Deaf mother and four daughters to compete for $25,000 on Crystal Maze
A Deaf mother, June Ann LeFors, and her four daughters will have a chance to win $25,000 on Nickelodeon’s game show “Crystal Maze” on Friday, February 21 at 7 p.m.
(Clips of competition)
The host is Adam Conover, best known for his show “Adam Ruins Everything.”
Here is an interview with the LeFors competitors!
JUNE ANN:
Hey, Alex! Thank you for having us here. I’m June Ann.
SAVANNAH:
Hey, I’m Savannah.
SCARLETT:
Hi, I’m Scarlett.
OLIVIA:
I’m Olivia.
CAROLINE:
I’m Caroline.
PRISCILLA:
My name’s Priscilla.
DAILY MOTH:
Your team represents “Girl Power.”
Can you explain what girl power is about?
PRISCILLA:
Girl power means that whatever boys do, girls would do it better!
With the Crystal Maze, they noticed that we are 6 sisters and no brothers.
They wanted the mother and four girls to team up together. It’s called girl power!
DAILY MOTH:
Can you explain what Crystal Maze is and how to win the $25,000 prize?
OLIVIA:
The Crystal Maze has 4 different mazes. The first one is Aztec-themed, similar to Egyptians. There’s another one that’s futuristic, like UFOs. We also have an Eastern, Asian theme and the last maze is industrial-themed like machines. One member of the team will try to conquer the first challenge and win one of these.
(holds up crystal)
It’s worth 5 seconds, I’ll explain in a bit.
After the team has finished all 4 mazes, the final maze is huge and full of wind gust. There are tickets to be collected. Golden tickets give you positive points while silver tickets negate your total points. If you end up having more than 100 golden tickets, you’ll win $25,000. If you have less than that then you’d have to make some conversions. For example, 40 golden tickets would nab you $4,000.
SAVANNAH:
In the Crystal Maze, there are 3 kinds of games. One of these games challenges your skills, another game challenges your mental acuity and the third game tests your physical abilities. In each game, one person will play on behalf of the team while the family shows their support whether it’s through windows or screens. In physical challenge, you have to do some sort of activity in order to get the crystal. In the mental challenge, you must figure out your way around. In the skill challenge, it means doing something like balancing yourself or hand/eye coordination. These are the 3 games you’d play in the Crystal Maze.
DAILY MOTH:
What was it like when you met the host, Adam Conover?
CAROLINE:
We gave Adam his sign name because of how he did his hair. I already saw him on “Adam Ruins Everything.” Seeing him in person was cool. He was very sweet, nice and funny. We just took a picture with him and I think he was fascinated with our ASL!
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THE DAILY MOTH:
The game is filmed in London, so the entire LeFors family, including the husband/father Eric (deaf) and two other daughters/sisters flew across the pond in September for the taping.
The game is limited to five players only, and the producers of the show wanted the mother, the three youngest daughters, and the oldest.
June Ann said the producers of the show hired Scarlett, another daughter, to be the interpreter at their request.
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DAILY MOTH:
This family consists of both deaf people and CODAs (Children of Deaf Adults). How do you usually communicate at home or is it the same with what is presented in the show?
JUNE ANN:
When it comes to the game show and our daily routine, I’d say ‘yes’. However, at home, I have 6 children, all of whom are girls. 3 of these girls are hearing and the other 3 are deaf. Out of those 3 deaf girls, 2 have unilateral hearing loss meaning they’re deaf in one ear, but they’re hard of hearing in the other ear with range of 30-40 decibels. They still can hear to a degree and they can speak audibly. The third girl is fully deaf just like me. My husband Eric is deaf also so there are 3 of us in the family that are fully deaf. So, when it came down to the game show, I would use my voice and yell out for my hearing children. If it was my deaf children up there instead, we’ll have one of my other daughters interpret whatever instructions is being yelled out. There are different scenarios where we have to communicate behind barriers like a TV. That’s where my other daughter can interpret and sign what is being said. If it was one of my hearing daughters, I would use my voice while Priscilla will sign while the interpreter speaks. We do have our own system. Nickelodeon did such a great job making sure that the game show is accessible for us deaf contestants. They did a great job running the show!
DAILY MOTH:
Priscilla is the youngest of the family and she was selected as the captain. What is the captain’s role?
PRISCILLA:
Being the captain, I make the decisions on which one of the 5 of us in the room is best suited for the challenge so we can win these!
I could decide to use a mega crystal and they’re much bigger than these. They’re worth 10 seconds so I could either use them now or later, but they can be used only once! You should watch the show on Friday night if you want to know whether we won!
DAILY MOTH:
All of the LeFors family got to visit the United Kingdom and travel while they filmed on location. Can you share any good memories from that trip?
JUNE ANN:
My favorite thing about our trip to the UK was really just being with my children. Going on an international trip is fun! Our children got exposure to all the different tasting food and the experience itself was my favorite thing about it.
OLIVIA:
My favorite part was the city of Conwy in Wales. There are high city walls surrounding the city and there’s a really old castle there that you can walk around in. It was pretty cool.
PRISCILLA:
There was a double decker bus with two floors. The top was open. We rode all over London.
CAROLINE:
My favorite part was hanging out with my family, but Scotland was so beautiful! I loved it! The weather was good too, but the sights were very pretty!
DAILY MOTH:
Is there anything else you want to add?
SCARLETT:
I interpret for my family on the new show, Crystal Maze. We filmed over in England where they use BSL (British Sign Language). Here, we use American Sign Language (ASL). We asked if I could interpret for the family because I know how they talk and sign. The show’s producers were totally fine and had no problems with it. They were very compromising with us. I got to spend all day on the set with my family and interpret for them. I was proud of my family and to be a part of that. There was one weird thing though where I had to take on the mindset of an interpreter instead of being a sister. I had a role as facilitator, and I couldn’t pass on any of my opinions or help! It was pretty cool though and you guys need to watch the show starting at 7pm!
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DAILY MOTH:
You can watch the show on Friday night on Nickelodeon if you have cable. If you don’t, you can download the Nick app — there is a one-week free trial. Good luck to the family. Girl power!
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***In case you were wondering which daughters are deaf or hearing or unilateral:
Savannah, 22, hearing
Scarlett, 18, hearing
Victoria (not present), 17, unilateral
Olivia, 15, unilateral
Caroline, 13, hearing
Priscilla, 11, Deaf