Jack Mackenroth                                        Marcus Lehman                                                      JP Calderon
 
  There were a few new reality/competition shows this year with "gay appeal" and even the existing ones had our interest. Of course it helped that there were a number of openly gay contestants that we could root for, even if they didn't always cross the finish line as winners. So, in this installment of our "Best of .." we present our favorite gay reality stars from 2008.

 Ronnie Kroell. Make Me A Super Model. The handsome young hopeful wasn't just great eye candy. He demonstrated an enthusiasm to learn and evolve while never sacrificing who he was. As the season went on, his bromance with fellow contestant and married straight dude Ben became a focal point and contributed to Ronnie's popularity. At the end Ronnie came in second officially but he emerged a winner to us and his fan following.

 Aaron Savvy. Okay, Aaron didn't exactly make a big splash on TV reality shows although he was on Hole In The Wall but we just had to include him here because we couldn't do so last year. We expect that we'll be hearing much more from our favorite fitness trainer.

 Christian Siriano. Project Runway 4. He wasn't the cutest contestant on season four of Project Runway, but he was by far the most colorful and the most talented and he single-handedly popularized the words "fierce" and "hot tranny mess". He was at his most endearing on the finale when he let down his guard cried tears of joy at winning.
          
                 Mike Verdugo                                            Martin Richie                                                   Aaron Savvy

  Jack Mackenroth. Project Runway 4. This handsome & talented designer was great eye candy to be sure but he also had a tremendous heart and great wit. You could tell his fellow contestants felt that way too because when he voluntarily left due to illness, he had a tearful farewell. Given that Siriano's win was a runaway train, Mackenroth probably wouldn't have won but he win one challenge and might very well have ended up in the finals.

 Preston Lee. Top Design. Handsome, well built and talented he moved through the competition on Top Design with great patience and deliberation and confidence. Polite & soft-spoken he presented a refreshing contrast to his more flamboyant & irritatingly over-confident fellow contestants. That he didn't win was a shame but we think that had viewers played a role he would have won hands down. Nevertheless we're sure this exposure helped his career tremendously.

 Charlie Herschel. Survivor: Gabon. This sweet & sexy castaway fell prey to the machinations of evil contestants, but we were charmed by him from the very start. One reason was his very open and endearing crush on fellow contestant Marcus Lehman, the straight doctor. But this wasn't really a case of unrequited love since Marcus genuinely returned Charley's affection (non-sexually) without equivocation. When they both found themselves on the jury we got to follow their bromance in the jury house in online episodes of Survivor: Ponderosa.       

   
                Keith Bryce                                    Steven Daigle                             Cody Green                             Christian Siriano

  Steven Daigle. Big Brother. Gay men have won Survivor, Amazing Race, Project Runway, Top Design, etc etc but none have come close to winning this show which is all about strategy. As lovely as Steven was (and he was mighty sweet too), the gay rodeo star had the bad judgment to align himself with the wrong people and wound up getting the boot. Who knows what might have happened had he hitched his wagon to Jessie the bodybuilder. 

 Keith Bryce. Project Runway 5. Handsome, sexy, well built, goateed, tattooed and rugged-looking Keith drew lots of attention as eye candy. In addition the gay Mormon from Utah had a distinctly sensitive side which wound up having its pluses & minuses. We truly rooted for him even when he went into the wrong direction and felt his pain as he was tearfully eliminated. But he has his boutique Filthy Gorgeous and if you check his myspace page he has forged ahead with some very nice designs.

 Michael Verdugo. Design Star. This sexy, muscular, and handsome, openly gay Latin cop from Florida wasn't just a physical standout in this HGTV competition series. He was talented too and almost made it to the finals. Had he gone farther and/or won, there's no telling what might have gone down. That's because of the semi-scandalous extra back story. Verdugo had done gay porn back in the 90s (see Roped Into Reality TV) and both the police and HGTV were scurrying around trying to figure out what to do. The story made the gay press and Verdugo was much more in the news than he intended. 

    
               Ronnie Kroell                                                       Preston Lee                                             Charlie Herschel

  JP Calderon. Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency. Janice is of course the star of this series but JP certainly is one of the reasons why we tune in. He's gone from Survivor to JDMA and came out in the process landing several high profile gigs and press. He doesn't get enough air time but he represents us very well. In many ways he serves as a role model for other reality show gays, and not just on this show.

 Martin Richie. Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency. Talk about representing! He's cute and sexy, gay, deaf, and used to do gay porn. Yet he's managed not to be a token anything on this show or in modeling. Shy, but confident we wished he had been more of a presence on the show but his limited time was at least a nice contrast to the straight messes in the agency.

  We also have to give honorable mention to those contestants who were assumed to be gay, the metrosexuals, those whose stories we don't know, or those who didn't last long enough on their shows.
 
 Nick Spangler. Amazing Race. He and his sister Starr won the latest race and many, including us, thought that this musical actor was "one of us". Alas, he let it be known he's engaged and his sister lives with them.
Guess you just can't assume.

 Cody Green. Step It Up And Dance. Yes, we were smitten with this winner of the first season of this Bravo series because of his looks and talent. Sure we were disappointed that he had a girlfriend but like Nick, he's welcome on our team any time.

         
                   Nick Spangler                            Dan Kay                                                                Neil Garcia

 Marcus Lehman. Survivor: Gabon. A good-looking doctor with a gay-friendly heart of gold. Who could ask for anything more.

 Dan Kay. Survivor: Gabon. Sexy, handsome, & sweet even if he tried too hard to fit in. Like Charlie he's a lawyer, but unlike him Dan's sexuality remains a mystery. If wishes were facts...

 Neil Garcia. Big Brother. The likable realtor was part of this series' winter edition earlier this year when the contestants were paired up with their "perfect matches". His was Joshuah and the two gave us a reason to watch this hastily put together show. But for family reasons (supposedly) , Neil became the first BB contestant to voluntarily leave the show after only a couple weeks. We don't know what would have happened had he stayed but things really fell apart after he left. He's since relocated to Austin, TX.