The Newlywed Game: Boldly going where no same-sex couple has gone before.

George Takei and Brad Altman

Last night, The Newlywed Game broke barriers by having George Takei and Brad Altman compete as the first same-sex couple in the show’s 43 year history. In a special celebrity edition, Brad and George competed against My Fair Brady stars Christopher Knight and Adrianne Curry as well as Damien Gurganius and Nicole Brewer from The Biggest Loser: Couples 2, with the winner earning $10,000 for the charity of their choice.

Unlike the show’s sponsor, eHarmony.com, the show was fully inclusive, giving Brad and George plenty of airtime and showing several kisses between the two. And while there were no references to “making whoopee,” the questions didn’t shy away from intimacy as the couples were asked everything from what kind of pillow talk they engage in to which food was their favorite aphrodisiac.

While Mexican food (and especially Brad’s very specific answer of chunky salsa) wouldn’t be my first choice for an aphrodisiac, our guys got both questions correct.

Brad and George kept the winning streak going most of the game, but Adrianne and Christopher were never too far away. In the end, it all came down to the final, two-part question. The contestants were challenged with filling in the blanks on the statement, “In my life, I have received the most compliments on my______ and the least on my______.”

Christopher took the lead for team Brady by guessing Adrianne’s size 11 feet gathered few compliments, while incorrectly guessing that she received the most compliments on her eyes. Guess smiling with your eyes can’t compete with a boob job…

It all came down to George, as he had to guess Brad’s most/least complimented features or traits. He needed to get at least one of the answers correct for the win. Unfortunately, he completely bombed when he guessed Brad was most often complimented on his superior organizational skills. Sorry George, we were looking for smile…

But would he know Brad’s least complimented feature? Well, he didn’t have to think much about it. George made sure to let everyone know that Brad used to be “slim, lean and tight” but over the last two decades, things changed… So he guessed Brad was least often complimented on his physique. Ouch!

But, he was right, though just “body” would have been good enough for the win. As their prize, $10,000 was donated to the Japanese American National Museum, the site of their wedding ceremony.

So George and Brad broke new ground, proving that gay couples are just like any other couple – except that in this case, they’re actually better because they won. And in a small way, so did the gay community. With same-sex marriage still an issue in most of America, George and Brad showed there is nothing scary about boldly going forward into the 21^st century.