Hundreds of ‘Ellen’ fans bring Royals spirit, zany costumes for show’s taping on KU campus

Footage from Campanile hill to air Tuesday

Kansas University junior P.J.Gustafson, of Overland Park, gets into the Kansas City Royals spirit during the taping of a segment for The

Inspired by game one of the World Series taking place Tuesday in nearby Kansas City, Mo., The Ellen DeGeneres Show came to the Kansas University campus Monday to drum up some team spirit.

Specifically, Royals spirit.

Though DeGeneres herself didn’t make the trip, representatives and camera crews from her show set up shop at the bottom of KU’s Campanile hill Monday afternoon and filmed scenes that will air on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” on Tuesday prior to the baseball game.

Hundreds of KU students and community members showed up to cheer on the Royals for the cameras — many dressed as various versions of kings, queens, princesses and Royals baseball stars, as instructed for a chance to win prizes from the show.

Tweets by DeGeneres — who claims a cool 49 million Twitter followers — started Saturday and, little by little, revealed more about what her show was doing on campus, when and where.

Where to watch

“The Ellen DeGeneres Show” airs at 4 p.m. weekdays on KMBC-TV Channel 9.

On Saturday afternoon: “Hey, everybody at the University of Kansas, if you’re as excited as I am about the World Series, I hope you’re free on Monday.”

On Sunday afternoon, another tweet indicated an event would happen around noon.

Just before noon Monday, she tweeted: “Be at the hill in front of the Campanile Memorial at 3pm today. You won’t be sorry. Let’s play ball.”

Cameras didn’t actually start rolling until 4:45 p.m., but fans began flocking to the Campanile hill as early as 11:30 a.m.

Terrie Johnson of Olathe arrived around noon dressed like DeGeneres herself — suspenders, bow tie, dark-rimmed glasses and spiky blond hair.

Johnson, who said she came out as LGBT three years ago and struggled with some of the repercussions, said she was greatly inspired by DeGeneres.

“This is my lifelong dream,” she said. “I want to be on her show. I have a story.”

KU freshmen Gabriella Gomez, of Olathe, Madison Cundiff, of Marvin, N.C., and Madison Bischler, of Parkville, Mo., arrived just after noon and kept their spot front and center until the cameras turned on.

Holding a hand-painted sign and decked out in Royals gear, the three confessed to skipping class to be there.

“Ellen and Royals — can’t get much better than that,” Gomez said.

Sisters Lynne and Laura Oyler, of Lawrence, arrived about four hours before the show began taping, decked out in Royals gear. But at 3 p.m., “Ellen DeGeneres Show” correspondent Jeannie Klisiewicz threw the crowd a curveball, telling them to go change into royalty costumes.

“Ellen wants creativity. I would advise going home and getting all dressed up,” Klisiewicz said. “You cannot win without being dressed up.”

Lynne Oyler, a KU freshman, saved their front-row spot as Laura Oyler, a KU junior, ran to their mother, Caryn Oyler’s dance studio, Dazzlers Christian Dance, 925 Iowa St., for princess costumes. As Laura Oyler left, more students, donning everything from a princess wedding dress to a Sasquatch costume with makeshift crown, started appearing in droves.

The sisters made it back in time to wear their gowns and crowns long enough to be selected as potential contestants, but did not make it to the final round. Instead, the show selected KU students Mary Grace Adkins, Madison Wolfe, PJ Gustafson, KU Admissions representative Danny Woods and Johnson County Community College student Lauren Gordon to compete.

DeGeneres herself asked the five to first play a game of “dizzy bat,” by spinning around with their foreheads to the ends of five baseball bats. When DeGeneres said “Stop,” the first two contestants to grab a baseball from Klisiewicz would move on.

Gordon and Gustafson won the first round, then competed against each other in a Simon Says-style stein-holding competition led by DeGeneres.

“Cheers your partner without spilling,” DeGeneres ordered the contestants. “Now, wave like a princess.”

Ultimately, Gordon spilled, leaving Gustafson the winner. Gustafson took home two World Series tickets and two field passes for Tuesday’s game, in which the Royals will take on the New York Mets.

Not wanting to leave competitors empty-handed, DeGeneres gave Gordon a pair of World Series tickets as well, and the rest of the finalists received gift cards. Nine crowd-members also won one-year subscriptions to Hulu after the show ceased filming.

Other featured guests slated for Tuesday’s “Ellen DeGeneres Show” are singer Carrie Underwood and comedian Will Forte.