Dan: Previously on Relative Race, four new teams began a journey of a lifetime: a father-daughter, father-son... - In three hours I'm gonna meet my family.

Dan: ...and four complete strangers who just met.

Shawn: Smartphones for the first time?

Dan: They all have one thing in common: trying to find family.

Scott: Joe and Kris are the first biological family members I've ever met.

Dan: As teams joined for the tenth anniversary of Relative Race, new surprises and twists were revealed.

Jamie and Jansen headed back to discover they are related to their third-grade teacher.

Alex met his father and found out he has a brother.

Shawn met his aunt, Heidi, and saw a photo of his mother that he had never seen before.

Both: [laugh] Dan: But in the end, Team Red stole the first-place victory from Team Blue with their stunning Chimney Rock photo, and Team Green picked up the first strike of the race.

DNA tells us who we are and where we came from.

Following their own DNA, four teams are racing... Hannah: Oh my gosh!

Dan: ...to win $50,000... - Fingers crossed.

Dan: ...and to find their family.

Singer: ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh-oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh-oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh-oh ♪ ♪ Dan: Dawn breaks on Day 2 of the tenth anniversary 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, Team Blue, Curtis and Shawn, begin their morning in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Team Black, Jamie and Jansen, wake up in Amity, Arkansas.

Scott and Hannah from Team Green will start their morning in St. Louis, Missouri, and Team Red, Alex and Jaime, begin in Richmond, Virginia.

♪ - Yesterday, I met my biological father, Mick.

Unfortunately, this morning, he had to go to work before we woke up, but he did arrange a special phone call for me.

Oh, no!

What's up?

[laughs] - I am your half-brother, Mike.

Alex: All right.

Mike, good to meet you.

Mick said that you had a silly mustache.

He wasn't lyin'.

- Nope.

All: [laugh] - I was very surprised to get a call from my brother.

I wasn't sure if I was gonna get to talk to him or not.

Unfortunately, Michael wasn't able to make it up here to meet me because he got into an accident before he could make it, but I'm just happy that he's okay, uh, and that, uh, we'll have the chance to meet later.

Oh, man, I'm sorry you couldn't make it up here, but I'm glad we get to talk.

- Uh, so am I.

Uh, I was tryin' to find a way to, to make it work, so...

I hear you're a motorhead.

- Uh, well, a little bit, yeah.

Not, not quite like you, but I mean, I appreciate the motors for what they are.

- [laughs] Uh, I concur, I concur.

[laughs] Alex: It was really cool to just kinda jump right into the conversation, uh, no hesitation whatsoever to, uh, to get to know each other, and it was like we picked up somewhere where we had never even really started off in the first place.

- I, I appreciate this more than you can even believe.

Alex: Awesome, man.

I'm so stoked, man.

You and I are gonna, we're gonna burn some rubber.

- I ain't scared.

Alex: [laughs] It was awesome to get to chat with my brother this morning.

It was a great way to start the day, and I can't wait to go and, you know, hang out and ride some motorcycles with him.

♪ Dan: In St. Louis, Scott and Hannah are learning more about their German side of the family from Scott's cousin, Chris, and great-uncle, Joseph.

- So, we go back.

There's Hannah and you and your mom, Patricia, and your grandma and grandpa.

Yellow shows that they were born in Germany and came over from Germany.

Scott: I was always told that I was of German and Italian descent, and so, now, to see it laid out in the family tree and to see the Germanic side of the family...

It's just, uh, it reinforces what I was told.

- The church is, uh, St. Joseph's Catholic Church, and this is a little brochure they, they, um, made up by that cemetery where all most of these people are buried down there.

Chris: Most of them were married down there, too.

They were married down there, and... Joe: Married and baptized and buried in that church.

- Joe, Chris, I ca-- I can't thank you enough for sharin' this with me.

I mean, just, this means so much to kinda see some of the, this information.

I, I'm so grateful to be able to meet you guys and to, to connect and to be able to start my journey here.

♪ Dan: In St. Petersburg, Team Blue starts their morning with a surprise from Shawn's aunt, Heidi.

Heidi: I went ahead and took all the pictures that I showed you last night, and I put them in this for you so you can have something to keep, and I made you a little timeline, or a little bit of a, more where you fit in' kay?

Shawn: Oh, wow.

Heidi: So this is all the Leach.

This is my mom, right here, Sandra, and she had me, and she had your mother, Wanda, and this is you, okay?

- [laughs] Yeah.

- And then, as you go along, I put your picture in there.

Curtis: That's nice.

Heidi: And then, so, and there's lots of different pictures in here.

There's your, um, your great-grandmother.

Shawn: Oh, wow.

I really wasn't expecting that.

Curtis: Mm-hm.

- Um, she gave me my first family album, picture album, for the family that's, uh, on her side and my mother's side, uh, and was, she was able to, to show me, uh, my grandmother and what my grandmother's brothers and sisters would have been, um, and then how I lined up with her, uh, herself and her child with my mom and me.

My first family photo album.

Heidi: There you go.

Shawn: It was just so joyous.

I'm just, I'm really just so happy to be able to, to start the day with family I never knew before we set off to go do our next adventure.

♪ Dan: In Amity, Arkansas, Jamie and Jansen say goodbye to their third grade teacher and newfound cousin, Gwen.

- Gettin' ready for your journey?

I packed you a lunch.

Jamie: Yeah, we've basically got everything.

Thank you so much.

- It's been great.

I've enjoyed it so much, baby.

- It's been so nice spendin' time with our cousin, Gwen.

It was insane, you know?

She was mine and Jansen's third grade teacher.

We appreciate it.

Jansen: This was a great day.

- I was just, I'm still excited.

Gwen: I'm excited, too, and y'all be very careful on the road.

[phone notification ping] Jamie: We will.

Jansen: Oh, wait, I got a text.

Jamie: Is it Dan?

- It is Dan.

- Well, don't keep me in suspense.

- Ha.

- "Good morning, teams, and welcome to Day 2 of..." - "...Relative Race.

Team Red will traveling to Lynchburg, Virginia."

