Dan: Previously on Relative Race.

Team Blue had their best performance.

- Whoo!

Dan: Team Blue, you finished in first place.

- Yeah!

Whoo!

- Pick it up, pick it up.

Dan: Team Black survived to see another day.

Maria met her birth father for the first time.

- I just felt that love and I just felt that instantly.

Yeah.

Dan: And got a surprise visit from her mom.

- Happy birthday!

[cheering] Dan: DNA tells us who we are and where we came from.

Following their own DNA, four teams are racing... - Yes!

- Blue!

Dan: ...to win $50,000... - Yes!

Dan: ...and to find their family.

♪ Oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh.

♪ ♪ Oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh.

♪ ♪ Oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh.

♪ ♪ It's Day 5 of Relative Race, and all teams have reached the halfway point of their journey.

Leading the race is Team Blue with no strikes.

Demetrius: I feel like so many doors are opening, and I can't wait for this journey to continue to see how many others I can meet.

Dan: Teams Red and Green both have one strike.

- Day 5 of our gratitude tour.

And there's a whole lot to be grateful for.

Keith: We're basically at the halfway point, and I'm really curious to know where things will go from here.

Dan: And with elimination on the line, Team Black begins the day with two strikes.

- We want to keep meeting relatives, so we want to stay away from that last strike.

Dan: In Arlington, Virginia, Maria has to say goodbye to both her mom and her dad.

- Guys, I'm gonna miss you guys.

This is like, it's been a lot.

I can't even explain.

Like, we're exhausted right now.

Seriously.

Saying goodbye this morning was pretty awesome.

After kind of sleeping on last night after a roller coaster of a ride and the surprises, it was just great to see the two of them together and be able to say goodbye to the two of them, I feel the way they would have wanted it.

Just seeing you two and, you know, it has made everything better.

And I just want to thank you guys and let you guys know that I love you.

And I wanna thank you for everything.

Being able to spend time with my birth mother and birth father right before we left was amazing today.

They gave me great words of encouragement, and that is just to go out thee and win like we should do.

- Yesterday I gave Maria something to signify her journey and, um, we didn't really get to celebrate 34 years ago.

So Dad, this is for you.

Maria: As we're sitting on the steps to leave, my birth mother gives my birth father a bracelet, a gift, just to thank him, and just as a reminder for him to know that he is Dad.

Elizabeth: Oh, wow.

Sharon: That's our birthstone.

Elizabeth: That's so cool.

Sharon: We're both September babies, so sapphire, so now you have sapphire in your-- - And that's the old color blue.

- Wow.

That's beautiful!

Sharon: Yeah, our favorite color blue.

Maria: Yes.

- Congratulations, Dad.

There's your baby.

- Surprise!

- There's my baby.

And I got another baby too.

- Yeah.

♪ Dan: In Savannah, Georgia, Team Black wakes up to a sunrise with their cousin Catherine and her husband Michael.

- Oh, this is so pretty.

Do you guys usually get up and watch it?

The sunrise?

- No, we are more sunset people.

Kristin: Watching the sunrise was just relaxing, and it was a time that we could just reflect that we, we haven't really had much time to relax.

And so it was a good breather.

- How are you feeling?

- I'm feeling good this morning.

I think this is one of the mornings I felt better, so we're pretty confident that we're gonna do good today.

So today's the midpoint of this race, and first, I'm just proud that we've made it halfway.

That we've already been able to meet so many relatives, and do so many things with them and learn about all of them.

And so the fact that we're halfway and we've already experienced so much.

- Y'all are intelligent, you're strong, you're resourceful.

Y'all have got this today.

Kaley: We feel so loved with our cousin Catherine and her husband.

Considering we just met, it doesn't matter.

Like, they've opened up everything to us.

It's important to realize that they didn't have to do that.

That's important to us.

Kristin: Mm-hmm.

♪ - So here we are at Day 5.

We gonna kill it today.

Killed the challenge yesterday.

I got to meet some interesting family members.

- Hey, hey, hey, what's going on?

It's Team Blue.

AKA, Team Flowers.

Whoo!

We kicked butt yesterday!

We took first place.

Now we gotta do the same today.

- Woke up feeling like the Energizer Bunny.

Green Team will keep going and going.

- Yes.

- Trust me.

- We're ready to hit this road.

Let's go.

- Cannot wait to see where we're going next.

- All right, bye, guys.

- Bye.

[dramatic music] ♪ - To clarify, to get out of here-- - [gasps] We got a text.

- You now.

- "Good morning, teams, and welcome to Day 5 of Relative Race."

- "Team Green will be traveling to Flagstaff, Arizona."

- "Team Blue will be traveling to Columbus, Ohio."

- "Charlotte, North Carolina."

- "Scotch Plains, New Jersey."

♪ Kaley: "Today's first place winner will be able to text any other team..." - "Demanding that they pull over on the road for five minutes."

- "Or, choose a Day 10 benefit."

- "Your time starts right now."

- Go.

- Let's go, let's go.

- All right, we love you!

- Bye, love you!

Excited about getting out on the road.

- Day 5!

- We're looking to make a great impact on Day 5.

- You guys should be able to go straight down.

- We're in Santa Fe, right?

- On the 25.

Marcus: We feel like we had a flawless victory yesterday, but we still got second place, so today, we just need to be a little bit sharper.

- We gotta go, we gotta go.

- Sorry, thank you so much.

- Bye, ladies, bye!

- We have two strikes, so we need to do whatever it takes to stay in the race.

Maria: Having met my birth father and birth mother really gave us a big boost I feel like.

