A Raucous Renovation: Jeff Lewis Versus Ross Mathews

TV personality Ross Mathews admits he was "nervous" and had some "concerns" about designer Jeff Lewis spending five days with him while renovating he and his partner's new home.

Mathews uses words like "very harsh" and "cutting" to describe his first impression of Lewis's approach to the world. That's not a natural fit for Mathews, who says, "I like to wrap things in a pretty little bow."

For Lewis's part, he offers a first impression of Matthews in a teaser for tonight's episode of Interior Therapy, when he sweeps in and takes over the house: "Ross is much gayer in person than he is on TV."

"Listen," a shocked Mathews says after hearing that. "I don't think he watches me a lot on TV. I don't think I could be any gayer in either place."

Lewis is a habitual teaser. But Mathews and his partner Salvador Camarena were faced with a new home, conflicting styles, and no idea how a renovation happens. And Lewis is an expert.

"We are kind of stupid when it comes to real-people things like that, like how do you find somebody to do construction?" Mathews said. "I don't even know. So we did the most logical thing we could think of, which is go on a home makeover show."

The "Ross is the Boss" episode of Interior Therapy with Jeff Lewis airs tonight at 9 p.m. on Bravo. While Lewis presses Mathews' buttons, he's also got to handle what Camarena politely calls "a design clash."

"I'm a stylist, I want it to look like Elle Decor, simple lines, modern and pretty and clean," he said. "Ross is a little bit more comfy?"

"I want everything to look like the set of Roseanne," Mathews explains, sort of seriously.

Mathews, who is a regular on Chelsea Lately and has his own show coming soon on E!, sounds truly overwhelmed by what Lewis and his team ended up doing, promising it "doubled the space of our house" and has become an "amazing social gathering place for all of our friends." He's hosting guests about three nights a week these days. Camarena says the change has "enhanced our lives."

Lewis warned that one of the season's episodes ends with the featured couple breaking up. It doesn't look like he was talking about Ross and Sal. "Talk to us next week, talk to us after I watch the episode," Mathews jokes.

And even Lewis and Mathews seem to find a happy ending. "We had a rocky start, Jeff and I, but I love him now," Mathews said. "I don't know if he loves me, but I love him."