Transamerican Love Story is an American reality dating show in which suitors woo transgender woman Calpernia Addams. Addams chooses a suitor by process of elimination. When the show first aired, viewers could vote their preferences online, but it was Addams who chose whom to eliminate. Calpernia is accompanied by her friend Andrea James; each episode is hosted by comedian Alec Mapa.
Transamerican Love Story is the first reality dating show in the United States in which contestants compete for the attention and approval of a transgender woman. Logo TV, a digital cable channel with LGBT content, announced the series in November 2007, and premiered the first episode the following February. The series finale aired on March 31, 2008.
Zack Rosen of the Washington Blade praised the series, describing it as "refreshing for its lack of sensationalism". Heather Havrilesky of Salon agreed, and admired Calpernia's composure in the reality show environment. In 2009, Transamerican Love Story won a GLAAD Media Award in the "Outstanding Reality Program" category, tying with I Want to Work for Diddy.
MTV Networks published the complete series on DVD in 2008. The series is also distributed on Amazon Video, and was previously distributed through Netflix, iTunes, and LOGOonline.
Overview
The show employs the competition-dating format established by The Bachelor (2002), a long-running series with numerous spin-offs and imitators. The bachelors in Transamerican Love Story are men who are "open to dating a trans woman". They lodge together in a mansion while Calpernia stays in a separate cottage on the estate. The contestants compete in group challenges, and the winners are granted time with Calpernia.
Before deciding which contestant to eliminate in the evening's ceremony, Calpernia confers with her friends Andrea James and (show host) Alec Mapa. James and Mapa have occasion to chat with the bachelors, and they share some of their insights with Calpernia. Viewers also vote their preferences online, but it is Calpernia who chooses whom to eliminate. In the elimination ceremony, Calpernia feeds a chocolate to those suitors whom she invites to stay. In the final episode, when only three suitors remain, they are given makeovers before Calpernia meets with them individually to tell each man whether it is him she has chosen.
Most of Transamerican Love Story was filmed in the Greater Los Angeles Area of Los Angeles County, California. Portions of episode six were filmed in the Western US cities of Ventura, California and Las Vegas, Nevada.
The suitors
Eight men compete in the show. They range in age from 24 to 47.
Call-out order
Contestants are arranged in the order in which Calpernia calls their names during the elimination ceremony. In episode five, no competition winner is declared. In episode six, each of the three remaining men gets a date with Calpernia. Episode seven is a clip show, and has no elimination ceremony. In episode eight, Calpernia turns down two of the three remaining suitors before declaring the remaining man the winner.
The contestant won the competition. The contestant won a date with Calpernia. The contestant won a date with Calpernia, but was eliminated. The contestant was eliminated. The contestant was to be eliminated, but Calpernia let him stay.
Episodes
Production
Transamerican Love Story was one of three new reality television shows that Logo premiered in 2008, accompanied by Gimme Sugar and Shirts & Skins. It was produced by World of Wonder Productions with the assistance of Oh Really! Productions, a company that had recently begun producing The Big Gay Sketch Show for Logo.
After World of Wonder developed the concept for Transamerican Love Story, Logo called Calpernia Addams in the summer of 2007 to offer her the starring role, which she accepted. Addams is an actress, musician, writer, and activist from Nashville, Tennessee. She was 36 years old when the show was filmed.
Her friend, transgender activist Andrea James, co-stars in the series, and was a consulting producer. In a 2013 interview, James explains that she saw an opportunity for social progress in a program that accurately represented men who are attracted to trans women. Typically, she says, in US media trans-attracted men are stigmatized and shamed, and that can make them hate themselves—and "lead to unhealthy and even dangerous situations for trans women." "No one knows how hard it is for us to date!" Addams adds. Both Addams and James hoped the show would also undermine the media stereotype of trans women as "tragic and serious".