Karen Click, a member of the Department of Multicultural Student Affairs, hosted an interactive discussion about stereotypes and prejudice Monday from 6 to 8 p.m. in the SMU Hughes-Trigg Forum.

“Today in this room, we’re going to stereotype the crap out of this activity,” Click said.

The presentation was called “We all do it — exploring where our prejudices come from” and focused on an episode of “Without Prejudice” that appeared on BBC America.

The show had five contestants and five panelists. The panelists chose the winner by determining whom they liked the most through a series of elimination rounds. The winner received 20,000 pounds ($35,000 U.S.) to spend however they want.

The first elimination was based solely on first impression. A.J., a 23-year-old white woman with a shaved head and several facial piercings, was introduced first. She described herself as outgoing and kind.

Next was Teresa, a 24-year-old white woman with unnatural red hair who described herself as sensitive and emotional. Sherry, a 30-year old white woman, said she was confident and easygoing.

Barry, 53, was the first man presented. He also described himself as easygoing and relaxed. Tim, a 40-year-old black man, was the final contestant. He considered himself a risk taker and the life of the party.

Before the panelists on the show eliminated each contestant, Click paused the show for discussion among the group, which consisted of 15 students.

A.J. was the first eliminated by both the show panelists and the group. Her freakish appearance rubbed most people the wrong way.

Barry was next to go once it was revealed during the background portion of the show that he was a swinger. Again, the panelists and group agreed.

Sherry was eliminated when she said she makes 45,000 pounds ($79,000 U.S.). Most people agreed she didn’t need the money.It came down to Teresa and Tim for the final round, which was the interview session with the panelists.

When asked about the best thing to have happened to her, Teresa began to cry after saying it was the birth of her child. She won unanimously.

Shawheen Molavi, a sophomore political science/business double-major, was one of several students who disagreed with the final results.

“I don’t think any of us expected A.J. to make it very far because she was such a freak. I don’t think any of us expected Barry to get very far once we found out that he was a swinger and found out that he owned a swinging business. And Sherry was a real prude so I don’t think any of us expected her to make it very far either,” Molavi said. “So she (Teresa) lucked out because her only competition was Tim. She got lucky that she made it to the emotional part because that was her strongest point.”Molavi said he’s very involved in the DMSA community and stereotype workshops are some of the most fun.

“If anyone really does any reflective thinking on the issue, I think they’d be able to predict a lot of these things,” Molavi said. “If it’s something that you don’t think about and all of the sudden it was presented to you, I think it would be a very eye-opening experience.”

So who did he think should have won?

“I wanted Tim to win because he was real middle-of-the-road. I thought that whatever actions he would have taken with the money might have coincided with mine,” Molavi said. “I figured I could really appreciate 20,000 pounds, so he’ll probably really appreciate 20,000 pounds too. It’s not very fair, but that’s life.”

For Amen Amachigh, a junior political science major, the decision was a no-brainer.

“When Teresa came on, how could you follow that?” Amachigh said. “She was crying, her sister had lupus, and she was taking care of kids that weren’t even hers!”

All fun and games aside, this was meant to send a powerful message.

“Once you leave the university, you are often off in your cubicle and in your own world, and the opportunity to meet people different from you diminishes rapidly,” Click said. “Take every opportunity you can while you’re at SMU, through your classes and extracurricular activities to reach out and try to break down some of the stereotypes you have.”