- Hmm!

- "Team Blue will be traveling to Ocala, Florida."

- "And Team Black will be traveling to Hot Springs, Arkansas."

Jamie: Hot Springs!

Yes.

- "And Team Green will be traveling to Jackson, Missouri."

- "Today's photo subject is a church."

- "The first-place prize you are competing for is an additional five minutes..." - "...on your photo contestant timer."

- Five extra minutes, okay.

"Your time starts now."

- All right, let's go.

- I know nothing about Lynchburg, Virginia, so...

I don't know.

- Back to the mountains.

Gwen: Oh, you forgot your lunches.

Jamie: Thank you, thank you.

Gwen: Y'all have a good, safe trip.

Jamie: Thanks.

Gwen: Love you.

Jamie: Love you, too.

Bye!

Chris: Guys, you forgot something!

Hannah: Oh.

Chris: You forgot the map!

'Cause we don't you to leave without this.

Hannah: Yeah.

Chris: Take this.

Hannah: Thank you!

Chris: And then, we have some directions.

Because you have to go to a church, you should go to the church of the family history where everybody was buried at in the cemetery.

Scott: Great idea.

- It's right on the way.

Alex: We got first place yesterday, uh, but goin' into today, you know, I'm still a little concerned about how we're gonna do, but as long as we can keep this momentum going, then I think we'll do all right.

Jaime: The penalty that we got yesterday, it's not a penalty we get to give out, it's, it's automatically, so, all of the other three other teams are gonna get penalized for the challenge today.

- I'm not happy about having to penalize the other teams.

It's not their fault that we rule.

[engine rumbling] Shawn: Let's go.

♪ Jansen: We're goin' to Hot Springs, Arkansas.

♪ Scott: Wait, what will the, what will happen to the other teams when they get their first strike?

Will they break down and just implode on themselves?

I think Blue Team is our, is the biggest challenge for all three of us.

- Yeah.

Curtis: So, from your map, 275 to Tampa is what, south or east?

- Um... depending on how you're driving it.

Scott: Curtis is just, you can just see him workin' out plans.

I mean, while everybody else is playin' checkers, he's over here playing three-dimensional Star Trek chess.

Shawn: I still feel pretty confident about these roads, but, I just wanna look at it one more time just to make sure.

I've always be the type that, uh, you measure twice and cut once.

Dan: With Curtis laser-focused today, he and Shawn will be racing from St. Petersburg to Ocala, Florida.

They have a total allotted time for the day of 2 hours and 7 minutes.

As for Team Green, Scott and his daughter, Hannah, they're headed from St. Louis to Jackson, Missouri.

Their allotted time for the day is 1 hour and 56 minutes.

♪ Jamie: Hot Springs!

Who we gonna see today?

- I have no clue.

There's a high possibility it could be anybody.

[chuckles] Jamie: Well, there's 36,000 people living in Hot Springs, and we know 35,420 of 'em, so I guess it could be anybody.

Dan: Headed off in a very familiar direction is Team Black.

Jamie and his son, Jansen, are racing from Amity to Hot Springs, Arkansas.

They have an allotted time of 1 hour and 18 minutes.

♪ Alex: I'm thinkin' an obelisk of sorts would be fun.

Just down the road from my father's house, there's this awesome cemetery.

Jaime: So we decided to go there and knock out our photo challenge first thing this morning, before hitting the road.

Dan: Today's photo challenge theme is church.

With 30 minutes off the clock to take their photo, Team Red, Alex and Jaime, begin their hunt.

- Oh, perfect, look at that!

That mausoleum right there.

Jaime: Beautiful.

Alex: Uh, you got the phone?

Jaime: The angel, yeah, I got it.

Look at the angel on top.

Alex: Yeah, perfect.

This isn't a church, but I don't, it may not hurt us because it's, it's a mausoleum.

Uh, I, if you think of churches, a lotta people think of churches and graveyards.

Honestly, they go hand in hand.

I didn't wanna shoot just a basic church; I wanted it to be someone abstract but still have that obvious connection between the two.

Jaime: Like, if you frame the, if you frame the shot with the two flowers and the angel... Alex: Laying down on the ground helped me get the angle.

Uh, in fact, it helped me get the angel.

Jaime: Uh... Alex: That, right there, perfect.

Jaime: That's beautiful.

[shutter clicks] Alex: Lemme, lemme edit real quick.

Let me see what I got.

Jaime: I like that one.

Do a little bit of saration, just try to get the, uh... Alex: That's what I'm gonna try to do is...

Editing the photo, messed with the saturation a little bit, uh, made sure everything was in focus, and then just kind of took the detail, tried to get it to, to pop a little bit more.

Dan: With their photo already done and submitted for the day, Team Red, Alex and Jaime, are now headed from Richmond, Virginia to Lynchburg.

They have a total allotted time for the day of 2 hours and 23 minutes.

Jaime: That's it, we're done.

All right, send it over to Dan, that's it.

Alex: Yep.

All right, sent.

Jaime: That's church for Day 2.

Church, let's go.

Got our picture, sent it to Dan, and we're off.

[dramatic brass chord] [light piano music] Shawn: Honestly, like, I really feel seen, you know, and... - Yeah.

- And for so long, I feel like that was one of my biggest struggles was feeling like I really wasn't seen or, or wanted, or anything like that, and...

I don't feel that way now.

Curtis: That's good.

Shawn: I think meeting biological family on this journey is, is gonna be so healing for me in the sense that, my whole life, I thought I, I was alone.

Alcohol, it, it just drug me down more than it lifted me up.

Honestly, it was just me trying to escape.

I felt like I had, uh, no family, and then, my adopted family saying, you know, we don't want you anymore, either, to going to a place now where I've started to build a family, you know, with my fiancée and her children, and now reconstructing my biological family, and I think just meeting somebody who I'm related to is, is going to make me feel less alone.

I know that that is going to be so miraculously effective for me in my, my health and, and my healing.

- That is really good.

I'm, I'm happy about that.

I'm happy for you.

Shawn: Yeah.

