A Look Back at Bravo's "Queer Eye"

It was that title: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. So in-your-face it even made some of us blush. And the premise: a makeover show where five, super-out gay men — with expertise in fashion, grooming, food, décor, and culture — whip a straight man into metrosexual shape.

The concept was audacious enough to inflame the Religious Right, yet stereotypical enough to offend some in the LGBT community. What crackpot television exec was going to touch this thing? A sleepy, ratings-starved, film and arts channel called Bravo figured it had nothing to lose and on July 15, 2003 Queer Eye for the Straight Guy debuted - and proceeded to take the pop-culture landscape by storm.

Queer Eye’s popularity was so enormous that its mere existence increased Bravo’s average ratings share by an unheard of factor of 10 almost overnight. The show’s five gay stars were feted like rock icons, with sit-downs on Oprah, Jay Leno and a Barbara Walters special. They appeared on the covers of Entertainment Weekly and Vanity Fair, and the following year they won an Emmy.

As Bravo begins airing the final season of Queer Eye, three of its stars – Ted Allen the food and wine guy, Kyan Douglas the grooming guy, and Jai Rodriguez the culture guy – gave us an exclusive interview. The conversation focused on the impact of Queer Eye, how the show has opened minds, empowered gay men, and transformed the five stars at its center.

AE: People talk a lot about how Queer Eye was a part of a cultural moment that that changed how gay people are viewed in the society. You've talked about receiving hundreds of letters from gay kids. I’m wondering if you could give more examples that you saw personally of how the show changed society?
Kyan Douglas: I remember meeting a lot of young sophisticated thirty-something people that were sort of naturally into the show and kind of with it. But they would say, ‘my grandmother watches the show’ or ‘my Republican grandfather watches the show.’ And I knew that we had some sort of impact on a part of society that just normally wouldn’t have been exposed to gay people at all. And that was so, so wonderful.

AE: Did those kinds of people, who maybe normally wouldn’t be acquainted with out gay people, come up to you or write letters? What kind of contact or feedback did you get from that set of people?
KD: What I can speak to directly is just the number of straight guys that have come up to me when I’ve been on vacation or out anywhere, and said “Hey, thank you. I learned a lot from you.” And these are guys from all walks of life. Burly or tough guys. All races.

I recently just re-located to LA, and there were two Haitian guys that were part of my cross country move. And when they got to to my house and they knew who I was. And it was like – are you kidding me?And they were really cool with me. It’s just those sort of interactions that happen periodically with folks that you wouldn’t assume would know about the show or be interested in the show, or like the show.

AE: And from the letters and feedback, could you tell me a little bit about how you feel it’s changed the way gay people see themselves?
Jai Rodriguez: I think that we were the first program that featured an all-gay cast … as far as a series goes. But when I go out, and when I travel, I do find that when people come up to me, especially gay people, they have this, it’s almost like a gratitude.

I had a young man come up to me who said, “You know, I have a very religious family” – and I also grew up very religious, and I think he knew that from an interview – but he said, “My parents, who don’t like gay people at all, love your program.” And it buffered the situation when he came out, because at that point they were having five gay men that they adored in their living room every Tuesday night at 10. So it was easy for him to then say to them 'I’m gay.'…

Now you see a lot more gay people in the public eye. … A completely diverse group of men that are all very different things.And not all of them are like the five of us, where they’re doing hair or doing someone’s home. There are professional sports players coming out, it’s kind of opened the door for…

Ted Allen: I just want to echo what the guys have said. But also I think that Jai touched on something that‘s important.

We’re a group of guys who were just being ourselves on this wacky, goofy show. And it’s a funny group. The gay movement is so full of really hard-working dedicated activist types, who at times can probably seem a little strident and shrill to an audience that’s not interested in hearing those messages. We were just giving you an entertainment program that was funny to a lot of different people, and also had a lot of useful information in it. And that allowed five gay guys to come into a lot of living rooms that would never have been receptive to us before. At the same time we were still fearlessly being exactly who we are. And I think that has a very profound, subversive impact.

JR: None of us were trying to be political. When we first started, it was just a show. It was entertainment, and it was a job. And we were legitimately working. And when there was this sudden push of “You guys are at the forefront of this movement” and we were getting all these political questions, and we’re like “Huh?” Like we we’re in this movement that we weren’t necessarily prepared for.

