NEW YORK — Wednesday night will see the premiere of Bravo TV’s “Million Dollar Listing New York,” a new reality series that follows three high-profile real estate agents as they scramble to close multi-million dollar deals in the Big Apple.
The show is a spinoff of “Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles,” but could also serve as “Where Are They Now” programming for gay porn fans.
Fredrik Eklund, managing director for Prudential Douglas Elliman, and one of the three real estate agents featured on the show, was once known as Tag Eriksson, star of six gay porn videos, including Jet Set Productions “The Hole,” a 2003 parody of Gore Verbinski’s “The Ring,” in which straight guys turn gay in seven days after watching a mysterious videotape.
Eklund, who is currently one of New York’s most successful brokers, having earned more than 1.25 billion dollars in residential sales, has never denied his past as a gay porn performer, writing about it candidly in his 2005 autobiography “Bananflugornas (Lord of the Fruit Flies).”
Born and raised in Stockholm, Sweden, he was the CEO of a Swedish Internet company when he left home to shoot porn in Los Angeles, a decision he explained to HX magazine in 2007.
“Everything in my whole life up until that point had been about my brain and studying and making money,” Eklund said. “So when I got the offer, I decided to take a break from everything, do something a little crazy and see where it led me. And the craziest thing I could think of was to go do porn movies in Los Angeles. It was like research, an experiment for myself. I learned that I could do whatever I want. If I had listened to anybody else but myself, I wouldn’t have done it, but I’m glad that I did. It brought me to where I am today.”
Eklund’s bio on BravoTV.com fails to mention his past in porn, but the network confirmed to the VillageVoice.com today that Eklund would discuss his brief stint in adult during the series’ premiere episode.
“Million Dollar Listing New York” premieres at 10 p.m. on Wednesday.