It's gonna give us this boost that we need today.

Elizabeth: Oh, yeah, we're getting this one.

- Definitely.

- For sure.

- Definitely.

♪ - It's Day 5 of Relative Race, and all of our teams are all across the country, each looking for new family, each in a different city.

And each of them still has their eye set on the finish lie in an undisclosed location.

At the start of the race, all of our teams surrendered their smart phones and all use of technology in exchange for paper maps and flip phones with no GPS or internet access.

Now they're headed to a new city.

They must take a selfie to prove that they've made it, successfully complete a common challenge, and then find their relative, each in a different allotted time.

The team that goes over their allotted time the most will receive a strike.

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

Welcome to Day 5 of Relative Race.

In Savannah, Georgia, Team Black is starting the race off with a... bang.

[crash] - Oh, my gosh!

Kristin: Kaley!

♪ What the heck?

Your foot slipped.

Kaley: Ah.

Kristin: It's okay.

[sighs] Dan: Once Team Black actually starts moving forward, they'll be racing from Savannah, Georgia, to Charlotte, North Carolina.

They have an allotted time today of 3 hours and 58 minutes.

- [exhales] Oh my gosh.

- Pull out.

♪ - What is this roll right here?

Says "Open with your relative."

When did they sneak this in the car?

Keith: When we got in the car this morning, there was this package there that said, "Open once you get to your relative."

So I'm really curious to know what that is.

Hopefully it's another Day 10 benefit.

- Right.

Can't open that.

- Can't open that 'til you're with your relative.

- I'm with my relative.

[laughs] Dan: Today, Team Green, Marcus, Keith, and Bishop, will be racing from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to Flagstaff, Arizona.

With driving and the common challenge factored in, they have the longest allotted time of the day at 5 hours and 31 minutes.

- I guess we'll find out tonight what that is.

- That's when you'll find out.

♪ Maria: These two are sitting here like they're watching a movie on their iPad.

- No, I know, they're just like chilling, like.

- And you're braking.

What are you braking for?

There's no one in front of you!

- Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria.

Pos-- you've got to put positive, y-you've got to be positive, girl!

- I cannot, today.

All this, ya-ha-he-he.

- Some fuel.

- New York is coming out.

- Some New York power, baby.

- This is all, New York is coming out!

Dan: Heading towards their home town of New York, Team Red, Elizabeth and Maria, make their way from Arlington, Virginia, to Scotch Plains, New Jersey.

They have an allotted time of four hours and five minutes.

- Uh, I don't have any negative thoughts.

- Really?

"What are you doing?!

Why are you in the fast lane?!"

[laughs] Man, I have road rage!

[laughter] ♪ Demetrius: Remember we were talking about 33 West?

We're coming up on that, look.

Look.

Right here to the right.

Chonta: Oh, that is.

- Look on the map, look on the map.

See-- Chonta: I-I know, I'm trying to see right here.

It goes over.

It looks like it's going-- It cuts straight across and it turns you right into Columbus.

It's kind of like a shortcut.

- You want to try?

Chonta: I would do that.

- Keep my fingers crossed.

Dan: With a last-minute route change and a possible risky shortcut, Team Blue, Demetrius and Chont, will race from Charleston, West Virginia, to Columbus, Ohio.

They have a total allotted time of 2 hours and 59 minutes.

- 33 West, Columbus, Ohio.

- Columbus, Ohio.

You can't make that up.

Chonta: You can't make that up!

Exit to 46.

You can't make that up!

Demetrius: This was a risky decision we decided to take.

I wasn't sure we were gonna be able to find the highway.

- But we did.

This is gonna save us a lot of time.

- All right, man, good job with map reading and, like, really.

I mean like quick on your feet.

♪ - I'm a little apprehensive to meet one person, if I'm being honest, and that one person would be my biological father.

Even if I do meet my birth father, like, that's the-- that's the only person that like I don't know how I'm gonna feel.

And I don't want to come off as like, oh, okay.

You gave me life.

Now what?

The little bit that I do know about him is he's had a very troubled past, it seems.

And I don't quite know how I feel about that.

Like you said.

There's always two sides to a story.

Maria: Right.

Elizabeth: And I think if he's a relative that I am gonna meet, that means he's wanting to tell his side of the story.

- Right.

- And I'm absolutely willing to listen.

- Yes.

- How that will affect me, I can't know.

- Yeah.

I've already met my mom and dad on this race, and my sister has been there with me throughout this whole thing, so now it's my turn to have her back.

- Mm.

Everyone deserves this second chance, and if you knew somebody's story, the way you look at them might change.

- Exactly.

♪ Dan: After five days on the road, countless hours behind the wheel, teams find ways to stay entertained.

♪ - This car ride's making me crazy!

♪ ♪ - Some days you wish you c-could stop it th-- ♪ ♪ - Baby, I'm better off by myself.

♪ ♪ - You make me better.

♪ Chonta: ♪ You make me better.

♪ ♪ - You make me better.

♪ - [rapping] [indistinct] The hundred supposed to glean.

Nothing but the pride for my team.

[indistinct] and reality and make them all bounce for the ounce with the G. [indistinct] Don't playa hate.

♪ - Don't worry about a thing.

♪ ♪ 'Cause every little thing is gonna be all right.

♪ - So, let's test our inner twin-ism.

I'm gonna pick categories.

First category, let's do colors.

In three, two, one.

Both: Blue!

[screaming] - Okay, pick another category.

Kristin: Okay, animal.

Both: Horse!

[screaming] - Candy.

Both: One.

Reese's.

[screaming] - We did it!

I knew you were gonna say that one.