KD:I just wanted to add a real specific comment to that question. Last week I was at a dinner party and there was a guy in the room who was 20. He said “When I was younger” and I wanted to choke him [laughs]. He meant that when he was 16, 17, the show had just come out. And he said that he was very lonely at the time. And he would sort of just sit in his room and watch TV and Queer Eye was on. And that was the first time he really saw that there were other gay people that he could relate to. … For this guy, the fact that there were very clearly five out gay men [on television] in some way that impacted how he saw himself, and that he wasn’t alone. And that’s a story I heard four or five days ago.

TA: I should also add that we were profoundly influential on the Halloween costumes of 2003.

AE: [laughter] Really?! There were Queer Eye Halloween costumes?
TA: Oh, my gosh. All over the place.

AE: That’s awesome! Did the show also have an impact on gay men of a certain age in metropolitan cities who for all appearances are totally comfortable with themselves – and yet they might also say, “You know, this has been empowering for me”?
KD: Without a doubt

JR: I’ve definitely heard that.

KD: I remember being at HRC events or AIDS walk events, any sort of numerous gay events where we were introduced or spoke. And then afterwards there was an opportunity to sort of hang out with people. And people would come up privately and say, “Hey thanks a lot for what you do. It’s really helped me deal with my family or helped me.”

JR: Those are the events that I just got numbers at. Damn it. [laughter] No one came up to me for guidance.

TA: The show has had a major impact on Jai’s love life. Huge.

AE: [concerned] Has it Jai? I’m hoping that it has.
JR: Oh, geez. No, it really has. It’s funny I actually kind of grew up on Queer Eye. I learned things …I came to the show as just strictly one thing. I was in New York City acting. I was making the rounds, was working, bouncing from show to show [Rodriguez played Angel in Rent on Broadway, and starred in the Off-Broadway musical Zanna Don’t before being cast on QE], grew up on Long Island. It’s not like I came from privilege. I learned so many life lessons from Queer Eye.

I also live in Los Angeles. I moved out here a year ago and the move was really kind of scary because it was basically me separating myself from friends and family in New York and just trying life out here. When I looked at my apartment the other day, I said “Oh my God!I am a Queer Eye Guy!” It was totally decorated correctly. All the pictures are hung properly on the wall. And I was like oh, my God. How nauseating.

KD:And Jai, when you started the show, you didn’t even have a learner’s permit. Now you have a full-fledged driver’s license.

JR: I just got my license in November!

AE: Congratulations! Jai, you’ve talked about having a conservative religious family. And Ted you once mentioned your Republican mother sending you articles about gay marriage. And you talked about how the show has changed people’s perceptions. I’m wondering if being part of a show with "Queer" in the title that was so celebrated, affected the perceptions of people around you in terms of your family and your hometown friends. Did it maybe expand their ability to accept?
TA: I should say first that my mom is staunchly pro-gay marriage. With a capital M.

AE: Now is that in the last four years since QE began airing?
TA: Oh, yeah. Absolutely. The funny thing about Queer Eye with my family, most of which is southern and conservative and votes very badly. [laughter] When I told my parents I was doing the show, they were of course completely appalled and terrified. They thought I was going to get killed and they hated the title. And then, about a month after the show started airing and it was such a hit, A, they loved the show against all odds, but B, it was a real gift for my mother because none of my relatives will ever again ask her why I’m not married or don’t have a girlfriend. [laughter]

AE: Yeah. It was a big coming out for them too!
TA: Well, exactly. Just as it is for most gay people. Your family has to come out, too, and acknowledge that they’re the parents of a gay kid. Well, we took care of that mission 100%. We are super out, man. We are way, way out.

JR: My family, again, is very religious, and when I told them [that he was joining QE] my aunts and uncles were very supportive. It was really my mother that was the one who had the problem with it. And then at some point her dentist, and the people at the library, and basically the rest of the world [was fine with it]. Once she saw the rest of the world being accepting, suddenly it was easier for her to deal with it.

And then we were having a Christmas episode and it happened to be airing right at Christmastime, and I was on Long Island with some other family members, and she just watched it. And ever since then, she just loves the guys on the show. She’s like, “Oh my, God! Kyan’s so hot!” And then she learned how to make Ted’s crab cakes that he made on Oprah. [laughter] It was funny how the show kind of brought people in, because it wasn’t like we were being advocates for anything. We were just kind of being ourselves and letting you into who we are at our wackiest state.

TA: And then after all this progress, along comes Larry Craig [the Republican Idaho Senator who pled guilty to disorderly conduct after being arrested in a Minneapolis airport men’s bathroom during a sex-sting operation] and all families think we’re getting busy in airport bathrooms.

