At 8:30 yesterday morning, Wharton junior Arthur Hayes woke up to the piercing sound of a rolling pin banging on a cooking pan.
A booming British accent followed. "Wakey-wakey! Rise and shine - get up!"
No, Hayes, a member of Psi Upsilon, wasn't dreaming.
While most Penn students were treading through snow to get to their morning classes, Psi Upsilon - more commonly known as "The Castle" - was gearing up for a gourmet meal for President Amy Gutmann and 65 Philadelphia VIPs.
All this for the new Food Network reality show, Dinner: Impossible.
The show takes a world renowned chef, Robert Irvine, and surprises him with a unique and daunting culinary mission.
His task this time: nine hours to turn the Castle into an upscale dining room and prepare a five-course meal - with the fraternity brothers' help.
The Food Network approached the University with the idea back in November, said Scott Reikofski, director of Sorority and Fraternity Affairs. "They were looking for a typical Ivy League fraternity house."
After Psi Upsilon was chosen, the details of the event were kept top secret - the fraternity brothers knew that they were going to be on a Food Network show, but not much more than that.
Irvine, who knew as little about his mission beforehand, received his instructions upon arrival.
First on his agenda: waking up his Greek help to assist with the cleaning and cooking.
"The house was rather unclean, and [Irvine] . wanted the place to look spic and span," said Executive Producer Marc Summers, of Double Dare fame.
As the brothers cleaned, Irvine put together his menu, which ranged from asparagus and crab meat soup to filet mignon with lobster mashed potatoes.
"The funny thing was, they didn't have any food or any equipment," Irvine said. "There was absolutely nothing here," he said, which necessitated a number of trips to the Fresh Grocer.
Fraternity brothers were also involved in the cooking throughout the day.
"I was helping unpackage meat and taking stalks off of string beans," College junior Charles Miller said.
"They're rushed - they're under a lot of pressure," Miller said of Irvine and his assistant chef. "They're short with us, but only because they have so much to do and so little time."
And though Irvine worked tirelessly to make sure he'd be ready in time for the 5:30 p.m. reception and 6:00 dinner, he stumbled upon a few surprises along the way.
Irvine "was putting 50 fillets on the grill at once," College senior Matt Carter said. "The [smoke] alarm went off for about 10 minutes, but we cooked through the whole thing."
Even with the distraction of Philadelphia firefighters pounding on the door, Irvine and the brothers of Psi Upsilon managed to pull everything together in time.
And the efforts didn't go unnoticed.
"It isn't every day that you see a miracle," Gutmann said. "A frat house had its members get up before noon and prepare a great meal, not just an edible meal."
Irvine was equally impressed with the outcome.
"My hat is off to you guys, because it was Dinner: Possible!" he said.
The episode will air on the Food Network sometime in April, Summers said.
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