- So what do y'all think?

Do you think we passed the twin-ism test?

Dan: As teams kill time in the car, city limits quickly approach, and the hunt begins for a city sign.

- Scotch Plains, keep right.

Beautiful.

Demetrius: I'm just super ecstatic that we decided to take 33 West.

- I know.

We took the 33 and we cut a lot of time.

- A lot of time off.

- It took us straight in.

- Straight in.

- Straight away.

There it is right there!

Demetrius: All right, all right, I see it.

- Just pull up right here!

What are you doing?

- I am, Kaley.

I'm not just gonna pull up in the middle of the road.

Marcus: We're here.

City of Flagstaff.

Keith: Flagstaff, right on that building.

[intense music] ♪ ♪ [phone dings] - Welcome to Charlotte!

Let's go.

- All right, let's go.

- Get in the car, get in the car, get in the car!

♪ Dan: With all city selfies successfully submitted, teams are now en route to today's common challenge.

- We just gotta keep the momentum up.

- On the way to the challenge.

Elizabeth: We have been rocking these challenges every day.

Kaley: All right, turn right on Flamingo.

We struggled in yesterday's challenge, and with elimination on the line, we have to step it up, or we could be going home.

Find it.

- Okay.

- Turn right here.

- Make a right, yeah.

Bishop: I'm going the speed limit; I'm not trying to speed.

- Just keep it smooth, Dad, keep it smooth.

- I am.

Keith: Coming out of yesterday's challenge and coming in second place felt like we really did good yesterday.

We may have to step it up just a little bit, but I don't think it's nothing we're not ready for.

- There it is, right there.

- There's the flag.

You see it?

♪ - Plane poppers.

Dan: Day 5's challenge is Plane Poppers.

The teams will try to pop balloons using paper planes that they have made from a variety of different sie and weighted paper.

They can arm their planes with an array of pins, needles, tacks, nails, and even staples.

They must pop six balloons matching their team color.

If they pop a yellow penalty balloon, large fans are turned on, creating turbulence.

The allotted time for Plane Poppers is 12 minutes.

♪ Kristin: So we started by taking two wooden dowels and put tons of needles and tacks and stuff and pins at the top.

Kaley: We obviously knew that we had to add paper, so at the time, we wrapped the paper around the original dowels, and we constructed our plane that way.

Demetrius: The goal was to keep it very simple and to just make sure that pins were out far enough so if they came across the balloon it would pop.

- Right, and we knew not to use the big huge sheets of paper.

- It's been a long time since I built an airplane, bro.

Like.

Keith: We choose to use a needle at the tip.

- Yeah, we actually have this plane right here.

It has a stick and a needle.

We used tape to put some extra weight, even in other areas, so we have better control.

- 'Cause once I make the perfect plane, I know I got the perfect aim, so that's not a problem.

- Ooh, you a poet, girl!

Growing up, Maria and I built a lot of paper airplanes.

- We love arts and crafts, so that was fun for us.

It was like arts and crafts and then a game on top of it.

- You go for the first one.

- Okay.

- Middle.

Let's get it.

- Oh!

Good job, though, babe.

[popping] - I popped two!

I popped two.

So the first time I chuck it, I go for the green balloon, but it hits three, it hits yellow, green, then yellow.

So I had to hit the button three times and turn the fan on.

Man, I hit three balloons, brother.

- It's all right, brother, we got this, we got this.

- Fan off, fan off, fan back on.

Kristin: I was so relieved when I hit my first balloon, because I was just so shocked that it worked the first time of what we made.

[popping] - Oh!

Elizabeth: Holy moly, that scared the bajeezers out of me!

[balloon pops] Maria: Tap it.

Tap it, hit the button, hit the button.

Elizabeth: So we hit our first yellow balloon, and now the fans were on.

And surprisingly, they weren't as bad as we thought.

Further up.

All right, let's keep going.

Now it's rapid fire, baby, let's go!

Oh, so close.

All right, a little to the- - [balloon pops] Whoo!

[balloon pops] - Whoo!

Good job, babe!

My husband got on a roll there, and he just kind of started popping them one by one.

[balloon pops] [balloon pops] Whoo!

Come on!

[balloon pops] So it was just like, well you know what, I'm gonna cheer from right here, and if something happens, I'm gonna step in and support.

[balloons popping] - You got it.

Come on, aim.

You got it, keep going.

Good job.

When she hit the second balloon, I knew that she was gonna be on a roll, because she had her momentum.

We already knew that our paper plane worked.

Good job, good job, good job, good job!

So there was no need for us to strategize anymore.

Good job, good job, Kristin, you got this!

Go!

[balloon pops] - Let's go!

- So once I got my plane down, and I kept using the same one and then pop, pop, pop.

Started knocking them all down one by one.

[balloons popping] Keith: Much better.

[balloon pops] Let's go!

- One more!

I was like a sniper.

Like, legit, had so much accuracy.

Bah, bah, bah!

[balloon pops] - It's good!

Okay.

- Good job, brother.

[sighs] [balloon pops] Kaley: Yes!

One more, Kristin, come on!

Kristin: When I hit that fifth balloon, I was like, okay, there's one left.

I can't hit a yellow one.

We're almost there.

Kaley: One more, one more, one more!

[balloon pops] [screaming] Kristin: Open it, open it, open it.

Kaley: Your relative lives at 3437 Covington Oaks Drive.

Elizabeth: The team that I believe did the best on this challenge is... black?

- Green?

Both: Blue?

Red.

Both: Your relative lives at 901 North Pine Cliff Drive.