Curtis: You know, it's, um, quite amazing, when you think about it, that, uh, two total strangers are going on a ten-day adventure to find family.

I believe, you know, Shawn and I come from two different backgrounds, and, uh, but we're still striving for the same thing.

To find family, of course.

But, at the end, I think, uh, Shawn and I definitely will become family.

Dan: As destination cities quickly approach, Teams Blue, Green, and Black still have yet to complete their photo.

Jamie: On the way, we're tryin' to figure out what churches are between here and Hot Springs.

It's right here.

- Right here, we're pullin' in.

Jamie: We found Hilltop Missionary Baptist Church.

Jansen: I'm gonna go from that corner over there with that in the background.

Jamie: You got the tripod?

You want it?

Jansen: Nope.

Scott: We've pulled up to the church.

We know that we have to take a good photo today.

From yesterday we strategized a little bit around what we thought the viewers were looking for-- Hannah: --and what we thought we would see at the church, like, you know, beautiful glasses, statue, you know, those kinds of things, but everything we had planned just kinda went out the door, like, wait, it's so much more hectic.

I feel like none of these photos are doing it justice.

[doors squeaking open] Shawn: Oh, wow.

Curtis: Wow, this is it, man.

Shawn: This is it.

Curtis: This is the one.

Hey, gang.

[camera clicking] - You know, Jansen's our photographer, so I'm just gonna let him do his thing.

I'm just gonna kind of stay out of it.

Curtis: That's the one I like.

- I think that this one has just a lot to it.

Wanna go towards the purple tint or towards the green tint?

- You're not seein' the steeple completely.

- You have your glasses on?

Just makin' sure.

- Church was one part, and then the cemetery was one part, so we were just, we split up, and we're runnin' around all over the place.

Scott: You gotta divide and conquer.

- Well it's not, it doesn't have to be perfect.

I like the whole concept of it blurred out like that.

Jamie: You like that?

Jansen: Yeah.

Scott: I like those a lot better.

Let's color it up.

I mean, make it over-colored.

Like, make the color just, like, crazy silly.

Jansen: Send.

All right, Dan's got our picture.

- Send it.

- Send it.

Hannah: Okay, I think that's our photo.

Scott: Send it.

Send that one.

That's awesome.

- Okay, we're sending a photo to Dan.

[doors squeaking] Curtis: Yo, man.

Good job, dude.

Shawn: Yeah, man.

Curtis: Seriously.

♪ Hannah: I really wanna try and find some of the people that Joe and Chris were talking about.

- Oh look, right here.

After we took the photo, we decided that we're just gonna go ahead and take a couple extra minutes.

Joe and Chris said that that was my sixth great-grandfather.

He's the one who come over from Germany.

Groundskeeper: Yeah, did you know your relative, Mr. Joe Schnurbusch here, was the first one to come here with the first wave of people that moved here?

Scott: A gentleman walked right up and began telling us the oral traditions of the Schnurbusch family.

- He donated this property, 40-some acres, to be used for the cemetery and for the church to be built on.

Hannah: It was a really good reminder of, like, why we're even doing this, and... - And I wish, I wish Joe and Chris were-- Both: Right here with us!

Hannah: So, everything right now has just felt so perfect.

[emotionally] I mean, it just, it doesn't feel like a coincidence.

It just, it feels... - [chuckles] There are no coincidences.

- I know, it's... - This has been divinely inspired.

- It's so cool.

♪ [emotionally] It's a really cool day.

♪ [indistinct] [laughingly] Okay.

Okay.

♪ Alex: Oh look, there's Lynchburg!

- Lynchburg!

- We're here.

Scott: All right, it's Jackson City Limits.

We're in Jackson.

- We are in Jackson!

[phone dings] Jaime: Text from Dan!

- Oh, it's from Dan.

- "Welcome to Jackson."

Jansen: Where we goin'?

Where are we goin'?

Jamie: "Your challenge is located at Lindon Park."

- "Your challenge is located at the Equestrian Training Center."

Scott: About one and a half miles up here on the right.

- Okay, cool.

- All right, here we go.

Dan: All teams have successfully made it to their destination cities and are now ready for today's challenge.

♪ Day 2's challenge is body boogieboarding.

Taking turns, teams must slide on a variety of eccentric inflatables in an effort to score 500 points.

Each section of the slide is marked with different point values.

Be sure to watch out for the dead zone.

Landing there will result in zero points awarded.

Once teams have earned exactly 500 points, the challenge is complete.

- We have to read our penalty from yesterday because we did not get in first place.

- Thanks Red Team.

Really appreciate this.

- "Penalty for body boogie boarding.

"Too bad, so sad.

You've earned a penalty."

- "Hope you like big birds because you must now ride one."

- "Each of you must take at least one turn "sliding down on your new best friend, "a giant peacock.

Enjoy."

- Great.

Let's go!

Curtis: Let's go.

Shawn: Let's go.

♪ Jaime: Ah!

Hannah: [laughing] [screams] [buzzer] It was definitely tough 'cause this is a big old float, it was real heavy, and it was hard to get some momentum going and running, so... Scott: Thanks Red Team.

Love you guys.

♪ - Ow!

[buzzer] ♪ [ding] Alex: Oh, look at it!

- Augh.

- Look at it!

Oh!

Jaime: So at the beginning of the challenge, we're getting zeros and no points, and we're just sliding off the board all the way at the end.

A little bit too much momentum.

Alex: It was, uh, pretty difficult.

It was very slick.

♪ [ding] [buzzer] [ding] - [whimpers] Scott: We've only got a hundred points, and I am so tired.

- Dad, we've, we've got 400 points to go, so come on.

Curtis: [grunts] Shawn: Ah!

Oh.

Curtis: Goin' into this challenge, I was thinkin' to try to get 50.

And then when it dawned on me, and I started calculating, I'm like, well, if we keep getting 20s or 30s, you know, in that range, we could probably knock it out faster.

♪ ♪ [water splashing] [ding] Jamie: Our strategy, for me to get those bigger inner tubes to stay on the inner tube and get at least 10 or 20 points every time.

