A&E played everyone for fools. They got the gays thinking A&E stood with them. They got a ton of free publicity for the show. And they didn’t lose their “star” for even a single episode.
Somebody at A&E deserves a raise for this gambit. Beautifully played.
That would be true if they had planned such a thing ... congratulations would be due for all the free attention the program was given.
However, I don’t think they are smart enough to figure that out ahead of time. I think they were bungling their way through.