Both: 212 Jackson Avenue.

- Come on, guys, come on, come on!

Where are we going?

Where we going?

- Let's go.

Dan: Teams Red, Black, and Green are the first teams to complete their challenge and are now off to find their new family while Team Blue is left behind.

[balloon pops] - Oh!

Fan.

- I did pop one of the penalty balloons.

And it freaked me out, because now they're all over the place.

But I was watching, and the balloons kept flying on the left side to the side.

So I figured if I threw the plane out far enough, then maybe the fan would blow it back into one of the blue balloons.

[balloon pops] Chonta: Whoo!

Good job!

- And it did!

- Fast on your feet, babe.

- So boom!

- Boom.

- Last throw, last throw, last throw.

Last throw.

Hold on.

Making good time.

Whoo!

Yes.

- All right.

- Yeah!

- Your relative lives at 4885 Christie Falls.

Let's go!

♪ Dan: All four teams have completed today's challenge and are now on the hunt for their new family.

Maria: Where-- I just turned here.

I wanted to go straight.

What, are we gonna get directions?

- I think we should, Maria, there's people here.

Let's ask.

Let's see if they have even a map in here.

Stop.

- Let's go further, let's ask him.

Elizabeth: Okay, let's go.

All right, let's see what else we got.

Let's stay calm, cool, collected.

Cool?

- You see anybody?

Excuse me, sir.

Elizabeth: Sir?

Do you happen to know where Jackson Ave is?

Jackson Avenue?

No?

Kaley: Do you know where Covington Oaks is?

Covington Oaks?

Uh, like an address.

Covington Oaks?

Do you guys know where Covington Oaks is?

Like for real.

I don't know where that is.

Okay, no one's helpful.

All right.

When you ask people for directions, they just look at you like you're crazy because we're not using a GPS on our phone.

Marcus: I'm trying, I'm trying.

Go there.

Flagstaff Visitor's Center.

They've got to have a map.

Right?

Instantly after the challenge, we wanted to find a travel center, and we found one right down the road.

- Run, run, run, run, run, run.

♪ Keith: So we ran in, we see a guy at the counter who has a very detailed map, and he shows us exactly how to get to our relative's address.

Oh, yeah.

We got this.

♪ Dan: As three teams seek directions from the locals, Team Blue implements a different strategy.

- Okay.

- Think about where we are.

Right after the challenge, we didn't leave right away.

We pulled out our map, we planned a route, instead of asking everybody in the street.

So Davison Row and to [indistinct].

So take 270 and get off at Davison, whatever this is.

270, get off at Davison.

Okay.

Demetrius: We might have to get off before Davison.

It looks like Exit 14.

- Feels good to know exactly where we're going for once.

- All right, let's roll.

♪ - Uh, Switzer Canyon.

Make a left.

Marcus: Yeah.

That was fast.

- We got this.

- Dang, that was fast.

We're already here?

- He knew what he was talking about.

- He did.

Keith: Turquoise closed at Switzer Canyon.

- Oh!

What?

That's what we've got to find out now.

Kaley: We're not on the right road, though.

Kristin: I know, but I don't know where to go except for drive.

I'm not gonna sit still.

- Okay.

- What-what is our game plan to find a road that's not on the map and nobody knows?

Kaley: Well I think we should find a cop or, um, a UPS man, because no one else, average Joe's don't matter.

Like, they don't know.

We know we're in the right area, we just can't find our relative's street.

- We're literally driving in circles.

[dramatic music] ♪ Elizabeth: What is this, Jackson Avenue?

Maria: Jackson Avenue?

Elizabeth: I think this says Jackson.

Look, it's hidden.

It's hidden.

- Of course it would be hidden.

- Of course it would be hidden, because why wouldn't it be hidden?

Okay.

- Make a right.

- Let's do it.

Demetrius: Davison.

Chonta: Davison.

Demetrius: Ha-ha.

Start lookin' for... Chonta: Oh, we just need a-- - Start looking for, uh, Christie Falls.

Chonta: That extra time that we took to map out our route after the challenge really paid off.

Marcus: We're really close to our relative's street, but the road we need to take is closed.

Yeah, it must just be like a detour or something, 'cause they blocked off Turquoise, huh?

[indistinct] We gotta get on Turquoise now.

Luckily, there was a sign for a detour.

- But we're not sure how far it's gonna take us out of our way.

Marcus: East Ponderosa.

Yup.

Take a left.

Oh, I'm getting better at these maps.

Kale Do you have an idea of where Covington Oaks Drive is?

- Oh my word.

- Oh my goodness.

- Oh wow, okay.

Thank you.

- Thank you.

[sighs] - Why!

I'm so frustrated.

Goodness.

- I don't know where to go.

Kaley: Okay, you're just gonna head out, and you're gonna go on the highway, because this isn't working in the neighborhoods.

♪ Keith: 901, right there, right there, right there.

That's 901, isn't it?

Marcus: Ooh, right there, right there, right there.

Bishop: Where, where, where?

Marcus: Turn, right here?

Dad, you- - You've been playing with us.

You were like, where, I don't see it?

The road was closed, but the detour only took us a minute or two around the block, so luckily we didn't lose too much time.

♪ [knocking] Hi.

- Hi there.

- How are you?

- Fine, how are you?

- What's your name?

- Aldona.

- Aldona?

- And you are?

- Marcus.

This is my brother Keith.

- Keith.

- Nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you too.

- You are?

- I am on your father's side.

You're my second cousin.

- I'm your second cousin?

Oh, wow, nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you.

- We have a mixed family.

- Yes you do.

- That is so cool.

