Kenyan family wins Sh5m after surprise meetup at Ellen TV Show
A Kenyan family won Sh5 million on Ellen Show’s Million Dollar May segment aired on Thursday.
Host Ellen DeGeneres surprised a Kenyan student, Achieng Agutu, by flying in her parents from Kenya and her brother from South Africa for a family meetup.
Achieng had entertained the show’s audience with dance moves before recording kicked off.
Ellen used the performance to fake an interview. She said she had been captivated by the dance and wanted to know her more.
Achieng was called to the stage and asked about her family and life in the US as a student.
Ellen faked a video call with Achieng’s parents and brothers then terminated it in pretext that there was bad connection, only to turn out that there were backstage.
The Agutus were then brought on set and Achieng was overwhelmed with tears as the family hugged.
The family was then asked to play the Million Dollar May card game and were lucky to choose the card with the highest money price of USD 50,000 (Sh5 million).
The Agutus run a charity organisation in Kisumu where they support children by paying school fees.
Their daughter, Achieng had during the interview detailed how they have struggled to educate their two children to the point of selling land.
Achieng narrated how she does several jobs to manage her living expenses in the US.
“I work one full-time job, I’m an admissions counselor at Holy Cross College, but then I babysit for two families; I wash people’s cars and clean their houses; I’m an Uber driver; I also teach English to internationals students.”
Achieng has been in the US for five years and lives with her host family who were also present during the show’s recording.