By Shelby Streicher | @KyKernel

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Slimy, green Jell-O filled tug o’ war pits Tuesday at the Johnson Center fields, where students gathered for the annual Turtle Tug hosted by Kappa Alpha fraternity and Delta Zeta sorority.

The Turtle Tug is a tug o’ war contest involving 1,500 gallons of Jell-O and friendly competition between sororities and fraternities on campus.

Six members from each of the participating sororities and fraternities volunteered to compete in the tug o’ war contest.

The contest consisted of both a sorority bracket and a fraternity bracket for the males and females to remain separate.

Emma Whan, Delta Zeta’s philanthropy chair, said 20 to 25 teams competed in the event, which is the sorority’s main philanthropy event of the spring semester.

“We invited all of them, but they weren’t all able to participate. Almost all of the sororities are here and a few less fraternities,” Whan said.

After a grueling fight, Alpha Phi took home first place for the sorority bracket, and Delta Sigma Phi for the fraternity bracket, both teams making sure their opponents were covered head to toe in Jell-O.

Each participating team paid an entry fee of $60, and a fee of $3 was charged for those who did not participate in the contest but came to watch.

The two winning teams each received $100 toward the philanthropy of their choice.

Jake Persky, an accounting junior and member of Kappa Alpha, said that half of all the proceeds from the event benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Kappa Alpha’s philanthropy, and the other half benefit Lexington Hearing and Speech, Delta Zeta’s philanthropy.

Music was blared from the speakers as the tug o’ war contest took place and a water balloon fight broke out between the Greek students afterward.

Persky said his favorite part of the event was the tug o’ war.

“It’s not every day that you get to see 750 gallons of Jell-O right in front of you that you can potentially fall into,” Persky said.