OK, so maybe it’s impossible to have the perfect marriage.
But Columbus’ Paul and Julie Furber found themselves flawlessly in sync while recording the first perfect score of 85 points in the fifth annual Not-So-Newlywed Game fundraiser Thursday for the local Turning Point Domestic Violence Services. Their new form of wedded bliss unfolded before 268 people at The Commons in downtown Columbus.
“It seemed like these questions and topics played right into what we normally do anyway,” he said, referring to everything from enjoying their favorite ice cream on the weekends to general reminiscing over their 26 years of marital harmony. “But, next year, we may go belly up.”
Furber alluded to the final, local Not-So-Newlywed championship game Oct. 1 of 2020 featuring the winning couples over the local contest’s five-year history.
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The charity event is a spoof of the classic TV game show, “The Newlywed Game.” Its intent is to show healthy, lasting, give-and take relationships.
And just like the game show from which it was spun, couples had to guess answers that their spouse would have guessed so their responses would match.
The gathering generated $18,900 for Turning Point’s college scholarship fund alone, linked to its annual high school dance marathon. The overall, gross total for the night hit a record $61,835 with Ken and Amy Kaiser, married 36 years, earning the most audience votes.
Besides the Furbers and the Kaisers, the other participating couples were:
Kyle and Veronica Turner, married seven years.
Rolf Loescher and Donna Darcy, married 38 years.
Jon and Sarah Rohde, married 10 years.
Returning host Mickey Kim, who is somewhat of a crowd favorite, promised couples at the outset that the family-oriented game included no questions about “whoopee,” which was the TV show host’s playful word for intimacy. But couples made no promises of references to such, and sure enough, late in the game, a contestant broached the subject with a playful, facetious answer that left the audience roaring and Kim slightly uncertain how to steer players back into a safer lane.
“We were on just two wheels there for a while,” Kim deadpanned afterward.
Some of the evening’s added humor, always a staple of the event, came from the Turners, clearly the youngest couple in the game. The pair struggled early to mesh their answers and memories, but scored big with the audience when neither spouse had the foggiest notion of what song they initially danced to at their wedding reception — and finally acknowledged such as their official answer.
Their lack of recollection, expressed in a rather colorful angst, struck a chord with onlookers who cheered wildly at their lighthearted honesty.
And some contestants such as Ken Kaiser confessed to a pregame strategy if the topic were to turn to tunes.
“I told her (Amy) that if we had to answer any music question, we would both give the response as Kenny Chesney,” he said with a grin.
Turns out they needed a few more gimmicks, but kept their smiles intact when Ken Kaiser checked their lower score just before before the evening’s final, 25-point question and then dryly observed, “I guess this means we won’t be returning next year, huh?”
The evening reached far beyond its intended purpose when, late in the game, Jon Rohde and Paul Furber discovered that each were heavily into smoking meats and barbecue-related specialties. So, right on stage and with the seal of a simple handshake, the two agreed to a smoke-off fundraiser for Turning Point sometime in the spring.
Thereby proving that healthy relationships can feature a whole other kind of sizzle.
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Turning Point Domestic Violence Services honored several volunteers at its brief, annual meeting held just before the Not-So-Newlywed Game Thursday at The Commons.
- Power of One Award: Greg Duke
- Egg-cellent Partner Award: Thompson Furniture.
- Hope Through Art Award: Jaime Mustaine
- Kris Kindelsperger Volunteer of the Year: Gail Burkett
- Special Friend to Turning Point Award: John McCormick
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