Jansen: My strategy is to keep going for the 50s.

♪ - [grunts] Shawn: Yeah, we're at 325 points, but if we keep gettin' these 10s, we're gonna be here for a while.

[ding] - C'mon.

All day long.

Alex: Oh!

♪ ♪ [buzzer] ♪ ♪ [buzzer] ♪ ♪ [buzzer] ♪ ♪ [buzzer] Hannah: [grunts] Okay.

♪ Yay!

Jaime: We've got 450 points.

All we need is 50 more.

♪ [ding] ♪ Jaime: That's 10!

Alex: That's 10!

Jaime: That's it!

Let's go!

One more 10!

I'm right here.

- All we need is one more 10-pointer from Jaime.

- [grunts] Alex: That's it!

That's it, that's it!

Oh!

Oh!

Jamie: That's 500.

[clapping] [water splashing] [ding ding ding] Jamie: Yeah!

Jansen ended it with a 50-pointer.

- "Your relative lives at 170 Irvington Springs Road, Lynchburg, Virginia."

- [out of breath] "Your relative-- "lives at 219-- - Popular Street-- - "Poplar Street-- Hot Springs."

Physically, I'm out of breath.

I'm, I'm gonna be okay, though.

♪ Shawn: Yes, yes, yes.

Curtis: Good job!

- Yes.

Curtis: Good job, Shawn.

Shawn: Let's go.

♪ Scott: We literally needed, like, five more points, and Hannah nailed it.

- Yes.

So now we're off to go see our relatives.

Curtis: "Your relative lives at 3537..." Both: "Thebes, Illinois."

- Thebes, Illinois it is.

- Okay.

- Let's go!

Curtis: Let's go!

Singer: ♪ Go!

♪ [whoosh] Dan: Day 2 rolls on as teams now race to find their relative's addresses.

♪ - Goin' up a hill.

I gotta go.

Jamie: Just go.

Go.

Janesn: I wanna know where Park Avenue starts.

You gotta tell me, Dad, so I can get down Park Avenue.

- I think Park Avenue is as you go around the curve.

Alex: It's Irving Springs Crest?

James: Irvington Springs Road.

- Irvington Springs Road.

Curtis: So, should we go that way, or...?

- Um, yeah, we're gonna have to go that way to catch 11th.

Do you wanna look at the map, or you're pretty confident about this?

Shawn: I'm pretty confident 'cause we can judge it by the signs that we see on the side since it is a grid.

- That's, okay.

Shawn: Yeah.

So, we get to Gainesville, and we're, we're tryin' to find our relative's house, and, uh, it hits me: this is my hometown.

♪ Alex: So we spotted a rental car company, and we thought, those guys have got to have maps.

Jaime: Hello!

Alex: We found a nice couple that was renting a car that knew exactly where we were going.

- At the stoplight, take a left, and that's the bypass.

- That's the bypass?

So 501?

- Mm-hm.

- Okay.

And gave us precise, perfect directions.

So, 501 and right into the next lane, that's Irvine Springs?

- Mm-hm.

Jaime: Every time we get out of the car, we're runnin'.

We're not taking a second for granted, 'cause we know it comes out to minutes.

♪ - Do you have any clue where our card-- That's not our card, is it?

- No, it's n-- It's exposed.

It was out.

Where'd our card go?

What the heck?

I hope it's 219.

We're just gonna go with it.

- I can't see!

[paper rustles] Shawn: The street over that way is gonna be 1st Street, over that way is gonna be 1st.

- So what's gonna be Ave?

- Avenue goes this way.

- Okay, do you wanna look at the map?

I know this is Shawn's hometown, and he knows that we're close, but every second counts in this race.

He just needs to pull out the map.

- All right, there's a light.

- There's a light, they said right at the light.

Hannah: Poplar?

I don't see anything.

We have Park.

There's, it says Thebes right there.

- So, we need to turn around is what I'm hearing?

- Yes.

- Okay.

Shawn: This is my hometown, and, uh, I made a wrong turn, and I feel like that wrong turn really might have cost us some time.

Once we were headin' the right direction, though, uh, everything started to make sense, and I knew that we could make it to the relative's house really quickly.

Jansen: 209 at that one.

Jamie: It's gon be, I think it's gonna be right up there.

- We should see Irvington Springs road-- - Oh, right there.

- Next signal.

- Next signal.

Shawn: So we're gonna make a, a left down this street.

3537 is right there.

Jansen: So it's the next house.

It's right here.

219 Poplar, right here.

- [laughing] That's how you navigate!

- We're on the right road.

- This next right.

Hannah: I think I...

I think we see it.

- Is that it?

That's it.

- Up here.

- Look at that.

- Yeah, there's the-- Both: 302.

Hannah: It looks like a church, but it says 302, so I-- Scott: Park up here right by the stop sign.

Pull on up here.

Let's go, Steven Turner, pastor.

Let's, let's go see who this is.

Hannah: Okay.

Scott: All right, let's go.

♪ Hi.

- Hi, how are you?

- I'm Scott Bradley.

Steven: Scott.

- And this is my daughter, Hannah.

- Hannah, my name's Steven Turner.

Nice to meet you.

- How are we related to you?

- Uh, Scott, I'm your older brother.

Scott: Really?

Steven: On your dad's side, yeah.

Scott: Hey.

Hannah: Oh my-- - Nice to meet you.

♪ - If I'da known, I'da found ya.

Scott: All right, man.

♪ - My name's Steven Turner, and I am Scott's older brother on his dad's side.

And, uh, I'm Hannah's uncle.

♪ Scott: When Steve and I hugged, I didn't wanna let go.

I didn't want for that embrace to just end.

I've never had that before in my life.

This is your niece.

Hannah, here's your uncle.

Hannah: Nice to meet you.

- Hannah, so nice to meet you.

- Oh my goodness.

Steven: Yep, so... - It's just, uh... Steven: Yeah, it's crazy.

Scott: I mean, especially being able to see my brother eye-to-eye, that's just, I mean... Steven: Oh, that's the best part.

