DNA, four teams are racing-- Jon: It's gonna be right here.
Kentrelle: Go, go, go!
Dan: to win $50,000-- Nolin: We made it!
Dan: and to find their family.
[knocking] Singer: ♪ Oh, oh, Oh, Oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh-oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh-oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh-oh ♪ ♪ Dan: It's a new day and a new season of Relative Race.
Four new teams have begun the journey of a lifetime in search for family and the chance to win $50,000.
Today, teams begin their race spread out all across the country.
Team Red, Karen and Thaddeus, are in Baltimore, Maryland, while Team Blue, Kentrelle and Jon, wake up in Glennville, Georgia.
Also in Georgia is Team Green, Leah and Nolin, anxiously awaiting their day to start in Savannah.
And clear across the country is Team Black, Carolen and Tia.
They are in Las Vegas, Nevada, where Carolen gets ready to say goodbye to her newfound sister, Erica.
Carolen: Waking up at my sister's house was amazing.
It's gonna be hard leaving her, but I know I'll get a chance to see her right after the race.
- I got you a little gift, okay.
Carolen: That was sweet.
[laughs] - Right?
From me to you, my love.
Carolen: Aw, thank you.
Erica: Right?
And it says "forever my friend."
Now that I'm aware of you, I forever have a friend in you and always, always, my sister, okay?
So from me- - Thank you.
Erica: to you.
I love you.
You're welcome sweetheart.
Carolen: Aww, this is cute.
Erica: Mhm.
Carolen: Thank you.
Erica: You're welcome.
Carolen: I appreciate it.
Thank you.
Erica: You're welcome baby.
♪ Dan: As Carolen receives a special gift from her sister, Nolin's sister, Kayla, shares with him a family tradition.
Kayla: So this morning, I took you guys to the tennis court.
Growing up, me and my siblings, we used to play a lotta tennis.
Sometimes the gate were lock, so we would crawl under.
We would bring sandwiches and drinks and we'd just have fun.
Nolin: Kayla brought us to a tennis court, um, and she was just tellin' us about her history there and how having that mean so much to her just really made us feel welcome and at home, uh, because that's something that you take seriously, something that she cherishes.
And so bringing us into that world with her was pretty cool.
Moving forward with Kayla, I'm just hoping to build a relationship, build a bond that we didn't have growing up.
♪ Dan: In Baltimore, Thaddeus receives a heartwarming gift from his biological father, Thomas.
- I-I'm glad to have you all stay the night and enjoy yourself, and I hope you have a pretty good journey.
- Thank you.
I really enjoyed everything.
Um, getting to know more about, more about me and more about where I come from and more about you and the stories and I can't wait for us to make some stories in the future and make that-- Thomas: Right, right, right, right.
- happen.
- I can't wait neither.
And hope to see you too soon.
Karen: You will.
Thaddeus: [laughing] Karen: I'm not going anywhere.
You guys are stuck with me.
Thaddeus: [laughing] Thomas: Yeah we are.
Well, I actually have something for you.
- Okay.
[chuckles] - Here you go son, that's for you.
Thaddeus: Oh, what's this?
Oh, oh what?
[laughs] [paper rustling] You drew this?
Thomas: Yes.
Karen: Wow.
Thaddeus: Oh wow!
Karen: That's pretty amazing.
- You said you like art, so-- Thaddeus: Yes, I love art!
Thomas: Now you know where you got it from.
- What?
[laughs] - That's crazy, right?
- Wow!
My biological father Tommy has never seen me until yesterday, so last night he stayed up and he actually drew a picture of me when I was a child.
And to see that is amazing because I've always been curious, where has my artistic side came from?
So, seeing this is incredible.
Um, I've always wondered where I got my artistic trait from because it's not from my mom.
Um-- - Definitely not.
[laughing] - No creative bone in her but she's still blessed.
Um, but I-I've always wondered because I-I was that artsy kid.
I-I had so much in my mind and for me to put it out on paper, that's all I could do.
Um, I don't know where that came from.
To see this, to know, whoa, it did come from somewhere, this is incredible!
- Mhm.
I mean, looks just like you.
- Yes!
- Wow, that's good.
Thaddeus: Thank you so much!
- 'Cause I definitely see...
Yes.
Thaddeus: Wow.
[chuckles] Wow!
Okay!
[soft music] ♪ Dan: In Glennville, Kentrelle enjoys his morning with his great aunt, Gossypia and great uncle, Clarence.
- It's been so fun Auntie.
Um, uh, thanks for pullin' up.
Um, I really appreciate y'all.
This has been such a great experience, uh, meeting everybody, like, you guys don't know how much that means to me.
Like, this has been an experience I've been waitin' on for like what?
14 years?
For really my whole life?
Like, [sighs] I will always remember this.
And this will definitely not be my last time like, coming up here, like, at all, like, of course not, so... - I'm so happy and to get a chance to meet you, my brother, my sister, and myself, we were so excited— still excited.
Can't wait for you to return back.
- This just the beginning, this is just the beginning.
Clarence: Yeah, yes.
That void-- - Yeah.
Clarence: that part of your life is filled up now.
So you, you have your blood relatives now, part of us-- - Thank you.
Clarence: and that's outstanding.
[phone dings] Jon: Got a text here.
- I wanted to give you guys some time, but we got a text from Dan.
- Okay, we got a text from Dan.
- It's from Dan.
- Dan says "Good morning teams and welcome to-- - "Day Two of Relative Race."
- Day Two!
- Let's get it.
Thaddeus: "Team Red will be traveling to... Karen: "Fredericksburg, Virginia."
- "Team Blue's traveling to Tucker, Georgia."
- Tucker, Georgia?
That's gonna be very interesting.
Jon: Yeah?
- "Team Black will be traveling to Tonopah, Nevada."
- "And Team Green will be traveling to-- - Jackson Florida.
- "Jacksonville, Florida."
- "Today's first place prize-- - "is to penalize-- - "all the other teams at tomorrow's challenge."
