OUT talks to Jeff Lewis about the new season, Zoila’s facelift and his flirtation with Andy Cohen

I know, TWO Jeff Lewis items in one day!

Out: Flipping Out has been on for a few of seasons now. How is this season going to be different?
Jeff Lewis: First of all, this is our fifth season, just so you know. I was on George Lopez two days ago, and he said he was really excited for season four, but that was the last season. That was last year. If you look at the beginning there have been some pretty drastic, dramatic changes from when we started the show. It’s not really something, of course, that I expected. I think Jenni and I both have been on this really insane journey together. We didn’t expect the dissolution of her marriage. We didn’t expect the dissolution of my business. I didn’t expect the dissolution of my business partnership. I think we’re in a very different space than we were in a couple of seasons ago, and now it’s a completely different business, working for other people. So I’m now kind of an employee versus an employer which was a really challenging position.

That must be humbling.
It was real humbling. Not to say it wasn’t good for me. It was definitely nothing I expected. I think when you have as many years of success as I had, you certainly build an ego. I definitely had an ego. I still have one, but I think it’s a little different. I’m a little bit more in touch with reality. It’s a little harder to make a dollar now. I appreciate everything I have much more. I think I took things for granted five years ago. I think that it changed my perspective on things.
In one of the previews for the new season, there’s mention of Zoila, your housekeeper, and breast implants. Please tell me that’s a joke.
Well, for Zoila’s birthday I really wanted to trump what I gave her last year, which was the Mini Cooper. So I gave her the elective plastic surgery of her choice. It ended up being seven procedures. She got Botox, collagen, laser, a chemical peel, a neck-lift, a full face lift, and an upper and lower eye lift. She looks amazing.

Did it change her life?
It totally changed her life. I kept asking her over and over, and I showed her horrible pictures on the internet of face lifts gone wrong. I said to her, “You sure you want to do this? This is a major, major surgery.” And she said, “I absolutely want to do this.” A couple of weeks later, she said to me, “Jeffrey, every morning I look at my face in the mirror, and I thank you so much for my new face.”

It seems like you and Andy Cohen have a really flirty kind of banter whenever you’re on Watch What Happens Live. What’s that about?
Andy and I are good friends. I see him every time I’m in New York. I see him every time he’s in L.A. There’s nothing romantic. We really, really like each other. We certainly have a mutual respect for each other. We have a very similar sense of humor. We laugh about the exact same random crazy things. We have a connection. It is kind of — we tease each other, we jab at each other, but it’s fun. It’s all in good fun.