Football and 'Family Feud' just another day for Steelers’ JuJu Smith-Schuster
Sunday night was a doubleheader of sorts for Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster — just as his team kicked off against the Tennessee Titans on NBC, Team JuJu went into battle against Team Ninja on ABC’s “Celebrity Family Feud.”
It was Juju, his mother Sammy Toa, two aunts and an uncle against live-streaming professional gamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins and his clan.
JuJu’s playing Football and Family Feud tonight? He’s gonna get a lot of attention tonight, for sure. Can’t wait to see him trending.
— Sawyertuide (@sawyeris_life) August 25, 2019
It wasn’t the first meeting of the two team captains. They noted that they had played Fortnite together before with a couple of other amateur gamers named Drake and Travis Scott.
JuJu went head-to-head against Ninja to start the first round — as host Steve Harvey asked them to name something a girl could say that would scare a guy off on a first date. JuJu might be fast on his feet, but Ninja was faster on the uptake with his answer. His team took the early lead.
Understandable that Ninja would be a formidable opponent. Harvey noted that Fortnite expert Ninja reaps $1 million per month with his gaming.
OMG my mom just called me because, and I quote "we're watching celebrity Family Feud and there's a guy named Ninja that makes over a million dollars a month playing video games. Just wondering if you'd ever heard of him". I am DYING my mom is so wholesome
— Andrea (@andreamakestuff) August 26, 2019
Team JuJu came back strong in the second round, but Team Ninja emerged victorious after the third, by a score of 301-226. They also aced the bonus round, winning $25,000 for charity.
Don’t cry for JuJu, though. He had a good night in his chosen field of expertise.
Juju is a stud, idk how he can play Celebrity Family Feud and score TD’s in the rain all at the same time ??
— Clay McDaniel (@Clay4499) August 26, 2019
Over on NBC, he snagged a 17-yard touchdown pass from Ben Roethlisberger in the Steelers’ easy 18-6 preseason win.
Ninja had another advantage, too: He also competed on “Family Feud” in 2015 before he rose to internet fame.
On Sunday night, Harvey joked that, back then, when he asked Ninja what he did and Ninja replied that he played video games, Harvey advised him to “find yourself some work.”
Looks like the advice wasn’t needed.
Shirley McMarlin is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Shirley by email at smcmarlin@triblive.com or via Twitter .
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