- "Your time starts now."
- Oh, we gotta go.
Erica: Yeah.
- We gotta go.
Thank you.
Erica: You welcome my love.
- [goodbyes] Erica: Be safe!
Carolen: Bye-bye!
Erica: Bye!
Kentrelle: Let's go, let's go!
I actually had a friend from Tucker, Georgia, so this, this is nothin' new.
Get to Atlanta, you're in Tucker.
♪ Tia: Alright, so let's just— I think we should just do like we did yesterday, big bag there-- - Sounds good, sounds great.
- green bag in the backseat.
- Let's do it.
[grunting] - [strained] Okay, Tia.
Alright.
Okay, sorry.
Tia: Did we have it laying down?
Carolen: Yeah, lay it down.
Tia: Okay.
I thought it was standing up.
Carolen: Don't flip it anymore.
Tia: Okay.
Carolen: Alright.
Tia: Okay.
Carolen: Tia has these two ginormous suitcases that we're supposed to fit in this tiny Relative Race car.
Tia: Let's just say I'm good at packing.
You never know when you're gonna need something.
Dan: Getting a little late start today, due to Tia's special talent of [chuckling] overpacking, is Team Black.
Carolen and Tia will be racing from Las Vegas, Nevada to Tonopah.
They have an allotted time of 3 hours and 30 minutes.
♪ - This is 21 North, should we stop on here 'cause look, this is 21.
Do we wanna go down here?
We started out of the park and took off and we were on one of the roads that would take us to I-95 but I thought there was a shortcut and then I got lost on the map.
- Are we taking that or not?
- Yeah, I see— uh, we missed it.
- Was it-- - I think you should turn around and we should just take that 'cause it, 'cause on 21 I think we can go.
- 'Kay.
We're turnin' around.
- And so I was too scared and I had Nolin turn around and start over.
Dan: Already going in circles today is Team Green.
Leah and Nolin are heading south from Savannah, Georgia to Jacksonville, Florida.
They have a total allotted time for the day of 2 hours and 18 minutes.
♪ Karen: We just got a text from Team Blue.
- What's up Team Red?
- Hey Team Red!
Hey Karen, hey Thaddeus!
Hey Karen, can we call you Mama Red?
- Team Blue sent us a video message and my mom couldn't hear so she placed the phone to her ear, you know, because old people problems.
Both: [laughing] - Don't worry, you will be there sooner than you think.
- We love you both dearly.
- But uh, ya'll gettin' a little too comfortable there.
Kentrelle: Right.
- Don't get too comfortable.
- Remember your place, remember your strength, but also have a good day today.
- Yeah.
- And be— remain productive.
Yeah.
- Have a fantastic day, meet some good family.
Good luck guys.
Love you.
Karen: [laughs] Thaddeus: Okay Team Blue, I see you, tryin' be all sweet while throwing little jabs in there.
- Two can play at that game.
Thaddeus: Mhm.
[phone dings] Jon: Looks like we've got a text from Team Red.
- Good morning Jon and Kentrelle, Team Blue.
- Hey guys.
Thank you for the kind words and encouragement.
Um, I-we need that, we need that positivity.
Good luck, don't mess it up.
But I just want to say, don't get too comfortable in the first place seats, okay?
We're comin' for ya.
- Don't get too comfortable.
You don't— I hope we get real comfortable in yo spot.
- They playin' too much.
- [laughs] ♪ Dan: As the competition already begins to heat up on Day Two, Team Blue is remaining in the state of Georgia.
Kentrelle and Jon will be racing from Glennville to Tucker.
They have an allotted time today of 4 hours and 35 minutes.
As for Team Red, Karen and Thaddeus, they're leaving Baltimore, Maryland and are headed to Fredericksburg, Virginia.
They have a total allotted time of 2 hours and 15 minutes.
[cars driving] [soft music] Karen: You met your father yesterday, and I know that we weren't expecting that, but who do you think you're gonna meet today?
- [sighing] I don't know.
I did not expect, uh, meeting my dad yesterday.
They really dropped the mic on that, just first day, here's your dad.
- Are you nervous about who it might be?
- I'm nervous for this whole journey.
I-I don't know who I will meet any day.
♪ Karen: I don't know what it's like to be adopted, but for a child who doesn't know where they've come from or who they look like, I think that's always important.
I told all of my kids, if you're interested in finding your biological families, I will help you, but not until you turn 18, because I didn't want there to be too many hands in the pot.
Prior to Thaddeus coming into my life, the name Thaddeus stood out to me.
I means "gift from God."
♪ Thaddeus came to me through foster care.
He was raised by his biological mother until he was six months of age and I had just had a tubal pregnancy.
But I just knew that I had to have him.
He came at a time where I lost something, but yet I gained something, which was him.
♪ So here we are, the next day, ready to meet someone else.
- [singing] Day Two.
♪ [upbeat music] Thaddeus: Oh, city limits!
We're in Fredericksburg!
- Yay!
- Ey, we're in Jacksonville.
Let's go!
- We made it!
[phone dings] Jon: Looks like we got a text from Dan.
- We have a text from Dan.
What does it say?
Tia: "Welcome to Tonopah, Nevada."
- "Welcome to Fredericksburg!"
- "Your challenge is located at 1947 Brucken Road."
Tia: "...at the Joe Friel Sports Complex."
Karen: Whoop whoop!
Ooh hoo!
I wonder what the challenge is though?
- We're going to a park.
- Is that where we're going?
- It— you just-- - Yep, Old-Old Mill Park.
- What are we doing?
- We're going in here.
- We made it, man.
- We did it, let's go.
♪ Nolin: Alright, let's open it.
See what it says.
- "Welcome to Soar for More."
Dan: Day Two's challenge is Soar for More.
In this challenge, teams will guide remote controlled cars up and over a ramp and attempt to land them inside various point zones.
Teammates must rotate after every three attempts and must tally up 300 points or more to complete this challenge.
For teams Blue and Black, they'll get a 20-point head start for winning yesterday's first place prize.
