You also refused Maya Jafer, the Indian trans woman who wanted money for facial feminization surgery.
Well, that concerned me because it’s a very painful, very dangerous operation, so I thought we needed to give serious thought to giving somebody the money to go do something they may regret or that could kill them. Because money won’t solve some of these people’s issues; for some it’s more of a psychological issue than it is a material issue. But I still think I was a strong voice for gay and transgender people, and you’ll see that in an upcoming episode when I make a dramatic statement about the discrimination that gays go through. I’m not going to give it away, but I actually stopped the show at one point because I felt like we were potentially heading down a road I was not comfortable with.

Does the money you give away really come out of your own pockets?
It does because of the fact that our fees for appearing on the show are what we give away. So if we don’t give the money away to the hopefuls, it’s ours to keep.

Couldn’t you just take it all out of Candy Spelling’s check? She certainly doesn’t need the money.

I know, right? The last night of shooting we actually had an impromptu wrap party at Candy’s place, which you know is the most expensive house in America, and it was the most surreal experience. I never believed that I would ever be drunk at Candy Spelling’s house. A lot of the crew and producers on the show were gay as well, so it was almost like a tea dance at Candy’s.

Did you see the doll collection and the gift-wrapping room?
Are you kidding? Of course I did. The doll room was one of the first parts of the tour. We also bowled in the bowling alley, and I was not sober when we were bowling. It was, like, midnight on a Wednesday and we were still getting tanked at Candy’s. That was a reality show right there.

Did Tori show up with the kids?

No, but I had spoken to Candy briefly about all that while we were filming, so I was very happy to hear that she and Tori had reunited afterward. I didn’t know what to expect going into the show, and I was probably fearful that she’d be villainous because of the way she’s sometimes portrayed with her daughter, but I have to tell you that Candy is one of the most elegant, amazing, down-to-earth women that I’ve ever met. We talked about everything under the sun, and she can get off-color too, which I love. She told me one story about a dinner party when Tori was a kid that’s so off-color I can’t even repeat it. Candy’s also got one of the most unbelievable art collections you’re ever going to see. You know that famous painting of dogs playing poker? She has the real one, right in between her bowling alley and her doll room.