His world is sports-filled, so it should have been no surprise to see Michael Holtz on 72 Hours (TNT), the action-adventure docuseries that is part Survivor, part The Amazing Race.
The show's concept is simple: three teams of three strangers are dropped into the wild and have 72 hours to find a briefcase filled with $100,000. The first team to find it keeps it.
Holtz appeared on the show June 13, although it was filmed last November in New Zealand.
"It was awesome, the experience of a lifetime," Holtz said. "While I thought it would test my limits physically, it was one of the most mental and emotional challenges I have accomplished to date."
Holtz certainly was more than the show's token gay participant.
"I think [being gay] played to my advantage. I think people may have underestimated my abilities and proved to them I was no cupcake," he said.
Actually, Holtz is an accomplished swimmer who also won the Men's Fitness Urbanathon in 2009 in Chicago. The 28-year-old now lives in Los Angeles and is the owner of MKH2O Productions ( www.michaelkholtz.com ).
He will be in Chicago during Pride Week, including a speech at Allstate Insurance for its LGBT Employee Resource Group.
"I love Chicago, but only during the summer," Holtz said, laughing. "I have family [in Chicago,] so I enjoy seeing them and also swimming in [Lake Michigan.] I really enjoyed racing in the Men's Fitness Urbanathon.
"Even though [Chicago's Pride Parade] is big, I feel like there is still a huge sense of community and is not overwhelming at all."
Holtz said he doesn't know yet where he'll be, or exactly what he'll be doing on Pride Sunday. "Maybe [riding on] a float, maybe watching [the parade], who knows," he said. "The whole cast of 72 Hours is in town, so there are lots of possibilities. I love being spontaneous on Pride Sunday."
Holtz is attending Chicago Pride with his boyfriend, Scotty Allen.
"I love immersing people and especially straight friends into a community that they may not spend much time with," Holtz said. "It's so awesome to share an experience like that with someone who has not attended."
Holtz stays busy these days doing speaking engagements, often about LGBT issues. He is a beach regular who also is training for triathlons and producing various athletic events that raise money and awareness for various LGBT organizations. He is helping produce the 2013 Beach Classic in Santa Monica, which incorporates a 2K open water swim, a 5K beach run and a beach volleyball tournament that raises money for the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center. (For more information, go to: www.beachclassic.org .)
Holtz was Mr. Gay USA 2011, Compete Magazine's Athlete of the Year and first-runner-up Mr. Gay World 2011. Since 2008 as an LGBT activist, he raised more than $1 million for such charities as Equality California, GLAAD, The Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, and Stonewall Community Foundation in New York City, among others.
