Party in the Paternoster

A video of a cheeky chap downing a pint while semi-naked on the paternoster as part of a new game called Neck and Nominate has been discovered on Facebook. 

The beginning of the video is an eerie shot of the paternoster.

Viewers are not really sure what to expect at first, particularly those who recognise the top floor of Leicester University’s paternoster.

A topless figures begins to appear.

As the paternoster continues to roll round, watchers are greeted by a man who appears to have got lost on his way to the pool.

Dialogue is quick to come as our star greets us: “Evening chaps”.

Suddenly…alcohol is produced.

The video then takes a twist as the definition behind ‘neck’ becomes apparent. The Leicester student graciously accepts an (almost full) pint from behind the paternoster and gives a tilt of his face to the camera.

The reason for the tilt will, no doubt, be analysed by film critics and media students across the land.

The gentleman returns to the paternoster with his pint.

With an obvious desire to delay the necking, the individual, believed to be a member of Leicester University’s Men’s Rugby Union club, gives us a generous view of his backside before slapping it and stepping back on the paternoster – pint still in hand.

At this point, the first chuckles of anticipation are heard from behind the camera.

It must be a challenge to step on the paternoster without spilling your pint.

Carefully balancing his pint, the gent returns to Leicester’s iconic feature – all the time looking directly at the camera.

Where is he going?

The gentleman leaves us hanging by saying: “Remember, what goes up…”. He then ascends the paternoster, where he is seen to begin drinking his pint.

He heads into an area The Tab has never dared travel, but which we are told is dark and dangerous – ‘over the top’.

Our final shot of the protagonist as he ascends.

As you can see, the individual was careful to keep his socks on.

The other side…

The cameraman, presumably a friend of our star, then switches his camera to the other side of the paternoster, the ‘down’ side, in anticipation of the ‘necker’ returning.

Will he ever return?

Viewers are forced to wait in suspense as several empty carriages come down.

He lives…

Finally, the University of Leicester’s answer to Tom Cruise begins to emerge. He is still sporting those sexy but serious black socks though.

Glass empty…

But something has changed. The pint has been drunk on the journey. What a merry way to drink your beverage! The individual concludes from his earlier sentence: “…Must go down”.

The finger…

Our paternoster prankster then points at the camera in a cross between World War Two’s ‘Your country needs you’ and LMFAO’s ‘Sexy and I know it’. He states: “Collins – you’re up”.

This would appear to be the nominate part of the game. Good luck to this ‘Collins’ wherever and whenever he/she might be.

Bye-bye.

Leicester’s new internet sensation, to raucous chuckles from those accompanying him, then disappears forever. (Presumably to the pub to fetch another pint and relive the whole event over again.)

Unfortunately, due to pesky privacy settings, The Tab was unable to reproduce the video, which has 98 likes on Facebook and 18 comments.

However, we were able to get a quick word with the individual involved. He described ‘Neck and Nominate’ as “simply the premise of drinking beer in a silly place”. He added it “was just a game between friends at home” trying “to find the most humorous place to do it”. Finally, he concluded that he “did not expect it to get such attention at all”.

A couple of questions spring up from this video.

1) Where the heck were the security guards, which our extortionate fees go towards paying? Perhaps they were in on it or maybe they were doing their regular past times of sleeping, ‘reading’ page 3 of The Sun or, this writer’s personal favourite, watching bikes being stolen from campus on CCTV instead of preventing it (yes, I’m still a little bitter).

2) Will ‘Neck and Nominate’ catch on at our university? Will we see a host of these videos popping up all over campus and will it get to the stage where we can’t even move around for fear of seeing a semi-naked individual chopping a pint in the David Wilson silent zone, in the queue at Starbucks or during a speech to Union Parliament?

Already, in talking about this article, a friend from home has challenged this writers to a game, so I’m off to don a ‘ridiculous’ outfit to chop a pint (something, quite ridiculously, I’m not very good at).