Dirty Bingo brings community and naughtiness to the Observatory
The Observatory had a collective sense of warmth on the evening of Feb. 4, not from the indoor temperature or the poutine being served, but from the spiciness of Dirty Bingo.
Dirty Bingo is a version of regular bingo, but with sex toys as the prizes. The winner from each round of bingo chooses from a selection of toys, such as dildos and bottles of lubrication.
Hosts Zelda Marshall and Krystal Caring called out the letters and numbers. Attendees also had the opportunity to call out the bingo letters in a dirty fashion, for example, substituting the “O” for “Orgasm.”
If two guests called out “bingo” at the same time, they would go to the prize desk to battle it out over a challenge, such as putting a condom over a water bottle.
Students heard about this event through the SA’s social media, as well as word of mouth. Thomas Beaudoin, an Algonquin College student, first heard about this event through a friend in September and has been attending each Dirty Bingo event ever since.
“I’ve made new friends. It kind of encourages community building,” said Beaudoin. “I know a lot of high schools don’t talk about these things. They don’t talk about sex at all. Actually, my high school didn’t.”
Dirty Bingo has been hosted at Algonquin College since 2010, creating a space for adults to socialize and become better educated on sex.
“We want people to basically feel free to express themselves, to meet people that are like-minded themselves, and to basically have an area where they can come and have fun,” said Matteo Mongroo, an events assistant with the SA who helped organize Dirty Bingo. “It’s been running for 15 years. At this point, we are getting to the point where it’s kind of running itself.”
Mongroo said that Dirty Bingo was previously targeted towards the college community and the general public, but this year it’s only targeting Algonquin College students.
Marshall, a drag performer who also hosts a weekly Thursday night drag show at Swizzles Bar and Grill downtown, uses Dirty Bingo to dispel some myths about sex.
“We try to make it a positive educational experience as well as a fun experience,” said Marshall.
Caring, an Algonquin College alumni and drag performer, said that the audience’s sense of humour has changed over the past 15 years.
“They want everything politically correct, very safe, which I don’t think comedy needs to be like that. I think we need to open it up and have a good time,” said Caring.
Marshall and Caring said it’s good to take people away from stress and to let them have a good time.
“We have also had people, because of our show, come out to their friends. They realized that their friends are actually very positive and supportive of the event and of gay people,” said Caring.
They also plan to do Dirty Bingo events in Pembroke, Ont. and Kingston, Ont.
“Here’s to another 15 great years,” said Marshall.