♪ Leah: 'Kay, go, go, go!
♪ Kentrelle: Hit it!
♪ [buzzer] ♪ [buzzer] - [shrieking] At first, uh, my challenges were I did not calculate the speed when it's off the ramp.
I-I kind of hit the gas right on the ramp and it made the car flip over a few times.
That was my challenge.
[car whirring] [ding] Karen: 20.
Thaddeus: 20?
Okay.
[car whirring] ♪ [ding] ♪ Tia: Okay.
[laughing] [buzzer] Carolen: While I was, you know, using the remote control car it did, you know, um, cause a lot of adrenaline.
I haven't played with a remote control car in years, but it is really fast.
I was impressed, surprised.
♪ Carolen: Yes!
[ding] [playful music] - Did it go?
♪ Leah: The hardest part was trying to turn wheel.
It was very touchy and I just kept going off the track.
♪ Tia: Oh— I can't!
Ugh!
Thaddeus: Oh my!
Karen: It's okay, it's okay.
Nolin: Ooh, go back, go back, go back.
Just— yeah, go all the way back.
Nice!
[laughing] Just go slow, just go slow.
Leah: Okay, let me turn it around.
Nolin: Get it, now turn.
♪ Kentrelle: I have no idea what was so hard about steering it.
Um, it was supposed to just stay straight but for me it just couldn't and I don't know why.
[car whirring] Tia: Oh, sorry!
Carolen: You gotta— on the-- Tia: [laughing] I do not have this!
Nolin: Good, hold it.
Leah: Okay.
[car whirring] Nolin: And just slow it down.
Just take your time.
Just go for the ten.
There you go.
Leah: Oh, is that okay?
Nolin: It counts.
Leah: I might not be cut out for this, so I'll have to leave this one up to you, Nolan.
[upbeat music] Tia: The first round, uh, I didn't do so well.
[buzzer] Um, but the second round I came back swingin' so... Carolen: Yeah she did.
[ding] [claps] Good job.
[upbeat music] [ding] [ding] [cars whirring] [ding] Jon: Came up with a strategy trying to get the car on two circles so it was like double the points up.
[ding, ding] Um, I did it the first time and I was like oh, okay that's not so bad.
Um, let's try it again.
It wasn't as easy as it looked.
[ding] [car whirring] [ding, ding] Thaddeus: 20, 30!
Leah: 20.
[ding] - Last couple of rounds, we were hittin' 20, 30, 40 points, accumulating those points-- [ding] like it was nothing.
Yes!
[ding] [whooshing] [ding] Jon: We only got 80 more points to go.
♪ Leah: 40!
[ding] - Yeah, I definitely was the one that had a little bit of a harder time with this challenge, so I just tried to run fast and give Nolin as many turns as he could have-- [ding] to get us to the points.
♪ Thaddeus: 30!
[ding] Both: 240!
- My mom was the VIP.
We need two 30's.
The second round, she hit a 30.
[ding] The third round...
Yes, yes!
[ding, ding, ding] Yes!
We got it!
Karen: [whooping] - She hit a 30.
She did pretty good at this challenge.
Carolen: We've got 290, just 10 more points.
[ding, ding, ding] Tia: Yes!
Both: [cheering] Karen: Yes!
Thaddeus: We did it!
Karen: We did it, we did it, we did it, we did it!
Carolen: "Your relative lives at..." Both: "2078 Sierra Vista Drive, Tonopah, Nevada."
- Let's go.
- "18 Naomi Road, Fredericksburg, Virginia."
- Okay!
Thaddeus: [exhales] Let's go.
Karen: Yes.
♪ Kentrelle: Nice Jon, we got it!
[ding, ding, ding] ♪ [ding, ding, ding] Nolin: And that's 300!
We got it, we got it!
Let's go, let's go!
Kentrelle: Come on!
- Let's see what it says.
- "Your relative lives-- Both: "at 128 East Main Street Jacksonville Florida."
- "3378 Charlemagne Drive, Decatur Georgia."
- Alright.
- Alright, let's go!
- Let's go.
♪ Dan: As all four teams soared past the challenge, more tricky navigation stands between them and family waiting to welcome them.
Carolen: This town looks small, so it should be easy.
- Right.
Yeah.
- Alright, let's go.
- Good-good thinkin'.
Leah: Okay, [indistinct].
Okay, let's go to that street.
I think I know that street.
Okay, so go that way.
Thaddeus: I-I kinda wanna ask people now.
Do you know where Naomi Road is?
Thaddeus: Uh-huh.
Thaddeus: Okay.
Thaddeus: Williams Street?
Kentrelle: Right, let's just ask for clarification and then we can drive right on in.
We stop at the nearest store to see if anyone may know where the address might be.
Tia: This is a small town.
We're not finding this street.
We're just not having any luck.
So we decided to stop at the town hall and ask someone.
But it's on that road that we came in.
It was instant.
The lady that was in there was knowledgeable.
We found it on the map that was on the wall and then she just gave us a gas station to turn at.
She said, headed this way outside of town, building a Love's-- - Make a right.
- turn on that street.
Yep, right.
Carolen: Mm!
We shoulda took a picture of that map!
Tia: How were we gonna take a picture?
Woman 1: ...a left right there in front of the bank-- Kentrelle: This lady's givin' us turn-by-turn directions and it's a lot.
Woman 1: Drive down this street.
You'll cross over Racetrack Road.
Kentrelle: Mhm.
Woman 1: You'll see Papa John's.
Keep straight.
Kentrelle: Yep.
♪ - Faster, faster!
Let's go, let's go!
Okay, what is this next one?
That's a 1st Street, okay so go, go, go, go.
No stop, no stop.
So the address was 9th Street, so that was easy 'cause we passed 1st Street.
Okay, keep goin'.
We gotta find 9th Street.
I just yelled at Nolin, you worry about the speed limit.
Go, I'll watch the street signs.
230, so let's go, go, go.
You gotta go to the stop sign.
