Height: 6'2"

Status: Single and gay

Residence: New York City

Education: Attended the University of Massachusetts, Boston

The scoop: He was bucking for a promotion at a now-defunct financial dot-com in Boston when friends at his gym strong-armed him into auditioning for the latest installment of MTV's Real World. "My feeling was 'If I don't get the show, then I'm ready for the real world,' " says Beckman, a recovering alcoholic who has been sober for more than a year. The winner of this year's Congressman Gerry E. Studds Visibility Award for being a positive role model in the gay community, Beckman is now on the lecture circuit and studying acting. "I have a responsibility to talk about where my life was and where it is today."

In his own words: "I'm never going to live with another human being if I can get away with it," says Beckman, after four months of bunking with six strangers. "Once I get into a relationship, yeah, but another roommate? No way. I like my privacy and I like my space."

The ideal partner: "I like good, wholesome people," says Beckman, also an abstract painter who can whip up a mean chicken stir-fry.

What a catch: "Chris is there for you when you need him," says best friend Sandra Weener. "He knows the right thing to say and when to say it."