Once the damn bursts . . .

FansOfRealityTV has also posted an interview with our heroes, also conducted today. And the answer to the burning question there is:

There are a lot of rumors floating around, so let's put them to rest. Are you still together?
Reichen: Since Chip and I have been on the show, we've been under a great deal of stress, and one of the big stresses has been keeping this whole thing a secret. It was so hard, and I think that we have so much relief now that everyone knows the outcome. Keeping it secret that you just won a million dollars is very difficult, and just not being able to communicate and talk about it with others has been really tough. But because of that and some other unresolved issues, yeah, Chip and I have had some relationship problems since we got back from the race. Chip and I have agreed to work on those problems. But I can't really give you a black and white answer on whether Chip and I have broken up, because it's not like that. It's a relationship, and we're working on things. But right now, Chip and I love each other very much, and it's always been about making sure that the other person is happy. And when the other person isn't happy, it's either time to bail out or try to fix the problem, and that's what we're trying to do right now, we're trying to work it out. And that's the most honest answer I can give you.

Great stuff in this interview, too. (It's also nice to have such an intelligent, articulate couple win. Nice to hear from people who can convey what they were going through.) I really love this next passage, because so much of what I read on message boards acts treat the contestants' (all the contestants') reactions as if it were taking place on a barcolounger. Great context here:

Reichen, when Chip accidentally ran over your foot, did it cause any injury?

Reichen: No, my foot sunk down in the sand, and I got pissed off - I just needed someone to yell at, I was so stressed out and dehydrated from that last task, I just ended up snapping at Chip.

Chip: You have to remember, we had just arrived in Australia from Korea, and the weather had really changed. We were in the middle of summer, and we did not have enough water. We were on the beach...Reichen: We were really dehydrated. We had to stop, and we got water from some medic place on the way.

Interesting/disturbing exchange on the editing:

Chip, what happened with the dune buggy in Australia, and how long did it take to get a replacement vehicle?

Chip: This is a good example of how they can make it look like something else. Within a day and a half, I had some problems with vehicles, so they said "oh, we'll make Chip look like an inept driver!" In the beginning, I was NOT running over tires and stuff, they came to me later and told me they'd put that in there. I was actually kicking ass, I just rounded that corner and the guy was saying "you took that too fast", and I just broke an axle. I was really bummed, because I was actually catching up to David and Jeff, and obviously when that happened, we just fell behind. But if you notice after that, they didn't really show me doing anything except finishing.

Check this out! I knew they were having a ball with Jon and Kelly, and all the gay jokes were just friendly razzing. Shew! I'm so glad Jon is not an asshole. I didn't think so:

Reichen: . . . And on that 26 hour train ride, I don't think the viewing audience realized this, but we really bonded with Kelly and Jon, and started up a really awesome friendship. Ever since that train ride, we were having so much fun with each other. My only problem with the editing was that they didn't show how much fun we all had together. They wanted to show more of a rivalry between the two of us, with the gay jokes and everything, but really the gay jokes were flying so often and so funny, we had such a fun time. We were always telling Jon he was gay, and he was always jokingly picking on us for being gay. We had so much fun with it, such an amazing time. But Kelly and Jon were the best.

Wow, this is news. They didn't audition, Reichen was recruited:

. . . Two minutes after I walked into the restaurant, I'm in my AFA jersey and cap, and this guy walks up to me and says "you're exactly what I'm looking for. I'm a casting agent for The Amazing Race, and would you PLEASE come in to CBS and interview for it?" I said yeah, and he said "do you have a father, brother, friend that can do it with you?" I told him I had a husband, and he said "oh my god, this is great!" I called Chip, he flew back into town, and we went in the next day to start interviewing, and before I knew it, we were getting our vaccinations for a race around the world.

The Advocate just posted its interview Chip & Reichen interview, conducted this morning by Bruce Steele. It's a really great piece, best thing on them I've seen by far. And long, too--the whole thing runs 4,500 words. (That would fill about 5-6 full pages in a magazine, with pictures).

