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Tim Leach and Mark Dammann married in 2008, "the first day you could get married," and now both work as flight attendants.
When Tim Leach and Mark Dammann competed on an episode of Supermarket Sweep in 1991, they had no idea that over 30 years later they would become a viral meme.
Still, that's exactly what happened to the couple as social media users recently revisited their episode, poking fun at the two for presenting themselves as "business partners" — an attempt to not out themselves on television that doesn't feel as subtle decades later.
While Leach and Dammann are very much a couple, they did also run a set painting business together in Hermosa Beach, California. The two, who are still together today and living in Chicago, recently told Slate about their appearance on the show, and their romance going strong for over 40 years.
"There were some family members, grandparents and things, who still didn’t know," Leach said. "I can’t honestly say what they would have done if we’d said we were together. Would they have asked us to rephrase it? Anyway, we just said we were business partners. Which has become a meme now, but in this case, it was true!"
While audiences didn't seem to catch onto the couple until decades later, Leach added that "everyone [on set] knew," as they were "pretty open about it with the other contestants and the producers."
"We were out in our everyday lives. It was just on the air we kept it quiet," he explained.
Their appearance on the show also didn't spark suspicion among their parents, as Dammann said that even after 11 years together they "still hadn’t told them." That was when Dammann's mom passed away, and tragically, "Tim’s dad died the same year." The sudden losses inspired the couple to live authentically and open up to their other relatives.
"Mark came home and said, 'I feel so much regret about never having that conversation with my mom. There’s a part of me she never knew.' I said, 'Well, maybe you can bring yourself to tell your dad soon,'" Leach recalled.
"There was this radio show we listened to while were painting in the studio, these two psychologists, a married couple," Dammann continued. "I called in and really asked them, 'How do I come out to my dad?' They said, 'You’ve been together 11 years? He must know in his heart. You just have to say it.' So I just said it."
It was still a "total surprise," according to Leach, who said Dammann's father thought "Well, they’re young, and L.A.’s expensive, and I guess you just have to have a roommate." Still, their parents would soon after become their "biggest support system."
Leach and Dammann married in 2008, "the first day you could get married," and now both work as flight attendants for Southwest. In fact, they were the first gay couple to work for the company.
"There’ll be some rough patches, but you’ll get through them," Dammann said. "And as long as we have each other, you’ll make it. It’s been 41 years, and we’ve made it."
