''1 Girl 5 Gays'', sometimes abbreviated as ''1g5g'', was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

talk show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show ...

that premiered on October 14, 2009, on

MTV Canada MTV is a Canadian English-language specialty channel owned by Bell Media with the name and branding used under a licensing agreement with Paramount Global. The channel is devoted to talk, lifestyle and documentary programming, and also airs some ...

. In October 2010, gay-interest sister network

Logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wordma ...

picked up the program, and started airing it in the United States.

Aliya Jasmine Sovani Aliya-Jasmine "AJ" Sovani (born November 18, 1981) is a television broadcaster and producer, initially known for her work on MTV. She is currently working as a host for NBC. Career Before working at MTV, Sovani was a producer at MuchMusic, and ...

was the host for the first three seasons and part of the fourth.

Lauren Collins Lauren Felice Collins (born August 29, 1986) is a Canadian actress, best known for portraying Paige Michalchuk on '' Degrassi: The Next Generation''. She has also had supporting roles in the films '' Take the Lead'' (2006) and ''Charlie Bartlett ...

, known for her role as Paige Michalchuk on ''

Degrassi ''Degrassi'' is a Canadian television franchise created by Kit Hood and Linda Schuyler in 1979. It is centred on a multigenerational teen drama about an ensemble cast of teenagers attending the namesake Toronto school as they navigate their ad ...

'', replaced Sovani as the host. ''

Out Magazine ''Out'' is an American LGBTQ news, fashion, entertainment, and lifestyle magazine, with the highest circulation of any LGBTQ monthly publication in the United States. It presents itself in an editorial manner similar to ''Details'', ''Esquire'', ...

'' described the show as containing "frank, often curse-laced discussions about bareback sex, masturbation and one-night stands", and analogised it with "'' The View'' meets

Dr. Ruth Karola Ruth Westheimer ( Siegel; born June 4, 1928), better known as Dr. Ruth, is a German-American sex therapist, talk show host, author, professor, Holocaust survivor, and former Haganah sniper. Westheimer was born in Germany to a Jewish fa ...

, only with hot

gay men Gay men are male homosexuals. Some bisexual and homoromantic men may also dually identify as gay, and a number of young gay men also identify as queer. Historically, gay men have been referred to by a number of different terms, including ' ...

instead of menopausal madams".

Format

In each episode, one female (or "one girl") —

from 2009 to 2013, and

from 2013 to 2014, sits down with five panelists (or "five gays"), usually

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

men but occasionally

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

women, to discuss 20 questions about love and sex. The "five gays" in each episode are a rotating panel, each having differing backgrounds and points of view. The fast-paced discussion explores serious themes as well as lighthearted topics dealing with romance and pleasure. The show also featured special episodes, such as a high school edition,

HIV+ The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

men,

co-ed Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

episodes featuring lesbians and gays at the same time and more. At the end of the fourth season, the show presented two special episodes featuring 20 "gays" departing the show, as producers chose to begin season five with a new cast, who were introduced 30 September 2013. MTV Canada resumed airing episodes with the new cast and Collins on October 4, 2013, but as of February 2014, Logo had not yet begun airing the show's fifth season; the show's official Twitter feed noted on March 17, 2014, that Logo had opted not to continue airing episodes after the end of season four. When the show aired during

prime time Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

, some segments were grayed out and muted, with a notice that the uncensored show would air later.

Panelists

The rotating panel of gay men included

Michael Yerxa Michael Yerxa is a Canadian documentary filmmaker. He is most noted for his collaborations with Mark Kenneth Woods, including the films '' Take Up the Torch'' (2015) and ''Two Soft Things, Two Hard Things'' (2016), and the television series ''Pride ...

, Alex Illest, Jean-Paul Bevilacqua, Juan Manuel Gonzalez Calcaneo, Jonathan Morton-Schuster, Matt Barker, Dean McArthur, Matt Santos, Philip Tetro, Ian Lynch, Andrew Edwards, Jake Mossop, Thomas Trafford, Ish, Jonathan Nathaniel, Gerry King, Simon Lysnes, Max Claude, Alex Brown, Jason Yantha, Dillon Scheenaard, JP Larocque, Rafay Agha, Gabriel Rojas, Jae MT, Kiel Hughes, Gaelan Love, Michael Lehman, Shawn Hitchins, Taylor James, Thomas Haskell, Chris Corsini, David Robert, Maurie Sherman, Ralph Rosario, Brad Blaylock, Ryan Carter, Ibrahim Hasan, Scott Do, Matthew Agius, Micha Baltman, Anthony Berardinucci, Matt Sims,

Perez Hilton Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr. (born March 23, 1978), known professionally as Perez Hilton, is an American blogger, columnist, and media personality. His blog is known for posts covering gossip items about celebrities, and for posting tabloid p ...

, James Bar, Jeffrey Bowers, Brett Ashley, Chase Hutchinson, Jonathan D. Lovitz, Mitchell Boucher, Mike Germanotta, Jamie Gillingham, and Taurel Lorenz. A smaller number of episodes featured a panel of

s, including Brittany Leigh, Christina Mac, Brittany Emmons, Courtney Jean Milner, Valerie Bosso, and Nicole DeLargie.

Cancellation

The program's cancellation was announced in 2014, as part of significant staffing and production cutbacks at

Bell Media Bell Media Inc. ( French: ) is a Canadian company formed by the amalgamation of several companies. Establishment (2011–13) On December 9, 2011, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced the sale of its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports ...

."Big changes at MTV, Much as Bell Media makes deep cuts to production staff"
. ''

Edmonton Journal The ''Edmonton Journal'' is a daily newspaper in Edmonton, Alberta. It is part of the Postmedia Network. History The ''Journal'' was founded in 1903 by three local businessmen — John Macpherson, Arthur Moore and J.W. Cunningham — as ...

'', July 10, 2014. In 2021 it was announced at Bell Media's upfronts that Crave will air '' 1 Queen 5 Queers'', essentially a revival of ''1 Girl 5 Gays'' with a new roster of

LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

panelists moderated by

drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and part o ...

Brooke Lynn Hytes Brooke Lynn Hytes is the stage name of Brock Edward Hayhoe (born March 10, 1986), a Canadian drag queen, ballet dancer, performer, and television personality. After working as a dancer with Cape Town City Ballet and Les Ballets Trockadero de Mo ...

.Victoria Ahearn
"‘The Amazing Race Canada,’ ‘Letterkenny’ spinoff join upcoming Bell Media lineup"
''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'', June 10, 2021.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:1 Girl 5 Gays 2000s Canadian television talk shows 2010s Canadian television talk shows 2009 Canadian television series debuts 2014 Canadian television series endings 2000s Canadian LGBT-related television series 2010s Canadian LGBT-related television series