First, the passage we have all been dying to hear:

Q: So do you consider yourselves a couple now?
A: (apparently Reichen): It’s just been an ongoing thing for us. And so we can’t really give you any concrete answer of, you know, “Are you separated? Are you through?” The answer is no. “Are you together?” The answer is, “No, not all the time.” We’re still working things through. It’s been a tough time. . .

So both sides of the rumors were kinda true. So glad to finally know. It's sad that they're struggling, but I've been there. Hard enough just admitting to your friends when you're off and on (with) the same person. I'd hate to do it in the national press. More from Reichen after more probing on the same topic:

And you know, there’ve been so many rumors flying around—it’s so hard to divulge this, I have to be honest—yeah, we’ve had a lot of problems. I hate telling the public that after fighting for our title of “married” and everything else. But we’re in a relationship like anyone else, you know? We love each other very much, and we want each other to be happy, and whatever’s gonna make that happen is what Chip and I are going to do. It’s no different from how we’ve always been with each other. We just want each other to be happy.

Chip: Relationships evolve and, as Reichen just said, to reiterate, um, people work on things and they want to—and we love each other. And that’s the critical thing. And we go from there. 

Later:

. . . what advice do you give gay couples who are going to travel together for extended periods?
Reichen: Don’t let Chip drive. 

That was pretty funny. Reichen will appear in the opening scene of the season premiere of Frasier. He has one line.  Sept. 23. Don't miss it. In the credits, the part is called “the impossibly handsome man.” Nice. And does he ever have the acting bug. Or is it the fame bug?: "I have an acting coach now, I’m signing with an agent this week, and I’m trying to get on a soap opera." (In the other interview (next post), he gushes about soaps being his goal. Somebody needs to tell him he can do better.)

And this is interesting: Instinct had no idea Reichen was even on the Race when they put him on their cover. The race ended on Valentine's day, and they didn't just have to keep their win secret, they had to hide the fact that they had even been on the race until June. That would have killed me to hold onto. I was just picturing my head exploding from that--man, picture Chip's head.

There has been a lot of discussion here about whether everybody figured out the boys were gay. Reichen's response: "Some said they did, and some said they had no idea. "

Wow, this is really heartening to hear about Millie and Chuck:

Reichen: . . . But you know, afterward when we were done, off-camera they came up to us, and they said, “We just think you’re so courageous for coming out, and we just want you to know that we would never judge you.”

(Heartening. Seems like I am suddenly using that word constantly lately. Am I writing too much?)

There's more on Kelly and Jon in the other interview, but I have to post Reichen's response here, too (Reichen sure dominates both interviews), because I'm a big fan of Jon and Kelly as you know, and I think they were judged harshly by most of the viewers (because of the editors):

Reichen: You saw a fraction of the funny jokes going back and forth, and one of the regrets I think I have from the editing was that it didn’t show this amazing, really funny friendship that we had developed with Kelly and Jon. I mean, the gay jokes were flying every five seconds—if you could have really seen how it was, I think it would have been so fun and humorous for the viewing public. But they [the producers] were trying to make out like we had a rivalry, which really wasn’t the case. It was so fun shooting these jokes back and forth. We were constantly telling Jon how pretty he was and how gay he was and reminding him how gay he was and, you know, he would come back with the gay jokes. We had so much fun. It really wasn’t a rivalry at all. It was great.

Chip: It was a flirtation.

Reichen: It really was a flirtation.

I'm continuing to add to this post as I digest the interview. There's so much there. (And here's an odd thing: Bruce, the interviewer, referred to "the hinterlands." Has he been reading this blog?

This just posted from our good, reliable and well-connected friend Joe Blitman:

I just chatted with some entertainment journalist friends of mine here in LA. They interviewed Reichen and Chip last week, who presented themselves as very much together, and even discussed their desire/plan to go to Vermont soon to get legally married...er...I mean legitimately civil unionized.

