Rami Khamis won the 32nd annual Mr. MHS pageant Saturday in Rezac auditorium with an unusual talent called Diablo, but there was also a few other weird incidents, like a girl being asked to prom.

Khamis’s talent performance was where you juggle a chinese yo-yo on a string stretched between two separate sticks. He threw it several feet in the air and caught it on more than one occasion, leaving everyone in the crowd very surprised. In the background of his juggling act were four people fighting with broom sticks. Khamis also dressed up as president Donald Trump for evening wear, wearing a dark blue suit and red tie, and wore a Donald Trump mask along with it. Senior Parker Beer accompanied him dressed as Mike Pence.

The eight contestants were graded on five categories: swimwear, opening outfit, evening wear, personality and talent. There were three other awards: Fan Favorite won by Mitch Elliot, runner up won by Gavin Larios and Mr. Congeniality won by Connor McClain.

“Honestly, at the end of the day everyone is having fun,” 2016 graduate Michael Everett said. “It sounds a little cliche but not everyone comes to this event already being friends and this event helps two people from opposite sides of the school that don’t see each other, see each other more often and become friends.”

Everett competed in last year’s Mr. MHS and won runner up, while his classmate, August Balman won the 31st Mr. MHS pageant. Both Everett and Balman were present and performed in last Saturday’s pageant, but did not compete. They did a singing event and at the end Balman wrote thank you letters addressed to the crowd, contestants, judges and to some teachers.

“We had to be here both Thursday, Friday and tonight from like 6-10 and it was a lot of hours and work,” backstage director Adelaide Bliss, senior, said.  

The backstage person played a big role in making the show actually happen and work smoothly. From lighting to moving the band equipment on and off stage, they had a lot to do during the performance. They also helped the contestants get ready for their acts and performances.   

“I was happy with the outcome despite a few things going wrong,” Bliss said, “like the microphones going out and the music not playing during the opening number, which was a little troubling because we didn’t think that it was a good sign for the rest of the show.”

There were several musical and band performances. Senior Jalyn Kirk performed a rap, during which he asked out a girl in the crowd to prom with a sign he grabbed from backstage. At the end of his rap, he carried a sign out to the edge of the catwalk and handed the sign to the girl in the crowd who said yes she would go to prom with him.

“I felt real good about knowing I got a date, to the prom,” Kirk said, “but the real show was about the kids, and they came out, made a performance in a day and this was our first time performing it live, but the prom proposal was nice but it was really about the kids.”

There was also a band performance from McClain and juniors Alex Henton, Caleb Payne, Tony Rodriguez, and Christian Vazquez. Other musical performances include Elliot’s Beyonce dance from a medley of Beyonce songs and a song from the Spanish Girls whose lead singer is Larios.

With so many musical acts, Khamis thinks his talent may have been his winning feature.

“I think what set me apart from everyone else was that everyone else had a performance that was music related, and my act was completely different,” Khamis said. “It was a juggling act, where I juggled a Chinese yo-yo, it’s called diablo, and that’s pretty rare to see.”