Rerunning "Queer Eye"

(Image courtesy Tye Jacobs)
Who could have predicted the long-term impact of "Queer Eye" on its cast members' careers when it premiered on Bravo back in 2003?  Not the reality program's resident "culture vulture" Jai Rodriguez. 

"When it started, I thought it would just be a little gig," he told Gay.com in a recent interview.  "I was on an Off-Broadway show, and was done for two months, and then thought I'd go back to 'Rent' in August.  I did not think that it would become a major deal.  I mean, at the time, who even heard of Bravo?  It was just 'Inside the Actors Studio' back then. But midway through I'm on 'Leno' and 'Oprah,' and I had to tell them I don't think I'm coming back."

(Image courtesy Jai Rodriguez) Five years later, Rodriguez -- along with the other queer eyes:  foodie Ted Allen (who now hosts "Food Detectives" on Food Network), groomer Kyan Douglas (who scored a  gig with L'Oreal),  interior designer Thom Filicia (who hosts Style Network's "Dress My Nest"), and stylist Carson Kressley (who will soon have his own Lifetime talkshow) -- can thank the Emmy-winning show, set to debut in syndication on Fine Living TV next month, with much of the success he's achieved as an actor, television host and singer, in the years following the show's inception.  He has appeared in countless stage productions, on TV shows like "One Life To Live" and "Nip/Tuck," as a guest judge on several reality shows, and is currently the host of Animal Planet's "Groomer Has It," which aims to find the country's best dog groomer.  He will also release his much-anticipated debut album in 2009.

While Rodriguez positively credits the program with jumpstarting his career, he says that his experience working on the show was more of a mixed bag.

"To look back now -- since 'Queer Eye' has been picked up by Fine Living TV, so we're back on TV -- I'm kind of dreading it," he said.  "I was 23, really young, when I got hired because I was gigging at a club, and they liked my onstage persona. What I do is I'm a performer first and foremost, so if you had asked me at the time which reality show I would be on, I would have said 'American Idol.'"

(Image courtesy Getty) While he understood that he wasn't invited onto the show as a performance coach, he says he thought that, at the very least, he would be utilizing his stage experience to teach hets to exude the same confidence he, himself, had exhibited as Angel in the Broadway production of 'Rent' or as Zanna in the Off-Broadway staging of 'Zanna, Don't!' But soon it became apparent that he would be instructing straights on proper table etiquette. 

"I had no cultural training whatsoever," he said. "I'm from Long Island. But it became teaching people how to eat with a fork. It's like, really, 'Which fork?'  I didn't even know.  But I didn't want to be that person, because it's not even close to what I do."

In fact, his lack of expertise in his designated role made Rodriguez feel obsolete, almost like a fifth wheel on the show.

"It was an interesting experience because I was 'the nice one' on the show," he said. "I didn't know what to do, so I was trying to be a friend. The real reason was because I had more in common with the straight guys. I had this sense of compassion for them. I didn't know why [my cast members] were mean to them, because I didn't know this or that, myself.  And I didn't think that that's what the guy needs. Some dude from Long Island doesn't need to learn the do's and don'ts from Emily Post.

Even tougher was appearing as an etiquette expert on popular talk shows. 

(Image courtesy Getty) "When I was on 'Leno,' it was like 'What does Jai do?'" he said. "I wanted to sing with the band, but they wouldn't let me do that. So I had to make over a dressing room -- just put books and candles in it and make the guests comfortable."

"And I remember Ellen asking me a question that totally stumped me," he continued. "The question was, 'Do you always have to bring a bottle of wine or a gift when you go over to someone's house for dinner?' I answered that you don't have to, but it's nice to thank the host. Now I would answer 'Only if you know what they're serving and can pair it with the food, but you don't want to take the host away from their primary job' -- like if you bring flowers, and then they have to search for a vase."

So clearly, as with the straight subjects on the show, Rodriguez took home some valuable lessons from the experience. He jokes that he can now hang picture frames and get stains out of rugs.

Perhaps the most practical lesson learned was how to bond with straight guys, which according to Rodriguez, was difficult at first -- for him and his four cohorts.

"The straight guys felt awkward as did we, because we feared them," he said.  "But once we got to know them as people, that's when the dynamics came out. It's why straight women liked the show, because it was their dream of having their best friend and husband getting along."

While it may not have been an easy experience, Rodriguez can, in hindsight, see the amazing contribution that the Fab Five have made to queer entertainment by demonstrating the viability of a gay series on mainstream television -- two years before gay channel Logo even launched.  These days, the 'mo mafia has taken over reality TV, painting the small screen five shades of pink.

"'Queer Eye' was the first all-gay cast on television, ever," Rodriguez said. "But it was a hard time for me.  I wish I could do it now that I'm 29 and have lived a lot and have a lot more to bring to the table. We were each creative producers of our own segments, so each of us got an Emmy when the show won, but I had not lived enough at the time, so how could I advise a 43-year-old divorced guy?  I had spent my life on Broadway, so I took a back seat, which was very humbling.  I'm still grateful for the experience." 

For more on Jai Rodriguez, check out his MySpace page.

Comments

[JT]

wow he got big ,like he gained 30 lbs