Maybe the rings are out for resizing or cleaning (or given their new-found tvwealth - maybe they're adding some gems to the bands)?

Still second-hand info, and maybe those journos were mistaken or hoodwinked. No way to know for sure till we hear it from Chip & Reichen themselves. But I've seen enough hearsay posted about their breakup, I thought it was worth posting some conflicting reports. (Though you would think that if the rumors were false, they would just end them. But maybe CBS has advised them to keep the mystery going. Who knows.)

Mediaweek just posted on the overnight ratings (metered markets from the big cities only; full national numbers come later today). The Race came in with a 6.7 rating / 12 share. That easily beat Scrubs in the second half hour--6.1/10--but lost to Friends in the first: 7.1/12.

While The Race nearly matched Friends overall, it surely lost to them bigger head to head than those numbers show, and also beat Scrubs head to head more convincingly. Two reasons: 1) Many devoted Friends fans watch then switch, so its competition always does better in the second half hour; 2) The Race (like other reality shows with an elimination each round) always builds audience through the hour, especially on the night of the finale.

It's a safe bet that more people saw Chip & Reichen cross the finish line than saw Friends last night, but head to head, Friends beat it back.

Here's what they have to say about The Race returning:

For those asking if The Amazing Race will be back, if Emmy does indeed come calling next month that's all the more reason to believe maybe it's not over yet.

OK, I'm on the phone line waiting to talk to Chip & Reichen on the Michelangelo Signorile radio show (guest-hosted today by John). The boys are late for the interview, which was supposed to start eight minutes ago.

The show's producers don't know the answer either, but of course have heard the same rumors. They said they'll bring it up if a caller doesn't, and I'm waiting on the line to bring it up.

Here are the instructions again to listen on the web: go to this site, then click the big box near the top with a pic of an orange speaker and the phrase "Listen to OUTQ Live on Sirius." And here's the number if you want to call yourself: 866-305-6887.

Update: NO GO. Chip and Reichen got hung up in an interview with CBS and just cancelled. And the boys on this show are pissed and badmouthing them for it. They did put me on the air briefly to disuss that--their anger and being stood up--and can understand their annoyance, but I think they're missing the big picture. That's the nature of entertainment, and they knew these guys were going to be on a whirlwind press junket today, and CBS is running the show and something went over and they got nixed. Happens.

But that means we are still waiting to hear if they're still together. Nice to hear they're getting a lot of interviews. Surely one of them will bring it up.

Update 2: What constitutes support for the gay community

I'm continuing to listen to this radio show, and they're starting to bug me. Nearly all the callers are supporting Chip & Reichen, but the host and sidekick can only see their own point of view. They're ripping into the guys for having a character defect for allowing their media handlers do what media handlers do in a press vortex: make executive decisions when they suddenly find themselves over committed. More importantly, they keep focusing on "supporting the gay community"--Chip & Reichen are blowing off the one big gay radio show, the people that supported them . . .

Hey, I would love Chip & Reichen to talk directly to us, and I'm sure they'll still look for the opportunity to do that. But as a community I think gays are way too provinchal way too much. We rarely get our message out beyond ourselves. The thing that depressed me last night about the news coverage was that only the tiny little niche gay press was covering their victory. These guys are exactly what we need right now: strong, powerful, positive images of who we are and what we can be. And they have news value for the moment in the mainstream world, beyond our gay borders. There is nothing better they can do for the gay community right now than to reach beyond it, and get that message and that image out there to the wider world.

That's their job right now, let them do it. They have already reached the gay world; websites and chatrooms and they gay press have exploded with coverage. Finally they have a news peg to get broader coverage in the mainstream press reaching the millions of straight people we need as gay allies. I say get out there and get to them. We can wait. Patience can be a virtue guys.

Meanwhile, how sad to once again see high-profile gayguys immediately turn and rip on other high-profile gayguys. Gay people really have a long way to got.

