Mr. Fraternity 2010

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Mr. Fraternity noms raise funds, temperature
By Sara Breau
Posted on Monday, April 12th, 2010, 1:32 am

An expectant crowd filled Room 100 in Donald P. Corbett Business Building Wednesday for the eighth annual Mr. Fraternity competition, hosted by the sisters of Alpha Omicron Pi. Lively chatter filled the lecture hall as the audience waited for the competition to begin, with trendy beats from Ke$ha, Rihanna and Black Eyed Peas emanating from the sound system.

Mr. Fraternity is an event hosted by AOII to raise donations for its national philanthropy, Juvenile Arthritis Research, and is a competition among members of University of Maine fraternities who nominate a member of their chapter to participate.

“Most of the chapters tend to give it to the older brothers, so it’s kind of seniority,” said Caitlin Conroy, external operations chair for AOII and an organizer of the event.

The contestants were judged on performance in four different categories, similar to the structure of the Miss America pageant. This year’s theme was “The Hangover,” from the popular comedy about a 20-something groom and his three friends, who, through the various disasters they encounter, just can’t handle Vegas.

“We chose ‘The Hangover’ because we try to pick a new, fun, popular movie or theme each year. In 2008 for the sixth annual, we did ‘Superbad,’ and last year in 2009 we chose ‘Batman’ (Fratman),” Conroy said.

Judges this year included Greek Life advisor Kevin Taschereau, panel president Tanya Ubeda and representatives from seven sororities. The judges rated each contestant’s performance on a scale of one to five.

Fifteen brothers from 11 fraternities competed in categories with themes based on “The Hangover” — Casinowear, Poolside Attire, Tyson’s Talent and Little White Chapel.

The lecture hall was transformed into a Vegas-style getaway, with black casino signs adorning the walls next to oversized playing cards that helped set the scene for the night’s festivities. Red and black streamers were draped over the railings leading down to the stage, and brightly-colored balloons festooned the tables near the entrance. Each balloon could be purchased for $1 each, containing a slip of paper with either a prize listed on it or simply a message thanking the recipient for donating to the sorority’s philanthropy.

“We’ve tried to get creative on this, and the balloons were also a good way to decorate the room,” said Emily Bellmore, internal philanthropy chair for AOII.

When the competition began, the brothers dressed according to the theme for each round.

For the first round, brothers were told to incorporate their fraternities’ Greek letters into whatever they interpreted casinowear to be. This resulted in everything from dress suits with letters on the back to one contestant from Theta Chi wearing his fraternity’s colors in a toga-style ensemble as he marched proudly across the stage.

“Casinowear in the past has been called letterswear, but we tried to tie the round names into the theme this year, so we renamed it casinowear for ‘The Hangover’ theme,” Conroy said.

Poolside attire consisted of a parade of brothers wearing everything from traditional Hawaiian-patterned swim trunks to risqué speedos and snazzy sunglasses. There was also a prop box on stage that contestants were asked to incorporate into their act. In the box were items such as pool toys, angel wings and a small baby doll.

“The prop box was new this year — we were just trying it out to add something new to the show,” Conroy said. “We just had a box of random items that the boys only saw right before the show. When they got on stage for the swimwear portion, they were supposed to choose an item and improv with it, which turned out to be quite interesting.”

Several brothers chose to do guitar performances for the Tyson’s Talent segment of the competition, while others showed their soft sides through poems professing affection toward the sorority sisters and particularly the judges. Some stuck with the theme, such as Robert Collins from Sigma Epsilon who played keyboard and sang, “What do Tigers Dream Of,” in reference to a scene in ‘The Hangover’ in which the four friends discovered a tiger shut in their hotel bathroom after a long night of drinking and gallivanting around Las Vegas.

Others addressed common stereotypes regarding fraternities, as Jayson Neault did in his poem aimed at dissolving the stereotypes associated with Pi Kappa Alpha brothers.

“I’m kind of talentless, so I wrote a poem about the PIKE stereotype,” Neault said.

He went on to say that the only true stereotype was that PIKE brothers love sorority girls.

Another rising star sang of his own life experiences in a remake of singer Kid Cudi’s popular hit “Soundtrack to My Life.”

“I got 99 problems and they all sisters,” sang Nate Rutter of Phi Kappa Sigma.

The brothers also competed in a Little White Chapel segment of the competition — a question and answer challenge made up of questions outlining scenarios similar to those in “The Hangover.” The contestants were asked how they would react and were asked to dress in formal clothing for this session.

“Little White Chapel attire has been formal wear in the past, so it was Vegas wedding-themed clothing,” Conroy said.

Contestants had to think quickly and decide how they would get themselves out of various sticky situations.

One brother was asked to decide how he would get a tiger to fall asleep if he didn’t have tranquilizers on hand.

“I’d do what anyone would do and sing it a lullaby,” said SigEp brother Daniel Fournier.

Kevin Parsons from Kappa Sigma said he wanted Sisqo’s “The Thong Song” turned into a slow song and played at his wedding reception.

Others took logical approaches to solving dilemmas they may one day find themselves in. When asked for his strategy to beat a child in a staredown, Matt Sevey from Beta promptly responded that he would “give it candy and tell it to blink.”

Each contestant had a personal coach — an AOII sister who carried a bucket up and down the rows of seats during the performances collecting donations for her assigned brother. The amount of donations each brother had in his bucket was factored into the decision of who would claim the title of Mr. Fraternity 2010 at the end of the show.

“Whichever brother has the most donations is the most likely to win,” Conroy said.

“It’s good because we’re getting to know other Greeks and all of the guys have a meeting with us beforehand, so we’re kind of getting to know each other. It’s huge Greek involvement,” she added.

The audience was generous in their initial donations at the door and in their support of the brothers and the debauchery that ensued over the course of the evening.

Emily Bellmore, internal philanthropy chair for AOII, said the final count on donations was $1,752. All proceeds from the event will be donated to the sorority’s national philanthropy for Juvenile Arthritis Research.

“It’s become our main philanthropy event. It’s our main thing every year,” Conroy said.

After all rounds were completed, anticipation was thick in the room as the audience jammed to tunes such as “Can’t Touch This” and Rihanna’s “Rude Boy.”

Once the other contestant was awarded a sash, hosts Rachael Rogers and Maryann Muscente announced the winner — Daniel Fournier from Sigma Phi Epsilon. Fournier’s fans erupted in applause and support as he accepted the trophy and crown.

What was it that won him the title of Mr. Fraternity? It could have been his provocative dance performance, the plan to steal one of Angelina Jolie’s babies to add to his wolf pack, or perhaps the judges’ approval of his nurturing care of a young baby doll, Carlos, that he kept strapped to his chest throughout the competition.