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The Quinnipiac Chronicle

The Student News Site of Quinnipiac University

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

The Student News Site of Quinnipiac University

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

    Mr. Quinnipiac Pageant draws a crowd to Alumni Hall

    A performance of his song “Hercules,” and a patriotic Speedo were the ingredients needed in order for Cameron Smith, a junior mass communications major, to earn the title of Mr. Quinnipiac for this year.
    Friday, Nov. 2 marked the date for the Social Programming Board’s second annual Mr. Quinnipiac Pageant.
    The contestants included Andrew Dean, Brett Hamilton, Joshua Jabout, Chris Lima, Chris Shaboo, Dan Looney, Michael O’Neill, Corey Rogers, Cameron Smith, Kevin Supple, Chris “Merc”Mercurio, and Nate Sutton.
    “It’s a good group of guys, wide variety of personalities and talents,” said Erin Giroux, the special events chairperson of the pageant.
    The men first presented themselves to the audience in casual attire. During this portion of the show audience members received first impressions of each contestant.
    Next, the studly students strutted their stuff into the audience as they adorned a lucky number of females with Hawaiian leis, which complimented the tropical wear that the men sported.
    The formal wear portion of the pageant gave the twelve contestants one last chance to present their best dressed bodies to the eager audience.
    The masked Supple with sword in hand and Rogers’ crushed velvet purple and zebra-striped suit left long-lasting laughs and memories for the evening.
    However some contestants substituted fashion statements with screaming supporters. Hamilton had a row of adoring fans in the audience who proudly held up posters spelling out his name.
    Also, Looney was encouraged by a throng of extremely vocal friends throughout the course of the evening.
    “The turnout was awesome. The guys were great. They had a lot of fun and the crowd was really into it,” said Giroux.
    During the formal wear segment of the contest, the judges were making decisions of who would become one of the remaining five contestants.
    During this decision process, Mark Connors, a freshman, entertained the audience with a stand-up comedy act which dealt with the mystery behind male underwear. It was an enlightening and somewhat educational performance by the young comic.
    In addition to the comic relief by Connors, the contestants decided to create some entertainment of their own while the judges determined who would stay and who would go. Rogers charmed many females in the audience with his sleek and sexy dance moves.
    Hamilton broke out into a rather humorous rendition of Irish step dancing.
    At last the decisions for the top five contestants had been made.
    Jabout, Hamilton, Looney, O’Neill, and Smith made up the list of finalists chosen to move on for the Mr. Quinnipiac title.
    Following the first elimination process came the talent portion of the pageant, where each finalist showed the audience what he was really made of. Talents included a comic skit and heartfelt poem by O’Neill, a workout/striptease by Jabout, a performance of rock band Bush’s “Glycerine” by Hamilton, singing by Looney, and a tribute to Hercules, an adopted child, by Smith.
    By performing their various talents, the contestants exhibited confidence to their peers.
    “It took a lot of guts for the guys to come out and do what they did. They are really good sports,” said Ed Kovacs, pageant host and Assistant Director of the Student Center.
    Out of the five contestants, O’Neill, Looney, and Smith were selected to move on to the question/answer segment of the show. The men excelled with thoughtful responses to difficult questions such as: “What would you do if you lost President Lahey’s pet Arabian lizard?,” “What would you do if you were caught ‘sweating to the oldies’ by a beautiful RA?,” and “What would you do if you were caught skinny dipping with a date by members of a campus tour?”
    After posed with a question, each finalist was able to make one final statement to the audience and the judges. Then the judges proceeded in making the difficult decision as to whom would become the new Mr. Quinnipiac.
    “The contestants were judged on originality, presentation, clarity, and content of answers,” said Todd Liu, a judge and Residence Hall Director of the Hill/Village.
    With O’Neill as first-runner up, Smith achieved the reign and title of Mr. Quinnipiac. He was presented with one hundred dollars and a trophy from Vinny Caruso, former Mr. Quinnipiac for 2000-2001, and lead singer of the band, Kadence.
    “I am honestly speechless. I did it last year and this year the competition was definitely tougher. Everyone had a decent shot at winning. I was nervous right until the end,” said Smith.
    “I’d like to thank everyone that was supportive including my girlfriend Lisa, all the TKE brothers, my roommate Kevin Dooley, Adam Bouvier for doing backup vocals, and all my friends,” he continued.
    Overall the pageant appeared to be a pleasant experience and is expected to progress next year.
    Sara DeMayo, pageant hostess and vice president of finance of SGA, said, “I think it was a success and I was surprised by some of the talents of the gentlemen. SPB has done a good job of programming this event for a second time and I look forward to seeing it grow in the future.”

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