Why would over 64,000 people watch a bunch of college students with beach balls perform a “ballet”?
Well, as far as we can guess it’s because just about anything is funny when you do it with a straight face while Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” plays in the background.
We’re not sure why that’s the go-to song for parodies (well, other than the fact that it has thunder cracks on it), but we’re suckers for anyone who can look serious when she sings those first lines.
Turn around…
An annual talent show, formerly called “Mr. Big Chief,” takes place at Dallas Baptist University. Of course, that’s been renamed – it is now called Mr. Patriot.
As the website explains:
“In this all-male competition, contestants compete in three categories, swimwear, talent, and formalwear, as they set their sights on the coveted title of Mr. Big Chief!”
But back in the day – 2016 to be exact – Reid Towns won the “male beauty pageant” without saying a word.
Beach ball “ballerinas”
During the talent competition, he enlisted 7 friends to perform a “Beach Ball Ballet” that he later uploaded on his YouTube channel the following year.
It all began with Reid, but the majority of the performance involved one particular friend, Zac. And as it turns out, it wouldn’t be the last time they’d perform it.
As they balance the ball between them, they twist, they turn, look into each other’s eyes, and leave their audience gasping for air as a result.
It’s not ballet, but it’s at least an attempt at being graceful. And it’s certainly a masterclass is keeping a straight face as everyone around you cracks up.
We imagine that winning this part of the competition means you’re the most amusing competitor. And while we don’t know what the other contestants had up their sleeves, it’s clear no one had ever seen a beach ball ballet before.
Reid and Zac get a lot of laughs in the first minute of the performance and things get progressively more ridiculous.
To be fair, it’s not entirely inelegant either.
While Reid and Zac are the real stars, they’re joined by 6 other young men at the end of the competition. And everyone has their own beach ball!
Now we’re ready for things to get complex.
The big finish
The performance ends after just a few moves by the group – but the judges saw what they needed to in order to crown Towns what is not known as Mr. Patroit.
The video was widely shared in 2018 as well and the men were invited to be on ABC’s The Gong Show.
Instagram comments would suggest, however, that they got gonged.
Oh well, it’s all about the experience.
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According to Reid’s school publications, he later volunteered at a church-run camp after he graduated in 2018. We can only imagine what kind of skills he could teach campers!
Alas, he didn’t invent the beach ball ballet. Men have been dressing up and performing with beach balls for years (which is not a sentence we thought we would ever type).
There are around a dozen other videos of men performing something similar – some even donning tutus!
But if you want to see the college version, be sure to scroll down below.
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