And it does so with around a quarter of the contestants being white all other contestants are people of color. It continues the essential aspects of a reality dating show but with queer people, and that is certainly an accomplishment in itself. It is a large group of queer people living in a house together, declaring their attraction to one another, sneaking away from the group in pairs (and sometimes in groups) to the “boom boom room,” where they have sex while everyone else gossips. In many ways, the show has lived up to expectations.
(Normally I stay away from reality dating shows because, as a queer person, the televised heterosexual world feels so foreign to me that it rarely entertains.) Indeed, as this new season has continued, my queer friends frequently live-tweet episodes, share theories about who will be a match, or swoon over this or that participant. When the new show’s format was announced, the queer community was thrilled.
