Russia has a new new reality show, ‘I’m Not Gay’.
What do you get when you put eight Russian men into a country house and have them try to figure out which one is gay? A new homophobic Russian reality show of course.
Vitaly Milonov, a politician affiliated with the far-right United Russia party and best known for his extreme homophobic rhetoric, is presenting the new online series I’m Not Gay and was featured in the first episode.
Milonov was the principal sponsor of Russia’s “Gay Propaganda Law,” which prohibits the distribution of pro-LGBTQ material. These materials are any which “raises interest in…non-traditional sexual predispositions,” or include “distorted ideas about the equal social value of traditional and non-traditional sexual relationships.”
Milonov appeared in a 2014 BBC documentary, Reggie Yates’ Extreme, Russia – Gay and Under Attack, in which he told Yates, “A piece of sh*t is not dangerous, but it’s quite unpleasant to see on the streets. Homosexuality is disgusting. Homophobia is beautiful and natural.”
Challenges Include Modelling Swimwear and Sharing Beds
The show has eight men living together as they try and figure out which one is gay. Each episode concludes with one contestant being voted out of the house when they are believed by the others to be gay.
If the men correctly guess the gay man amongst them they will share a grand prize of two million rubles. However if the gay man ultimately evades detection, he will take home the prize.
In each episode the contestants compete in challenges, such as modelling swimwear, sharing beds and receiving lap dances from a female stripper.
Milonov co-hosts the first episode and tells the contestants, “I hope that you will quickly figure out the gay.” At the conclusion of the episode, after the men had incorrectly chosen the man they believed to be gay, Milonov tells them, “You killed an innocent person.”
Guess Who’s Gay
The Russian reality show ‘I’m Not Gay’, was created, and is hosted by blogger Amiran Sardarov.
A voiceover in the program intones, “Finding a gay in our country is like finding a working McDonald’s. They definitely exist but there are very few of them and not everyone knows about them.”
The show was created, and is hosted by blogger Amiran Sardarov, and was posted to his YouTube channel April 25. Sardarov tells the gathered men, “There are eight of you here, but one of them is the same one…Look carefully at your neighbour: maybe he is the weakest link behind?”
In a statement, Sardarov said the show is “anti-brutal and rainbow. I like to mix the immiscible. Why not? A social experiment in which labels are hung, a lot of prejudice… And it’s just funny to see how embarrassing people are. It seems to me that this teaches the viewer and the participants of the show a lot. For example, how many unnecessary troubles and prejudices we are inspired from childhood.”
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