♪ - Come on!
Nolin: [laughing] Leah: [laughing] - That is definitely an easy way to find streets when they count up.
I mean, that helped us out a lot.
- Yeah, it did.
- 'Cause you knew exactly how far you were from the street that you needed.
♪ Tia: Are you sure-- - Sara Vista!
- Oh, you're right, they're right there!
- Sara Vista!
- [clapping] - Sierra Vista.
- Right, Sierra Vista.
- Why do I keep saying Sara Vista?
- I don't know.
♪ Thaddeus: Across the bridge at this light— Karen: He said the light changed— - please be— Naomi!
Naomi Road!
- [cheering] - John!
John, you were the guy!
- Make a right.
The guy at the gas station literally gave us perfect directions.
- I wasn't sure about John, you know, he looked kinda sketchy.
But he helped us out.
He-he came through.
- Okay but after the post office she said make a right— - Make the next left.
- Where the numbers?
Where the numbers?
Jon: I dunno.
- 2985...
Okay we gettin' a little close.
Um, 2997.
Thaddeus: Where's the road sign?
Right there.
Is this a right lane right here?
- Yes.
Well no, no, no.
You gotta stay here, you gotta wait.
- Okay.
[clapping] Ooh John!
[laughing] - 2038.
Tia: 2078— Both: 2078.
- yeah.
- Okay, this is it.
Kentrelle: Where is it?
Jon: 3377.
Thaddeus: [squeaking] [laughing] Right here!
Oh my gosh!
- What?!
Oh my gosh!
- Oh my gosh!
Right here!
We're here!
- [laughing and cheering] - [clapping] - 140, 130's, 1-128!
128!
Right there!
- 2006... We just found it!
We found it!
Tia: This isn't it?
Carolen: This is it!
Tia, this is it!
Tia: Oh, I thought you said we found it.
- [laughing] - We found it.
♪ ♪ Woman 2: Hello!
- Hi.
- Hi!
Carolen: How are you?
- Good, how are you?
Carolen: I'm good.
- I'm Tia.
Woman 2: Hi Tia.
- I'm Carolen.
- Hi Carolen.
Carolen and Tia: Nice to meet you as well.
- And who are you related to?
- Well, Carolen, I'm your niece.
- Nice to meet you.
Amazin: Nice to meet you!
♪ - My name is Amazin Baker.
I am 22 years old and I am Carolen's niece.
- So good to finally meet you.
Amazin: How was you guys's drive?
- It was nice.
How are you today?
- I'm good.
A little tired.
Carolen: I'm so glad to meet you.
I got a chance to meet my sister Erica— - Yes, so she was so excited.
Carolen: and my niece, Miracle.
- My sister.
Carolen: Oh wonderful!
- Yeah!
[laughs] Carolen: So that's your sister?
- Yeah.
- Okay perfect, perfect.
So yeah, I spent a lotta time with them yesterday.
I can't wait to sit down and chat with you.
- Aww.
I'm glad you're able to meet them and get to spend some time with them.
When I first saw Carolen for the first time, immediately I can see like yeah, she looks like us.
She's for sure one of us.
She looks like me, my mom, my aunts, it's like all in our face.
So I was really happy that she looks like us.
It just means that she fits here with us even more.
[laughs] Carolen: Yeah, so much fun.
Amazin: You guys wanna come inside and talk some more?
Both: Sure!
Amazin: Yeah!
Carolen: Let's go.
She's really sweet.
She's a sweetheart.
She's very welcoming, a little soft-spoken, um, she has a very strong sense of humor.
Seems like she loves to laugh, cracked jokes as soon as I was at the door, so that made me feel very comfortable.
But she's really sweet.
- We love her.
- And genuine.
♪ Thaddeus: Oh, we're here.
[exhales] Oh I wonder who this is!
[clapping] I wonder who it is!
Pulling up to the house, um, adrenaline is pumping, I'm getting excited.
Uh, we had a great day and now is the cherry on top.
Okay.
[car door handle] ♪ [car door shutting] Man 1: Oh.
Thaddeus: Hi!
- Hello, hello, hello!
- I'm Thaddeus.
This is my mom, Karen.
- Um, I'm Isaiah.
Nice to meet you.
- Isaiah, nice to meet you.
Isaiah: Yeah.
- And how are we related?
- Well, I'm your brother.
- My brother?!
Isaiah: [chuckling] Yes, I'm your brother.
- Hi!
[laughing] How are you?
- Nice to meet you [indistinct].
You know I'm good.
- Nice to meet you too!
[laughing] Isaiah: I'm Isaiah Gainey, and I'm Thaddeus's brother.
When he first pulled up and he got out of the car.
When I seen him, I was like, oh yeah he looks just like me.
I can tell that's my brother, bio-biological brother.
Thaddeus: [laughing] Whoa!
This is crazy!
Looking at you, I see myself.
It's weird.
- Yeah, I see myself too.
Both: [laughing] Karen: Yeah, that is true.
- I see the eyes and the nose— - Yeah.
- like this area right here.
- Yeah, exactly.
- And I wear glasses, so I'm pretty sure it's— like that.
Isaiah: Mhm.
- Whoa.
Isaiah: A lot of similarity.
Karen: Yes.
Isaiah: It's crazy.
Thaddeus: Wow.
And you're tall!
I did not get that.
All: [laughing] Isaiah: Yes, definitely.
- Whoa.
How old are you?
- I'm 19.
- You're n— a little brother!
Wow!
Karen: [laughs] - Okay, I'm 24.
Isaiah: You're 24?
- Uh-huh.
- Okay, you gotta older brother.
Older brother, okay.
- Yeah!
Wow!
- Mm.
Thaddeus: Okay, so you're my little brother.
Isaiah: Yeah.
- What side?
On my mom or dad?
- On your mom's side.
- On my mom's side?
Isaiah: Yes.
- Okay.
Alright.
A little brother on my mom's side.
- Yes.
- I have a ton of questions hopefully you can answer.
- I'll try my best at 'em.
Thaddeus: Most of them.
Isaiah: Yeah.
Both: [laughing] Isaiah: Would you like to go inside and chat some more?
- Yes!
Please!
Isaiah: Okay.
♪ [door creaking] ♪ [ding] ♪ [door creaking] - Let's go.
[car doors shutting] ♪ [gate creaking] Nolin: Hey.
Man 2: How you guys doin'?
Nolin: Good, how you doin'?
Leah: I'm Leah.
Nolin: I'm Nolin.
- Nice to meet you Leah.
Nice to meet you Nolin.
- I'm Devin.
- And my name is Tyrese.
- And who are you related to?
Man 2: We're related to Nolin.
- How are we related?
- We're your brothers.
- We're your brothers.
♪ Leah: Nice to meet you.
[laughs] Nolin: It's so great to meet you.
Devin: Nice to meet you too, man.
- That's crazy.
Tyrese: I never thought I'd have another brother.
- Me neither.
♪ - Wow.
[laughing] ♪ - My name is Tyrese Forbes.
- My name is Devin Forbes.
- We are Nolin's brothers on his dad's side.
Nolin: To meet two brothers that I didn't know I had, it was just an incredible moment for me and for us.
Like, standing in front of them and hugging my brothers felt-felt like it was the right thing.
Like, it was, it was great.
So how old are you guys?
Devin: Uh, 17.
Nolin: 17.
Tyrese: I'm 18.
- I'm 20.
- 20, yep.
Yeah, so you guys are all close.
Nolin: Yeah, for real.
- I thought I was really lookin' in a mirror for a moment.
Leah and Nolin: [laughing] Nolin: I know.
- You two especially.
You all have the eyes.
- I'm tryin' to get the sides growin' in, but you already beat me.
That's crazy.
- Man, my— it's not even fully grown, like I just got knots everywhere but it's okay.
- Really?
Yeah.
Devin: So uh, where you from?
- I'm from Indiana, northern Indiana.
Tyrese: Indiana?
- Born in Miami.
- I was born in Miami too.
Leah: Were you?
Nolin: For real?
Devin: Yeah, I look just like you.
Nolin: [laughing] It's crazy, like I've never had that.
Especially where I grew up, I never had anybody that really looked like me.
And now, I-I'm seeing it for the first time.
Just our-our nose and our face, like our chin area and just that kind of structure was very similar.
And then just the more I saw 'em, the longer I saw 'em, the more and more I was like, yeah, that's [chuckles] that's me.
Tyrese: Like, when I see them I was like, I was nervous and I was excited at the same time 'cause of the expectations, but... - Very nervous.
I was smilin' so hard, like my face hurts.
My face— like my face still hurtin' from how hard I was smilin'.
Nolin: Man.
Leah: So good to meet you guys.
Tyrese: Excited to meet you guys more.
Leah: Yep.
Nolin: You too.
- Just come inside for a minute?
Leah: Yep, let's go talk.
Tyrese: Let's go.
Leah: I think this is so special because Nolin's always been the little one of the family and he's meeting all these people that he's technically older with but yet, very close in age with and that's a really neat dynamic that he hasn't had.
And I think he'll just thrive with that.
♪ Kentrelle: Somebody's sitting outside.
What?
You ready?
- I'm ready.
Let's do it.
[seatbelts clicking] Jon: Oh man.
♪ Man 3: Hi there.
- How's it goin'?
- Hey.
Man 3: Good.
- I'm Jon.
- I'm Kentrelle.
- I'm Aiden.
Kentrelle: Hey.
Aiden: Nice to meet you.
Who are you related to?
- Uh, I'm your first cousin on your dad's side.
Jon: Nice to meet you man.
Aiden: Yeah, you too.
[shoulder clapping] - My name is Aiden Sanchez and I am Jon's first cousin on his father's side.
- Hugging my cousin, it felt, um, it felt really good um, to hug someone that, you know, shares my blood and my DNA.
Uh, it's-it's different than hugging, you know, s-my brother say, that, you know, I grew up with 'cause yeah he's my brother, but he's also uh, not someone that's related to me by blood.
There's something different about hugging blood that um, it's really happy.
Aiden: Where are you from?
- Uh, San Francisco, that area.
I was born there.
- We're from the same city, so.
- Yeah?
Aiden: That's pretty cool.
Finding out that Jon grew up so close to me was uh, pretty strange for me actually.
Um, I could've met this guy on the street, you know, and not known that he was that closely related to me, you know, um, my cousin.
I would've seen him on the street I wouldn't have known.
Jon: Knowing that, um, Aiden and I grew up, what?
45 minutes away from where I grew up in Daly City, um, it was pretty shocking to hear 'cause it's like, I go to Daly City all the time.
I go to San Francisco all the time.
I go to these places that are like, right there and you know, I didn't know it this whole time, that um, I got blood relatives minutes away from me.
- The family's pretty cool.
Jon: Yeah?
- You know, I'm excited for you to meet more of them actually.
- Yeah, I'm pretty stoked.
A lot of mixed emotions, but I'm ready for it.
Aiden: Uh, there's actually a lot of things I want to share with you and tell you.
So, do you wanna step inside?
- Let's do it.
Aiden: Cool.
♪ Carolen: After meeting my niece, Amazin, she invited us inside to tell us more about her mom, LaChris, who is my sister, and to explain to us why we weren't able to meet her alone this journey.
- I'm here not only for myself, I'm here as a representative for my mother.
My mom's name is LaChris.
- Okay.
Amazin: Uh, my mom couldn't be here, not because she didn't want to be here, of course if she could she would've loved to meet you.
She is just not in a state where she can physically be here.
Um, so ever since I was little, she's been in a coma, so she's currently in a vegetative state.
And even to this day, since I was young, I don't really remember what happened.
Um, but my family has like, different stories of what actually happened to her.
Um, we'll never know because I can't ask her actually what happened.
- Yeah.
Amazin: I can't go back in time.
