The 17th season
of Survivor kicked off last night on CBS as the
contestants made their way to Gabon, divided into
tribes, and began to set up camp. And almost immediately,
gay contestant Charlie Herschel set his sights on a
member of his tribe -- sexy doc Marcus Lehman.
The two
contestants formed a near-instant bond after arriving in
Africa, and while discussing their strategy for moving
forward in the contest, Herschel took a moment to tell
viewers at home how he felt about Marcus.
"I feel
that I have a special bond with Marcus," he said.
"Ever since I saw him on the mat and he picked
me, I just felt this connection in his deep, blue
beautiful eyes."
Lehman -- who was
named one of Cosmoplitan magazine's
sexiest bachelors of the year in 2006 -- picked up on the
fact that Herschel had developed a little crush, and
in an aside of his own, explained it was unlikely
things would go any further than friendship.
"The thing
with Charlie is, I think he's attracted to me, but you know,
I'll be honest. I don't see any romance between Charlie and
I. I think he's a great guy, you know. I can see that
he's handsome and smart and all those things. I really
can appreciate that about him. It's just not really
the way I roll. I'm straight, so ... We're in Eden, but
there's no two Adams here."
Earlier this week
The Advocate sat down with Herschel to talk
about his experiences filming Survivor. During the
interview Herschel also discussed
an online friendship he'd developed with
recently out American Idol alum Clay
Aiken while Aiken was still in the closet.
