By Phil Smith
It's an age-old tale: Boy meets boy, boy falls for boy, boy turns out to be straight. OK, so it's no Disney musical, but odds are you're familiar with the story.
Walt may not have written a musical about it, but if he had, he could have used some pointers from the editors behind the scenes at Bravo's reality show "Make Me a Supermodel," an Americanized version of the UK's series, which ran in 2005 and 2006. The premise of the show is, of course, to create a supermodel, using various tests throughout the episode, including posing challenges and walking down the catwalk.
That's right, similar to "Big Brother" – just with (ironically) fewer gay porn stars. The footage airing all actually occurred within the last seven days, not months ago like on other reality shows.
"Make Me a Supermodel" began Jan. 10 with little story line, as if they needed anything other than the plentiful eye candy to get us to stick around after "Project Runway." But what began as a series about these saucy, somewhat-vapid models quickly evolved into a somewhat-voyeuristic outlet for us to watch the sexual tension build between Ronnie, the "all-American" model, and Ben, a prison guard from Tennessee. The only problem: Ben (apparently) digs girls, and is a recent newlywed.
Once in the house, the two models quickly began behaving much like two frat boys in a bromance; however, when the models were all asked who they thought the hottest in the house was Ronnie revealed he'd been nursing the beginning of what could be actual feelings for his new pal.
End of story, right? Sure – for a straight guy turned off by the idea of having a gay go ga-ga over him. Not Ben, though. The duo is not only still amigos but continue getting closer each week, sleeping in the same room (in their underwear), walking around each other (in their underwear), talking about their feelings (in their underwear).
But last week Ben's comfort with Ronnie's feelings toward him quickly evaporated after Ben made a comment to him about being girly. Is this just a case of two guys messing around? Not after he delivered a hollow apology. The saddest part: Their friendship, like so many other straight-gay male friendships, is succumbing to the social pressure to be a "macho" man.
What'll happen next? To see this quasi-gay action progress (or not), vote to keep the guys together and munch on a piece of delicious man candy, tune in at 10 p.m. Thursday on Bravo.
