# Playing it Straight on FOX
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playing-it-straight-on-fox/234035
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [March 13, 2004, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playing-it-straight-on-fox/234035 "2004-03-13T04:29:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2004, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playing-it-straight-on-fox/234035/1 "2004-03-13T04:29:58Z")
So, um, yeah. Anyone?
I’m so appalled I don’t even know where to begin. Which of course means that I won’t miss a minute.
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### Author:  [@Tremmie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tremmie)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2004, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playing-it-straight-on-fox/234035/2 "2004-03-13T04:38:02Z")
I thought it was hilarious. I couldn’t believe they made such a big deal out of that guy having a hair dryer, but on the other hand i can’t understand why he would need one in the first place.
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### Author:  [@Ooner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ooner)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2004, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playing-it-straight-on-fox/234035/3 "2004-03-13T05:17:46Z")
About the hair dryer:
I don’t know much about hair, but I do know that drying your hair with a hair drier is a styling thing, and with hair like his it’s not that crazy. So he blow dries so his hair stays up instead of falling down. It’s not like any of those guys are strangers to somewhat excessive styling.
I think it’s a fun show. I think it’s damn funny that she got rid of 2 straight guys already. I clearly have no gaydar because I thought the same things she did, but my early guesses include Luciano and the blond-haired waiter who is emphasizing his straightness WAY too straight to actually be straight.
I hate reality dating shows in general because the whole staged romance thing seems too phony. Looking for love on TV is just… well, boring. I think this is a lot more of a game show than a dating show, so I’ll probably watch the rest of it.
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### Author:  [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2004, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playing-it-straight-on-fox/234035/4 "2004-03-13T05:27:32Z")
Sooooo. . . . .
Nobody saw _Boy Meets Boy_ on Bravo? Same concept, but with a woman and not a man as the central character.
And no insane blonde fag hag trying to make the show all about her.
Plus I spotted at least one definite gay man.
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### Author:  [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2004, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playing-it-straight-on-fox/234035/5 "2004-03-13T13:14:27Z")
The only thing that bothers me about this show is that they clearly actively sought effeminate straight males. It would have been more fun if they simply choose straight-acting gay men and straight-acting straight men. Otherwise it’s not about figuring who is straight or gay but rather what the producers wanted you to think. I bad production decision imo. If Ryan isn’t gay, I’ll stop watching the show.
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### Author:  [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2004, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playing-it-straight-on-fox/234035/6 "2004-03-13T13:18:42Z")
It is similar to Boy Meets Boy, but one important difference in this case is that the woman was told up front, before any eliminations. I don’t think the guys are that effeminate. They’re just fairly metrosexual. Edlyn and I couldn’t tell which was which and, interestingly, we couldn’t even devise a test to determine which is which.
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### Author:  [@wireless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wireless)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2004, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playing-it-straight-on-fox/234035/7 "2004-03-13T16:19:31Z")
Perhaps the twist is that _none_ of them are actually gay?
I agree they seem to have picked guys with stereotypically “gay” traits. I laughed at that little montage when each guy was listing his characteristics that might be interpreted as “gay.”
And the woman doesn’t seem to have had a lot of previous interaction with (gasp!) actual homosexuals - her expectations of what’s “gay” are so stereotyped.
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### Author:  [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2004, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playing-it-straight-on-fox/234035/8 "2004-03-13T17:46:06Z")
> [@wireless](#):
>
> Perhaps the twist is that _none_ of them are actually gay?
Generally the audience is not lied to in reality shows.
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### Author:  [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2004, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playing-it-straight-on-fox/234035/9 "2004-03-13T20:23:38Z")
> [@gobear](#):
>
> Sooooo. . . . .
>
> Nobody saw _Boy Meets Boy_ on Bravo? Same concept, but with a woman and not a man as the central character.
>
> And no insane blonde fag hag trying to make the show all about her.
Wait…BMB _wasn’t_ about Andra?
Did anyone tell her that?
So, ye of the infallible gaydar (or not…I seem to recall some wrong guesses from you in the BMB threads), who’ve you got pegged? None of them are setting off any alarm bells for me, but I think that’s mostly because they’re all coming off like pricks and I don’t want to claim any of them.
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### Author:  [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2004, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playing-it-straight-on-fox/234035/10 "2004-03-13T23:42:47Z")
It seemed pretty obvious when Daphne told the guys that the straight man, if picked, would get half a mil: Half of the guys hooted and applauded immediately, the other half reacted late (‘oh, yeah, I should show that I like that part’).
Like BMB, the woman should have had a gay male best friend with her to help her. Then the show could have been all about him.
Disgustingly trite show. Can’t wait to see what happens next.
Peace.