AE: Well, thank God there are you guys to counter that kind of crap. Jai, I think for a lot of parents and friends, especially who aren’t in big metropolitan cities or who are in very close-knit religious communities that are conservative, they might not believe there are people out there who are accepting.This really revolutionized your mother’s viewpoint, correct?
JR: Yeah, it really did. And I can’t say that she’s… She always says “I don’t support the fact that you’re gay, but I don’t think that you should have...” She’s very like, playing both sides of the fence because she’s still very involved with the church. But she gets very offended if someone says anything about me being gay in a negative way.

Like when the show first came out, you said when you come out, your parents come out. Well, we came out globally.So my mother was getting a lot of people at the church coming up to her and saying, “I’m so sorry to hear about your son.”

AE: Oh my God…
Jai: So that really put a chip on her shoulder. It kind of kept her really being smart and making the right decisions. She’s said many a time, “There’s nothing wrong with my son.” She’s like, “Please. If you had to point out all your flaws.”

She’s very much a New Yorker in that sense that she has her beliefs, but she’s chosen basically by experience. She’s lived with me, she nurtured me. She knows that I’m not a bad person. And all the things that have been put on her religiously from the people [in her church], the pastor, whatever, she says, “I eat the meat, I spit out the bone.” She’s like, “I know what’s true.I know who you are, I’ve met your friends, they’re good people. I refuse to believe that…” So it’s pretty cool.

TA: [archly] What does that mean exactly: “I eat the meat, I spit out the bone”?

JR: You take the good, you leave the bad.

TA: So that’s what that means.

AE: While Jai was the youngest when the show started, I’m sure that Kyan and Ted came to the show feeling like they were very self-accepting gay men, totally cool with themselves. I’m wondering if the show changed your own self-acceptance?
Kyan: Wow. I would say without a doubt. You know, ultimately self-acceptance needs to come from within, but a lot of times we get to that place through our experiences with other people. And I think that just the repetitiveness of working with a hundred different straight guys and making a genuine contribution to their lives, and then them saying so.

Like, “Thank you, you really have helped, and I’m really glad to meet you guys. You’re just not these guys on TV, but you really do care about us.” Coupled with the experience of having random straight guys come up to me in a restaurant or on the street and saying, “Hey, thanks a lot.” I think that just has a validating effect. And I was telling someone earlier that one way that I’ve been made over by the show is by just feeling more comfortable with straight guys.

And I think you’re right. I think I had a certain amount of self-acceptance. And I was out to my family, and everybody was really cool with it and all that. But there’s just something really powerful about meeting your straight brother or your straight friend, and them getting you, and loving you, and appreciating you. And it certainly has helped me out.

TA: I like that question a lot. I guess especially because we’re talking with AfterElton, and we’re coming up on national coming out month in November. We were a very extreme example of being mega-out. But for folks who aren’t on television shows, who are gay, who haven’t gone through that process yet, our experience just goes to show how much more relaxed and happy and comfortable you can be when you’re living an honest life.

I wish people like Larry Craig could have had that experience as well. I guess it’s not too late [for Craig], or maybe it is. You can’t say it enough, how important it is for gay people to be out and open. And when you are, even if it hasn’t been broadcast in 98 countries, you can check into a hotel with your partner and say “Yeah, we want a king bed.” And you get to a point where that isn’t difficult anymore.

AE: And I think those kind of things have changed dramatically in the last five years.
TA: Yeah.

AE: Like you’ve said, you were mega-out. That "Queer" was in the title and you weren’t playing characters, you were yourselves. And you’ve seen how the experience changed the world and yourselves. How does that change your understanding of what being “out” means?
TA: People give lip service to the idea of role models all the time. But we learned how profoundly real the need for role models is. I remember there was a gay kid named Michael Shackelford who at the time was 17 and was profiled by the Washington Post, they were doing a story about rural, gay kids. I sent him my book, and he ended up going on Nightline.

We all need to see ourselves reflected in the culture, and we all need to be able to dream we can be successful. So if there are no African Americans on television, if there are no gay people on television, no lesbians, no transgender people, it’s very hard to imagine yourself ever succeeding, ever going anyplace farther than the little village you grew up in.

So I think the people who are able to be out, the Rupert Everetts and the Ian Mckellens and the people in other fields, do such an incredibly important thing for people coming behind them. And they should really be proud.

Read more from Kyan Douglas on the AfterElton.com blog.

Ted Allen can be seen as a judge on Top Chef and Iron Chef America, as well as his PBS show Uncorked. Jai Rodriguez is currently doing guest spots on Nip/Tuck, and has a new show coming out on the Style network. New episodes of Queer Eye air Tuesdays at 10pm on the Bravo network, with a special additional episode tonight at 9pm.