Number six is the new number one, according to the students who attended the Taste of Charleston Tuesday in Ford Hall.

Eight pizza places donated large pizzas for the event, and Jerry’s Pizza was voted the top pizza out of the eight that were served.

Students voted on their favorite pizza by number. There was a list of the eight pizzas that were available, but each pizza was marked with a number. Jerry’s Pizza was number six.

The next two most favorite pizzas came from Domino’s and Papa John’s, respectively.

Attendees also entered a raffle where they wrote on slips of paper the order they thought the pizzas were in, one through eight.

Kyle Boudreau, a senior kinesiology and sports studies major, had a strategy in guessing which pizza was which.Boudreau teamed up with Noah Hardy, a sophomore undecided major, to guess numbers one through eight.

They said the sauce and crust were key deciding points.

“Papa John’s uses more sauce, and Monical’s has that thin crust,” Boudreau said.

When the identities of the pizzas were unveiled, Boudreau found out that he guessed six of the pizzas wrong.

The only pizzas he guessed right were Monical’s and Domino’s.

Tim Mack, a sophomore pre business management major, and Amanda Zumwalt, a sophomore elementary education major, guessed all eight pizzas perfectly.

“I’ve eaten all of the pizzas before,” Mack said. “You can tell by looking at them.”

Zumwalt had not tasted all of the pizzas before Tuesday, so she relied on her friends to hint to her the difference between Pagliai’s, Chubby’s and Jerry’s.

Mack and Zumwalt won prizes for guessing correctly, but Boudreau was surprised at the result.

Boudreau said he thought he had more pizza tasting experience.

“I thought I ate a lot of pizza until I came here (to the event),” Boudreau said.

Boudreau, like Zumwalt, had never eaten Pagliai’s, Jerry’s, or Chubby’s; however, he said he is going to now.

Alyssa Henson, a junior history major, thought the event was a good idea to educate people on other pizzas around Charleston.

“You know these pizza places for when you don’t know what you want to order,” Henson said.

Jake Hanley, who coordinated the event, said he was happy with all of the people who showed up, especially the people who didn’t live in Ford Hall.

Hanley said about 10-15 people outside of Ford Hall came to the event.

“I’m very happy with the variety of people who came out,” Hanley said.

Hanley said there would be no way he could guess which pizza was which if he had been taking part in the event.

He said he has only tasted a few pizzas; Domino’s being his favorite.

Little Caesers, Pizza Hut, Papa John’s, Monical’s, Domino’s, Pagliai’s, Chubby’s, and Jerry’s all donated pizzas for the event.

Alex McNamee can be reached at 581-7942 or admcnamee@eiu.edu.

Ford Hall President Caleb McGregor, a junior music major, brings out pizza during Ford Hall’s Taste of Charleston event Tuesday. (Danny Damiani

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