My prayer was, I'm 5' 3 1/2", so... - [laughingly] Me too.

[laughs] - So we're the same height.

That's, that's good.

That's really good.

- There's all kinds of similarities.

When I look at him, I can see myself.

I can see what I see in the mirror in him.

And it's, like... jaw-dropping.

Steven: So the reason we're here is because this is actually my church.

I'm a pastor.

Scott: Really?

- Yeah, the Church Under the Hill.

Pastor Turner.

- That's awesome.

Steven: Yeah.

Scott: I'm really looking forward to just breaking bread with my brother for the very first time.

I can see how he's gonna be one of my next ride and die guys that's gonna join my group, and it's just... [triumphant grunt] I can't explain that.

I, I just, I...

I'm totally speechless.

Steven: Yeah, I know it's really, it's really overwhelming.

Yeah.

- Well it's got, uh, we've got a great story, and I can't wait to hear what all you have to tell us.

- Yeah, so let's go inside, and I'll, I've got a lot more things to share with ya.

Scott: That's awesome.

Steven: Yeah.

♪ ♪ Jaime: [sighs] ♪ - You ready?

- Fine.

Ready?

- Ready.

Let's go.

♪ Hello.

I'm Alex Gillette.

- I'm Jaime Laureano.

Man: Nice to meet you.

Alex: Nice to meet you, pleasure.

Which one of us are you related to?

- Well, Jaime, I'm your cousin, Justin.

- Justin, I remember you, brother.

Alex: [laughs] All right.

That's awesome.

Jaime: I remember you, brother.

♪ You look great, man.

- [emotionally] You look great too, man.

I'm sorry.

Jaime: No, please don't.

- I'm Justin Velez, and I'm Jaime's cousin on his mom's side.

Jaime: Very important for me to reconnect with Justin, um, which is why I put them under as my top priority for this race.

Our mothers were very, very close.

We spent a lot of time together.

And, um, when I lost that, uh, at six years old, it was extremely traumatic.

Um, I went through a lot of depression, a lot of years of hurt and pain, of just wondering, like, why wasn't anybody coming to get me?

Like, I'm here.

Why don't they, you know, why don't they come?

And, um, it brought all that emotion back, but it also brought back the emotion of, of the memories of my family, the memories of the love and the, and the times that we spent.

Oh, man.

Justin: It's been so many years.

Last time I seen you, you were about seven years old.

We were so close, like best friends.

We did everything together.

- I remember.

I remember.

- I'm glad you remember.

Seeing him was just like, [snaps] picking up, like, we never left each other.

Jaime: Here we are.

Justin: Here we are.

- I'm sorry to do this to you.

I'm sorry to-- - Nah, man, this is a beautiful thing.

This is a blessing right here.

This is a blessing, you know, because we finally get to see you.

You're a grown man now, you know?

We searched so many years for Jaime, and finally get to see him was just, was everything for me.

- I'm so excited.

You have no idea how excited I am.

Justin: I'm sure you are.

I'm excited for you.

- Seeing Justin at the doorstep and giving him a hug and, and feeling his presence and seeing his emotion just really brought it all back, and it felt like a floodgate of, of possibilities opening up.

- C'mon, let's go inside, man.

Jaime: Let's do it.

I appreciate you.

Man.

♪ Curtis: Drivin' up to the house, I'm feeling anxious, but I'm also feeling somewhat in control, reserved, just, you know, I don't know what to expect.

I don't know if it's going be, um, a relative for me or if it's going to be another relative for Shawn.

♪ Curtis: Hello.

Woman 1: Hi.

- Hi, my name is Curtis.

This is Shawn.

- Hi, I'm Joyce.

Nice to meet you.

Shawn: Nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you, Joyce.

Joyce: Nice to meet you.

- Is it safe to assume we're related?

- Yes we are.

- How are we related?

- I'm your aunt, Joyce.

- [laughingly] Really?

Joyce: Yes.

- [laughing] It's nice to meet you.

My name is Joyce Richardson, and I'm Curtis's aunt.

Curtis: I never imagined that I would meet anyone from my biological father's side of the family.

That thought had never crossed my mind.

- You look just like your dad.

Exactly.

Height, smile, that funny laugh.

- [laughs] Joyce: You, you, y'all both got the funny laugh.

When Curtis laughs, it brings a lot of memories of his dad.

The smile, the feature over his hand, uh, it just brings back a lot.

- Yeah, I'm, I'm sorry, I'm just, I'm shocked to hear that I, to meet my father's sister, to meet my auntie, I'm just kind of like, I never thought that I would find out anything about-- - And I'm your only auntie left.

Curtis: Really?

- Yes.

I'm your last aunt.

And you've been looking for me all this time?

Joyce: Yes.

We, your, your grandmother, your aunt, your dad, everybody on the immediate side of the family has been looking for you for years.

Curtis: I never expected to hear that, but right there, that put everything, that put me at ease.

It was like, ugh, wow, okay.

This is family.

This is... [chuckles] This is my biological family here, because who else would look for someone for 54 years?

Yeah, I'm speechless.

I don't even know what to say.

Joyce: Yeah, they were eager to find you.

- Yeah, I can't wait to hear about this.

I really can't.

Joyce: Lots to tell.

Okay, let's, c'mon in.

Let me show some more for you.

Curtis: Yes, please.

♪ ♪ Jamie: As we walked up the driveway today, I was, like, who in the world are we meeting in Hot Springs?

And I had no clue.

Hey!

Jansen: Hey.

Woman 2: Hi, Jamie.

Jamie: Hey!

- Hi, Jansen.

Jamie: How are you?

- I'm Dot Fox.

I am Jamie's aunt, and I'm your great-aunt.

Jansen: Oh, cool.

- [laughs] I'm glad to s-- know this!

Dot and Jamie: [laughing] Dot: You remember me?

Jamie: I do!

I do remember you!

Dot: And I saw you when you were a little boy, but I've not seen you since, so... Jamie: I had no clue!

[laughs] Jansen: This is crazy.

Jamie: I had no clue.

I'm excited.

