By Tia Harish
Disclaimer: Unlike most satire news stories, this one actually happened.
Looking onto a crowd of adoring fans from atop the largest rock at Lake Devo on Oct. 3, the Egg Man ate a banana while wearing an egg costume. This is the second banana he’d eaten during his act and certainly not his last.
Piero Alvarado, commonly referred to as the Egg Man by Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) students, is a first-year business technology management student at TMU.
Several posters appeared around campus depicting a cartoon egg inviting student to watch him eat bananas on Thursday. Alvarado even purchased two pizzas to entice hungry students to stick around for his performance.
At 2 p.m., a small group of students had begun to hover around the rocks at Lake Devo, anticipating the Egg Man’s arrival. He finally showed up a few minutes later to the cheers of a crowd that grew larger as the act went on.
Emilee Luong, a first-year fashion student, got exactly what she expected. “I came solely for the sight of a person eating bananas…great execution.”
Despite having a class at 2 p.m., third-year environment and urban sustainability student Grant Flinn, stuck around to watch the show.
“There was a poster that our friend sent to us,” he said. “It looked entertaining.”
The Egg Man began with his first banana on the ground, taking his time and enjoying the cheers of the audience. With his second banana, he disappeared briefly behind the large rock, only to reappear on top to resounding applause.
“I came solely for the sight of a person eating bananas”
Marwan Al Kharrat, a first-year engineering student, cheered the Egg Man on. “I’m glad he ended up going up on the rock, like a Lion King moment.”
The Egg Man ate a total of three bananas before sliding off the rock into the arms of Al Kharrat and four other fans in the crowd, who then proceeded to carry him down Gould Street.
“I felt euphoric, it was very fun to be a part of it,” said Al Kharrat. “[It was] a fun experience all around and [the Egg Man was] a really cool guy.”
The Egg Man was not the first to pull off a stunt like this. Alvarado said he took inspiration from a similar event at York University.
“I saw a guy at York dressed up as a banana and he ate a [single] egg,” he said. “And as an egg, I cannot let that happen, you know? I had to reciprocate that.”
York’s “Banana Man” had also put posters up around the York campus, encouraging people to watch him eat eggs on Sept. 16.
Video footage uploaded to YouTube showed the Banana Man at the water fountain across from Vari Hall. He ran around a large crowd of students before taking an egg out of a Tupperware and eating it whole, to resounding applause and cheers.
For those who couldn’t catch the show, Alvarado noted that the Egg Man’s journey is not over.
“I’ll probably come after midterms and gather here again,” he said. “Maybe this time I’ll eat five bananas, maybe this time I’ll eat something else. Or maybe I’ll be the one eating the pizza and you guys will be eating the bananas!”
In advance of his next appearance, the Egg Man encouraged students to “always stay silly” in spite of university studies stress.
Leave a Reply