This week, Associated Student Productions invited Cynthia Lee Fontaine to host a Bingo Night here at SSU. Cynthia Lee Fontaine is the stage name of Carlos Diaz Hernandez, a Puerto Rican drag performer from Austin, Texas.

Fontaine was a contestant on RuPaul’s Drag Race, ultimately finishing in tenth place, while also winning the hearts of fans as well as the title of Miss Congeniality. Fontaine was well known to fellow contestants, as well as fans, for her memorable catchphrase, “cucu.” Before she started doing drag, Fontaine received a degree in Clinical Psychology and worked in the mental health field.

Around 20 students attended this event, and the energy was nothing short of high. Meghan Miller, a senior at SSU, said that she “loved Cynthia’s energy throughout the whole evening! She kept cheering me on while I was losing.”

On top of already being starstruck, students had the opportunity to win prizes at this event. There were five gift cards up for grabs, with the amounts ranging from $30-$50 each. ASP staff ran the event through a shared screen on Zoom, which showed the numbers being called as Fontaine announced them out loud. Students would then send ASP staff their winning bingo card for verification once they won a game.

One lucky student, Hazel Calderon, won three gift cards at the event. Another round of bingo ended in a tie, leading to a tie-breaker round of Ru Paul’s Drag Race trivia questions conducted by Fontaine herself.

Throughout the event, Fontaine answered questions about herself, and behind-the-scenes details of Ru Paul’s Drag Race. Fontaine talked about being diagnosed with Stage 1 liver cancer shortly after leaving the show during season eight. When asked about her close friends from the show, she named Acid Betty as her closest friend, who was a fellow drag queen on Season 8 of Ru Paul’s Drag Race. They became close mainly because of how she was there for Fontaine during her fight against cancer.

Acid Betty, also known as Jamie Ruhren, was eliminated from the show shortly after Fontaine, and ultimately won eighth place on Season 8. In a previous interview with Mic.com, Fontaine discussed Betty’s presence during her experience with cancer, and said, “She is just an extraordinary person … the most honest and transparent I have met in my entire life. She’s like my mother.”

Fontaine welcomed Hispanic and Latinx students to the event, and alternated between calling numbers out in English and Spanish. Fontaine also talked with students throughout the event, emphasizing the importance of community and prioritizing mental health and relaxation during your time at university.

Associated Student Productions (ASP) shares this goal with Fontaine, and has been planning events for students to promote involvement and relaxation during these hectic times. Mac Patefield, the Events Director for ASP says, “It can be difficult to plan events in the virtual setting. We’ve had to find different ways to incentivize coming to our events.”

Patefield added that ASP has “found great successes in live cooking demos, virtual game nights, and celebrity Q and A” events, like this one. Patefield shared that events that were popular while university events were still in person largely relied on large catering and activity budgets (such as Big Nite, AS Free Bowling Night, or Paint and Sip nights) whereas online events with big prizes and celebrity guests are more popular in a virtual format.

Patefield, and the other ASP staff members want students to know, “All you need to do to win most ASP event prizes, is to just show up to the event!” Exclusive information about ASP events and upcoming student programs can be found on their Instagram, @ssu_as.

Associated Student Productions has tons of fun events planned for the rest of the semester, including an upcoming event this Monday, April 5 with Jonathan Van Ness, one of the stars of the Netflix show Queer Eye.