Weekend at Billy's

I remember how funny it was when this magazine arrived in my mailbox. A couple of years beforehand my friend Jay had invited me to be his plus-one for a weekend at a friend's house in the Hamptons and Chip and Reichen (who was introduced to me as Rick when I met him) were staying in the same house. We were all there to attend a gay-fabulous pool party that weekend at a nearby home. I recall that they both seemed like nice guys, very into SpongeBob SquarePants(!), very excited about planning their big wedding in Bel Air (I believe) at the time, and that all of their friends used to tease Rick Reichen about "taking 9 hours to get ready in the bathroom" every day. The next time I heard or thought of them again they were on their way to winning "The Amazing Race," and shortly thereafter to divorce court ... Little did I know that "knowing" someone who was on a reality show would soon become such a normal thing.