Interview: Sam and Dan McMillen, Gay Brothers on the Run on "The Amazing Race"

Sam (left) and Dan McMillen

When CBS’ The Amazing Race won its seventh consecutive Emmy in September, many gay viewers might have felt the show deserved it just for its consistent gay visibility. Half of the show’s fifteen seasons have included at least some sort of gay representation including gay partners, gay best friends, straight friends with gay friends, a gay son racing with his mother and a gay father competing with his bisexual son.

Surely, there weren’t any more combinations of gay racers to be had, right? Wrong.

The 15^th season, which debuted last Sunday night, includes Sam (23) and Dan McMillen (21), two gay brothers. And they happen to have just come out to each other a year ago. Oh, and they are Christian as well.

You really have to hand it to the show’s producers. When most folks in television talk about being diverse, that means including the occasional gay person. Meanwhile, TAR has shown that gay people come in pretty much all shapes and sizes.

AfterElton.com recently had a chance to talk with Sam and Dan about their coming out to each other, being Christian and what their relationship status is. (Hint: if you’re single and think the brothers are cute, you should keep reading!)

AfterElton.com: Were you both Amazing Race fans? How did you end up on the show?
Dan McMillen: It was definitely me who initiated the application. I've been watching since I was in sixth grade. It was always a dream of mine. Once I turned 21, we filled it out and mailed it in, and it was good from there.

AE: Your bio mentioned that you came out to each other a year ago. Tell us the story of how that came about.
Sam McMillen: Dan was studying at NYU for a summer, and I went there. I'd told my mom a few weeks before, and I was planning on telling Dan. So I got there and told him, and he gave me a high five and said, "No way! Me too!"

DM: I was proud being the younger brother and saying it to him first, even though he said he was planning on telling me. [laughs] That was a year and a half ago, and since then, we've really formed this new bond, and just been able to be really truthful with each other.

AE: Did you have any suspicions about each other before that?
DM: Yeah, we had our issues here and there, because we really stopped dating girls the last couple of years. It wasn't really fair to them, and we knew that we were both gay, so... We had our suspicions, but it was nothing that we really talked about because we figured it was our own business. We never really confirmed it until we were in New York together.
SM: I knew he was since we were kids.
DM: Whatever.
SM: I'm the wise older brother.