Louis Virtel Queens Out On Jeopardy!, Loses Game, Wins Our Hearts

Louis Virtel is a familiar face to the pages of Queerty, as the host of the YouTube series “Verbal Vogueing,” where he monologues his thoughts on pop culture, politics, and often himself, all with a hefty dose of “faggot realness” and a sharp snap of his fingers.

His YouTube success led to appearances on Chelsea Lately, as well as his current job as a celeb interviewer for HitFix, and he has used his media platforms as a voice for LGBT activism.

Virtel has now come out of another closet on the national stage: this time as a die-hard trivia aficionado, after he landed a plum spot as a contestant on “Jeopardy!” (Watch him introduce himself in the “Hometown Howdies” here.)

Related Post: Can You Survive Louis Virtels Haunted Haus Of Horrible Gay Fears?

Feeling at home at the Jeopardy! podium as much as in front of his YouTube camera, Virtel confidently sassed his way through the game and found himself in the lead, only to lose everything at the Final Jeopardy question. But he has no regrets — except for not being gay enough on the show.

Queerty: When did you become such an avid Jeopardy! fan?

Louis Virtel: I was playing Jeopardy! before I even watched it regularly. My family had an ’80s DOS computer game when I was three or four, and I learned how to type playing that and Wheel of Fortune. I ran home from school starting in about second grade to watch Jeopardy! every day, since it comes on at 3:30 in the Chicago area. The O.J. Simpson verdict interrupted a Final Jeopardy! once, when I was 9 or so, and since then I’ve not really been a fan of O.J.

I imagine you were very bossy with your friends as a kid and tried, perhaps unsuccessfully, to make them play with you.

There was some strong-arming going on. Growing up, I forced pals to play video game Jeopardy! with me, but eventually all my friends watched with me. The summer after I graduated high school, we would all pile into somebody’s den and watch Ken Jennings win every day.

You mentioned before that you’ve met many past contetants. Have you met Ken?

I have not. He messaged me after my game aired, and he occasionally favorites tweets of mine. Clearly there’s sexual tension, which is fine.

How did you study to be on Jeopardy!?

Preparation is tricky with Jeopardy! because the only way to really psyche yourself up is to review as many old Jeopardy! games as possible. It’s like crosswords; you can only get better by doing more crosswords.

How does reading old questions help you study? Do they repeat questions?

They repeat subjects all the time. They won’t ask the same question about Anna Karenina, but you may get the same reference to a train again. I studied certain things I’m terrible with, like weights and measures, and sports. There is just no hope for me when it comes to learning current sports. I looked up NFL MVP winners and remembered a few of those. Hello, Bart Starr! I know who you are!

You gave quite a sassy snap after you answered the Double Jeopardy question correctly. Have you waited your whole life to do that, or did it simply come from deep within you?

Snapping is a major part of my life. It establishes verve and efficiency and flavor, and in the case of that Daily Double, it was a damn relief to get that question right. My gayness gets volcanic when I’m winning at stuff.

You wrote a column about the importance of introducing your sexual orientation on the show, and why you regret not actually saying it on-air. For instance, you wrote, “As a kid growing up in the suburbs who venerated everything about Jeopardy!, I would’ve loved seeing an expressive gay contestant own his homosexuality as well as the buzzer.“

If I heard a Jeopardy! contestant say, “Oh, I’m gay,” I think I’d have been pretty wowed as a kid. The fun of Jeopardy! is seeing how much people know, right? Well, I think seeing a contestant know he’s gay and acknowledge it is just as awesome. And fitting, for the show.

Fitting for the show how?

Jeopardy! is about the power of knowing. I think knowing yourself is a similar triumph.

But is Jeopardy! really the appropriate opportunity to engage in LGBT activism?

If activism means identifying myself as gay on air, yes.

There is definitely a legacy of the gays thriving in trivia contests. Even on “Will & Grace,” they bonded over playing “”25,000 Pyramid.” Why do the gays enjoy these games so much?

I think there’s a big contingent of gay people who like storing information. We like being knowers; we make use of arcana and trivia. Knowing a lot of stuff is the most surefire way to be sophisticated. I like smart-people pageantry. 

So, you’ve prepared for this moment your whole life, and now it’s over. So, what do you do next?

In terms of my trivia addiction, I wish I knew. I’ll definitely keep up with the show and continue reading Trivial Pursuit cards every night.

But it’s not just your trivia addiction. You have a life-long relationship with this show. Is this…the end?

I will always enjoy this game. Several of my best friends have gone on Jeopardy! and lost. I’ll rehash certain regrets with them, but I’m not someone who can’t look at Alex’s face anymore because I missed a question about the Tower of London. No way.

Are you at peace with this?

As far as I’m concerned, there is no such thing as going on Jeopardy! without realizing you can lose. My friend Brian is the strongest trivia guy I know, and he lost his game too. I’m completely at peace with the game. I got to prove I know about Uzbekistan and Iggy Azalea. You can’t do that on The Price is Right.

Dan Renzi

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Op-ed: A Gay Executive Should Not Be Defending Rush Limbaugh

A businessman pens an open letter to Darren Davis, the gay head of radio conglomerate iHeart Media and fervent champion of homophobic talking head Rush Limbaugh.

