Baton Rouge rugby players stripped down to the bare minimum Saturday night as screaming women outbid one another for a day with one of the athletes.
It was all part of the annual Baton Rouge Rugby Auction. With standing room only at Mellow Mushroom, more than 20 rugby players strutted across the stage, performing choreographed dances to songs like “Hot in Herre,” “Candy Shop” and “Sexy and I Know It.”
The men arrived in different outfits ranging from cutoff camouflage shorts and wife beater tank tops to pressed slacks and collared shirts with bowties. But by the end of each performance, the men flexed their oiled, chiseled bodies in only their underwear — specifically, boxers or G-strings.
The event’s emcee, history junior Jared Quinn, said the auction has been taking place for more than 10 years.
“We really emphasize them having a routine,” he said. “Depending on how into it the audience gets, it can get highly competitive.”
Though Quinn said he’s seen bids as high as $420 in the past, the highest bids Saturday night soared to just more than $100.
The profits are split among the LSU Rugby Club and other Baton Rouge rugby organizations, according to Quinn.
“We can’t go with the typical car wash,” he said.
What the buyers do with their men for 24 hours is up to them, but Quinn said the rugby players mostly clean houses or wash cars.
“The majority of the time, it’s a group of sorority girls who get them to clean their house,” he said, adding that the buyers sometimes make the rugby player dress ridiculously.
Throughout the show, Quinn made remarks about each man’s body or abilities, noting that one player had “just turned 18.”
“I promise he’ll do whatever you want him to,” he said while trying to raise the price of a player who did pushups in purple animal print boxer-briefs.
Animal, dairy and poultry science sophomore Jordan Braswell said she and her roommates had their eyes on their next-door neighbor. She said she brought $60 to the event.
If Braswell won him, she said she planned on getting his nipple pierced.
“I wanted more interaction with the models,” she said.
By the end of the night, her wish was granted.
During an act set to “Pour Some Sugar on Me,” four dancers sprayed whipped cream into the mouths of the crowd, and other acts pulled audience members on stage with them.
Women rushed the stage for the final show to dance with the performers, who were by then all half-naked. The audience members tripped in their high heels over the articles of clothing and beer bottles that littered the stage.
David Brownlee, political science sophomore, was auctioned off for $100 after his performance to “Wop.” He said though he has a girlfriend back home, she isn’t mad at him.
“This is the best night of the year for us,” he said.
 
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Contact Danielle Kelley at [email protected].