Racing for relatives: Auburndale man finds connections through TV competition show
For well over four decades, Andy Orrell’s biological family tree consisted of a bare trunk.
Adopted at birth, Orrell had always assumed that if his birth parents wanted to know what became of him, they would track him down. He resigned himself to the reality that he would probably never trace his ancestry or meet any living, biological relatives.
His outlook began to change after he met Lizzy Allen, whom he married last year. A genealogy enthusiast, Lizzy carried a knowledge of her own ancestry and nudged her husband toward pursuing his biological background.
When Orrell, an Auburndale resident, learned about a TV show called “Relative Race,” which turns the search for familial ties into a competition, he saw an opportunity for revelations. Less than a year later, he and Lizzy Orrell are featured in an episode that documents Andy’s discovery of more family connections than he had hoped to find.
“It’s an adventure that I think we're both really happy that we were able to experience,” said Orrell, 49. “Not only the adventures, the competition and being on the show and the people that we got to meet, but more importantly, finding my relatives and really finding my place in the world and who it is that I am.”
“Relative Race,” now in its 10th season, is a production of BYUtv, a channel operated by Brigham Young University in Utah. The school is affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which emphasizes family history and stores invaluable genealogical records.
In each season of the show, four teams — often but not always married couples — compete for the chance to trace their ancestries and ultimately be introduced to previously unknown relatives. The winning duo captures a $50,000 prize.
The Orrell’s episode is scheduled for broadcast Sept. 17. BYUtv is listed as Channel 197 on Charter Polk County and Channel 290 on Frontier Fios Polk and is available on Dish Network and DirecTV pay satellite services. “Relative Race” episodes can also be found at www.byutv.org or on the BYUtv app.
A New York native, Andy Orrell earned a degree from Florida Southern College in Lakeland and returned to Polk County after living elsewhere for a few years. Lizzy was raised in Seattle and has lived in Florida about a decade.
Learning about TV show
Andy, Senior Manager of Communications for Orange County Public Schools, said he hadn’t given much consideration to seeking out his biological relatives before meeting Lizzy, a professional artist.
“After Lizzy and I met and married, she has a real interest in genealogy and family because she's always known where it is that she's come from and who it is that she's related to,” Andy said. “She kind of was shocked when she talked to me. She’s like, ‘OK, so what do you know about your background, your family history?’ and things like that. Other than my adoptive family, I really didn't have any of that. So she took an active interest and got me really interested in it.”
Orrell, who has two young-adult offspring from a previous marriage, said he had only submitted DNA samples for a report on genetics and ethnic heritage, mainly to check for health issues.
Last year, Orrell noticed an ad on Facebook seeking contestants for “Relative Race,” a show neither he nor Lizzy was familiar with, though she watches other genealogy-themed programs.
“But in doing our research to see if it's something we'd be interested in, we went back and watched all the previous seasons and we were quickly hooked, just because it's such a fantastic show as far as really drawing you into the human aspect of what these people are going through during the show,” Andy said.
In fact, he applied to the show before telling Lizzy about it. Orrell, who has good relations with his adoptive family, said he checked with his mother to be sure she didn’t object before he moved further with the idea. He said his mother offered unreserved support.
The Orrells submitted a video and then had interviews with members of the “Relative Race” production team. The criteria for being selected is complicated. The producers seek contestants who have personal appeal and also enough living, previously unknown relatives who are willing to appear on camera.
After a tense wait of about two months as the show’s staff conducted research, the Orrells learned last fall that they had been picked for Season 10.
“We got cast, and I was like, ‘Wow, this could be life-changing,’” Lizzy said.
The format of “Relative Race” sets the four teams on a 10-day road trip to find relatives identified by the show’s researchers. As the Orrells explained, the duos, spread across the country, are given locations for a relative each day but are not allowed to use cell phones or GPS devices, instead relying on such 20th-century tools as road maps or asking strangers for directions.
The timed winner of each day’s segment can choose a benefit to help with the next day’s competition or a hindrance for the competitors. The last-place team each day receives a strike, and three strikes lead to elimination.
The shooting took place over two weeks in April. During a recent video chat, Andy and Lizzy were careful not to disclose details about the outcome of their competition.
“All the other teams walk away with family, no matter what,” Lizzy said. “So my biggest thing, I just wanted to get to day nine, which meant that he had the opportunity to meet all of his relatives. That was my biggest goal for the show.”
'A place of peace'
The Orrells served as anomalies on “Relative Race.” Typically, both members of a team are seeking family members, giving the show’s researchers more options for arranging connections. But Lizzy was not in on the quest, meaning the production team had to find enough of Andy’s relatives to fill up to 10 episodes.
Andy Orrell said the experience made him realize that he should have been looking for his biological family, rather than assuming they would find him if they were curious. He learned that relatives of the birth mother involved in a close adoption have virtually no resources to find the child, especially when adoptions occurred decades ago.
“For the most part, birth families cannot find their adopted children that they've put up for adoption,” Lizzy Orrell said. “It has to go the other way around. So, he was sitting there for 40, 45 years, saying, ‘Well, if they wanted to find me, they would,’ and they were sitting there going, ‘I hope someday he finds us.’”
As the show progressed, Orrell recognized that he had a deeper curiosity about his biological ancestry than he had acknowledged. As a child, he hadn’t known anyone else who was adopted and wasn’t able to discuss his unique feelings about his status.
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“So actually being able to connect with all these amazing people that were on the other teams, and us all sharing our experiences and really forming the bond that we did helped us all kind of find, I don't know, a place of peace and understanding that I don’t think any of us really previously had,” he said.
As Lizzy noted, Andy had never met relatives who showed a physical resemblance to him. She said part of the thrill of the experience for her was noticing those subtle similarities as her husband encountered previously unknown kinfolk.
While careful not to divulge too many details, the couple said that Andy left the experience having visited the graves of his great-grandparents and possessing photos of ancestors going back generations.
“It’s an adventure that I think we're both really happy that we were able to experience – not only the adventures, the competition and being on the show and the people that we got to meet, but, more importantly, finding my relatives and really finding my place in the world and who it is that I am,” Andy said.
He added: “It’s funny because, prior to this, it never really occurred to me that I didn't have that in my life, because I've never experienced it. And now, having really found out who my family is and where it is that I come from, it’s really been life-altering and really filled in gaps in my life that I didn't even realize were empty.”
Lizzy Orrell said she and her husband have remained in touch with some of his newfound relatives and have made plans for to them to visit the couple in Florida.
“It was like, for real, we came home with family,” she said. “I mean, I can't even put into words how thankful we are to the show for the opportunity. I mean, it's priceless, honestly.”
Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on X @garywhite13.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Auburndale man finds family ties through TV competition show
