‘Family Feud’ Host Left Show After Over ‘Raunchy’ Changes

John O’Hurley still has fond memories of hosting Family Feud, but he says the show’s shift toward more adult humor helped convince him it was time to walk away.

O’Hurley, now 71, hosted the beloved game show from 2006 to 2010, taking over decades after Family Feud first premiered on July 12, 1976. He left before Steve Harvey stepped in and helped turn the show into an even bigger pop-culture force.

During a 2021 appearance on The Game Show Starring Bradley Clarke, O’Hurley opened up about why he decided to leave the show. He said there were several reasons, including a major production move that would have made his already busy schedule even harder.

“It was a tough decision,” O’Hurley said.

At the time, he explained, Family Feud was moving production from Los Angeles to Universal in Florida. That created a serious problem for the actor, who was also doing a lot of Broadway work.

“I wasn’t really pleased about that because it was tough enough to coordinate the filming of the show with all the other demands that I had, not the least of which was the fact that I was doing quite a bit of Broadway at the time,” he said.

O’Hurley said he had to commit 14 weekends a year to Family Feud. If he had to fly to Florida for each filming weekend, the travel alone would have added roughly another 30 days away from home.

“It was very difficult for me to coordinate the two,” he said.

His family also was not on board with the new arrangement.

“My family didn’t want to do it,” O’Hurley said.

That helped make the decision clear.

“So I said, ‘This is the time, probably, when you should pass it on to somebody else. I’ve had my fun with it, and that’s it, time to move on now,’” he recalled.

O’Hurley said he believes the show ended up in the right hands with Harvey, who took over after him and gave Family Feud a major boost.

“He came in and reignited it,” O’Hurley said.

The former host admitted the show became an even bigger hit after Harvey arrived.

“It turned out to be a much bigger hit than when I was doing it,” he said. “So I tip my hat to him and all that has happened with the success of the show since then.”

O’Hurley also noted that the show later moved from Florida to Atlanta, where Harvey is based, calling the change “a wonderful jolt of success” for Family Feud.

But scheduling was not the only thing pushing him away.

O’Hurley said the show’s content had also started to bother him. During his time as host, he said Family Feud began moving away from the family-friendly tone that had made it a household staple.

“That was a very strong reason too,” he said when asked about previous comments he had made about the show’s increasingly suggestive material.

O’Hurley said viewers often blamed the host for the tone of the show, even though he had little control over most of the content.

“Truth-wise, I had very little to do with the content of the show, except to put my hand up and say, ‘I won’t do that,’” he explained.

He said the show had started to rely too heavily on sexual jokes and double meanings.

“As I said, and I meant it when I said it, the show had become kind of a penis joke,” O’Hurley said.

To him, that was not what Family Feud was supposed to be.

“It wasn’t the family orientation that it was,” he said. “Everything was looking for the sexual double entendre, all the time, and it was even getting a little too demonstrative.”

O’Hurley said the issue mattered because Family Feud had long been the kind of show families could sit down and watch together. In many syndicated markets, he noted, the show aired around 6 p.m., when parents and children might be watching at home.

“I just felt that this was always a show you could watch with your family,” he said.

He also said he heard directly from viewers who felt the same way.

“I was getting so many letters from people all around the country, saying, ‘I can’t watch this with my family anymore. It’s making me answer questions that I don’t want to answer,’” O’Hurley said.

The actor said he did have some power to push back. If he strongly objected to a question, he could block it from being used.

“I did, at least, have the final say on what questions we would do, and if I objected to one, it didn’t go in,” he said.

But he said that usually meant having to fight for his position.

“I had to fight that, and there were always 10 who were like, ‘Oh, it’s not that bad, trust me,’” he recalled.

In the end, O’Hurley said he had to stand by what felt right to him.

“No, I don’t like it. It’s not right. I’ve got to stand by my values or find somebody else to do it,” he said.

Between the raunchier material and the growing travel demands, O’Hurley decided it was time to move on.

“Ultimately, that’s what it came down to,” he said. “Between that and the complexity of having to be in the air too much, away from my family. It was the right decision at the right time.”

Family Feud has continued to thrive under Harvey, whose reactions to outrageous answers have become a major part of the show’s modern appeal. But for O’Hurley, the version of the show he wanted to host was one that families could still watch together without squirming in their seats.