- To find out that Amazin's mom, my sister, had been in a coma for years was shocking and very difficult to comprehend, to know that I may not get a chance to have a conversation with her.
I can only imagine what her children has gone through.
So, how often do you go and visit your mom?
- Well, when I was younger I used to go and see her all the time, um, up until I end up being separated from our family.
So I didn't get to see her as much as I would like.
Um, so I kind of grew up in foster care.
- Oh, okay.
Amazin: So, I was away a lot of the time and being in group homes or foster homes with a lot of other children, our foster parents didn't have time to take out of their day and go take me super far— - Yeah.
- to go see her.
- If you don't mind me askin'— Amazin: No, it's okay.
- how did you end up in foster care?
- When everything happened with my mom, I didn't go immediately to foster care.
Carolen: Mhm.
Amazin: So, my aunt took me and my sister both in, um, and we kinda stayed with her and her kids for awhile.
And then it kinda got hard for her to take care of us and her children.
- When I heard that my niece, Amazin, grew up, um, livin' in a foster home, going through that experience, it made me feel angry.
Somebody should've stepped up and just made sure that didn't happen.
I don't care if you have to go from house to house to house, it's just not that, you know?
- Of course when you put a whole bunch of traumatized teenagers together, it's chaos, so, it was-it was a lot to take in.
It was very stressful.
It was very overwhelming.
It was very triggering for me.
And I ended up, um, getting this worker— it's called CASA, so they're Court Appointed Special Advocates for us.
- Mhm.
Amazin: So they're kinda like a older, big sister type of program thing— - Yeah.
- where they'll kind of like guide you of what to do once you age out.
- So I used to work as a CASA— Amazin: You did?
That's so crazy!
- for the juvenile center in Chicago.
So it was just funny when you mentioned that.
Oh, I was like I'm familiar.
Amazin: So you'd know.
- Exactly.
Amazin: Okay, that's good.
- The whole start of all this was because I had a CASA worker who gifted me an Ancestry DNA test kit.
So it all started from that person to kinda find out that she was also a CASA worker kinda just fits altogether.
Um, but I would l-like to get to know you and spend more time with you.
I don't want this to just be the only time that I'm seeing you and that we're gonna talk.
I want to have a relationship with you, even after 'cause like I said, I'm not only representing myself, I'm representing my mother.
And my mother, she would've loved to be able to be here and meet you and experience this, so it means a lot for me to be able to be here.
- Definitely look forward to um, you know, this forever friendship, familyship with you.
I need it, I really do.
Amazin: I do too.
[laughing] - Yeah.
I feel like me and my niece, Amazin, bonded because we do have things in common.
We both did go through, you know, the-the foster care system.
Just experiencing that home-from-home family member to family member, um, that period of time is, you know, you becoming into a young lady and you're havin' all this goin' on, not knowin' how to deal with it and how to process it, we definitely related there and I'm sure that's somethin' that we both look forward to talking about.
♪ - Kayla talked to me a little bit about our dad.
She gave us a picture of him when he was 17 I think.
Leah: Yeah.
Nolin: So he was younger, I think it was before he had us.
But, haven't heard from y'all, like, what was y'all relationship with him?
Did you know him much?
- I will say he left when we were really young, when I was, I was probably six and he was probably like four when he left.
- Like three or four, yeah, three or four.
Tyrese: I really don't have any memories of him except probably him cutting our hair every now and then but... - Oh yeah.
So always bein' at the barbershop.
- Yeah.
Devin: Always at the barbershop.
- Um, we ain't never really had anyone to look up to, but we kinda made our own way.
- We don't really have contact with like, the rest of our family so... Just finding out that we had another brother, it was like I said, it was shocking at first.
Tyrese: I didn't think any of our relatives would come lookin' for us, let alone be willing to meet us, so... - It was mind-blowin'.
- Was it hard, not having that father figure?
- It was definitely hard.
- Yeah, but so it was— - Like, learning the things that we could and couldn't do and what was right and what was wrong or how to act and how to present yourself, it was really a learning experience for ourselves to learn, like, trial and error, so... - Wish y'all could've had that, but I'm glad you had each other.
Hearing that my brothers didn't have any like, older role models or a father figure in their lives, um, really made me wanna be that for them.
Um, I had that a lot growin' up.
I was fortunate enough to have that.
This opportunity that I have is just so exciting for me and I-I'm just ready to take on-take it on and get to see where that relationship goes.
- I'm still tryna— Nolin: [laughing] Devin: it's just crazy sitting here lookin' at ya.
- It really is crazy, like I never thought I would meet any other relatives.
- Right.
- I always thought it was just me and him.
- Yeah I-we always thought it was just... - You don't have to be anybody but you.
You just gotta be you and that's— at the end of the day, that's all you can be.
And I'm just excited to meet y'all and we'll learn all about each other and that's what I'm excited about, just to learn more about you guys.
I'm excited to show you guys more about me and who I am.
That's what's important.
- For me, the way Nolin spoke to us, it was really, uh, heartwarmin'.
Devin: Yeah.
- I felt like he acted like a older brother.
- It's like havin' somebody to look up to.
Course I'm like, you know, since we both looked out for each other, we can both look up to somebody now.
- And also look out for him whenever he needs something too.
- Exactly.
♪ Aiden: [sighing] - So you said you're related to me, you know, we're first cousins.
What exactly does that mean?
- So my mother is your father's sister.
Jon: Okay.
- Yeah.
Jon: Great.
Um, have you ever met him, my dad?
- I found out recently that I have.
We've got a pictures, do you wanna see?
- Most definitely.
Aiden: For sure.
There's your dad.
Jon: Yeah, that's awesome.
I can see my face in it.
Yeah, the nose is the thing that stands out to me the most.
Aiden: I bet you you've got the eyes too, but I couldn't tell you.
When Jon saw a picture of his father, he seemed really excited actually.
He-he was like looking for ways to compare himself to it, you know.
He was like wow, this guy looks like me.
You know, like that's my dad.
