Four male contestants took to the stage Sunday to sing N’Sync, don eveningwear and support a good cause. The men were part of the service sorority Little Sisters of the Pearls and Rubies’ first male beauty pageant to crown Mr. LSPR.
This event was designed to raise money for the Dream Factory, LSPR’s main philanthropy. The Dream Factory helps children from the age of three to 18 who are chronically ill.
The participants were friends or boyfriends of members of the sorority, and competed in four events: lip-syncing, swimwear, eveningwear and interviews. Three judges scored the men in each event.
“I participated to help raise money for sick kids through the Dream Factory,” contestant Sam Hargrove said.
The men were judged on humor, originality and preparedness, LSPR co-chair Julie Marasco said.
The idea of a male pageant came from an annual high school event that both LSPR co-chairs enjoyed.
“We chose to do a male pageant over a female beauty pageant because the entertainment level is usually a little bit higher, and we didn’t want any hurt feelings in the group over who won,” Marasco said.
The only event that was not scored was the title for “best legs.” The men sent in pictures of their legs before the pageant.
“Best legs is scored by the amount of money (the contestants) have earned in their jars over the week,” LSPR co-chair Lauren Manring said. “All silver coins and dollar counted as positive points, and pennies count as negative points.”
After competing in those four events, the contestants were eligible to earn the title of “most humorous” as well as “Mr. LSPR.” Senior Anthony Hoppins was awarded “most humorous” with his performance of an N’Sync song and his SpongeBob SquarePants pajamas for the eveningwear category. “Best legs” was awarded to Sam Hargrove whose jar had raised the most money over the past week.
Mr. LSPR was crowned after the judges had awarded each contestant a set of points for each event, and their scores were grouped. The title Mr. LSPR was awarded to Hargrove.
“I hope it will become an annual event,” Hargrove said. “It’s a lot of fun, and the more guys that participate, the better. It makes for good laughs and is for a great cause.”