Aldona: My name's Aldona Barnett.

I am an apartment-ready cleaning person, and Marcus is my second cousin.

- I actually have someone with me.

- Really?

- Yes.

- Wow.

Okay?

- Can I-- Can I bring him in?

As soon as I noticed she was from my dad's side, I immediately ran and grabbed my dad, 'cause she didn't know I had him with me.

Give me one second.

I'll be right back.

- Sure.

Sure.

Bishop: Marcus came back out to the car before I took off, and he told me to come on in.

- Dad, come on.

- Cousin Aldona?

- Bishop!

- Hey!

[laughing] Oh, so good to see you!

So good to see you!

- Oh, I love you, cous.

- I love you too.

Marcus: That's crazy, we got a mixed family.

Bishop: Well, just to be there at the door, the four of us hugging as a family meant a lot to me, because we're all overcoming some pain and some empty spots in our lives.

- I am so surprised that you made it.

- My mom and everybody, they don't know.

- I know.

- They think I'm at home in Vegas.

- I know.

[laughing] That is too cool!

- Oh, wow, we got-- - That is too cool.

- Got to get to know each other.

- It's a blessing.

- Yes.

- It's a blessing!

- Yes, it is.

- I can spend 10 days with my son.

- Yes!

It's awesome!

- He never knew I existed.

- I know.

I know.

None of us did.

- We didn't know.

- This was... a slower time to be with family.

And taking the time to be with family.

And everything else can just sit in the back burner.

All right, guys, let's head on inside.

- Let's do it.

- Definitely.

Marcus: Whoo, this is a nice house.

- I love you, man.

- I love you too.

Aldona: Come on.

♪ Chonta: Christie Falls, right there.

- Right here.

- Boom.

Come on!

♪ [knocking] Demetrius: Hey, how you doing?

- Hey.

- Hi.

- Hey, I'm Demetrius Flowers.

This is my wife, Chonta Flowers.

- I'm Chonta Flowers.

- I'm Walter Heffner Jr.

I'm your first cousin, man, on your dad's side.

- What?

Are you serious?

- Dude, yes, for real.

- For real?

- For real, man.

Chonta: I can't believe it.

- Yeah.

I'm your... - For real.

- I'm your cousin.

- Yo, man, I can see it!

- So do I.

So do I.

- My first cousin.

- Yeah.

- On my father's side.

- Yes, sir.

Absolutely.

Look at you.

- Man, you seeing this?

- Look at you.

This a Kodak moment.

- Yeah.

Walt: No, really, man.

I had no idea.

- Of course, I had no idea.

So I'm just kind of blown away and taking it all in, but... - Can I?

- Yeah, absolutely, man.

- Hey, man.

Good to see you, man.

Good to know you.

- Walter?

- Yes, yes.

Hey.

- Walter Heffner.

- A real Heffner.

- A real Heffner.

- [indistinct] - Man, I, why, I'm hoping you can share a lot with me, 'cause I want to know a lot.

I want to figure out that other side of me.

- Let's do it.

- Let's do it.

- Please?

- Please!

- Okay, it's my pleasure.

- All right.

- Y'all want to come in?

- I do, yes, please.

- Come on.

♪ - Oh, 214, 212.

♪ [clears throat] Elizabeth: Are you our relative?

- Yes, I'm your relative.

- Who are you related to?

- Who's the better chef between the two of you?

- I'm good.

- I could do a little something-something in the kitchen.

- Well, I am Elizabeth's relative.

- Ah!

And how are you and I related?

- I'm your auntie Nae Nae.

My name is Shanae, but everyone calls me Nae Nae.

- Oh, Nae Nae!

Oh, nice to meet you!

- Nice to meet you too!

My name is Shanae Sharon, and I am Elizabeth's aunt on her father's side, and everyone calls me Nae Nae, so she can call me Auntie Nae Nae.

- Are you a chef?

- Well, I like to cook a lot, and we're gonna do some of that today.

- Oh, good, yes!

I need a good cooking lesson.

- 'Cause we're starving.

Elizabeth: In meeting my aunt Nae Nae, I realized that we share the same characteristic of just-just wanting to just embrace people and bring them in and just love people and just join people together.

- For me, just like the sheer fact that I know that we're related is easy for me to embrace you.

It was wonderful to hug them both and to just be received and to know that they were open to getting to know me and relatives on this side of my family.

Come on in, let's get started.

- Yes!

- All right, let's do it.

- We're gonna do some family recipes.

- Ooh, yes!

Shanae: Welcome, welcome.

Elizabeth: Thank you.

♪ Dan: Back in Charlotte, Team Black has finally found their relative's address.

Kaley: 3437, go right in here.

♪ Oh, she's cute!

Hello!

- Hi!

- Hi!

- It's so great to meet you guys!

- I'm Kaley.

- I'm Helen.

- I'm Kristin.

- Good to meet you guys.

- We're twin sisters.

- Nice to meet you.

- So how are we related?

- You are my second cousin on your mom's side.

- Whoa, what?

Really?

- I'm so happy to meet you both.

- You too!

- We're so happy to meet you!

- Oh, that's so cool!

Helen: Hi, I'm Helen Cochran.

I am related to the girls through my grandmother and their great-great-great grandfather.

- It's so cool that we keep meeting so many relatives on our mom's side that we never knew about.

Helen: There's a place that we like to go as a family, and we gotta get back in the car so we can take you there.

- Okay.

- And we have two family members there for you guys to meet.

- Oh, my goodness, let's go.

- Okay, okay.

- Let's go!