That's crazy.
Kentrelle: An old man you.
All: [laughing] Jon: Old man me, huh?
Aiden: Yeah.
Jon: Ears a little bit too.
You kinda see 'em poking out from under the hat.
Aiden: Mhm.
- Yeah.
I noticed some similarities right off the bat.
Uh, I got the nose, I got the ears.
And I could tell by the way he took the picture that it was— there was definitely a sense of humor going on there like hey, I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be a doofus when I take this picture.
That's me.
Um, I'm always actin' a fool, uh, class clown.
You know, always, always putting out there, you know, humor, like trying to make people laugh.
Um, and I feel like from that picture I got that vibe from him.
Do you happen to know his name?
- Uh, yeah.
His name is Neil Ruggles.
- Neil Ruggles.
Aiden: Mhm.
- He looks like a Neil.
Aiden and Jon: [laughing] Aiden: When I told Jon his father's name, it seemed like he had sort of put the first piece into a puzzle almost, you know, like that-that seemed important.
It was like oh, okay, we're gettin' somewhere.
- That's good to know a name.
Aiden: Yeah.
- Yeah, it-it's good to know a name— Aiden: I bet.
- last name and all that good stuff, so...
I appreciate that.
Aiden: Yeah.
Jon: I appreciate that.
I heard my father's name for the first time today.
I found out what, um, my, you know, blood last name would have been or, you know, would be.
That one was a little hard to process.
It's-it's a foreign name to me.
I've never heard that name before.
It was-it was a weird feeling and it's-it's gonna be weird for awhile, I think.
So tell me what my family's like.
- They're really, really nice people.
Um, they've been through a lot of hardship though, you know.
- Sure.
- Well, a lot of them have struggled with addiction.
Jon: Mhm.
- It sort of split the family apart in a lotta ways— - Sure.
Aiden: and I feel like, um, your situation is a product of that, you know.
- Finding out that there is a history of substance abuse in my family, um, I've always grown up tryna get away from that kind of thing, substance abuse.
So it's kinda like, um, here we are again.
But, you know, I'm not gonna let that be a judgement of anyone as a person.
It-it's a problem that, you know, they wouldn't wish it on themselves.
It's just something they have to get through so, um, no judgement personally.
It's good to know somethin', you know.
That's somethin'— - Yeah.
[laughs] Jon: I didn't-I didn't know anything so— - I'm not tryna put like a dark omen— over your head, but... - Hey, if it's the truth, it's the truth.
That's-that's what I'm after, so... - I wish I knew more about that side of the family.
It's really unfortunate that I don't, um, but I gave him everything I had, you know.
I'm sure there'll be someone that'll be a good resource for him out there too.
- Yeah, I definitely, um, in terms of this generation, I hope that maybe I could be sort of like the-the person that take the first step forward, um, in terms of maybe piecing the puzzle back together, um, you know, rediscovering those relationships that maybe were lost for uh, sometime.
Um, hopefully, you know, I can be the kind of torchbearer in that way.
♪ [crickets chirping] ♪ - So, you're my of— it's official, you're my like, little brother.
- Yeah, little brother, yeah.
Mhm.
Thaddeus: Okay, so I have a lot of questions.
- Okay.
Thaddeus: Um, I think since you are a younger sibling, do you know anything about me or... - Yes.
I knew about you my whole life.
- You did?
Isaiah: Yeah.
- Wow.
Isaiah: Yeah.
- When did you— like has it been awhile that you knew about me, like all your life?
- Yeah, since I was like-like four or five.
- Whoa!
Okay!
Wow, that's interesting!
[laughing] - My mom really talked about you all the time.
- She has?
Isaiah: Yes.
- Okay.
Isaiah: Um, and my mom's been looking for you since, you know, the situation happened and uh, she been looking for you for a very long time and... Thaddeus: Wow.
Isaiah: Yeah.
Her name is Sharon.
- Whoa.
Oh-ho-ho-ho.
Okay.
[laughing] Growing up, I always felt like I was snatched away and, um, that my mother never cared to come find me or— it— I felt very given away and today I found out from my brother that it was the total opposite.
And my brother shared some photos with me of our biological mother, Sharon, and it was incredible.
Um, this is my first time seeing her and it's so cool to see the similarities between she and I and how we favor each other in looks.
- My mom was on drugs when she had you and she got arrested and you was tooken away by the police.
And so when she got out of jail, like she started lookin' for you since then but just couldn't ever find you.
It cou-it get- it gets to a point where though she'll come to me and ask me like, is she a good parent because of the situation that happened with you.
- Oh no.
Isaiah: Yeah.
- Okay.
Isaiah: That's how like— that's how bad it is and like she-she'll cry about you almost every night just sayin' like— 'cause she feel like a failure 'cause she couldn't like, keep you.
It really put things in perspective of like, where he was comin' from and I was able to... tell him that he really meant a lot for my mom and um, Mom was lookin' for him very, very long time.
And uh, seeing it in his own face that it really meant a lot to him.
Basically my mom right now is, she's in the hospital.
Uh, so I don't know if you'll be able to meet her.
But she's been in and out of the hospital for like, couple months now from so— for some major surgeries, so uh...
But I do hope that you will be able to meet her.
And I know that she will love to meet you, it just may not be on the show.
[emotional music] Thaddeus: I wanted to do this journey to meet her.
Um, so it is disappointing, but I-I'm happy that she's alive-- [laughing] - Yeah.
Thaddeus: number one.
Um, and the time will always be right when I do meet her if- if it's on this journey or not, um, whoa.
If I didn't get the chance to meet my mom...
I just want her to know, I forgive you.
I forgive you, um, yeah.
I forgive her.
I don't want her to feel like she's alone.
- Well, what I'm feeling is I never knew that your mom had been looking for him, you know.
Um, and so that is good to know, that she was looking for him, and that she did care because that meant a lot to him even though she's not here to speak, but you can be the spokesperson for her to fill in some of the holes that he's been missing his entire life.
