James - The Leading Man

[eldee]

DFE

........As to James detective skills. I think it was foolish to approach it as the grand inquistior. He certainly tipped up the straignt guy who is probably better prepared to deal with a lot of questions and he turned off his gay suiters who now think he has a hidden agenda. He put everyone on the defensive and that is certainly no way to get know someone. He did the same thing even before he learned of the twist. Several mates commented in earlier episodes that they wanted to get know him but he kept firing off endeless questions that made it impossible to have any real conversation. I think James would have gotten better results by approaching each date as if it were a real date and just relax and be himself. The straight mate would be more likely to give himself away if he were relaxed then if he was unguard. ...............



"..........I wonder if Bravo tested all of the mates, because I would hate to imagine their liabiltiy if two guy hooked up because of them and one of them passed the Aids virus to the other.

Good suggestion, but I highly doubt it. I believe you care about people as people and would want to look out for them. If you treat people like lab mice, then what happens after the experiment is of little concern to you.

[foody]

:
Good suggestion, but I highly doubt it. I believe you care about people as people and would want to look out for them. If you treat people like lab mice, then what happens after the experiment is of little concern to you.

I would think that any show that contracts 'regular' people would do a background check, a medical checkup, and so forth. If not to care for the mates/James, at least to cover their own derrieres in case anything happens. Given that other reality shows have had some surprises (eg. criminal history, wanted in another state, age deception, etc), I would think they'd be careful.

[Guardian]

I would think that any show that contracts 'regular' people would do a background check, a medical checkup, and so forth. If not to care for the mates/James, at least to cover their own derrieres in case anything happens. Given that other reality shows have had some surprises (eg. criminal history, wanted in another state, age deception, etc), I would think they'd be careful.

Jason the exmilitery mate said that they ran the mates thru alot of testing including medical.

[CuteBrain]

He missed some, IMO, very obvious attempts by this mate to get closer to him - as he was almost oblivious. Then he wonders why this mate doesn't attempt kiss him goodnight. Who would when three attempts at physical contact had failed to generate a reaction?

Maybe because James sees through unnamed mate's (Franklin) rather canned answers and rather syrupy complements? I think James needs to put on his not-rose-colored glasses and look closely at the facts at hand.

[CuteBrain]

While I agree that James certainly seems to be lacking in detective skills, I don't think what you suggested would have proven anything. Gay men are just as diverse and any other part of the human race an they don't all share the same base of cultural knowledge, but virtue of their sexuality. Many gay men aren't interested in hanging out at bars and reading life style magazines anymore then their straight counterparts. In addition, I would imagine that anyone willing to do this would have been smart enough to read a few gay magazines and might very well be more up on things then many of the gay participants.

While I have appreciated your thoughtful and well reasoned postings here and in other threads DFE, I have to agree with Diva3000 on this. These are urban gay men and while any one of the questions suggested might not have gotten traction any one of the others (or ones like them) surely would have. Remember they have had days of both private and group conversation. It would be easy for James to tailor a few questions for each mate to assertain his sexuality. I had a good friend who called this "dropping a hairpin". And I don't think a few days of reading would be an adequate substitute for the base of cultural knowledge which you mention. I just think that James is inherently trusting and is still so out of whack from the twist that he's incapable of playing good detective.

[foody]

While I have appreciated your thoughtful and well reasoned postings here and in other threads DFE, I have to agree with Diva3000 on this. These are urban gay men and while any one of the questions suggested might not have gotten traction any one of the others (or ones like them) surely would have. Remember they have had days of both private and group conversation. It would be easy for James to tailor a few questions for each mate to assertain his sexuality. I had a good friend who called this "dropping a hairpin". And I don't think a few days of reading would be an adequate substitute for the base of cultural knowledge which you mention. I just think that James is inherently trusting and is still so out of whack from the twist that he's incapable of playing good detective.

As much as it is frustrating for us watching the show to have James not ask the 'right' questions to ferret out who the straight guy is, we probably wouldn't get to see the footage if it was THAT telling anyway. The producers would never allow it, because it ruins the 'surprise' for us. So, in a way it's a moot point. James asked just the right type of ambiguous questions that would still be allowed to be seen by us. And even the scenes we saw were chopped up in editing, so who knows what they did cut out? or what they chose to leave in (like Wes's "you assumed I was gay; why?" scene that has been worked to death on the promos).

[CuteBrain]

First, he didn't try to manipulate anything sexual like a kiss, or touchy, touchy!

This does seem like an obvious tactic but remember they are wooing him not the other way around. Think about how a sexual overture from James would go over back at the mates house. What would it look like if he tried this with one, two or all three of the mates? He doesn't want to seem to be playing favorites and he doesn't want to get them confused and defensive either.

[CuteBrain]

As much as it is frustrating for us watching the show to have James not ask the 'right' questions to ferret out who the straight guy is, we probably wouldn't get to see the footage if it was THAT telling anyway. The producers would never allow it, because it ruins the 'surprise' for us. So, in a way it's a moot point. James asked just the right type of ambiguous questions that would still be allowed to be seen by us. And even the scenes we saw were chopped up in editing, so who knows what they did cut out? or what they chose to leave in (like Wes's "you assumed I was gay; why?" scene that has been worked to death on the promos).

I kinda had the same thought. Excellent point foody!

[Aries36]

I agree that we are seeing James through the lens of editors. They always show him asking the generic dating questions, which make him seem unimaginative. Well, we know that's not *all* he could have talked about on his dates that lasted several hours and every now and then we get a glimpse of him just being himself, which seems to be a sweet, unasssuming guy looking for love. I hope he finds it and I think his best chance is Wes. The big twist aside, Wes seems like the one James has the best chemistry with. They seem comfortable together and real and I think James can really be himself with Wes. So I'm hoping Wes is straight and they end up together. Maybe I'm just being naive though. :-)

[elixir0219]

Did James do an NBC interview? If not, is he going to?