As people continue to hunker down at home, they’ve been consuming more television than ever. A lot of them have been getting into the hit ’90s game show Supermarket Sweep, which recently became available on Netflix.
The game show originally aired from 1990-1995 and featured contestants racing up and down the aisles of a suburban grocery story grabbing as many items as possible in hopes of winning $5,000.
One of the episodes features Brandon and Kevin, a pair of well-groomed, attractive, 21-year-old college students. When host David Ruprecht asks Brandon how he knows Kevin, Brandon replies, “Kevin is my roommate from Santa Barbara.”
— Patrick Sullivan (@PatchNavillus) July 13, 2020
“Roommates.” Riiiight.
While that might have worked in the early 90s, audiences in 2020 aren’t buying it.
So #SupermarketSweep is now on Netflix and this one team absolutely crushed it. Kevin and Brandon are roommates at UCSB, but in my heart, they’re much more. And THAT’s what my quarantine has come to. pic.twitter.com/gztxlhTKj4
— Jonathan J. Amores (@jofum) July 11, 2020
So I’m watching old eps of supermarket sweep on Netflix and no judgement but I think Brandon and Kevin are more than “roommates”.
— Todd Henry (@theToddHenry) July 19, 2020
I wish a guy/fellow contestant/anyone would look at me the way Kevin looks at Brandon. #SupermarketSweep pic.twitter.com/gXHPNo88ev
— Stacy Lambe (@sllambe) July 11, 2020
Kevin to Brandon pic.twitter.com/LWzX3f50b6
— Matt Jacobs (@tarantallegra) July 13, 2020
Kevin nailed the questions. And later that night, I hope he nailed Brandon!
— BigRedAndy (@ariesenb) July 19, 2020
What I need now more than ever is a where are they now with the contestants of Supermarket Sweep ESPECIALLY the episode with “roommates” Kevin and Brandon
— Joe Rodriguez (@jrodriguez713) July 21, 2020
Kevin and Brandon from Supermarket Sweep are gay right? pic.twitter.com/lTu9c23JIn
— Nicholas Mark (@GrandTheftFonzo) July 30, 2020
Soon after pic.twitter.com/9CqpfU5CeJ
— David B. (@DPB0101) July 13, 2020
would i die for kevin and brandon on season 1, episode 4 of 1990’s smash hit reality competition show, supermarket sweep? science is pointing to “yes” pic.twitter.com/RyiHxbzpPR
— jake speikers (@jakespeikers) July 16, 2020
I love that the college boys Kevin and Brandon are just out here absolutely annihilating these moms and grandmas on Supermarket Sweep pic.twitter.com/g3y0ybkLLA
— mikayla (@HEYitsMK) July 19, 2020
This week, Kevin Fallon, a senior entertainment reporter at The Daily Beast, did the world a favor. He tracked down Brandon and Kevin to see what they’re up to today. Are they gay? Were they boyfriends? And, if so, are they still together?
Turns out, the wild imaginations of audiences in 2020 are just that… imaginations.
Reports Fallon:
Neither Brandon, who lives in Santa Clarita, Calif., nor Kevin, who lives in Austin, Tex., are on social media, and have been relying on friends and family to keep them posted on their new viral fame.
Kevin occasionally succumbs to curiosity and searches #SupermarketSweep on Twitter, where he discovered the swath of tweets saying, as he puts it, “Roommates? Hahaha…” Brandon hadn’t know that part of their viral fame was owed to the presumption that they were a closeted couple, and people’s hopes that they were still together all these years later.
Both find it very funny, and both clarify that they are indeed straight—Kevin is married with three sons and a foster daughter, and Brandon has a daughter with his ex-wife.
That’s right, folks. Brandon and Kevin, now 47, really were roommates, just like they said. Neither identifies as gay. And both went on to become good, old-fashioned, heteronormative “family guys.”
But not everyone’s happy with this new development.
I must admit, I was happier in my Supermarket Sweep fantasy, where Brandon and Kevin have somehow beaten the odds, have remained together and own a nice little B&B in Vermont.
— Kæth Walker has a super-clever handle, you betcha (@kaw143) August 4, 2020
I had a whole backstory made up for these guys. Brandon definitely was the one to invite Kevin to bible study. They crushed it and they don’t need drugs or alcohol. #SupermarketSweep
— Cody Jeffs (@jeffs_cody) July 14, 2020
ABC just announced that it’s bringing back Supermarket Sweep with Leslie Jones as host this fall. Perhaps Brandon and Kevin will make a comeback?
