This fall, America's first all gay cast reality dating competition show entitled "Finding Prince Charming" will be airing on Logo. It's been a long time coming in my opinion. With other reality dating competition shows such as "The Bachelor," which has been airing for many years amid backlash for the lack of diversity in its choices of bachelors and bachelorettes, this new show will be like a breath of fresh air. Finally people seem to understand that the world is a place where many different kinds of people live and that everyone deserves representation in the media.
"Finding Prince Charming" will take a similar format to "The Bachelor." There will be 13 gay suitors living in the same house, vying for the attention of one of the nation's most eligible gay bachelors. The suitors will be eliminated one by one until the end, at which time the gay bachelor is expected to offer the winner an exclusive relationship. "Finding Prince Charming" will be hosted by Lance Bass, the openly gay former member of NSYNC who got married to his boyfriend in 2014.
There hasn't been a confirmation on who the eligible gay bachelor will be yet, but there is speculation that it will be Robert Sepulveda Jr. He is an interior designer in Atlanta, but he was born in Puerto Rico. This means that if he really is the new suitor for "Finding Prince Charming," not only will the new show be making strides in terms of having an all gay cast, but they will also have a star who is not the typical Caucasian male.
There have been attempts in the past to appeal to the LGBT community in terms of dating competition shows, but none have been very satisfying. In 2003, there was the American reality TV show "Boy Meets Boy," where a gay guy had to choose a winner from 15 male competitors, but the twist was that some of the competitors were straight and some were gay. If the guy chose another gay man as the winner, they would split the prize money, but if he chose a straight man, the straight guy would win all of the prize money. In 2004, there was a similar American reality TV show called "Playing it Straight," but this time it starred a woman who had to discern who out of the group of competitors was gay or straight. In the end if she chose a straight guy they would split the money but if she chose a gay guy, the guy would keep all of the money.
But these attempts in the past don't seem very genuine to me. It was not about love, but more about trying to determine someone's sexuality in order to win money. "Finding Prince Charming" looks like it will be more about finding a love match. It will be interesting to see what happens on this new show airing on Logo in the fall.