I am so behind on providing your weekly dose of Nabokov. So sorry. And something must be up in St. Petersburg, because another guest author has had to step in again today to perk your day up with lovely dispatches from a foreign land. In honor of Reichen's victory, we take you to a military scene today, the opening paragraph of the extraordinary book, The Things They Carried. It will be my pleasure to transcribe it:

First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha, a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey. They were not love letters, but Lieutenant Cross was hoping, so he kept them folded in plastic at the bottom of his rucksack. In the late afternoon, after a day's march, he would dig his foxhole, wash his hands under a canteen, unwrap the letters, hold them with the tips of his fingers, and spend the last hour of light pretending. He would imagine romantic camping trips into the White mountains in New Hampshire. He would sometimes taste the envelope flaps, knowing her tongue had been there. More than anything, he wanted Martha to love him as he loved her, but the letters were mostly chatty, elusive on the matter of love. She was a virgin, he was almost sure. She was an English major at Mount Sebastian, and she wrote beautifully about her professors and roommates and midterm exams, about her respect for Chaucer and her great affection for Virginia Woolf. She often quoted lines of poetry; she never mentioned the war, except to say, Jimmy, take care of yourself. The letters weighed 10 ounces. They were signed Love, Martha, but Lieutenant Cross understood that Love was only a way of signing and did not mean what he sometimes pretended it meant. At dusk, he would carefully return the letters to his rucksack. Slowly, a bit distracted, he would get up and move among his men, checking the perimeter, then at full dark he would return to his hole and watch the night and wonder if Martha was a virgin.

Something, isn't he (Tim O'Brien). Nice way into a Vietnam horror show. I'm usually one for plunging right in, but Southeast Asia is a place readers might be hesitant to join him--what a perfect way to draw us across that ocean. My favorite moment was him tasting the envelope flaps, knowing her tongue had been there. What a tiny exquisite touch.

The next paragraph plunges you much more vividly into the battlefield itself, but always in terms of the things they carried. What an incredible way to illustrate what was really important to each of these people: Weight was everything when you were humping miles every day, and the non-essentials that you dragged along just because you needed them--because for you, they were essential--revealed everything about your character.

An extraordinary piece of work.

My apologies to those of you living outside the world of Chip & Reichen. I will post on other topics very soon. Still caught up in the wonder of our amazing gayboy heroes. (Including Howard Dean launching his Sleepless Summer Tour today, and an interesting Columbine development this morning.)

I hope you enjoy this exchange with my Salon editor as much as I did (and I'm very careful with private correspondence, but there's nothing here she would mind you hearing). She was a huge Survivor fan (at least in the beginning), so I thought she might be watching the race all summer, so I sent a message with this subject line, after the show finished playing in SF: "They won! They won! They won! They won!"

Her response (in part):

No, I wasn't watching, but I'm glad they won! . . . I thought your email was about the Giants -- Barry Bonds just hit a home run in the 10th to win the game, the 2nd time he did the exact same thing in 3 days! We're all in our own little worlds . . .

She's so wonderful. Always gets everything right. (And those final elipses were hers, by the way.) I got a dissmissive response from my gruff lawyer, the prosecutor: "I have not seen the show but one would hope that gayland has more significant accomplishments to brag about." Some people are just no fun at all. I know most of the world could not care less. If I go out tonight, most of the club kids on the dance floor will return a blank look when I mention the names of our boys. Reichen? Does he live around here? But who cares. In the world according to Dru (my family's name for me), this is National Chip & Reichen day.

Now about that Columbine and presidential campaign. Soon, very soon. It's a freaking holiday here.

I just got a press release from SLDN a minute ago:

Reichen Lehmkuhl of “Reichen & Chip,” the grand prize winners in the sizzling summer series The Amazing Race, has agreed to appear in a documentary film investigating the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. The film, set to start production this fall, will span the ten-year history of the policy and follow the building political momentum to overturn it. Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) will be supporting the project throughout its production. . .

