Wendy Wheaton, Gohil's manager; Manvendra Singh Gohil and Kris Jenner at the latter's residence. Pic/Tommy Phillips

Early this year, when Manvendra Singh Gohil received an invitation to dine with the Kardashians in Los Angeles, he knew he would have to brush up on his knowledge on America's most popular family. "Honestly, I didn't know much about them, because I had never watched their reality show. I had to memorise who's who," he laughs. From being a stranger to their antics, Gohil found himself catapulted into their inner circle after he met Jeff Jenkins, the producer of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, at a fundraiser in Los Angeles last June. "It was an event organised by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, where I was introduced to Jeff, who is also gay. While chatting, he floated the idea of my appearing on the show, because he felt I could help Kris Jenner who was still coping with the aftermath of her ex-husband publicly announcing that he was a transgender [and subsequently undergoing a sex-change operation]. For me, it was a chance to talk about LGBT rights on a platform that's mostly avidly watched by the youth," he says.