The dating game comes to IU

Take four, single, college men, give them a girl to impress and a bunch of free dating ideas to keep them all busy. A local company is hoping this skewed math will be the next big thing in Bloomington.\nLocal events Web site, www.HoosierParty.com, came up with the idea to have an Elimidate style dating show here in Bloomington.\nThe Boot is a collaboration between www.HoosierParty.com and area businesses. The businesses sponsor portions of the date, and www.HoosierParty.com features these sponsors in the events and on the Web site. The catch is that on "The Boot," the contestant doesn't choose the winner, the Internet audience does. The Web site posts pictures and commentary at intervals from the date, and the Internet voters eliminate participants one by one until the winner is left with the prize.\nFor their first try at dating infamy, www.HoosierParty.com selected senior Cynthia Toosley as the lucky woman to tackle the daunting task of dealing with four eager samples of college testosterone: Ryan Garcia, Patrick Brewer, Greg Williams and Keith Gaught.\nDay One of the two-day date consisted of dinner at Macri's Deli north, one-on-one interviews at Showalter Fountain and bowling at Suburban Lanes.\nThe difficulty of trying to have a normal date with two camera men, a reporter and a site manager watching seemed to present itself to the participants early in the game.\nGaught resorted to obvious questions to break the awkwardness.\n"So, are you single or not?" he asked Toosley, to which she replied: "Yeah -- I hope everyone's single!"\nUnlike Elimidate, there were no special characters -- there was no macho womanizer, no stripper-in-training nor a random psycho to spoil the fun. \nHowever, Garcia -- who had a Speedy Gonzalez tattoo on his right arm -- declared to everyone that he "majors in pimping." \nAfter dinner, the group headed to Showalter Fountain to have one-on-one conversations with Toosley, but not before a requested pit stop at Big Red Liquors.\nBrian Hardman, marketing director for www.HoosierParty.com, said the company does not encourage the use of alcohol, so the players bought it themselves.\nAs Toosley interviewed candidates separately, the others stood outside and conversed. Nicknames were a popular topic -- particularly Williams.' \n"You guys gotta call me coif," Williams said, in a reference to his Johnny Bravo-style hair. "I don't know if I should go by 'Greg' or 'Coif.'"\nGaught emerged from his one-on-one a little startled, saying "I think they told her to make it juicy." \nWilliams said he would be glad to add to the juiciness, and that he would "go make out with that girl" if this reporter would write about it in the paper.\nContestants then struck up conversation with Clint Wolfe -- the limo driver -- who was enjoying a book by himself.\nAfter lengthy one-on-ones, the group headed to Suburban Lanes for bowling.\nAt the end of night one, Patrick Brewer was eliminated by a jury of his Internet peers.\nFriday, day two, started for the remaining three combatants at the climbing wall at Hoosier Heights Indoor Facility, where Williams was kicked off the wall by the Internet voters.\nDinner for Toosley and the two remaining finalists was at Cafe Django. Garcia elaborated on why the other two were eliminated.\n"(They) just didn't have what we had," Garcia said.\nToosley then noted the two remaining contestants were from the same fraternity, Phi Kappa Psi. Thus, they were less nervous than normal.\n"I think they have a lot of guys pulling for them," she said.\nGarcia said it seemed like a lot of people were "jealous" about them being on the show, and many had inquired about how to get on.\nAfter some time at dinner, Hardman came in and threw a new twist into the game. He told the players the winner would definitely get another date with Toosley, but either the winner or voter's choice (the issue had not been decided) would get to go on next month's The Boot on a date with four single women.\nAfter this interesting bit of news, discussions ranged from fake ID's, to MTV's The Real World, to the fact that Garcia will not eat green food because his sister force-fed him broccoli when he was little.\nDuring dinner, Kevin Slusher, client services executive for www.HoosierParty.com, spent his time using the limo to pick up girls.\n"I told them I owned nightclubs," he said. \nWhen Slusher returned the multi-purpose limousine, the threesome rode around in the limo until the online voting deadline came.\nIn the most ironic of fashions, during the final ride the limo's radio was playing the Linkin Park song "In the end."\n"I tried so hard, and got so far, but in the end, it doesn't even matter..."\nIn the end, Garcia tried so hard, but Gaught won the day, and the girl.\nAll of the players said they were happy with the game.\n"I'm glad I did it," Gaught said. "I got to meet cool people."\nToosley said at first the program seemed disorganized, but she opened up to it and had fun.\n"I'm glad I did it," she said. "I'll be happy either way with the winner. All the contestants were cool."\nIf all continues to go well, The Boot, will become a monthly show on www.HoosierParty.com.\nChris Overstreet, president of Beyond the Box Media Group, said he thinks the show will be a success.\n"We think IU will be receptive to this type of contest because we are computer-savvy and our generation is big on reality-type shows," Overstreet said. "We've gotten positive feedback on the show from the many that we've asked"