You ready?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

Kristin: Helen tells us that we have a few more family members to meet and that they're going to take us to a special place that they like to go.

Kaley: We're really excited even though we have no idea what we're about to do.

Is that a roller coaster?

[dramatic music] ♪ Stop right now!

Shut the front door!

- Kaley, we may not be going there.

Just, let's just pause.

- I don't care, we're headed straight to it.

What, are we going to a museum?

♪ [screaming] Oh, we're going there!

This is thrilling.

I'm gonna pee my pants.

♪ Helen: As a family, what we like to do is ride roller coasters.

And we're here at Carowinds.

- Cool.

- And we're gonna have a blast tonight.

I took Kristin and Kaley to the amusement park Carowinds.

My family, we love to go to amusement parks for vacations.

This is my sister Cindy.

- Hi!

Kaley: Hi, Kaley.

Nice to meet you.

- Hi, nice to meet you too.

- Nice to meet you.

- I'm Kristin, nice to meet you.

- And this is my husband, Keith.

- Hi!

Kaley.

Nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you Kaley and Kristin.

- Nice to meet you!

- Nice to meet you, too.

♪ The fastest steel coaster in the world.

♪ 325-- - Kaley, come on!

Let's go.

Come on!

Helen: The Fury has been voted the best steel roller coaster in the world.

- We're about to go 95 miles per hour.

- I'm furious on Fury.

Are you ready?

Are you ready?

- Ready.

Kaley: I was super afraid and nervous.

Announcer: Keep your hands, arms, feet, and legs inside the ride until the top.

Kaley: Oh my word!

[indistinct] [screaming] Helen: The drop was very steep.

[screaming] Kaley: I just grabbed my sister's hand and locked my legs.

Kristin: I know what I was feeling.

I was feeling super scared for her.

Kaley: Look, I did it!

Just like this.

Right, that's how I looked?

- It is so cool that Helen does this with her family all the time.

It was a lot of fun.

- That was awesome.

I can see how it's number one.

- It was so fun.

- I can definitely see how it's number one.

Helen: Taking the girls to the amusement park meant a lot to our family.

It's something that we love and enjoy.

And we're excited to share it with them.

♪ Dan: Out west, Team Green sits down with Marcus's cousin Aldona and finds out what's in the mystery tube.

Aldona: I've been adopted since I was an infant.

Never knew my mom, never knew my dad.

Five years ago, I had the-- Illinois opened their records and I was able to get my birth certificate.

And all that was on my original birth certificate was my mother's name, which is his aunt.

He's the very first one I ever met on the Dunlap side of the family.

I'm here because I am trying to just find as much family as possible due to being adopted.

Then trying to find my father's side of the family.

Marcus: I realized that she's the reason why I even got connected through my dad, because when I got my DNA checked, it first matched with her before anyone else.

So it linked, she's the link to my dad.

- I had a question for you, because this actually came in our car, and they told us to open it with our relative.

Would you happen to know anything about it?

- No, I don't.

Marcus: We've been waiting all day to figure out what's in this tube, and we ask her about it, and she doesn't even have a clue.

But it says "Open with your relative," so I opened it with her.

- Wow.

- It's the Dunlap family tree.

Bishop: Is it?

Oh.

Marcus: Hoo, it's big!

Bishop: There's Marcus right there.

- There you are there, buddy.

- Wow.

- You were born in Victorville, too?

- Yeah.

- Really?

- Yeah.

Marcus: It felt good to be looking at a family tree that I'd never seen before, because it had a lot of names on there I'd never seen.

I still have more family members to meet.

Where are you at?

- I'm right here.

- Wow.

Aldona: This is my father.

Marcus: That's your dad.

Aldona: Yeah.

My father.

Bishop: Did you know his name?

You're just now knowing the name now?

- Yeah.

Bishop: Well then what's the name?

Aldona: David Walter Deane.

And boom, there's my dad's name.

And I couldn't believe it, that my dad had been found.

Marcus: That's your dad.

Aldona: Yeah.

Marcus: And he's living in Cleveland, Alabama, right now.

- Apparently.

- It says 2018.

- People who are deceased have a deceased date on here, right?

- I have half-siblings.

Bishop: A bunch of them!

- Yeah!

Look at all this!

Marcus: Oh, wow.

Aldona: I didn't know what to think at that moment.

Not an inkling.

I would have never thought of having that many siblings.

Bishop: You've got a bunch of them!

- Yes, I do!

Marcus: I'm really happy to see her move forward with this discovery, and I'm glad to be a part of her discovery.

I'm glad that she's a part of my discovery, because if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be here; if it wasn't for me, like, if it wasn't for us, we wouldn't be here.

- I was happy; I was really overjoyed for her, because she got some answers.

She has a direction to pursue with this information.

- How are you feeling right now?

- Oh, a little overwhelmed.

Bishop: You're happy, though.

- Yeah, I'm happy.

It's overwhelming.

- I'm glad you are too.

- It's a definite "oh wow" moment.

Bishop: We got the answers we've been looking for.

- And you have family.

- We both do.

- You have family.

- So do you.

- Yes, I do.

Oh, you can tell this was a huge discovery for Aldona, most definitely.

- That was my emotional moment... knowing that my dad is still around.

And one day, one day, I will find him.

Dan: Back in Scotch Plains, New Jersey, Elizabeth is learning more about her father's side of the family-- starting with some soul food.

- I wanted to introduce you to the traditional Sunday dinner that our family does.

I chose to make soul food with my nieces because in the black community, learning how to cook from a aunt, or a mother, or a grandmother is a rite of passage, and I wanted to immediately immerse them in that experience.

