Two Binghamton University students are rushing to get on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”
Rachel Samuels, a junior majoring in human development, and Jessica Schwartz, an undeclared sophomore, created the fake sorority Epsilon Delta in an effort to attract enough of the talk show host’s attention to get onto her program.
Though they are not chartered and only have two members, they do not lack focus.
“We took the idea of Greek life and implemented it with Ellen’s values: positivity, kindness and fun,” Samuels said.
The pair formed the fan club last spring after discovering their mutual love for DeGeneres.
“You know those crazy ideas you have with your friends?” Samuels said. “We went through with this one.”
They made an honorary paddle for DeGeneres, as well as customized “Ellen” T-shirts.
“It’s probably unhealthy at this point,” Samuels said. “We’re deluding ourselves that she’s going to pop out somewhere to surprise us and bring us to the show.”
You may have seen the pair at University Fest, recording fellow students’ love for “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” They then used these interviews to create a fake rush video for Epsilon Delta.
They plan on boosting their tally of more than 850 views by using social media and word-of-mouth. The pair hopes that it can use the attention gathered from the video and their friends’ voices to contact DeGeneres.
“So many people secretly love her here. They started coming up to us, asking if they could come with us,” Samuels said.
Samuels and Schwartz have used Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to try and attract DeGeneres’ attention. By reposting their video frequently on various Ellen pages, they hope to be able to contact DeGeneres and someday appear on her show. As for their plan once they meet DeGeneres, the asthmatic duo hope they make it through the introduction.
“The first thing we did was bedazzle our inhalers. We’re still not decided if we’ll show them to her with her paddle,” Schwartz said.
The pair feels that the show’s values of positivity, kindness and fun would be incorporated well into campus and Greek life.
“I’d like a statue of Ellen on campus, just something to bring fun to campus,” Samuels said. “This could be her big chance, we could get her an honorary degree.”
When asked about what talents they could bring to the show, hula hooping and bird calling were the first that came to mind.
“We’d mostly want to play games or have her quiz us,” Schwartz said. “We know everything about the show.”
In addition to having watched every episode, the girls have also read two of DeGeneres’ books, with Samuels able to quote most lines by heart.
In return for their representing Binghamton University if they make it onto the show, Samuels and Schwartz said they would like to meet with President Harvey Stenger.
“I just want to have one lunch with him,” Schwartz said. “Okay, maybe multiple lunches would be nice.”
The pair won’t accept the possibility of failure, and they encourage friends and those interested to keep watching their video and to spread the word.
“I can’t have my computer open in class because I’ll check how many hits the video has constantly,” Samuels said.