“I felt betrayed,” says James… perhaps the first reality star ever to speak a bad word about his own series. … “They told me they put the twist in there because they wanted straight people to watch,” he says. “I said to them, ‘Well, you’ve played gay people as entertainment for straight people. Of course they’re going to watch’.”*
and
But James’s problem with “Boy Meets Boy” goes beyond his feeling of personal betrayal; he worries that it plays on homophobic stereotypes. “It may reinforce the idea that gay men secretly like straight men, but have to hide it,” he says.
The idea that the producers might be manipulating the selections never occured to me. Well, the idea that they were manipulating the choices for purposes of short-term drama did (put two James-faves in the same group and watch him squirm) the idea that they might be doing it for purposes of keeping straight guys in the mix never did. Truly the work, if that’s what’s happening, of an evil genius. Now I want to go back and review the groupings of the other episodes to see if the straights were actually grouped.
What’s that puzzle about weighing coins to try and find the counterfeit one? Suddenly the game is seeming like a version of that.
After I posted last night, I realized that in order to ensure that there was at least one straight guy left in the show for their final twist, the producers had to pair him against Sean in the selection process. But I see that I’m not the first to think of that, though. So, if that person was Franklin, I guess he’s the one. And Franklin’s comments about the James’s “masculine jaw” and “feminine eyes” definitely made me wonder about him.
After reading **Sampiro’**s link about the straight guy who felt bad about another guy having a crush on him, I’m wondering if maybe it was between Dan and Brian? I remember Brian saying he had a crush on Dan at one point, and I thought it seemed sincere.
I’ve come to the conclusion that Franklin’s look of jealousy was really based on him being upset that he might not be doing enough to win the game, and not because he has any feelings for James. Maybe he even thought Darren was straight, and playing a better game than himself? He must really be a ruthless competitor…and you’d have to be to lead someone on like that.
Franklin was also in the line-up on week 2 with three straight guys. And on week three, he was in a line-up with a straight guy and a gay guy (IIRC). So, I’m guessing that the groupings were purposely done so that they’d ensure at least one straight guy in the final round. This way, James couldn’t eliminate all the straight guys at once.
Peace.