Elizabeth: It was a really fun, new experience to have a family secret, you know, a family recipe, because I've never had that before, and I can't say that growing up in my awesome family, that we had a whole lot of soul food, so that was a new experience.

- Father God, thank you for this food, let it be nourishing to our bodies, bless the hands that has prepared it, in Christ's sake, amen.

- Amen.

- Amen.

- Oh yeah, oh yeah.

- Mmm, oh my gosh.

And we all made this together.

- Yes.

- As a family.

- Mmm.

Maria: Yes.

- After eating a delicious meal, my aunt Nae Nae sat down and she showed me lots of pictures from my family heritage, which really helped explain a lot where I came from.

- Well, can you recognize someone in this picture?

Elizabeth: Uh-huh.

[laughs] - He has the same face, that's so funny.

- Yeah, like literally.

Immediately I did, I recognized that it was my biological father.

His name is Joseph, but he goes by "Hap," and that's short for "happy hands."

Was he athletic?

- Oh, so, so, um, your birth father Hap, he was, like, an all-star football player in high school.

- Nae Nae taught me a lot about my biological father's athletic abilities, and his talents.

It really brought to light the reality that there's a great chance I will meet my biological father, you know, this is the closest that I've gotten to him thus far, and it really just, you know, made things real.

- So, I mean, we've always been a pretty, like, close, tight-knit family.

Elizabeth: So although before this journey, I wasn't really searching for anything, I'm really happy that I found them.

Dan: Back in Charlotte, Team Black is finding out from their cousin that twins rn in the family.

Helen: And our uncle and his wife had twins.

- They had five girls, and the last set were twins.

- So maybe we'll have twins.

- And Cindy has twins.

- I have twins.

- Helen explained to us that twins are actually pretty common on our mom's side.

And we had no idea.

So that's where our twin-- - Comes from, probably.

- Why mom has always wondered.

Part of our journey that we're on is for us, but also for our mom.

And so if we can bring any information back to our mo, as much as we can to help her... Kaley: Thanks for sharing all of this with us, 'cause we didn't know all of this but our mom doesn't know all of this.

So we're gonna take all of this back and tell her.

♪ [poignant music] ♪ - Yeah, I got a little something here, man, you might be interested in.

It's a map of our family tree.

Demetrius: Walter was able to share with me the family tree from that side of the family - It's like a three-mile scroll, though.

- It is long.

And I was like, "Wow."

- You're gonna come here somewhere in this loop, dude.

Somewhere between here and where I am, you fit in here somewhere.

- If we're related because you're my dad's cousin, then you all will be up here somewhere, and I would fall down here somewhere if I was-- if I knew who he was.

On my family tree, I don't see my name or my father's name.

This is really hard for me.

But, we're gonna find those missing pieces.

- We're gonna get to the bottom of this.

I'm gonna work with you on it.

I want to get to the bottom of it too.

It's no excuse to not know where you came from and what you're a part of.

Meeting my cousin Demetrius, he really opened my eyes to the fact that there's a lot about my family I don't know, a lot of people in my family that I didn't even have a clue were a part of my family, and it's sad, you know, to be a 60-year-old man and know as little as I do about, you know, my own legacy of life.

- Oh, wow.

Walter: Ha, and the plot thickens, don't it?

Look at this, boy, I had no clue about that one.

- Wow.

Walter: Yes, man.

- But then he was able to share with me a photo of my great-great-great grandfather, um, which just completely blew me away.

So the Heffner name actually comes from Buford Heffner.

All of the pieces of, you know, this unknown puzzle, you know, I feel like I'm getting a piece at a time.

That's a lot of information, that's a lot to process, I’ll be honest with you.

Although, I haven't been, you know, maybe outwardly emotional, um, man, I wish that people could be on the inside and see what's going on in my head.

Um, it's a lot, it's really heavy.

- Hey, I'm glad to meet you.

I'm glad.

I am.

Life's too short.

Marcus: After meeting Aldona and experiencing heavy emotion from her after seeing her dad's name on the family tree, we've decided we needed to go have some fun and change the energy up a bit.

♪ - I brought you guys to ride Segway’s today, let's do it.

[all cheering] [EDM music] ♪ Marcus: So I've never been on a Segway before, I've only seen them around LA, but after being on it for just a few seconds, I knew I had the hang of it.

Aldona: Marcus was dancing on his Segway, and Keith, he was just cruising around so fast.

Bishop is running around with the boys just like a little kid.

Bishop: I'm a big kid at heart, you know, I'm 52 years old, but in my heart I'm still 21.

Marcus: We were just going around giving high-fives, dancing on the Segways, just being ourselves, you know, having a blast, it was cool.

You're doing good, Aldona.

You're doing real good, you're doing real good.

- It was the most fun I'd ever had, and doing it with family is probably even more fun.

- This is crazy, bro, let's go.

Marcus: It was really cool to ride Segways with my dad, my brother, and my newfound cousin.

We had a blast, it was really fun.

♪ Dan: It's the end of Day 5, and as the results come in, all four teams prepare to enter tonight's call.

- I think we did really good today.

Um, the challenge was cool, we handled it well, navigation, it went well.

We're doing a lot better day by day.

It's getting better, we're getting the ball rolling.

Elizabeth: We are a little nervous tonight.

- We got our first strike yesterday, and we're definitely not trying to get a second one today.

Chonta: We're feeling confident going into tonight's call.

- Yeah, we killed it in navigation, did great on the challenge, we just have to wait and see.

- We came on this race preparing ourselves for anything, and that kept our heart in check.