I am very excited.

- I've been, I've been ready for this.

Jamie: I have too.

[laughs] Well good deal.

- I knew Jamie, um... [scoffs] I knew his whole family, and we've all lived right there in Kirby together [laughingly] for a long time.

Uh, I had seen Jansen a few times when he was just a little boy.

But I had not met him.

- So how long have you known?

Dot: Uh, really just since this started, but I've suspected it-- Jamie: Right, right.

- --for long years, but-- - Well, that's kinda what I've heard, uh, I'm gathering that people, they didn't, didn't really wanna say anything.

Dot: Yeah.

- 'Cause they didn't, didn't know for sure, and my whole life I didn't know.

- I wish so bad that it had happened so much earlier.

Jamie: I do too.

Jansen: We're gettin' to add to the family, so-- - Yes, exactly.

I mean, our family is just expanding.

We're not leavin' nobody out.

We're just getting bigger, and, and that's the thing.

We've lived right there all, all this time.

I don't know how many times we've talked and just didn't have a clue!

I'm-- so, I'm excited.

I'm just, I'm glad.

I'm, I'm, I'm glad.

[laughs] It makes me feel good.

- Would y'all like to come inside?

There's someone else I'd like you to meet.

- Okay, there's another person!

Yeah!

Jamie: All right.

Let's...

It's just gettin' better.

♪ After I met my Aunt Dot, she took us around back to meet another family member.

And all I could think of is who could this be?

And do I already know 'em?

[door creaks open] Dot: Guys, there's somebody I want you to meet out here.

Jamie: [laughingly] H-hey!

Woman 3: Hey!

Jamie: [laughing] Woman 3: How are you?

Jamie: I'm good, how are you?

Woman 3: I'm your Granny Patsy.

- I immediately recognized our neighbor Patsy.

I mean, she comes in our store!

She was there, like, two weeks ago!

[crying quietly] - She's known my family forever and I've-- we've known them forever.

I mean, we've been close without bein' close!

Patsy: It was... it was so emotional, I-- I've loved him... a lot of years.

Not knowing that he was really my grandson, but thinkin'... he might be.

[emotional music] [sniffing] Jamie: This is my boy.

Jansen: So, so, what, you're my great-grandmother?

Patsy: You're my great-grandson.

- That's amazing.

Patsy: Yes.

Jamie: You know, when this all started, I didn't even know if my dad was alive.

Much less my grandma.

Jansen: This is crazy!

I've, I have, I have another great-grandmother now!

Patsy: Yeah!

Dot: [laughs] - Ah.

It's just-- Patsy: It's, well, it's... Jamie: It's just ov-- Patsy: ...it's great!

- It is!

It's just...

Patsy: Overwhelming, idn'it?

- [emotionally] Yeah.

- Several times I've been to your establishment.

Jamie: [with emotion] I know!

We've been right there so many times.

- I know.

- And I had no cl-- how long have you known?

Dot: [laughs] Patsy: Forever.

Dot: Forever.

Patsy: But-- Dot: She's expected it forever.

- I hadn't really known, but I, I, I knew.

- My, my real mom, Renee...

Dot: Yes.

- Never told 'em.

Never told Mama.

My, my grandma.

Dot: She never?

Patsy: Did she not?

Jamie: No.

Patsy: Naw.

- She never told nobody.

Patsy: I, I couldn't say anything and I-- i-it's just something that lives with you.

You don't say anything, it didn't keep you from lovin' him!

But, you loved him from a distance.

And you grab what you could from seein' 'im.

- I'm learnin' so much about my f-- my life, my family that it's just, it's blowing me away.

I mean, I-I-I, I can't-- words can't describe the love I felt at that moment and the happiness and the... the overwhelming joy that is just goin' through my heart and my, and me, and, and my soul.

Because, I mean...

I've got more people out there that truly love me.

♪ Dan: Back in Virginia, Jaime catches up with his long-lost cousin, Justin.

Justin: Wow, man, it's, like, so amazing to have you guys here.

You know, I wasn't gonna miss this opportunity to come see you.

- I appreciate you.

Justin: You know, especially after all these years, so.

It's a really good moment right now.

Jaime: It's really interesting because for me, those memories are what got me through... real, real tough times.

Just, remembering that I had a family that loved me, even though I didn't know where you guys were, or what was goin' on with y'all.

But, I remember love.

Justin: He was never forgotten, you know, since the day he was taken away, um, all the way up to this moment.

Their memory never faded away.

It was always there.

The only thing was that they weren't present in our life.

But, their memory was always there.

We never forgot about them.

You know, you going through this experience is a blessing because, you know, instead of us finding you, you found us.

Which is a blessing.

And I, and I-I, I'm very, very happy that, you know, you decided to do this.

Because if it wasn't for this show, you know, who knows, we probably would never have found each other.

That's the beautiful thing about this show.

Jaime: Wondering whether your family is looking for you, it's, it's detrimental to a child's psychology.

Um, as an adult, it's, it's still pretty detrimental and pretty, uh, uh, impactful.

It really feels like a weight's been lifted off my chest, off my shoulders, and, and it feels like a, a bright light for the future of my family and my siblings.

- That missing piece of the puzzle is finally put together, and we're all here together now.

- [sniffles] Um.

Justin: It's, it's all right, bro.

- I appreciate you, bro.

Justin: It's all right.

Jaime: It's just, you know, being 14, 15, ready to graduate high school, and I didn't know what I was gonna do.

I was just always wounded.

You know, even to the end, even as 34 years old, you know, like, did somebody love me?

Was people looking for me?

Am I just forgotten?

Am I just the, you know, am I swept under the rug?

Did they pretend we didn't exist?

- You weren't.

Jaime: I know Chimene has more kids.

I know I have a sister named Madison somewhere.

I, is she in the system?

Is she okay?

Justin: Uh, they never went through the system.

That I can tell you.

They didn't, they didn't go through the system.

No.

- Uh, um, that's good to know.

That's really, really good to know.

Justin: They didn't go to the system.