“The Pentagon is firing three people every day simply because of their sexual orientation,” Lehmkuhl said.  “If the same thing were happening in corporate America, most citizens would be rightfully outraged.  The fact that our nation’s largest employer discriminates against gay Americans under the sanction of federal law is equally appalling.” . . .

For more information, call John Bowab at Morelight Productions, LLC; 310-659-7455.

And don't forget to sign their Lift The Ban petition.

Here are the ones I know of so far:

Radio--accessible live by web--today, approximately 3:14PM EST, scheduled for 20 minutes and they recommend you log in a few minutes early. "John" is guest-hosting the daily Michelangelo Signorile radio show. The whole show runs from 1-4, and he will also interview a representative from Human Rights about the gay journalist and human rights advocate who was just a few days ago jailed for 5 years in Uzbekistan simply because he's gay. The instructions to listen by web are go to this site, then click the big box near the top with a pic of an orange speaker and the phrase "Listen to OUTQ Live on Sirius."

TV Guide. You can't listen to this one, but you can pass on questions to Ethan Alter, who will be interviewing them (plus Jon and Kelly) this weekend. TV Guide's Michael Ausiello has offered to forward them on via the email link at the bottom of this page.

I will post more as I get them. Send any info on.

UPDATE:

1 p.m. MDT (Friday): The Advocate has a story posted now. And it ends by stating: "An exclusive interview with Reichen and Chip will be posted Friday evening on Advocate.com."

My apologies. They really are that stoopid on the Early Show. Or that shallow. The burning question dogging the winners for months--are they or are they not still together--and the freaking Early Show twits (and if you've seen this show, they are such twits) never bother to address. Amazing.

The boys body language did not look good, though. Very nice to each other, but almost no touching. But that might just be them. Reichen did reach over and kiss Chip as they broke away to the host once. That was great, even if it was in the background. I'm searching the web elsewhere, and will update this post when I find out. (A summary of the Early Show interviews from their site here.)

Several more interviews with them coming today, and you can listen to at least one on the web, send questions to two of them. I'll have all that info here in a few minutes.

If you have any info on the alleged breakup, please email me or post in the comments thread just below. But please link to some credible source. I don't want to report more rumors. Thanks a bunch.

Since I just added a dozen Chip & Reichen entries, I imagine it's hard to know where to congregate with comments. And since the comments aren't numbered anymore, all the harder to find where others are.

So I'm going to suggest you make all your C&R comments in this post for awhile, how does that sound? I'll copy in several from previous posts to start things off.

(Reuters is the first online with a winners pic. See a blowup here.)

Reports have been circulating for awhile that The Amazing Race is on the brink of cancellation, which seemed odd to me because ratings were never that good for the first three seasons, and this one seemed to be doing slightly better. Maybe CBS had been hoping all along for a pickup. (The very first race debuted in the horrible aftermath immediately after Sept 11, when no one was interested in fake reality on TV. Never did get the launch did get the launch it deserved.)

Ratings have been pretty good, not spectacular the past few several weeks. It's been in the top 20-25, though it's mostly competing against reruns and other reality shows. But reality TV is also very cheap to produce. Last week was an aberration because of the blackout, but it came close to the Friends audience, and the week before it won its time slot in the half hour after Friends (competing against Scrubs).

To read some reports yourself, go here, and check out the MediaWeek entries. You'll find more here, but more clutter to cull through.

Update:

(In other gay-ratings news, gay.com posted a piece today on Queer Eye breaking new ratings records for Bravo this week. The network most people couldn't locate on their dial a few weeks ago jumped ahead of CBS and Fox (and of course UPN and WB) that hour Tuesday night, making Bravo the number three network in the country for one hour. One discouraging note, it's also dragging up the ratings of that Boy Repels Boy abomination, which could not have done more to trash public perception of us if it was produced by Focus on the Family.)