Throughout Survivor's long run, the reality show has never shied away from gay contestants. Over the years, five openly gay men have schemed, struggled and battled it out in the tribes competing for the million-dollar prize. Indeed, Richard Hatch, the openly gay — and oft naked — schemer from Season 1 walked away with the show's first grand prize. (Of course, he later failed to pay his taxes on the prize and is now trying to survive in jail, but that's another story.)

The current season continues to be gay-friendly. This time around, it's 30-year-old Brad Virata, a fashion director from Los Angeles, for whom many gay men are cheering. Raised in Washington state as the youngest of five children, Brad is fit and athletic — the hallmarks of many successful Survivor contestants. “He's always been that way,” his brother, Chet Virata recently told AfterElton. “What's cool … is that it's always been like that with everybody in my family.”

After graduating with a degree in international communication, Brad traveled throughout Europe and Asia as a model before settling in Los Angeles, where he attended the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. He worked for five years in couture clothing sales and clothing design merchandising for Guess? Men's Division, and currently he is the Director of Men's Merchandising for Lucky Brand Jeans.

Brad came out to his family about seven years ago, and they've always been supportive. “Filipino culture in the Philippines is not as accepting as the Asian community is here in the States,” his brother explains. “There's a very strict Catholic background over in the Philippines. Here in the States … I think it's a lot more accepting.”

The family is also supportive of his appearance on Survivor and his decision to be open about his sexuality on national television. “In general, we really don't care,” Chet says. “There's never been any embarrassment at all or anything like that. My brother's personality is that he doesn't really give a rat's ass about what other people think about him. That's one of the beautiful things about my brother.”

The big twist for Survivor: Cook Islands was the much talked about division by race. The racial segregation generated a lot of controversy in the media, but so far has not affected the game much. “I think, personally, it was a brilliant move, strictly for marketing purposes,” Chet says. “I'm sure a lot of people watched the first few episodes just because of the whole race thing. I don't think it bothered Brad at all.”

As a Filipino-Hawaiian, Brad started out on the Asian team, which dominated the early challenges. After the tribes merged, he ended up on Raro. Despite being the physically stronger of the two new tribes, Raro has struggled to work together during challenges, but so far Brad has played well and managed to avoid the chopping block.

“Brad, by definition, is a survivor,” says his longtime best friend Mike Nekahi. Nekahi was the first person Brad ever came out to, back in their freshman year of college. “You can put him in any situation at any time, and he can adapt.”

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