Gus Kenworthy Plays the Role of Colton Underwood's Mentor on Ptown Trip
Gus Kenworthy is playing the part of Colton Underwood's gay genie as the former Bachelor embraces LGBTQ culture. The two media personalities were friends before Underwood came out on "Good Morning America" in April, so Kenworthy became the logical choice to play the newbie's guide when it was announced that Netflix will produce a reality series following Underwood's journey of living publicly as a gay man, according to Variety.
As part of that journey (captured for the upcoming Netflix show), Kenworthy took Underwood to Provincetown earlier this month for some post-pandemic fun.
"Colton is a really sweet guy," the 29-year-old pro skier told the British magazine OK! "I just wanted to try and help him make new friends, and my group of friends already had this trip to Provincetown planned. I extended an invite to him, and he came for a few days — and it was fun for him, I think, to get to be around other gay people. I think he made a lot of new friends. I think he enjoyed himself."
For his part, Underwood took to Instagram with an affectionate photo with Kenworthy.
Olympian Kenworthy came out in 2015 in an interview with ESPN, saying, "I guess I should start by saying, 'I'm gay.'" It was a brave move considering his sport is rife with homophobia, as the term "skier fag" has become something of an internet meme.
The athlete explained that peer pressure is what kept him closeted. "Almost immediately, Kenworthy says, he felt pressure to fit in. Friends weren't an issue; he was good-looking and likable, the kind of guy who gets along with everyone. But girls were an inescapable part of the role," ESPN noted of the interview.
"In skiing, there's such an alpha male thing about pulling the hottest chicks," recalled Kenworthy. "I know hooking up with hot girls doesn't sound like the worst thing in the world. But I literally would sleep with a girl and then cry about it afterward. I'm like, 'What am I doing? I don't know what I'm doing.'
It's very freeing," Kenworthy told OK! of coming out. "There's a huge weight lifted off of your shoulders, and I think some people go to extreme lengths to try and hide who they really are from the world because they're ashamed. I certainly did that, and Colton... I mean, Jesus, Colton definitely did that."
Reflecting on their Ptown trip, Kenworthy shared: "It was just really wonderful to be surrounded by queer people again — LGBT people — after being locked away and get to chat and make new friends. That's just something that we haven't gotten to do for so long, so that was really wonderful."
He added, "It's important that we have Pride. I just think it's important during Pride month to really reflect on what the community has been through because it is a celebration, it is love, it is rainbows in store displays and all of these things — but it also is a moment to reflect on what we've been through as a community and the fact that generations before us couldn't have had this. It's thanks to those generations that we can have it."