Jaime: I'd always heard that my biological mother, Chimene, had a few other children who may have been through the foster care system, and, um, growing up, that's always kind of been a burden on me.

Uh, I, I've felt compelled that I feel like it's my job to take care of all my siblings, even the ones that I hadn't met.

- Your mother tried to compensate for losing you guys, and tried to overexceed with them.

- That's beautiful.

Justin: All she did was talk about you to them.

Especially you.

You were, like, her overachiever.

Givin' my cousin that closure, for him, knowing that his siblings weren't in this, um, system, which, you know, pretty awesome for me because having him thinking that they were in the system just the same way he was, you know, probably was a burden on him.

And, um, and I'll... hopefully it took that burden off of him.

- This story right now is, is beyond moving.

Y'all dealt with so much growing up, and, yeah, like, just hearing more about it, it just, it, knowing that you're reconnecting to people that you once knew and absolutely loved, and knowing that you all were trying to find him is just, it's, it's probably one of the most heartwarming things that I've experienced in my life.

I was beyond lucky in my situation, but you guys, not so much.

And it just shows that things come around full circle in the end as long as you keep an open heart and you keep your eye out.

Justin: Absolutely.

Appreciate it, man.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

- I mean, I'm more than happy to be here, brother.

Like, I, I, uh, exactly, this is exactly what I was looking for.

I'm happy to meet you again and see you again.

There's no way after this, what we've gone through the find each other, and to find the family, I'm very much looking forward to not only meeting Justin, but also having a relationship with his siblings and the rest of my family.

♪ Scott: After my big brother, Steven, takes Hannah and I into his beautiful church, he answers one of the biggest questions I've had about my biological father.

Our father, I, wh-- i-- what's, is he alive?

Is, what's the story?

- Yeah, our father's alive, and he does know about you.

- I, I contacted him, and, uh, he wants to meet you and everything, but he's, he doesn't want to do it on TV.

Scott: M'kay.

- And, you know, he's just kind of personal that way.

- It's amazing that I got to learn that my biological father is alive, and that his name is Phil Creamy.

While he didn't want to be part of this journey, I hope to meet him very soon after the show.

- I do have some pictures I wanna share with you and everything of him.

So... - That's our biological father.

Steven: Yeah, that's a picture of him, him when he was, he was probably about eight or nine there.

And then that's a picture of him and my mother and me when I was, when I was little.

They got married when they were very young.

My mom was 15, and he was 16.

They stayed together for about three years, and then they split up, and then my mom raised me by herself.

You definitely have his brow.

Hannah: I was gonna say, especially the eye area.

- Yeah, the eyebrow area.

Yeah.

- Yeah, but, like, this photo, like, my stomach is in knots.

Dad looks just like that.

Scott: It was wild to see in the photos some of the facial expressions that I make, just kind of, don't know where they came from.

I just kind of make some of these expressions.

And, I mean, Hannah just, she was speechless.

Hannah: I really was, yeah.

Especially some of, like, the photos of his biological father at, like, 17, you know, and then photos I've seen my whole life of Dad at that same age.

I, they look so, so similar.

I felt like I was looking at a picture of Dad.

Steven: I mean, this is, this is the start of a, of a relationship.

Scott: Thank you for meeting with us today.

I mean, I-I-I, finding out that I've ha-- I got a brother is just, I can't even describe it.

It's just, um, I keep trying to put it, stuff into words, and it's like, you know, I can't.

I can't, I can't express this.

Steve is an incredible person.

Just very real, very open, very honest, and to see that's a big brother?

I mean, I'm stoked.

Steven, thank you.

Steven: Yeah.

♪ Dan: In Florida, Curtis sits down with his Aunt Joyce to learn more about his father's side of the family.

- I have so many questions.

Joyce: Okay.

- So, you said the family was looking for me.

Joyce: Yes.

- So can you tell me about that?

- Well, your grandmother, all of us, we knew when you were born 'cause they called, your mother called and told us, and then after that, that's when we found out you were gonna be adopted.

Curtis: Mm-hm.

- My mother, she said, I'm willing to adopt you, and your mother said no.

- Is there any reason why she said no?

Joyce: We don't-- We have no idea.

She just up and went to Kansas City.

We don't know the reason why.

- [sighs] The most disappointing thing that I've heard so far is that my biological father and his family had no idea what the situation was with my adoption.

Um, I have no idea what my biological mother was going through at the time, um, and why she made the decisions that she did, but that's an answer I'm going to have to get from her.

You said you were my last remaining auntie.

Joyce: Yes.

- So, how many siblings?

- Four.

Two boys and two girls.

The oldest sister is deceased, and my oldest brother is deceased, so it's just your father and I now.

- Okay, so my father is still alive.

- Yes.

Curtis: Okay.

What's his last name?

- Casey.

- Okay.

It was amazing to hear that my biological father, Cye Casey, is still alive.

I'm completely in shock to hear any information about that side of the family.

And if I'm lucky enough to meet him, um, I can't wait to hear stories from him along with meeting other people on that side of the family.

- Well, we'll open up and look at some pictures?

- Yes, please.

Joyce: Okay.

It's your dad when he was a senior.

Curts: That's, that's scary to me.

That is, like, really scary to me.

Joyce: You look just like him.

And look who this is.

That's him.

Curtis: Wow.

Joyce: Junior year.

- Seein' my father's picture for the first time, I couldn't believe how much we resemble each other.

It was, um, it was quite striking, the features that we share.

But seein' my biological father, I was like... [laughs] [laughingly] yeah, that's definitely my father.

Um, you know, from the eyes, the chin.

Did you guys even know what I looked like?

- All of, all of y'all look alike.

- When you say, who, "all of y'all," who, who?

Joyce: A brother... - Oh.

Joyce: That's three and a half weeks from you.

Same age.

You were born August the 9th and he was born September the 7th, same year.

And y'all look exactly alike.

And you have several other, other.

Lots.

- Am I the oldest?

- Yes.

Yes, you are the oldest.

- That's a lot to take in.

Finding out that I have a brother the same age as me, along with other siblings, I mean, it's just crazy, uh, I'm, I'm tryin' to wrap my head around it.

