ADRIENNA HUFFMAN“If you need to vomit, we have trash cans all around, so make your way to the back,” said Freshman Class President Gad Rouache to contestants as Freshman Fear Factor kicked off last Thursday night at the Gargoyle.
Roughly 40 students attended the event. By the end of the night, at least three of the 12 contestants had used the surrounding trashcans, especially during the mealworm-eating contest.
“The night went a lot better than we ever expected,” said freshman Eric Senta, who co-chaired and emceed the event.
Freshman Fear Factor, a take-off on the network series “Fear Factor,” included five main events. The first event was a “Soda Can Stack,” where contestants created towers using recycled contaminated soda cans. The second event was the “Shot Round,” during which contestants took “shots” of olive juice, pickle juice, mayonnaise, hot salsa and French onion dip.
The next event was called “Make-out Timeout.” In the event, contestants grabbed a partner and made out with him or her for as long as possible.
“We were afraid that 90 percent of our contestants would drop out during ‘Make-out Timeout,’ but surprisingly enough stayed in,” said Senta.
Following “Make-out Timeout” was a “gross out” event called “High Protein Boost,” in which contestants ate a bowl of live mealworms.
“We bought several hundred of them hot off the presses, and they’re live, squirmy and juicy,” said Senta.
Freshman Josh Lawrence, who was eliminated during “Make-out Timeout,” was disappointed he did not reach this round.
“All mayonnaise and pickle juice and no worms?” said Lawrence. “I was disappointed because I was kind of looking forward to the worms.”
In the final event, called “We All Scream for Ice Scream,” the contestants ate ice cream covered with olive juice, hot sauce, Thousand Island dressing and salsa.
The whole event took less than two weeks to plan.
“We zipped through it in 11 days when normally it takes a month to plan,” said event co-chair Samantha Oberkfell.
Oberkfell said that the event was meant primarily for freshmen to get to know each other.
Freshman Dan Jorisch won first place.
“It feels almost as good as when I kissed [fellow contestant] Dallas,” said Jorisch of his victory.
He took home a $50 gift certificate from the Esquire. Other prizes included Bubble Tea gift certificates, a stack of CDs and free root beer floats from Fitz’s on the Loop.