Twenty-three-year-old dance instructor and deejay Cousin Anthony is the newly-minted millionaire from ABC's reality series, "The Family," which concluded its nine-episode run last night. In a dramatic announcement in the show's last moments, Anthony surprised viewers by vowing to split the $1 million evenly among the other nine family members on the program -- even Cousin Mike, his chief rival in the final round, who is not a blood relative to Anthony, but rather to one of Anthony's many cousins.
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"The Family" followed the exploits of an extended clan of ten family members as they competed to win a million dollars on a Palm Beach estate, with their every need attended by a full domestic staff. In each episode they competed in fantasy competitions for amazing prizes and also in elimination contests. The elimination contests resulted each week in two losers, whose names were put before a secret board of trustees -- the household help. The identity of the secret board is hidden from the family until the final episode. Each week, one family member was eliminated, but they all stayed on in the house, competing in the fantasy competitions.
The series, which was the first internally created project for ABC from Buena Vista Productions, is executive-produced by Arnold Shapiro and Allison Grodner, who helmed "Big Brother" 2, 3 and 4. Mindy Moore ("The View") created the show and is co-executive producer. Danny Salles is director. "The Family" is produced by Buena Vista Productions in association with Shapiro / Grodner Productions.