#SupermarketSweep is BACK 🤩 This iconic game show is coming soon to Sundays on ABC! pic.twitter.com/Q1k07fPUYE
— Supermarket Sweep (@SuperSweepABC) August 3, 2020
Charlie in Charge
For me this points to:
1. Our culture does not know how to process male friendship that doesn’t look like the two guys should be in the trenches together. Even then?
2. We are starved for queer storytelling. We see these gents and want to invent this whole sweeping romantic storyline because we don’t have an outlet for that. My better half watches those HGTV House Hunter shows whcih I can’t stand but if I see a gay couple on it I am glued to the screen.
MelchiorGabor
Charlie in Charge coming in and smacking us in the face with the takeaways.
Dymension
I’ll tell you why it would pass then, but not now. Today’s people have nothing better to do than stick their noses in people’s business. People today need to get a life.
lkeels
Oh honey, I’m so glad you missed out on the days of party lines and town phone operators who listened in on every conversation. Those ladies going to the “market” every day? Think about it. Nothing has changed.
barryaksarben
This is harmless fun. No one is being hurt by people having these two in love in their fantasies. Lighten up
Thad
We’re missing the big story here.
LESLIE JONES is going to host Supermarket Sweep!!!
Let’s hope it’s as much fun as Elizabeth Banks hosting “Press Your Luck.” But it’s LESLIE JONES. It’ll be a hoot
Topazme
why cant be two guys be close and be really good friends without anything sexual between them…..must we always presume that two close males are gay….on the other hand,this is just harmless fun but i kinda of get sick of people claiming random strangers as part of LGBT+ just by looks,its rather shallow…..one time i read photo article on buzzfeed about male friendships in SouthAsia (India,Pakistan,SriLanka,Indonesia etc)…and how when the photographer landed in India,he saw tons of male friends holding hands as they walked in streets and hugging each other and resting head on others’ shoulders or sleeping on others’ lap and just plainly doing what in the west people would presume to be gay behaviour…..and even though i know those societies are homophobic, i think there’s beauty in that people feel comfortable to male to male intimacy in a platonic way…..i think the west has lost that connnection for male friendship and platonic intimacy
witchboybrian
Every other movie seems to be about straight male friendship, that has never not been a focus in entertainment. What we lack are love stories between two men. People get obsessed over the little hints we get because we’re still living on crumbs of representation.
I also have to point out that the closet is still a thing. Just because two men married women doesn’t mean they’re really straight.
wiggie
nothing wrong with two straight males being close friends. Just because they don’t fit the “masculine image” doesn’t mean they’re gay. Heck, I don’t fit the stereotypical gay image and both of my best friends are very much straight.
JessPH
Just because they are married or were married to women doesn’t mean that they’re not gay.
jaimedance3
College Students That Were Straight?? Yeah Right As If Any College Experience I’m Sure Drunk Enough And Not Getting Any From Any Where Else They Most Surely Had Sucked Each Other Off More Than Once I’m Sure ~ I Mean Come On Horny College Guys?? Drunk Not Getting Any Sex ~ Watching Porn Videos On VHS ~ Having Jerk Off Contests Also Leads To Experimenting ~ And They Were Both Attractive Guys So Most Sure They Experimented And Gotten Each Other Off More Than Once In College ~ Hell I Had A Guy That Moved To The Area And Started To Go To The Same High School I Did And He Was Hanging Around Me Because He Was Curious And We Were Both 15/16 And He Was So Curious He Picked Me Up From My House One Night Asked If I Wanted To Go With Him On A Drive To Get Him Cigarettes And Go To His House For Awhile ~ We Ended Up In His Basement With His Homophobic Brother Awake Up Stairs ~ He Snuck Me In The Basement And He Told Me He Was Curious About Fooling Around With Another Guy ~ And We Had Sex With His Parents Asleep Upstairs And His Brother Awake ~ After That It Became A Thing Where He’d Come Over After School Always Want To Wrestle And End Up Blowing Me ~ We Did That For About 10 Years And Connected Again Back In The 2000’s ~ So Yeah These 2 Def Had Either Sex, Jacked Each Other Off Or Blew Each Other ~
ShowMeGuy
To be fair it WAS the 90s. If you had a “clean cut” image you *looked gay* and if you looked straight…..you were rocking Seattle grunge and appeared homeless.
CityguyUSA
Why do I care?