Saturday’s half-time show at the SEC Championship in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium finished to a wave of boos from the crowd when the Dr. Pepper tuition giveaway ended in a tie, but with the $100,000 award going to one of the contestants anyway on a technicality.
As the LSU Tigers were on their way to losing 30-50 to the Georgia Bulldogs, soft drink company Dr. Pepper staged its annual tuition giveaway during halftime. But things did not go as smoothly as planned, The Spun reported.
As two college women vied for the ultimate $100,000 tuition payoff award by throwing footballs into giant soda cans, a clear winner did not emerge, despite two countdowns.
Reagan Whitaker of Baylor University, and Kayla Gibson, of the University of St. Augustine both, continued to successfully throw the same number of footballs into their respective giant soda cans. Consequently, when the first 30-second time limit was reached, they both had made 11 successful passes.
So, Dr. Pepper officials added another 15 seconds to the clock, erased the scores, and started again. Unfortunately, the second countdown ended in yet another tie. Both women had successfully aimed eight passes into the soda cans.
However, despite the on-field tie, Dr. Pepper awarded the $100,000 to Baylor’s Reagan Whitaker.
That sent the fans into a loud round of boos.
It turns out that Dr. Pepper had a tiebreaker rule. Apparently, the number of successful tosses made during Friday’s preliminary contest, mostly intended to narrow the contestants down to just two, was also used as a tiebreaker. And, during Friday’s prelim, Whitaker completed more bullseyes than Gibson. So, that count was used to award the $100K to Whitaker alone.
(The official Dr. Pepper rules stated: “In the event a tie still remains after the Half-Time Tie-Breaker Competition, the final tiebreaker will be determined based upon the results of the Preliminary Tie-Breaker conducted during the Preliminary Competition.”)
Somehow, no one was mollified by the tiebreaker rule, though. Dr. Pepper was inundated with attacks on social media — and was even hit with a #JusticeForKayla hashtag — so much so that the company decided to toss out the tiebreaker rule and just hand both women a $100,000 award.
Indeed, the game had not even yet ended before the soft drink company caved in and gave both contestants the big payday. As CBS reporter Jenny Dell noted before the fourth quarter ended, the decision was made.
“Well, you all saw the unprecedented double tie of the Dr. Pepper halftime tuition giveaway,” Dell said. “We’ve just been told by Dr. Pepper that they’re going to award both finalists $100,000. So both Kayla Gibson and Reagan Whitaker are taking home $100K. Congratulations, ladies, and great job by Dr. Pepper there.”
Dr. Pepper has given away about $13 million since the first half-time contest in 2008.
Andrew Springate, Chief Marketing Officer for Keurig Dr. Pepper, told Insider that this year’s contest was “the most exciting yet.”
“We’re honored to celebrate inspiring students every year and excited that this unexpected turn of events gave us the opportunity to extend the grand prize award to another deserving student,” Springate added.
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