You know, I was the only child, and now I have siblings, so I'm just hoping that I can build a relationship with each and every one of 'em.

- You're family.

Both: We're family.

♪ Dan: It's now the end of Day 2 as all teams gather to hear the results.

Jaime: I feel really great goin' into the call tonight.

I think we navigated our hometown pretty good.

Alex: Gettin' ready for the call right now, and, uh, I mean, I'm feelin' pretty confident.

- You know, I think we did a good job today.

I think we had a great... we picked a good route.

I feel like we murdered that challenge.

Shawn: I'm, I'm just feeling so nervous.

I, I'm very conscious of the little mistakes that I made, and just really worried that maybe they added up.

Hannah: I am nervous about the idea of getting another strike.

Scott: We definitely course corrected on some things, We experimented a little bit maybe too much yesterday, so, I think today...

This, I think this is the day.

[music builds dramatically] Dan: It has been an eventful day for every single one of you as we draw Day 2 to a close here on Relative Race.

What is with the headbands for Alex and Jaime?

Team Red: [laughing] - Well, when, uh, when we saw what our challenge was today, um, our sleeves just decided to come off and thought that they'd be better suited as headbands instead.

- I love your attitude, all of your attitudes.

You're having a great time, you're overcoming challenges, you're looking forward to the end of the day, and that's where I want to go right now.

Jamie and Jansen.

You killed it on your challenge, and you killed it gettin' to your relative's address.

It was somebody you knew.

- I was able to meet... my aunt, Dot... and my grandma, Patsy.

Dot: [chuckles] Jamie: I didn't know if I was ever gonna be able to meet my own father, and today I got to meet my grandma.

Dan: I can feel the love already, and I know the other teams see this and feel it.

That is the uniqueness of this show.

- They are truly amazing people.

- It's just, it's, it's completely changed our life, Dan.

- It's a race of discoveries, and your discoveries continue, as it does for all of the teams.

Team Red, yesterday we met Alex's father.

Today, it was Jaime's turn.

Who did you meet?

- I got to meet my first cousin on my mother's side, uh, who was actually my best friend all the way up to six years old when we were separated into foster care.

So it's like more of a re-finding of family, somebody who I lost a very, very long time ago.

So everybody meet my cousin, Justin, who has a lot of information, all the, all the questions that I have.

I'm very, very much looking forward to, to opening this door and answering them with him, so.

Dan: It is amazing the physical similarities you see when you see family.

And you and Justin have a lot of physical similarities.

Scott and Hannah, it was an emotional day throughout.

And you had no problem getting to the address, but it wasn't a house.

- The location, we get to the address that we're given, and it's a church.

And then there is my brother on my dad's side.

Steven: Hey.

Scott: Steve.

And his wife, Tanya.

- [sighs] You met a brother today.

Scott: I met my brother.

He is a pastor here in southeast Missouri.

And it's just, like, this is incredible.

God has done so much in my life, and it's just exciting.

Dan: [laughs] What a great day.

All right.

Curtis, Shawn, yesterday, there was somebody waiting for Shawn.

Today was it different?

- So today I met my aunt, Joyce.

Dan: How are ya?

All: [laughing] Dan: Well, thank you for being there for him.

Thank you for sharing this experience with us.

And Curtis, congratulations.

- Thank you so very much.

Life changing.

Really.

Dan: Well, it is that time once again.

♪ The difference between first place and last was a total of 10 minutes.

Finishing in first place, four minutes under their allotted time, which is very unusual...

Team Black, you knew where you were going, and you killed it at the challenge.

- Yes!

Dan: You finished four minutes under your allotted time.

You sit in first place.

Finishing two minutes behind you...

Boy, you guys killed it in your challenge as well.

Congratulations Team Blue.

Shawn: Oh-ho-ho.

- Yes.

[laughs] Dan: So it comes down to third and fourth, and the difference between third and fourth place was two total minutes.

Finishing four minutes over their allotted time... and safe on this day, in third place...

Team Green.

Congratulations.

- Oh.

Good.

Dan: Team Red, you took the wrong route to your city, and it cost you.

However, we now have a photo contest to take a look at.

Whoever submitted the photo that the fans liked the most will have five minutes deducted from their overall time.

And as we know, the times today are incredibly close.

These photos do matter.

The subject matter was church.

Thousands of viewers have voted... and the vote is in.

The winner on Day 2... [dramatic music] Team Blue.

Congratulations.

All: [laughing] Dan: You are the winner.

It was a very, very close vote.

With you winning the photo contest, you received five minutes off your time, and that was enough to move you from second place to first.

The official standings on Day 2 then are Team Blue followed by Team Black, and Team Red, you've picked up your first strike of Relative Race.

Tomorrow brings all new adventures, new family, new trials, new challenges, but new triumphs, and that's what's waiting for you on Day 3 of Relative Race.

All roads lead to family, and family is what it's all about.

Be safe, and have another great adventure on the road trip unlike any other.

Jamie: Thanks, Dan.

Curtis: Thank you.

Jamie: Good night, guys.

- Good night, everybody.

Hannah: Love y'all.

Jaime: First strike.

- Uuuuugh.

Today we got our first strike.

Felt like we did really well.

- I feel like flew through the challenges.

I feel like we flew through the route, found the relative quickly, but it really came down to a couple minutes.

- Our first first place win.

- Yes.

- Wow.

Jamie: We dropped from first to second.

- No, it's not, I wasn't even worried about that.

I was just more worried about the fact that I know my picture was better.

- [laughs] Hannah: I still wish we were in first place, but, I'll take third.

- It wasn't last.

- It wasn't last.

- I'll take second.

I'll take first.

But you watch out, Team Blue, 'cause we're comin' to get you.

- I think they're gonna start to catch on that we're, we're better than we've been letting on, so.

- Curtis and Shawn are the Relative Race ninjas that everybody's gonna have to look out for.

- It's my hope to just keep up the streak, you know, stay competitive, stay consistent, you know, and, uh, avoid strikes.

♪