"I think this show was the first of its kind," La Demi told TooFab. "I wish I saw this show when I was a kid growing up."
Adore Delano and La Demi Martinez are making their impact on reality dating shows.
In a wide-ranging interview with TooFab, the "Ex on the Beach: Peak of Love" stars opened up about their experience on the MTV reality series and how they hope to inspire LGBTQ+ youth.
Best known from "RuPaul's Drag Race," Adore, who also goes by Danny Noriega when not in drag, identifies as non-binary and uses both she/her and he/him pronouns. La Demi, who has appeared on "Glam Masters" and "Botched" is transgender. While there has been a wide variety of dating television shows, "Ex on the Beach: Peak of Love" features a unique melting pot of singles, showcasing a diverse mix of race, identity and sexual orientation.
TooFab asked the two what it's like to be members of the LBGTQ community on a dating show of this scale.
"I think it's cool," Adore said. "It's neat cause we had another show that was just specifically all like LGBTQA personalities. But this time around we were put into a house with straight people, lesbian people, somebody who we thought was asexual. Like we had every part of the rainbow."
"Everyone was there and it was really neat to see everybody just kind of like melt in the soup and just kind of all get along and have each other's back and be protective over each other."
As a transgender woman, La Demi said she felt she was given an opportunity to help shape trans youth.
"I know that when people find out about a transgender person or anyone, whether it's male, female, whatever, they immediately take that person and throw them into a category...without getting to find out about that person for who they are," she explained. "So going into this show, I didn't want to tell anybody because I was like, these bitches are going to get to know La Demi, my humor, who I am, where I come from before I open up."
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View Story"At the same time, my tactic for doing that was to kind of shape, you know, the youth of trans kids and make them feel comfortable," she continued. "And let them know, you know when the time is right, then you can explain yourself to the people that you want to and open up your story and all of that good stuff."
"And you can join nationally, like big ass, dating show as who you are! That's never been really seen," Adore added and La Demi continued, "Like you deserve to be loved no matter who you are, no matter what gender, no matter what race and all of that."
La Demi expressed that she wished a series as inclusive as "Ex on the Beach: Peak of Love" was on-air when she was a child.
"I think this show was the first of its kind," she said. "I wish I saw this show when I was a kid growing up. You know what I mean? I didn't really have anyone to look up on TV. So if I could do it, anybody else could do it. And it was pretty hard. It was challenging living in a house and journeying with men and dating men."
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"Ex on the Beach: Peak of Love," which is a winter-themed version of the popular MTV reality series, features ten singles from various reality television shows living together on a mountain peak in Queenstown, New Zealand with their exes.
Adore and La Demi became best friends after meeting on the show, however, their friendship was tested when Adore developed a crush on La Demi's ex-boyfriend, Tyler.
Watch Adore and La Demi weigh in on the drama, spill some "Ex on the Beach" tea and more in our full interview, above!
"Ex on the Beach" airs Thursday nights at 9 p.m. ET on MTV.
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