On The Road with Austin and Santino :: Dollywood bound!

On this week's first season finale of the Lifetime reality series On The Road With Austin and Santino, designers Austin Scarlett and Santino Rice head to Tennessee to do a fashion makeover and, as luck would have it, get through the gates at Dolly Parton's theme park, Dollywood that celebrates the beauty of all things Dolly. �

While Scarlett and Rice did not appear on the same season of Project Runway (Scarlett was on the first season while Rice was part of the second) and they have different styles in both their own personal looks and their work, the duo click on camera and off.

What was it like to travel the grassroots of the United States and shoot a reality series as two gay designers? What would Rice like to see done differently assuming a second season of the show will be ordered by Lifetime? And, most importantly, did Dollywood live up to their expectations? EDGE's Jim Halterman asked all the tough questions to the guys last week. �

Biggest surprise

EDGE: What were the origins of the show? �

Austin Scarlett: Essentially the three of us - Santino, myself and Rich Bye, who was a producer on Project Runway - met and really hit it off and shortly after that time the three of us came up with the idea of doing this type of project together. Over a period it evolved into On The Road... �

EDGE:� What was the biggest surprise of doing the show?�

Santino Rice:� You can have an idea in your mind, put it on paper and talk about it as much as you want but actually being out on the road and traveling from town to town and working out the kinks and schedule was probably the most specific thing in the day-to-day. It definitely wears on you traveling like that. It's weird because in everyday life, when things come up you just go and take care of them but so much is being thrown at you and you're driving and you're doing all-nighters at least once a week and it just wears on you.�

Too much flair?

EDGE: Going to the small towns, was there a concern that the personal flair you and Santino have an effect in the towns?�

Austin: I hadn't really thought of that really. I was just really focused on sharing the experience of the beauty of fashion that I totally love. I wanted to share that excitement with different people who had something to celebrate themselves. That was really my main concern. I love designing so much so I wanted to be able to share that joy with other people.�

EDGE: You often hear that gay rights have to start in the grassroots, which is essentially where you two were going in the show, right?�

Santino: It was just awesome energy all around. As the show started airing and we were still filming, more and more people were coming out to the reveals at the end of each episode. It was surprisingly good vibes all around. Sure, I can imagine what people would think about me but I don't carry that chip on my shoulder. I show up, I'm open and I had a great time. Helping someone feel beautiful and look beautiful... I put that energy out and I totally got that love back. It didn't become a part of what this show is about. People really surprised me. Austin and I grew up in smaller towns. I grew up in St. Charles, MO and while I was growing up it was a little town and I dealt with the good and the bad of living in a small town.�

Austin: I don't think I noticed any moment of negative response. There was this thing that happened when we left Corbin, Kentucky. They had big floats there with Mardi Gras and we designed them and so after we left... the float was supposed to be Mardi Gras and I guess because Santino and myself were on it, they misinterpreted it as a gay pride float. There was this huuuuugggge outrage that was really over the top. Hundreds and hundreds of responses about this float and about how awful it was. That was kind of scary and a lot of the ignorance was the main thing that really seemed to come across. Otherwise, in terms of gay rights, I think it's great that Lifetime is doing the show and actually there's more of the gay humor that I thought would be cut from the show but it wasn't... just things that Santino and I do for our own personal amusement; just some asides and little inside jokes. Some of them surprisingly made it into the show. .�

Different styles clashed?

EDGE: Is the fact that you and Santino have such different styles the reason why your partnership on the show works so well?

Austin: I definitely think it's a good balance in terms of the design because we both do see eye-to-eye on a lot of things but it's always good to have another opinion or just another set of eyes to bounce things off of. I think with a client it really works out great because we're really able to offer them a broad array of style. But, then, as a personality and traveling companion, Santino is fantastic. He is so much fun to be around and definitely is just a great design partner and travel partner.�

EDGE: How does the fact that you shop right there in the small town effect what you're able to come up with? It's definitely not Mood in Manhattan, right?�

Austin: It was certainly somewhat of a challenge but I think any truly good designer is able to make something beautiful out of anything. The mark of a beautiful design is not how much Italian lace is lavished on it. Even though that's wonderful - Santino and I both love beautiful and luxurious materials - it doesn't guarantee a good design. �

Santino: It was a big challenge, actually. We'd just keep our fingers crossed and hope there would be something we could use or something that the client would respond to and that's really the biggest thing. It's really about that moment when the client sees something and gravitates towards something like 'What's that color?!' That's the point where you go, 'OK, you responded to the color so we need to move in this direction.'�

EDGE: Assuming there's a second season, will we see you guys designing some men?�

Austin: I would absolutely love to! People have mentioned possibly us designing for one another, which could ultimately be a lot of fun. I would love to do a man's makeover. I love men's clothes and menswear. �

Santino: I would love that. I dress men, as well, and I make a lot of clothes for myself. I think it would be fun to transform a guy for a big event.�

EDGE:� Are there other things you'd like to do differently in the second season?�

Santino: I would just hope that we could do it a little smoother in the second season and it wouldn't be taking years off of Austin and my life. [laughs] That's what it started to feel like. I would actually like to go to Hawaii and Alaska. Those are the only two states I haven't been to so I'd like to make sure those were on the list.�

EDGE: Did Dollywood live up to all your expectations and dreams?�

Austin: It exceeded them and, believe me, I had pretty grand expectations. Dollywood really lived up to everything. It's a beautiful park, it's very well run and you have to give a big hand to Dolly just for operating a clean, fun, really well-done park. She wasn't there and I'm a huge Dolly fan so they had all her costumes over the years and her memorabilia. It was super fun! And, that was totally my idea! I knew we were going to be in Tennessee and in the vicinity so I just kept talking about it and talking about it so it all worked out that we ended up getting to go there. I loved it.�

Santino:� Oh my God. It was all that and more! It did fulfill every boyhood dream I ever had about going to Dollywood and just experiencing the park and the people and all the history of Dolly. The only thing that could have put me over the edge was that Dolly show up herself. It was pretty overwhelming. �

On The Road with Austin and Santino airs on Lifetime on Thursdays at 10/9c.

You can watch full episodes at the show's website.