Detroit native born Christmas Day appears on holiday episode of NBC's 'Password'

If your birthday is Dec. 25, you automatically deserve something extra special for Christmas. For Donnie Smith, her early present for 2023 is competing on network television on one of her favorite game shows.

The native Detroiter will be a contestant on the holiday episode of NBC’s “Password,” which airs at 10 p.m. Monday. Hosted by Keke Palmer and starring Jimmy Fallon, it also features Meghan Trainor and Jon Cryer as celebrity guests.

Judging from a preview clip, Smith brings her A-game. After her clue for "fireplace" helps Trainor guess the answer on the first try, an ecstatic Trainor shouts, “It’s a Christmas miracle!”

"Password," the venerable word game that involves guessing a secret word through one-word clues, debuted in 1961 with Allen Ludden as the host and has been revived several times through the decades.

The current version, which recently was renewed for a second season, is executive-produced by Fallon.

Smith, who was born at 5:45 a.m. on Dec. 25, 1957, recalls how her parents always made her birthday feel special, even in the midst of holiday festivities.

“My mom always dressed me in a little white communion-like dress and bobby socks, and I always had a white cake with buttercream frosting,” she says, describing how she and other young relatives would play music and dance at her family's combined Christmas-birthday celebration.

While growing up on Detroit's west side on Elmhurst Street near Dexter Boulevard and Livernois Avenue, the Central High School graduate watched the original version of “Password” with Allen Ludden, ”and sometimes (Ludden's wife) Betty White would come on the show. It was a black-and-white TV, the kind with only three channels.”

Word games were part of her family’s fun-loving spirit. Says Smith: “I come from a very high-laughing family. We love to play music. We love to dance. And we love the game shows, especially the word shows. All the word shows are my favorite, but ‘Password’ is up there at the top.”

Smith says being on the show was an amazing Christmas present. “You better believe it! I am so on cloud one hundred and ten about the entire experience. I think everybody should audition to get on this show because they make it so much fun.”

Smith admits she was starstruck upon meeting Trainor and Fallon, who teamed up on a new holiday single, “Wrap Me Up,” that was released in November.

“I was happy to be breathing the same air that they were breathing in the same room,” she says.

An avid singer, choir director and musician, Smith was singing “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” in the hair and makeup room when someone noticed her voice. At Trainor’s invitation, Smith wound up singing “Jingle Bells” during the taping and got the audience to participate at the end. A portion of her performance can be seen on the episode.

Now retired, Smith moved to San Diego in 1980, but she identifies herself on the show as being from Detroit, which remains her home in her heart. ”Oh, you better believe it! Detroit will always be my home. When I go to Detroit and visit, I always drive the old neighborhoods,” she says.

Her mother, Gracie, who’s 92, still lives here. (Her father, Welton Smith Jr., died in 2005). Smith also has two nephews in Detroit, Welton Smith IV, the pastor of New Life Family Church, and John Houston Smith, a personal trainer and owner of GrindTime Fitness.

“I know that Detroit is up-and-coming and coming back," says Smith. "I hope they don’t forget Elmhurst and all those other areas that still need a lot of attention. But that’s my home and always will be.”

In Smith's case, the password is always hometown pride.

Contact Detroit Free Press pop culture critic Julie Hinds at jhinds@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit contestant born Christmas Day competes on holiday 'Password'