Everyone has their own guilty pleasures — the junk food of the soul. And for a lot of folks, that’s reality TV. But we can’t help but love these LGBTQ+ reality TV stars who at least add some personality and sparkle to the popular TV genre.
Since the very beginning of reality TV, there have been LGBTQ+ reality TV stars — just check entry #1 on the list. Through the ages, though, reality TV has just gotten queerer and queerer… much like actual reality.
1. Lance Loud (An American Family, 1973)
Reality TV as we know it is often said to have started in 1973 with the PBS documentary series, An American Family. The show followed the Loud Family of Santa Barbara, who were relatively wealthy. Lance Loud, the eldest son, was openly gay — another first for television in general —and later went on to write for The Advocate and formed a band, The Mumps. He passed away from hepatitis C and HIV in 2001.
2. Gabby Windey (Bachelorette, 2022)
While The Bachelorette might be a heterosexual show, there have been a few folks who have come out since their time on the program. One of these is Gabby Windey, who went public last year on The View that she was dating TV writer and comedian Robby Hoffman.
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3. Nyle DiMarco (America’s Next Top Model, 2015)
Nyle DiMarco won America’s Next Top Model in 2015. In addition to being a model and actor, he’s also a deaf activist. He started the Nyle DiMarco Foundation providing resources to deaf children. He’s also the first deaf celebrity to win not just the American version of Dancing With the Stars, but any iteration of the franchise.
4. Adam Lambert (American Idol, 2009)
Adam Lambert rose to fame in the eighth season of American Idol, after performing on a cruise ship and in local musical theatre productions. He auditioned for the show with a Queen song, “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which foreshadowed his post-Idol career singing with the band.
5 & 6. The Fabulous Beekman Boys (The Amazing Race, 2012)
Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Brent Ridge, better known as The Fabulous Beekman Boys, won $1 million on the 21st season of The Amazing Race, becoming the second gay couple to win the program. The Amazing Race wasn’t their first experience with reality TV; they had their own show, of course called, The Fabulous Beekman Boys, which aired on Planet Green and later, the Cooking Channel.
7. Reza Farahan (Shahs of Sunset, 2012-2021)
The Bravo show Shahs of Sunset followed a group of friends, all Persian-American and living in Los Angeles. Reza Farahan was one of the leads, a realtor known for his witty commentary and taking care of the other cast members. He wed his husband Adam, a former fashion model who works with Ryan Murphy, on the show.
8. Shangela (Dancing With the Stars, 2022)
Obviously, Shangela wasn’t only on Dancing With the Stars, she was also on RuPaul’s Drag Race. But she was the first drag queen to appear on
Everyone has their own guilty pleasures — the junk food of the soul. And for a lot of folks, that’s reality TV. But we can’t help but love these LGBTQ+ reality TV stars who at least add some personality and sparkle to the popular TV genre.
Since the very beginning of reality TV, there have been LGBTQ+ reality TV stars — just check entry #1 on the list. Through the ages, though, reality TV has just gotten queerer and queerer… much like actual reality.
1. Lance Loud (An American Family, 1973)
Reality TV as we know it is often said to have started in 1973 with the PBS documentary series, An American Family. The show followed the Loud Family of Santa Barbara, who were relatively wealthy. Lance Loud, the eldest son, was openly gay — another first for television in general —and later went on to write for The Advocate and formed a band, The Mumps. He passed away from hepatitis C and HIV in 2001.
2. Gabby Windey (Bachelorette, 2022)
While The Bachelorette might be a heterosexual show, there have been a few folks who have come out since their time on the program. One of these is Gabby Windey, who went public last year on The View that she was dating TV writer and comedian Robby Hoffman.
3. Nyle DiMarco (America’s Next Top Model, 2015)
Nyle DiMarco won America’s Next Top Model in 2015. In addition to being a model and actor, he’s also a deaf activist. He started the Nyle DiMarco Foundation providing resources to deaf children. He’s also the first deaf celebrity to win not just the American version of Dancing With the Stars, but any iteration of the franchise.
4. Adam Lambert (American Idol, 2009)
Adam Lambert rose to fame in the eighth season of American Idol, after performing on a cruise ship and in local musical theatre productions. He auditioned for the show with a Queen song, “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which foreshadowed his post-Idol career singing with the band.