So if we go home, then so be it, we're gonna continue searching for what we need to know.

Ready?

Dan: Congratulations, teams, all of you have reached the halfway point of Relative Race, as we come quickly to the conclusion of Day 5.

And before we get into the nuances of the day, the very first thing that I wat to know is from Maria.

I want to ask you, Maria, what was it like to have to say goodbye to your mom and your dad?

- It was a lot.

It was a lot, um, but they prayed over us today, and they wished us love and luck, and told me to win, and told us to win, so that's what we gotta do.

So it didn't feel bad at all, like, I know that I'm gonna see them again, and just to see the two of them together, especially not seeing each other since, like, 34 years ago, just to watch them act like kids again, like, it was cute.

So I feel a lot better today, and the emotions have calmed down.

It's still a lot, but I'm processing it a lot better today.

Dan: What a journey it has been for all of you, as I said.

Marcus, Keith, every day you knock on that door it's full of anxiety and wonde.

And when the door opened, who did you meet tonight?

- Well, guys, today I met my cousin Aldona from my father's side.

I found out I am mixed-- she's the connection that they found to find my father.

She's been looking for her family her entire life.

She submitted her DNA, it connected to mine, and that's how they found my father, and boom, they connected us all through her.

This is the reason why I'm here.

Dan: That is unbelievable.

Team Black, I've gotta tell you that when I found out who your relative was, and what you did with your relative, I was a little jealous!

Tell us about that.

Who did you meet tonight?

- So tonight we met our relative, she's our cousin on our mom's side.

This is Helen.

Dan: Hi!

Oh, wow, she looks like you guys.

- Today, um, she took us to Carowinds, and we went on roller coasters.

Dan: That is amazing.

Now, again we've talked about Maria and her journey-- she meets her mother and her father.

Tonight, Elizabeth, it was more about you.

- So, y'all, this is my auntie, Shanae.

- Hi, everyone!

- Yes, AKA "Nae Nae."

It's my auntie Nae Nae, isn't she beautiful?

- How wonderful, has she been able to help you discover more about your family?

- She has, absolutely, and she taught me some family secrets already, believe it or not.

So yeah, we had an amazing time cooking some, um, traditional family, uh, meals, and yeah, she let me in on a few of the secrets, so.

- Nae Nae, it's so nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you too.

- And Elizabeth, we're happy for you.

Team Blue, Demetrius, this has mostly been about your journey, and that continued tonight.

Tell us about it.

- Uh, guys, I was able to meet my first cousin on my dad's side of the family, my cousin Walter, let me introduce you to him.

Say hello.

- Hello, I'm Walter.

- Hey, listen, I'm not just saying this, my cousins look good.

Y'all can see that, right?

- They are good looking.

- Yeah, so this is my cousin Walter.

- So how you like us now?

[laughing] Demetrius: Walter was able to share a lot of things with me, so it's helping put a puzzle together for myself, um, as it relates to that side of myself that I don't know, and was also able to share with me and show me some pictures of my great-great-great grandfather, and, uh, so I was super excited about that.

Dan: But now, it's time.

Who finished in first, and who receives a strike?

It has been incredible to hear your stories unfold day after day.

And here you are, halfway through the race, all teams still in it.

Team Black, you have two strikes.

If you receive a strike tonight, you're going home.

Team Blue, you're unblemished at this point.

No strikes.

Team Green and Team Red, each of you has one strike.

Tonight, the team that finishes in first place will have another decision to make, you know it by now, do you choose the game-day benefit, or do you choose the Day 10 benefit?

The team that has to make that choice, and I've gotta tell you, today is the tightest day between all of the teams that we have had.

Finishing just two minutes over their allotted time, Team Red.

[squeal] - Oh my gosh, are you serious?

Oh my gosh.

- Oh my gosh.

- So Team Red, do you choose the next-day benefit, or do you choose a Day 10 benefit?

- Day 10, Dan.

Dan: You now have several of those.

You'll receive your Day 10 benefit from your relative later tonight.

♪ Team Black, Team Green, and Team Blue.

The total amount of time separating all three of you is only five minutes.

Finishing eight minutes over their allotted time, is Team Green.

- We killed it today, bro.

- Yes we did.

[chuckle] Dan: Team Black, you have two strikes.

If you finish last today, it will be the end of your journey on Relative Race.

- We know.

Dan: Finishing 11 minutes over their allotted time, and finishing in third place... you at least have one more day, Team Black, congratulations.

Team Blue, you finished 13 minutes over your allotted time.

You have earned your first strike on Relative Race.

And so, to all of you, you've survived for one more day of Relative Race.

It's another day to overcome challenges, but most importantly it's another day to meet another relative.

Get some sleep, goodnight, and good luck.

- Good job, everybody.

- Good job, y'all.

- You guys too, love you guys.

Dan: Another day in the books, and the results are final.

Team Red wins another first place and a Day 10 benefit.

Narrowly escaping elimination tonight, Team Black finished in third, while Team Blue picked up their first strike.

Demetrius: We did not see last place coming.

It's really discouraging when you feel like you've done great, but we just have to step it up that much more tomorrow.

Shanae: Okay everyone, here is your benefit, yay!

Congratulations!

- That means just another key we have to find.

- I know!

But whatever, we're one step closer.

- We won, so it feels good.

We're a little bit more relaxed, still not over, we still have a lot more to go, but the fact that we won tonight, the weight is off our shoulders, and it's kind of a complete 180, you know?

Kaley: What are we going to do tomorrow that's different?

- We're gonna win.

I don't care what place we get, just as long as it's not last.

We can't go home yet.