Throwing pies, strutting in suits and dancing to choreography are not normally part of the fight against cancer. However, all these things were part of the second annual Mr. Brandeis Pageant, a fundraiser co-hosted by Brandeis' Relay for Life group and Student Events. This year, 15 of Brandeis' most eligible bachelors competed for the coveted crown of Mr. Brandeis.

The pageant started off with 14 of the contestants dancing to Vanilla Ice's hit "Ice Ice Baby" and the Vengaboys' "Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!!" The contestants, dressed in jeans and dark jackets, took turns showing off their solo moves, including a Dirty Dancing-esque lift from Morris Didia '14 and Joe Robinow '14.

Following the opening number, the event's masters of ceremonies, Madeline Stein '14 and Ethan Berceli '14 explained how the night would run. The pageant was broken down into three sections: fashion, talent and a question and answer session. The dance portion was worth 60 points and formal wear and swimwear were worth a total of 100 points.
The top 10 contestants were then able to participate in the talent portion of the evening, worth 200 points. Finally, the question-and-answer section, open to only the top five, was worth 400 points. Throughout the event, audience members could donate to their favorite contestant to drive up the number of points they had.

Points were awarded by a panel of judges, all of whom were either Brandeis alumni or current students. Amanda Kelly '08, who won Miss Massachusetts in 2009 and Patrick Seaward '13, the winner of Mr. Brandeis from last year, served as the experienced pageant winners on the board, while Sneha Walia '15 and Mohamed Sidique '15 represented the current students' voice.

Because Max Berner '16 was not present for the swimwear and formal wear competition due to a basketball game, the audience was shown pre-recorded videos of Berner modeling a suit and a pair of neon animal-print swim shorts. The rest of the contestants strutted their stuff down the runway in person. Most of the contestants wore traditional suits or blazer and khaki combinations, but a few stepped out of the box. Robinow wore a lacy black dress and Victor Carreras '16 jazzed things up with bright red suspenders and a snazzy bowtie. In the swimwear portion, Ryan Molloy '16 and Felix Liu Ku '15 earned laughs as they walked down the runway in a dress and sunhat ensemble and a large apron, respectively. Many audience members also clearly appreciated Joe Babeu '15 and Joe Graffy '15, the only contestants who wore Speedos as bathing suits.

Unfortunately, only 10 contestants were able to move on to the talent portion of the evening. Some contestants, like Berner and Liu Ku sang hit songs while others took a more unique approach to showing off their skills. Andrew Savage '16, a member of Crowd Control, invited others in the group to come on stage so he could take running jumps over them. Many people gasped or looked away as he barely managed to clear the heads of several members. Robinow and Didia worked together to set the world record for the number of pies in the face in under one minute. The two of them were able to reach 63 pies in one minute.

Only five contestants were able to make it to the final round, the question-and-answer section. Liu Ku, Graffy, Robinow, Berner and Molloy lined up and, to the delight of the audience, started to strip down to their underwear. They cheerfully told the audience that it was an improvised performance, something the MCs were quick to back up.

There were two rounds of questions. The first round was much more serious and focused on Relay for Life and why the contestants were competing in the Mr. Brandeis Pageant. The second round of questions included the contestants' choices from the sexiest man alive (Ryan Gosling, according to Liu Ku) to their favorite building on Brandeis campus to their dream Disney date, to which Molloy eagerly responded with a selection of the Beauty and the Beast villain Gaston.

Following a short break, the winners were announced. Graffy was crowned as Mr. Congeniality while Robinow, who wowed the crowd with his dress and pie smashing, won the Mr. Brandeis title. Following the crowning ceremony, 12 of the contestants came back for a date auction. Jonathan Bywater '17 charmed the crowd with his South African accent and won the most money at the date auction. His final bid was for 45 dollars. The Mr. Brandeis Pageant raised over $2,000 according to this year's co-chair of Relay for Life, Lindsay Fitzpatrick '15. 

The Pageant was loud and silly, with students cheering on their friends and whooping every time a contestant came on without a shirt. Although the event did run a little long, everyone had a good time in the fight against cancer.