Getty Zeke Smith proposes to Nico Santos onstage during the 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards in Beverly Hills on Saturday, April 2, 2022.
On Saturday, the 33rd annual GLAAD Media Awards were held in Los Angeles. There, a certain well-known two-time “Survivor” player and noted LGBT activist became engaged to his boyfriend, actor Nico Santos, in a very public proposal.
Here’s what you need to know:
Zeke Smith Proposes to Nico Santos Live on Stage at GLAAD Awards
GLAAD – formerly known as the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation – is a non-governmental media monitoring organization founded in 1985 which aims to fight discrimination against the LGBT community in the entertainment industry. Since 1990, they have hosted the annual GLAAD Media Awards to recognize and honor outstanding representations of the LGBT community in film and television.
On Saturday, April 2, the 33rd annual Los Angeles presentation of the award ceremony was held, and there, “Survivor” alumnus Zeke Smith, who has since become a fierce advocate for the LGBT community, proposed to his longtime boyfriend, actor Nico Santos. Santos accepted, and the two are now engaged.
In an Instagram post shortly after the ceremony, Smith wrote: “He said yes. I’m the luckiest guy in the world.” He also thanked GLAAD for “making it magical.” In his own post, Santos wrote to Smith: “I said yes. You have my heart forever.”
Santos also posted a photo of the two of them on Instagram shortly before the ceremony began, in which he wrote, “At the [GLAAD Awards] with my man [Zeke] on one hand and my social anxiety on the other 😂🥴.”
The two have been dating since at least 2020, when Santos told Variety that the two were quarantining together during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. “I’m quarantining here at home with my boyfriend, which is great,” Santos said. “I’m so grateful and thankful that he’s here with me. I honestly probably wouldn’t have survived these past few weeks without him.”
Smith & Santos Are Both Well-Known LGBT Activists
Smith, 34, first appeared on “Survivor” in its 33rd season, “Millennials vs. Gen X,” in 2016, where he placed 9th. There, he was placed on the “Millennials” tribe, and was open about being a gay man. It wasn’t until the following year (though only a few months later in filming terms), in season 34, “Game Changers,” when he was notoriously outed by contestant Jeff Varner as being transgender. Varner’s actions were heavily castigated by host Jeff Probst, fellow contestants, and the audience alike, once it aired several months later. Since then, Smith has been open about both his gay and transgender identity, and has become a strong advocate for LGBT rights and representation.
In fact, at the season’s reunion show in 2017, Smith spoke about how he had begun work with GLAAD, partnering with Nick Adams, then the director of the Transgender Media & Representation. Smith said of his time on the show and how it has affected his life moving forward at the reunion:
At the core of GLAAD’s philosophy is that authentic LGBTQ representation accelerates acceptance and it saves lives. And that’s why I’m so proud to be part of ‘Survivor’ and CBS, because you have always empowered me to speak authentically and to tell my story on my own terms, and I feel like our partnership is the model for how trans stories should be approached in the media going forward.
Santos, 42, is an actor who was born in the Philippines and immigrated to the United States when he was 16. He is openly gay, and achieved international recognition after playing Oliver T’sien in the 2018 romantic comedy-drama, “Crazy Rich Asians.” Oliver, like Santos, is also gay.
In June 2019, Santos was named one of the “Pride50” “trailblaizing individuals who actively ensure society remains moving toward equality, acceptance and dignity for all queer people” by Queerty magazine. Queerty called Santos’ “uncompromising contribution to visibility” a “major breakthrough” in the entertainment industry, and added that he has used his platform to call for “greater acceptance [of] gender non-conforming men.”
The New York ceremony of the 33rd annual GLAAD Media Awards will be held on May 6, 2022. “Survivor 42” airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific on CBS. The finale will air Wednesday, May 25, 2022.