5 & 6. The Fabulous Beekman Boys (The Amazing Race, 2012)
Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Brent Ridge, better known as The Fabulous Beekman Boys, won $1 million on the 21st season of The Amazing Race, becoming the second gay couple to win the program. The Amazing Race wasn’t their first experience with reality TV; they had their own show, of course called, The Fabulous Beekman Boys, which aired on Planet Green and later, the Cooking Channel.
7. Reza Farahan (Shahs of Sunset, 2012-2021)
The Bravo show Shahs of Sunset followed a group of friends, all Persian-American and living in Los Angeles. Reza Farahan was one of the leads, a realtor known for his witty commentary and taking care of the other cast members. He wed his husband Adam, a former fashion model who works with Ryan Murphy, on the show.
8. Shangela (Dancing With the Stars, 2022)
Obviously, Shangela wasn’t only on Dancing With the Stars, she was also on RuPaul’s Drag Race. But she was the first drag queen to appear on Dancing With the Stars, and made it into the finals. Not just that, but she took the opportunity to speak out about the then-recent Club Q shooting.
9 & 10. Terrell and Jarius Joseph (Wife Swap, 2019)
In the 2019 reboot of the reality show Wife Swap, one episode featured the show’s first Black same-sex couple, Terrell and Jarius Joseph. Terrell switched with the matriarch of a family with eight kids, Nina. Nina immediately caused trouble by telling Jarius being gay was a sin, though she eventually came around on the issue.
11. Jackson Fox (Survivor, 2022)
Though Jackson Fox was only in the first episode of season 42 of Survivor, he was also the show’s first out transgender contestant. Unlike other contestants, he was not voted out — rather, he was asked to leave after revealing that he was taking lithium. Show host Jeff Probst explained that the show was asking him to leave for his safety, but Fox had no hard feelings. He said his time on the show was “the best 48 hours I’ve had ever.”
12. Hallie Clarke (Big Brother UK, 2023)
Hallie Clarke was one of the housemates on the 2023 reboot of the UK version of Big Brother. She was a youth worker before going into the house, and on her second day, she came out to her housemates as a trans woman. Her housemates accepted her, as did fans — a breath of fresh air compared to the American version of the show which has often featured transphobic and homophobic remarks. Unfortunately, Clarke was the third housemate to leave the show that season.
13 & 14. Don’te and D’Andrew Leapheart (Divorce Court, 2020)
The Leaphearts may not be household names, but they deserve to be on the list for their 2020 Divorce Court appearance. The couple has perhaps one of the most amazing reasons to break up: Don’te is a Cardi B stan, while D’Andrew backs Nicki Minaj. Sure, the argument was a stand-in for the other problems of their relationship, but still!
15. Jazz Jennings (I Am Jazz, 2015-2023)
Jazz Jennings, a young transgender activist, was given her own reality show in 2015, named after her 2011 documentary, I Am Jazz, which was also the name of her 2014 memoir. She was diagnosed with gender dysphoria at age five. Being one of the most famous trans people, she’s had her own doll and was the youngest Grand Marshall of New York City Pride in 2016.
16. Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon (American Idol, 2019)
Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon made it to the Top 6 during season 17 of the long-running music show. He was the janitor at his father’s church, but told the hosts that his family didn’t fully support his sexuality. He took the opportunity of the program to sing an original song, “Almost Heaven” which he described as “questioning if there is a place for me and people like me in Heaven.”
17 & 18. Megan Marx and Tiffany Scanlon (The Bachelor: Australia, 2016)
While Gabby Windey may have come out after her time on The Bachelorette, Megan Marx and Tiffany Scanlon actually met while competing on the Australian version of The Bachelor. Or, as Marx described it, “I met Tiffany in a very strange situation. Well… we were kind of dating the same guy. And it was filmed and put on TV.”
19. Sasha Allen (The Voice, 2021)
Sasha Allen, who performed on NBC’s The Voice with his father Jim, is the first transgender performer on the show to not just make it past the battle rounds, but to make it into the semifinals. Allen came out as trans to the viewing audience before the blind audition. The father-son duo were mentored by Ariana Grande. Since his time on The Voice, he’s gone viral on TikTok talking about trans people’s skeletons.
20. Kristen Kish (Top Chef, 2012, 2024)
Kristen Kish first hit TV screens as the winner of Season 10 of Top Chef in 2012. She’s not just an award-winning chef, she’s also a former model. Starting in 2024, she’s rejoined the Top Chef family as the host, replacing Padma Lakshmi.
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