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Paul Goldstein

www.advocate.com/commentary/2015/05/12/op-ed-gay-executive-should-not-be-defending-rush-limbaugh

Trailblazer: Dr Christian Jessen – 'I was arrested in Uganda for being a spy'

The Embarrassing Bodies star on his life in travel – from horseback riding in Costa Rica to a gay cruise aboard the Queen Mary 2 plus his traumatic experience inside an African jail at age 19…

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jamiet

www.gaystarnews.com/article/trailblazer-dr-christian-jessen-%E2%80%93-i-was-arrested-uganda-being-spy110515

'Love Yourself': Agender Person Goes From Being Bullied in the Newark Projects to Gracing the Cover of French <i>Vogue</i> (VIDEO)
I’m From Driftwood is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit archive for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer stories. New stories are posted on the site every Wednesday.

Author’s note: When asked which pronouns Andre prefers, they responded, “You can refer to me however you’d like. I don’t want that stuff to get in the way of the message.” I chose to use the pronouns “they,” “their,” and “theirs” when referring to Andre.

“Love yourself.” It seems like a simple-enough mantra, but for Andre J. it took a lot of learning experiences to understand its true power. After being bullied while growing up in the projects in Newark, Andre moved to Los Angeles to focus on their art. Andre’s unique look and style gained a lot of attention and admiration, earning three appearances on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and Being Bobby Brown with Whitney Houston. Andre recalls an epiphany:

I was like, “Oh, my goodness! All of the things that people teased me about or called me names about, or those things that were supposed to be my flaws, were really my strengths!”

Despite the great experience in Los Angeles, Andre decided to move back to New York City. On the flight back, Andre saw a documentary on two-spirits:

[W]hen I saw that, I was like, “Oh, my goodness, so this is not just about ‘gay’ or ‘straight.’ This is really about the spirit of people; this is about the way people feel about themselves.” So when I returned back to New York City, it was just like I had this new idea of life, this new energy, this spice. I decide I’m going to wear a wig and women’s clothes and heels and dresses. When I was doing this in 2005, no one looked like what I was doing.

Now that Andre had finally become closer to who they really are, people began to notice. Andre was booked to be photographed by world-renowned photographer Bruce Weber and ended up being the first male-assigned African-American person to grace the cover of French Vogue. Andre explains what’s so special about finally being oneself:

I think the overall vision of what it is that you see comes from the depth of me loving myself. It’s not just about the exterior. The exterior is what it is because the interior actually is in alignment with it. I love myself.

WATCH:

For more stories, visit I’m From Driftwood, the LGBTQ Story Archive.

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22 Underrated Perks Of Being Single

Let’s face it: “single” is often considered the worst of relationship statuses.

So many of us are in such a rush to couple up, we never slow down and take stock of all the small things that make being single so damn wonderful. (Really, who needs a relationship when you have Netflix, pizza and wifi?)

Below, 22 things that are completely underrated about being single:

1. There’s no such thing as “her” or “his” sides of the bed. Migrate to the right, move it to the left, lay claim to the middle — it’s all yours, baby.

2. The Netflix account is all yours, too. (So zero judgement if you feel compelled to binge watch “Bridezillas,” seasons 1-10)

3. Toilet paper costs a lot less when you’re buying for one.

4. There’s zero mental energy wasted asking yourself, “Is he the one?” or “Do I really love her?” or “How will I know?”

5. You can leave a party whenever YOU want to.

6. You learn that there’s a huge difference between loneliness and being alone. You start to appreciate your own company, which hopefully lays the foundation for a pretty solid future relationship, if you choose to have one.

7. Your framed Audrey Hepburn quote photo and sparkly fish collection can absolutely be the focal points of your room. (Picking your own room decor > merging items with your S.O. who doesn’t want his room to look like Lisa Frank threw up in it.)

8. Go ahead: Regulate the temperature in your house or bedroom however you see fit. #blessed

9. Compromise is important and all but you have the freedom to figure out what you really want for yourself and go out and live it.

10. The unadulterated excitement of getting a text from someone cute you met during a night out.

11. The chances that someone will use your toothbrush by accident seriously decrease.

12. Instead of having a monthly ladies’ or guys’ night, you can put the time and energy into the long-term friendships that have sustained you before, during and after romantic relationships.

13. Also? You can be friends with other men or women without being worried your S.O. will get jealous or think something romantic is going on.

14. Your bathroom is always clean to your (high, high) standards. Or your low ones: Don’t want to put the cap back on the toothpaste or put the toilet seat down? You do (dirty) you.

15. Three words: Glorious uninterrupted sleep. You aren’t woken up by your partner’s alarm that goes off two hours earlier than yours.

16. When you open a bottle of wine, it’s likely not gone in one night. Less people to drink it = two or three nights of wine (It’s all about saving money, people).

17. Not feeling pressured to get out of bed and be productive just because your S.O. is up and doing stuff is pure bliss. So what if you want to read for two hours in bed before making breakfast?

18. You can go weeks (months?) without a bikini wax and nobody cares. (Same goes for your massive beard, dudes.)

19. You don’t have to worry about anyone taking your leftovers. Or all the hot water from the shower. Or your last can of cold beer… or anything you don’t want to share, ever.

20. You’re more motivated to leave your apartment and do cool shit when you don’t have the option of laying around with one person all the time. Being single makes you more adventurous!

21. No judgments when your housecleaning playlist includes ABBA, Britney Spears and a few Stephen Sondheim ditties.

22. You were told that your soulmate is supposed to be your best friend but really, the best thing about being single is realizing how to be your own best friend — loving yourself, being happy hanging out with yourself, learning about yourself. At the end of the day, the only person you’re guaranteed to spend every. single. day of your life with is yourself.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/11/the-underrated-perks-of-being-single_n_7260500.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices