Healy Hall bustled on a very special Friday night, filling the building with much-needed excitement amid midterm season. Students patiently stood in line, waiting for a seat to open up for the premier student-run male pageant, Mr. Georgetown — and tickets sold out in just 10 minutes.

The anticipation was palpable in the packed Gaston Hall on Oct. 7, with music blasting through the air as the contestants jumped onto the stage. With each passing minute, Georgetown University’s midterm blues slowly faded away, replaced by the excitement of watching contestants show off their best dance moves, fashion sense and talents.

The stage featured 13 talented contestants representing a variety of student clubs, from Club Filipino to Ultimate Frisbee to the Pep Band. The contestants fought for the top title — Mr. Georgetown — as well as other awards, including Mr. Congeniality and Mr. Fan Favorite. 

At first, the audience seemed taken aback by the enthusiasm that the Mr. Georgetown hopefuls brought to their opening dance — at times featuring more than G-rated moves. The viewers, however, gradually got into the show and played along well with its informal nature, according to audience member Sydney Blackston (NHS ’25).

“I felt connected to the student body,” Blackston told The Hoya. “The audience reaction and liveliness exceeded what I expected.”

Jacob Livesay (COL ’23), who won the competition representing the Georgetown Improv Association, said competing in the pageant was unlike anything he had done at Georgetown before.

“The whole process, the dress rehearsals, meeting the other contestants, was really fun,” Livesay told The Hoya. “All of us were out of our comfort zones.”

Pageant Night

Every year, the Georgetown Program Board (GPB), Georgetown’s student programming organization, fills the seats of Gaston Hall for the pageant in which male students, nominated by their on-campus clubs, battle it out for a chance to be honored with the title of Mr. Georgetown.

Following the choreographed opening dance, Mr. Georgetown proceeded through multiple trials for the contestants, including a presentation of club-related spiritwear, a talent portion, the first elimination round, a trivia competition, a formalwear round, interviews and then the final elimination.

Through the elimination rounds, the four judges — Jalen Arthur (COL ’22), the Mr. Georgetown 2021 champion; Elizabeth Grimm, associate professor and director of teaching at the Center for Security Studies in the School of Foreign Service; Kelvia Jaupi (COL ’22), the Mr. Georgetown chair in 2019; and Patrick Ledesma, director of the Center for Student Engagement — would whittle down the candidates until they crowned Mr. Georgetown. In addition to the top title, contestants also competed for Mr. Congeniality, as well as Mr. Fan Favorite, which audience members voted on through a Google Form.

Despite being crowned the overall winner of the pageant, Jacob Livesay (COL ’23), who represented Georgetown Improv Association, said he almost didn’t compete, coming in as a late entry.

“GPB didn’t have as many participants as they wanted,” Livesay said. “I had some friends doing it, so I thought, why not put myself out there?” 

Livesay’s impressive performance of the song “Mr. Brightside” on the drums, piano and guitar, along with his seamless interview — where he discussed his experiences working with deaf children over the summer —  proved to win the heart of the judges.

Livesay said he felt honored to win, though his favorite part was meeting the new faces performing alongside him.

“It was great to meet all of the guys. A lot of them I hadn’t even come across during my time here,” Livesay said. 

Blackston said while the strong performance of Mr. Improv may have won the hearts of the judges, other contestants stood out as well. But the metrics of the judges were debated wildly.

“I can see why the judges made the decision of Mr. Improv,” said Blackston. “He was very charming and charismatic, but I think there were other candidates that related a bit more to the student body, and the judges may not have understood the jokes and references.”

Another audience member, Hawkins Nessler (SFS ’22), felt more strongly about the judges, vehemently disagreeing with their choices.

“Even the five who went to the second round felt like they were picked randomly, and the excellent and charming Mr. Latin America deserved more than fifth place,” Nessler told The Hoya. “Ultimately, however, it was the angelic, crooning Mr. Club Swim who was robbed.” 

Mr. Fan Favorite winner Justin Bustamante (NHS ’23), who competed for ESCAPE, the overnight retreat group run by Campus Ministry for first-year students, said he enjoyed the multifaceted nature of the event, which he felt set it apart from traditional pageants. 

“Pageants are normally physical, but Mr. Georgetown has so many more elements, like talent and stage presence,” Bustamante told The Hoya.

Bustamante won the Fan Favorite award through a combination of his charm and martial arts talent, according to Nessler.

“He’s a great guy with an infectious personality, and his talent, taekwondo, was extremely cool. His onstage presence was excellent,” Nessler said. 

Jola Bankole (COL ’23), who competed for the African Society of Georgetown and won Mr. Congeniality, said he enjoyed participating, but the event did not come without struggles, particularly in the dancing portion.

“Tall people are just not meant to dance,” Bankole told The Hoya. “I’ll be midway through a move when the shorter people are already done.”

For his talent portion, Bankole lip synced to Shakira’s “Hips Don’t Lie.” Bankole said he took the experience in stride though, recognizing the inherent silliness of the whole affair.

“It’s okay not to have a talent,” Bankole said. “You just have to enjoy the process.”

Before Curtain Call

The pageantry of Mr. Georgetown could not be done without the work of the GPB, which is responsible for planning a variety of events on campus in addition to Mr. Georgetown, including Haunted Healy, decorating Healy Hall as a haunted house, and Springfest, a celebration of the season before Georgetown Day. 

Sarah Silver (SFS ’25), GPB Events Chair and coordinator of the pageant, managed most of the event planning, running everything from contestant recruitment to managing ticket sales. Silver said the Mr. Georgetown pageant is open to anyone who would like to participate, although enrollment is usually capped at 20 contestants. 

“In the spring, a mass email is sent to every club in the university that has access to GPB benefits, though any senior who wants to can discuss with their club leadership and fill out the nomination form,” Silver told The Hoya. 

Silver said preparing contestants for the pageant is a laborious and time-consuming process, especially for the intro dance, which requires contestants to perform a variety of coordinated moves for nearly 10 minutes, ending with a line dance to Beyoncé’s “Crazy In Love.”

“For just the intro dance, we had a total of nine dance rehearsals that lasted two hours each,” Silver said. “The end of the intro dance is my favorite part of the show, but it does have the most hours put into it.”

The process didn’t feel grueling for the guys, however. They had a blast getting to know the intricate dances choreographed and taught by Groove Theory, a hip-hop dance group on campus, according to Bustamante.

“I loved the dance,” Bustamante said. “It was a great bonding opportunity for the misters.”

Bankole said despite the fun, however, the preparation for the pageant was chaotic, as the contestants had just about a month in total to put the show together and gather their outfits, such as Bankole’s Shakira dress. 

“I didn’t know we needed a suit until the day before the show,” Bankole said. “Getting the outfits was hard too — [another contestant] took my dress in the green room, and I had to borrow a skirt from someone else.”

Bustamante also struggled with costumes. Bustamante said he spent a week trying to figure out how to alter the jeans he purchased from TJ Maxx to be ripped off during his performance. In the end, his friend from GPB spent three hours embroidering for him.

“I thought I had to do everything myself,” Bustamante said. “The willingness of people to step in made me feel so loved.” 

On the other side of the show, Bustamante said he was ultimately able to have fun in what was meant to be a defining, carefree experience for seniors. 

“I found myself so stressed out sometimes, but this is the lowest stakes thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Bustamante said. “Even if you do a bad job, it’s supposed to be funny and about guys making a fool of themselves.”

Mr. and Mrs. Georgetown

One of the key distinctions of Mr. Georgetown is, of course, its all-male makeup, contrasting with the general perception of beauty pageants as female affairs. 

Silver said the exclusively male cast on the stage is exactly the point, helping to emphasize the event’s subversive nature. 

“The show was created as a satire of pageants themselves and the way they’ve been used to objectify women. The point of using non-female identifying people is to put a spin on that traditional history and flip beauty pageants on their head,” Silver said. 

The Mr. Georgetown hosts, Daria Farman-Farmaian (SFS ’23) and Caroline Timoney (COL ’23), played a large part in making the show cohesive, providing entertainment during transitions and lull moments. 

For instance, jokes that the hosts made about how Georgetown does not appreciate men enough helped to emphasize the satirical nature of Mr. Georgetown, further exaggerating the irony of using men for this event, according to Livesay.

“The gender commentary that the two of them had was good. It really flipped beauty pageants on their head, the objectification that women typically experience,” said Livesay. 

Timoney said the use of satire in Mr. Georgetown helped maintain the event’s pacing, while the nature of the show provided her and Farman-Farmaian copious opportunities for humor.

“We enjoyed using the silliness of a male pageant to make jokes about focusing on the men,” Timoney said in an interview with The Hoya.

Overall, the satire helped accentuate the event’s light, not-so-serious nature and enhance enjoyability for all participants. For many in both the audience and on stage, Mr. Georgetown was a critical part of their Georgetown experience, with many seeing the event as a Georgetown bucket list item.

For seniors especially, the event provides one last chance to shine and can serve as a perfect encapsulation of the vibes of senior year, Bankole said. 

“I got to make friends I never met before,” Bankole said. “I feel like it gives second semester energy.”  

When he returns next year to host Mr. Georgetown 2023, Livesay said he wants to see the show expand its scope even more by making the talent and spiritwear sections even more bombastic.

“The sky is the limit,” Livesay said. “When I come back to judge next year I hope to see people doing even bigger things than we did this year.”