The Top 15 Favorite Gay Reality Stars

Chip Arndt

Photo credit: Dale Stine

Arndt’s answers:

What was the best part of your experience? The most challenging experience for me, and probably most memorable for the audience had to be swimming under two feet of ice for 50 yards 10 miles south of the de-militarized zone between North and South Korea. The most memorable experience was allowed quiet time during a “challenge” – a very rare opportunity on The Amazing Race - in the Indonesian rainforest feeding the orangutans and realizing how special our world really is.

How did it change you? It cleared away a lot of "noise" in my life that had started drowning out what I'd been taught long before: advantages bring responsibility. When you hear from kids in Hong Kong, England, Australia, and South Africa and, thanks to syndication, just recently, Turkey, that simply seeing you on TV helped them accept themselves being gay, you realize you gotta keep doing whatever you can.

What are you doing now? Trying to find enough time to maintain my professional life — technology startups/e-commerce/green incubator-think-tank — and to make a difference: multiple AIDS events, fighting hate crimes through the www.GayAmericanHeroes.com Foundation, Obama campaign/delegate to Convention/first out gay male member of the Electoral College from Florida; finance director for first [yes] gay pride festival in Miami Beach. I just turned down an invitation to join the board of a national group because I simply wouldn't have the time to contribute properly.

Your reaction to making the list? Surprised and touched. It's been six years since TAR. That's 50 gay years and 50 reality TV years. Thanks to everyone who remembered!

#9 Todd Herzog
Appeared on: Survivor: China (2007)

Fourteen seasons after Richard Hatch became the first gay man to win Survivor, twenty-two-year-old Todd Herzog finally followed in his gay footsteps in 2007 by snagging the million-dollar prize on Survivor: China. While Hatch’s physical opposite in most respects – the bearish Hatch stands 6’4’’ while the slight Herzog measures 5’8” – the two men actually played a similarly strategic game involving deception and the occasional backstabbing. But knowing that is part of the game, the jury ultimately awarded the former Sky West flight attendant the win and gay men had a new reality star to celebrate.

What was the best part of your experience? The best part of the experience was just the fact that I was living out my childhood dream. Being on, and playing the game of Survivor was
the one thing I wanted to do since I was 15. The fact that I won the game was icing on the cake!

How did it change you? The only thing Survivor has really changed about me is the fact that
I'm financially stable, independent and out of debt. It's been a huge blessing allowing me to buy a house, car, and see the world. You do learn quickly who truly loves you for the person you are, not the amount in your bank!

What are you doing now? I'm currently living in Pleasant Grove, Utah going to Utah Valley
University. I took a lot of time to travel the world, but decided to jump back into school and continue with a career. I'm planning on moving to Orlando to continue studying this fall. I've also been seeing a fellow Survivor contestant, Spencer Duhm from the new season in Tocantins.

Your reaction to making the list? My reaction to making the list is me being super stoked! It’s great to know that me living my dream earned me the excitement of making the Favorite Gay Reality Stars list! I mean, “Hey!” If people like the way you represent yourself, then awesome! Thank you. It means a ton!!