Wacky costumes and goofy dancing is all a part of the long running tradition at Manhattan High ever since 1986 called Mr. MHS.

Mr. MHS is a male pageant based on a theme, this year’s being “Gone Viral,” for junior and senior boys. It is hosted by Student Council and two different clubs that also help sponsor, this years being BPA and AFS. Representing StuCo were seniors AnnaGrace Katzenmeier and Kristine Gevock and representing AFS was senior Blaise Hayden.

Eight seniors competed this year: Henry Shinstock, Parker Wilson,  Cale Goss, Carson Gido, Andrew Suh, Michael Moran, Max Lansdowne and Jacob Wineland. A ninth contestant, senior Suman Wang, was unable to compete in the pageant due to medical issues.

“I saw it [Mr. MHS] sophomore year and for the first time I watched I was like, ‘I’ve got to do this,’” Shinstock said.

The pageant is divided up into three parts: evening wear, worth 20 percent of their final score; swimwear, worth 30 percent; and talent, worth 50 percent. The three parts of the pageant were Deb Pryor, Matt Walters, Scott Eilert, Marshall Fike and Derek Shaheen served as guest judges for the pageant..

The first part of the competition was evening wear, where the contestants showed off their dazzling outfits, again based on the theme “Gone Viral,” and were introduced to the audience with funny and clever answers they came up with.

“Carson Gido was for sure up there for the win,” Wineland said. “His costumes and, again his answers were so funny. Every night during dress rehearsal we’d all be cracking up behind the curtain.”

The second part of the pageant was dedicated to talent. The contestants had three to five minutes to show off their special talent and amaze the audience. The talent portion of the competition was judged on stage presence, technical ability, quality of performance, appropriateness and entertainment.

“When I needed a talent, I immediately thought… pogo sticking and then I thought… dancing,” Lansdowne said. “I just kind of put it together and it included the crowd, which I thought was fun and so I just went for it.”

After the contestants showed off their talents, the next portion of the pageant was swimwear, where the only rule is for them to wear shorts. From the peanut butter baby to a sea monster on vacation, all eight boys made the audience fall in love with their costumes.

After swimwear, it was then time to announce the winners. Besides Mr. MHS and a runner-up, they also named a Fan Favorite and Mr. Congeniality, voted upon by the contestants themselves. The winner of the 2019 Mr. MHS was Max Lansdowne, followed by the runner-up Jacob Wineland, Mr. Congeniality Suman Wang and Fan Favorite Parker Wilson.

“Max had a very strong stage presence, so I wasn’t that surprised,” senior Anna Mackay said.

“I feel pretty good,” Lansdowne said. “I’m kind of up in the clouds right now. I’m really happy.”

The show was then over leaving some of the contestants in a place of blankness.

“I’m gonna wake up tomorrow and I’m just going to ask myself ‘now what?’” Wilson said. “Like it’s just such a great show and I don’t really know where to go to now.”

This year’s performers highly encourage participating in the show in years to come.

“I highly suggest that anyone who’s going to be a senior or can tryout for it… and I think juniors can but I’m not sure, but definitely tryout for it and just go out there and have fun and don’t care about what anyone thinks,” Lansdowne said. “Just go out there and do everything as wildly as you can and just enjoy the time, because being able to hang out with all of these great guys and just make a fool out of yourself is one of the most fun things I’ve done in high school.”