Nate Berkus to Host Oprah's Big Give

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Get ready to hear a lot about Nate Berkus.

The openly gay interior designer has been tapped to host the upcoming ABC reality series, Oprah's Big Give. The show will showcase people who"criss-cross the country, giving away hundreds ofthousands of dollars to unsuspecting people who are in for the surprise oftheir lives."

So, why is Berkus newsworthy? Because anything Oprah touches turns to gold. And because it will be the first time a known gay man will host a network reality show.

Nate Berkus Picture

Berkus' role on this upcoming sounds like it's roughly equivalent to Ty Pennington's role on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

In early 2005, Nate appeared on Oprah for one of the most watched episodes of that year. He was there to talk about surviving the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster, as he and partner Fernando Bengoechea, were vacationing at a beach resort in SriLanka when the tsunami hit. While Berkus survived, Bengoechea is still missing and presumed dead.

Berkus still makes regular appearances on Oprah's show to talk about design.

Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.

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