Raise your hand if your stylist is one of your best friends-who knows more about your real life than your mother. That kind of intimacy, along with good-natured dishing and a real reverb of style, have made Queer Eye for the Straight Guy the season's most-talked-about show. And a natural for Salon City Star.

Settle back and let Ted Allen (Food & Wine Connoisseur), Thom Filicia (Design Doctor), Carson Kressley (Fashion Savant), Jai Rodriguez (Culture Vulture) and creators David Collins and David Metzler give you the story behind the scenes…

This show does seem to reinforce every gay stereotype I can imagine in one show…
Carson: Well, not every one, 'cause we don't have a florist. (laughter)…But when you watch the show, you'll see the real heart of it, and you'll realize that we're just six guys hanging out, and in the end, we just wind up being friends. Those stereotypes really fall by the wayside, and, we wind up with a guy who has an increased sense of confidence, who looks better, and feels better. And, I know about hockey now. (laughter) So, win-win.

I did watch two episodes, and while I would agree there's some heart, there's also some heartlessness. And there's very much a "We're better than you" attitude.
Carson: There's certainly some "tough love" in the opening series, where we kind-of tease them. But definitely, we never try to be mean-spirited. And we always try to be funny with it. It's never, like, "Wow, you're a big, fat loser and you look awful." We always just try to do it lightheartedly. And if you watch the whole show, you know that as it proceeds, we come to a common ground where we get a better understanding of the straight guy as a person.
David Collins: And we're rooting for him by then.
Jai: Yeah, we're his biggest supporter, definitely.
Carson: Because we want him to be a success, too.
Thom: He's coming to us for our expertise in our areas. So, we're working with him, and he's working with us. It's really sort of a collaboration, all of us together. And we're making fun of ourselves at the same time.
Ted: Absolutely.
David Metzler: Everybody working for a positive end goal.

We've seen two episodes. How many have you taped, and have any of your subjects backed out during the filming?
David Metzler: We've taped ten episodes. Nobody has backed out, and everybody has been thrilled with their results.
Ted: Actually, that brings up an interesting point: all ten of the people we've worked with so far, many of them sort of resist a little bit at the beginning, particularly during the "shock and awe" phase of the initial assault on their apartment. And what's really been fascinating to all of us is how they sort of "come to," not just completely "buy into," the program.
Thom: Full circle. Totally full circle….

Can you talk a little bit about the change to Jai?
David Metzler: Well, basically, we decided, as the show was evolving, that we wanted to move into the direction that Jai brought us to, with his ability to express himself socially (his dancing and singing, etc.). It brought an element to the show that we were really eager to bring to our straight guys, including one guy whose girlfriend wanted him to learn how to dance. And since Jai comes from a musical background, and has had a lot of Broadway experience, it was the perfect match to have somebody like that on the show.

And Jai, how did that guy do with the dancing, by the way?
Jai: He wasn't very good (laughs). But we had a good time. See, he had lost a significant amount (of weight), and when he was a lot heavier, he didn't feel comfortable in social settings. So we got to spend some time by ourselves in a studio, where we could just dance, and there weren't a lot of people watching; well, there were cameras, but (laughs) there weren't a lot of people watching there. And we could just kind of loosen up and play around and so, when he was able to finally go out with his girlfriend later that night, his steps might have been not so great, but he felt comfortable. And him feeling comfortable was the most important thing…

How much money do you spend on these people, making them over? And how much time does it take to re-do their places?
David Metzler: It takes about three days to do the place over. We go to great measures to make sure that the straight guy is experiencing this process in a very real, narrative way. So it takes quite a while, but everything is done in conjunction with (him). In doing over an apartment, you work with the straight guy to find a design aesthetic, and then you take him through, making his place about himself. Right, Thom?
Thom: Right. When we sort-of break into the house, and it's kind of crazy and fun, I'm researching who he is, what he's about, and trying to make sure that the apartment we end up giving him is very personal to him, and that he doesn't feel like he's been transported to a brand-new environment.
David Collins: We're not trying to change them. “It's you, only better.”

On a serious note, I know the word "queer" is not really an acceptable term in the gay community, and that anyone who went through that in high school probably just dies a little bit when he hears that word. Why not “Gay Eye for the Straight Guy”?
David Collins: Aside from having a nice ring to it, “queer” means different, extraordinary. It's a different point of view. It doesn't have a sexual connotation for us. Our show is “queer eye” - a different point of view, a different eye for the straight guy.