Roundy beats competition to be named Mr. BC

The contentious battle to be Mr. BC ended Thursday with Brian Roundy, A&S '06, standing tall on the stage as the winner.

Dave Levy, A&S '06, hosted the event, introducing the order of the night's events for the six contestants as well as the eight judges, who would be largely responsible for selecting the winner.

The judges included Annie Flores, A&S '09, who identified herself as "the token female freshman judge." Levy wasted little time on preliminary speech and suggested that, "Before my bad jokes get any worse, let's get started."

The first event was casual wear, in which the contestants strutted along the walkway to their choice of music, wearing the clothing in which they felt comfortable.

Contestant Chester Li, A&S '08, was the first up, and while he walked up rhythmically to the song, "Secret Agent Man," Levy noted Chester's online popularity: "620 Facebook friends cannot be wrong."

Roundy, the eventual winner, walked down the runway and rubbed the cast of the leg he had recently injured playing basketball while Levy pleaded with the audience, "Please don't tell him to break a leg."

When the last to walk the runway, Neil Shea, A&S'07, was taking his turn, Levy remarked that the competition "wouldn't be complete if we didn't have another tall lanky guy in it. He also likes staring at his roommate while he is asleep."

Levy then addressed the audiences' applause and laughter. "It's really bad when mediocrity is exceeding expectations."

The revealing swimsuit portion of the contest came next, with each contestant choosing his own fashion to display his beachwear.

Roundy wore an outfit that was a concoction of eclectic hats, sunglasses, and outerwear and ate a fake watermelon, much to the audience's amusement.

Li wore coconuts over his chest and flexed his muscle, while Dominic Nahous, A&S '08, went for a tropical setup complete with "Kokomo" as his song of choice.

The next phase of the contest was the talent competition.

Chester Li expended the most energy, dancing to seven different songs in his exhibition. He danced along to "I'm Too Sexy," "YMCA," "Mr. Roboto," and other songs while mimicking several of the dance moves popularized by each song.

Nahous played the steel drums, which Levy said afterward was the highlight of the night for him.

"Steel drums? I never saw anyone do it before."

Brian Roundy displayed his vocal and acting talents by acting as "Robert Goulet," acting, in turn, as a rapper.

Matt Collier, A&S '06, played guitar and sang to the audience. Before he began, he said, "This is a little song I wrote myself, it's by John Denver."

Before announcing the next contestant to perform his talent, Levy's microphone was disabled, which forced him to lament, "I know I'm bad, but could you please leave my microphone on?"

Robert Santoro, A&S '09, read an original poem aloud to the crowd. He said he chose poetry because, "Basically I don't have a talent. I can't sing and I can't dance."

Neil Shea was creative with his talent, claiming it was his ability to bestow amazing backrubs that distinguished him. He brought up a girl from the audience and had her lie on a table where he proceeded to massage her.

For the formalwear segment of the contest, the competitors did their best to capture their personalities in their clothing.

Li wore pajamas with a tie, while Nahous wore an Asian inspired wrap, complete with a samurai sword.

Collier, Roundy, Santoro, and Shea all wore tuxedos, the jacket of which all three removed in order to pose more freely. Collier removed his jacket to reveal cut-off shirt sleeves underneath, which the audience enjoyed.

Following a tie for third place, Levy declared that Li and Shea could both enter the final round, joining Roundy and Collier in the question-and-answer section of the night.

Each contestant was asked a different question in turn. Roundy was asked where on campus he would take a girl to kiss her, to which he replied "Three words; Gasson bell tower."

The judges deliberated and voted, and Levy called for the audience to cheer loudest for whomever they wanted to win.

Roundy won the most vocal audience support, as he had enjoyed from the beginning, and last year's Mr. BC, Christian Hunt, passed his crown on ceremoniously to the new Mr. BC.

Hunt praised Roundy as the new Mr. BC, and found him to be an appropriate successor. "I have no doubt that Mr. Roundy will perform his social duties as Mr. BC with exceptional poise and chemical tolerance."

Roundy also expressed excitement toward his responsibilities as Mr. BC.

"I'm gonna party like it's 1999!" he said. "Thanks to BC for supporting me the last four years. I've become Mr. BC, I couldn't have done it without the institution's support."

After this final walk down the runway for the contestants, Levy told them emphatically, "You are a lovely group of guys. You remember that."