LEOMINSTER — For Vicki Saengkheune, appearing on “Family Feud” was more of a family affair than usual.

“My mom is a big Game Show Network fanatic,” she says, “and ever since she came to America, she’s loved this show. This is like her American dream, she was so excited.”

Saengkheune says that she, her parents, her husband’s parents and other relatives — a grand total of 21 in all — traveled with her “team” to Los Angeles to root them on in an episode of the show that will air 8 p.m. May 20 on Channel 7.

In addition to Vicki Saengkheune of Leominster, who works as a pharmacy manager in Worcester, the team included her husband, Thai, an occupational therapist; her brother-in-law Ny Saengkheune, a correctional officer; her brother Anthony Khounsombath, also a correctional officer; and her cousin Christine Thai, a student at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.

And it isn’t just her family that’s excited about the impending TV appearance. As the first Lao family to appear on the show, and one of the few appearances by people of a Lao background on American TV at all, the appearance has spurred excitement throughout the community. A Facebook post announcing the family’s appearance has been shared 275 times, and according to Vicki Saengkheune, has been discussed widely on social media.

“It was huge,” she says, with an upbeat excitement that makes it obvious why TV producers might want to put her on a game show. “It was because nobody sees people like us on TV. We see ‘Asian’ people, but there are so many Asian countries. We’re not all the same.” She says it’s been exciting to have so much support from people she doesn’t even know, with whom she only shares a nationality.

Funny enough, though, she was originally convinced they’d bombed in the testing, which took place in March at the Westin Hotel in Boston. There, the Saengkheunes were one of 75 families competing in mock rounds. The question they were given was, “What is something that is not real that people believe in?”

Thai Saengkheune buzzed in first with the #1 answer, “aliens.” Vicki Saengkheune snagged #2, which was “ghosts.” But her cousin ventured “dragons,” which wasn’t correct, and then her brother-in-law stumbled with “ligers” — a very real hybrid of lions and tigers.

“That was our funny moment,” says Vicki. “We’re thinking, ‘What did he say?’ while shouting, ‘Good answer! Good answer!’”

Khounsombath missed with “the Easter bunny,” which allowed the team they were facing to steal (with "Bigfoot") and eventually win. Clearly, though, winning isn’t everything, because the producers were impressed enough with the Saengkheunes' enthusiasm to move them on to the next mock try-out round, and to later fly them to Los Angeles for a third audition and then compete on the show for real.

“You’re waiting in the audience,” recounts Vicki Saengkheune, “(Host) Steve Harvey is doing standup the whole time. He is hilarious. My face hurt from how much I was smiling and laughing. Once they call your name … he’s on stage, everybody’s watching you … it’s just so … surreal. In the moment it’s like, ‘Is this real life?’”

Vicki Saengkheune wasn’t allowed to disclose whether her family won or lost on the show, but she says the real reward was being out there with her family, particularly her and her husband’s parents, who are all immigrants from Laos.

“This whole experience wouldn’t have been possible without getting our family together," she says. “You don’t get a lot of time with your family. You don’t always get to hang out with your family every week, but we made that a priority … To have us close to that moment was something really special to me."