I think that's wonderful and thank you for being able to do that.
- You welcome, you welcome.
- I'm hoping that he gets a chance to meet his biological mom because he has felt an emptiness in him since he was a kid.
And to be able to meet Sharon, I think he would get some of the answers to the questions that he has because I feel as though she holds the key to those answers.
♪ Dan: Night falls on Day Two of Relative Race and all four teams nervously await today's results.
- How are you feeling about the call tonight?
- Um, I'm feelin' pretty confident.
We had a great day.
I'm banking on first place today.
- Okay.
Leah: I think what today I'm most nervous about is our start to the drive today.
Nolin: It's-it's a little hard tellin' how we did.
Um, I think we were kinda disappointed because we got off to a rough start.
Leah: Mhm.
Nolin: We coulda done worse, we coulda done better.
Jon: We still didn't do so hot.
We just have to hope that people did even less hot than we did.
Kentrelle: Jon, if we catch a strike today, I'm gonna cry.
- We did have a rough start to the morning.
- We did.
- We did.
Carolen: And I-I mean, I— it makes me a little worried about the other teams because I don't know how they started their day off, if they made it to their destination without any hiccups.
Tia: We should be prepared that we probably might get a strike.
I mean, I'll be grateful if we don't but be prepared if we do.
- Alright.
Dan: Welcome teams!
It's Day Two of Relative Race an all-new day with all four teams having a variety of challenges.
Some soared higher than others.
Ultimately, one more team will earn a strike tonight.
But who will it be?
I wanna talk about the day.
As with each and everyday, it ultimately comes down to the most important thing, and that is who did you meet?
Carolen, Tia was there to support you, but who was there waiting for you?
- Um, today I got the chance to meet my niece, Amazin.
- Hello!
- She's amazing.
Dan: Wait a minute, her name is Amazin?
That is awesome!
- Thank you.
Dan: I love it!
Congratulations on growing your family Carolen.
- Thank you.
- Jon, who was waiting for you?
- Uh today I was able to meet uh, my first cousin.
Uh, this is Aiden.
- Hi there.
[chuckling] - Yeah.
Dan: How was it to meet a cousin that you didn't know you had?
Jon: It means a lot.
Someone that I've never met before but like, I also, you know, feel like I should know for the last 20 years.
Um, it was a special moment for sure.
Dan: That's really cool.
Thaddeus, you've got your adoptive mom who will forever be your mom, and she's along supporting you.
Yesterday, you meet your father.
Today, who did you meet?
- Dan the Man, I met my little brother.
Isaiah: Hello, hello, hello.
Thaddeus: [laughing] Yes!
Isaiah: Hello, hello.
- Oh man, he looks like a character like you!
All: [laughing] - Yeah.
- Karen, you adopted this boy many years ago.
I-I'm curious because we've never had this on our show, an adoptive parent racing with their child.
What-what emotions are going through your mind?
- Honestly, I'm pretty excited for him.
I know that this was important to him.
There was so many holes for him to fill in.
And I'm happy that he's finding family that he didn't know existed and it's just-- it's wonderful b— to be able to share this with him.
It really is.
Dan: Well, you have a younger brother and I'll tell you this, Thaddeus, you're not the only one that had that discovery today.
Nolin, tell us who was waiting for you.
- So, actually I had two people waiting for me.
Today I met two brothers.
Dan: [chuckling] Tyrese: How you doin'?
Dan: Not one, but two, and I wanna ask them a question.
How was it for you to find out that you had an older brother?
- For me, it was crazy 'cause I ain't never had another br— other— older brother that look up to, so, feels great to be The Three Musketeers.
Dan: Oh, I love that.
I love that.
Alright, The Three Musketeers it is.
Congratulations Nolin.
- Thank you.
♪ Dan: Each of you had your triumphs and your challenges today, but ultimately, one team will come out on top and another will earn a strike.
Three total minutes separated first from third.
Finishing four minutes over their allotted time, in first place, once again, is Team Black.
Both: [gasp] - Yay!
Carolen: [laughing] Tia: Oh my gosh!
- Congratulations Carolen and Tia.
Tia: Thank you.
Dan: With that first place win, you pick up the next day game benefit, and that benefit is to penalize the other three teams in tomorrow's challenge.
And so now it's time to find out who finished in second, third, and who picks up a strike.
Finishing only one minute behind Team Black on this day, what a turnaround for Team Red.
Team Red: [cheering] Dan: Congratulations, you finished five minutes over your allotted time.
Karen: Yes!
Thaddeus: We did it, we did it.
- One of you finished seven minutes over your allotted time.
The other team finished thirteen minutes over their allotted time.
Safe, on this day, Team Green.
On this day, it was a little much for Team Blue to overcome.
Team Blue, you picked up your first strike on Relative Race.
And so that means after two days, Team Red and Team Blue, you both have one strike.
Team Black and Team Green, you are strike free.
But tomorrow is an all-new day and who knows what tomorrow will bring for each of you.
There's one thing we know.
At the end of it all is family.
Remember that, because that's ultimately what matters.
Family is everything.
Two days down, eight more to go.
Get some rest.
I can't wait to catch up with all of you tomorrow when Day Three of Relative Race rolls on.
Carolen: Goodnight.
Thaddeus: Goodnight.
- Thanks, goodnight.
Tia: Thank you Dan.
♪ - [clapping] Amazin: That's good!
You guys won the challenge day!
Carolen: Thank you.
- Team Black!
- Team Black won first place for the second time.
Leah: Man, I thought we did worse.
Karen: [sighs] Yes!
Thaddeus: [laughing] Woo.
From yesterday getting in last place to today in second place, now tomorrow, that first place is gonna be ours.
Karen: [laughing] - We gotta make sure all the mistakes that we learned in these past few days, we don't make again.
My Mama Red did a lot better than me, so... - Our challenge benefit is to penalize the other teams.
Kinda sad, 'cause I don't wanna penalize all of them.
- I do.
[intense music] Carolen: [laughs] ♪
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