Admit it. Late at night, when there’s nothing on television, you flip through the channels and land on one of those “cheesy” dating shows where people do ridiculous things in order to compete for the attentions and affections of one lucky participant. Maybe you’re a religious watcher, or maybe you just watch when there is nothing better on, but almost every single one of us has experienced some version of television romance. What better activity to occur here at LU than a special version of one of those very same programs?
Based on the WB show Elimidate, LUimidate (pronounced L-U-ima-date) was thought up by SOUP as a fun way to get people together to have some fun and possibly even find a little romance as an added bonus. Signs were posted in late April advertising the call for nominations of people to participate. Based on the nominations, a group of around 50 single students sent applications as the second round of elimination to get contestants. From those returned applications, eight people were chosen-four guys and four girls-as the lucky competitors for one girl and one guy.
In normal Elimidate fashion, one girl went on a date with four guys and one guy went on a date with four girls. The course of the date takes places in three places. After each place, the central figure eliminates one of their perspective suitors based on feelings or any questions they may have asked.
Finally, the girl/guy must choose between the remaining two. All of this is taped and cut together to make the fun-filled episodes. Both dates took place this past week.
Denise Nelson was the lucky girl who was charmed by the likes of Phred Beattie, Ethan DeBrey, Justin Eckl, and Chris Perry. Their date took place at the Underground coffeehouse, on Kohler roof, and at Wriston.
Rachel Baum, Cami Bowers, Caitlin Monnens, and Tiffany Pannier competed for the attention of Danny Weingrow in at a picnic in City Park, in front of a fire in Riverview Lounge, and in the coveted “Nipple of Knowledge” atop Main Hall.
Anne Hyde, one of the coordinators of the event, said, “Denise and Danny were great. They really had some creative ways to entertain their dates.”
Bryanna Henderson, ad hoc organizer of the event, said, “It’s been really fun, but a lot of hard work in a short amount of time. The contestants were great! I can’t wait to see how the final product turns out.”
Want to find out who beat out everyone else in the eyes of Denise and Danny? Both dates will be shown at Wriston Auditorium on Thursday, June 5 at 7:30 p.m. and 9:00 pm, both episodes being 30 minutes and the entire show taking a little over an hour. There will be prizes and good times for all.
Why else should you come see it? Says Anne Hyde, “It was all so hilarious. There was relatively little nudity, but we had costumes and wet clothes, food fights and cat fights (from both guys and girls), and of course some profanity. OK, a lot.