The Mr. Haverford competition is officially over, and the legendary Chris Lee has taken the title, while Joe Nassar was announced as being Mr. Penny. Lee won the contest with flying colors showing his diverse set of skills in the talent portion, group dance, and his video that was a Korean parody based off of the hit T.V. show “The Office”. Lee tells The Fordian (of which he was apart of) that being Mr. Haverford is “an absolutely surreal experience, although the best part of it is being able to sport this boss belt around in all its gold-and-crimson glory (although the velcro’s starting to fall off…)”.

For his part in the show, Lee danced his merry way across the stage from beginning to end, and the audience ate it right up. Chris’s entrance also stuck with his elaborate theme and style, as it featured Lee as the baby Jesus and then adult Jesus dancing to Madonna’s song “Like a Prayer” with friends on stage in a large choreographed number. But the choreography and grandiose nature didn’t stop there. Oh, no. Lee then went on to sing portions of R. Kelly’s “Bump ‘n’ Grind” , Prince’s “Kiss”, and he even had a “Kiki” on stage. Now, the staff of The Fordian is still confused as to what a “Kiki” actually is, but what we do know is that it was executed very, very, well, in a “kikish” sort of way.

Lee ended his stunning talent portion with a rendition of the ever-popular Queen anthem “Bohemian Rhapsody” which he got the audience, and even some of the judges, to sing along with in all of his glory. But the night was full of many more surprises, so let’s go through some highlights. One surprise no one actually suspected was a visit from a mysterious guy in a furry costume who ran into the event interrupting the entrances, yet the contestants went with it and the audience just laughed.

Those not laughing were administrators who promptly ensued chase of the perpetrator allegedly out the gym lobby and down the winding streets of Havertown. But the world may never know. The Mr. Haverford contestants continued on though, determined not to let their show be ruined. Entrances were big, and by big we mean Senior Mike Siddell rode an actual motorcycle into the event. Only at Mr. Haverford are these things approved by administration and allowed to occur.

Senior Jake Savitz organized a complete Family Feud style game show for his talent, but faced technical difficulties towards the end of his portion. Yet Savitz, in the spirit of the event, went with the circumstances and improved his way making jokes until the issues were solved.

Some contestants went to more, extreme lengths for their sections of the show, in more physical ways. Junior Jack Durfee bleached his hair for the contest, and thus truly shows not only dedication to one’s act and art, but literally how far these guys will go to put on a great show. Invoking “Slim Shady” (the rapper Eminem) with his bleached head, Durfee also gave The Fordian a look at what the show was like behind-the-scenes and what it was like being one of only two Junior contestants. We also asked Durfee to talk about what the deal was with different contestants being in each other’s acts. We imagined the atmosphere of the contest as an extremely cut-throat competitive one, but we were surprised to find out this was not the case.

“Working with the other contestants was one of the most fun parts of the show, especially the group dance”, Durfee says, noting that they “worked together to put on a show as a whole instead of putting on individual shows, and I think that was one of the main goals shared by all the contestants.”

This camaraderie, this almost fraternity like atmosphere is something that winner Chris Lee also noted, saying that he will definitely miss is as it “has been such a fun experience and I made a lot of great friendships during this crazy Disney-bedazzled, Chipotle-fueled, sweat-inducing ride.” Lee also gave encouragement to future Mr. Haverford contestants and others, stressing for them to “be who you truly are, because there’s no reason you should be anything less than that. We are all capable, and we all have the ability to be great at what we love to do.”

And with that, the Mr. Haverford pageant is officially over for 2015, and many at Haverford are anxious to try it out next year, or to see what next year’s contestants will do.

Here are a few pictures from the event but note that The Fordian is also doing another article devoted solely to images of the popular event.