Netflix’s zeitgeist-y Queer Eye reboot quickly won over viewers’ hearts this winter, thanks to its exuberantly supportive and quippy Fab Five: Jonathan Van Ness (grooming master), Bobby Berk (design expert), Tan France (skilled stylist), Karamo Brown (culture guru), and Antoni Porowski (resident foodie)—though Porowski in particular has drawn some ribbing on social media for his simplistic recipes. But what fans may not know is that Porowski has a direct link to the original Queer Eye—one who’s passionate about setting the record straight on his friend’s culinary skills. In the immortal words of Van Ness, can you believe?

Ted Allen, the original food and wine connoisseur on Bravo’s first-gen makeover show, is the one who introduced Porowski to the creators of Queer Eye; the two are close friends who live across the street from each other in Brooklyn. They met when Allen, the Emmy-winning host of the Food Network’s Chopped, encountered the “irritatingly handsome” Porowski at a cookbook signing in Brooklyn six years ago. After some conversation, Allen impulsively invited Porowski and one of Porowski’s friends to a wine party known as Thirsty Thursday. “I thought, wouldn’t it be funny for me to walk in with these two really handsome 27-year-olds and to see the look on my husband’s face? And guess what: it was,” Allen said in a recent conversation. “He was like, ‘Where the hell did you get those?’”

Soon, Allen hired Porowski to be his personal assistant, a job Porowski kept for three years. Porowski took care of Allen’s scheduling and prepared meals for him and his husband, Barry Rice. “He’s an excellent cook and taught me a lot,” said Allen. “Food is his passion.” The future Queer Eye breakout was “killer with a duck breast,” and introduced the 52-year-old cookbook author to faro. “A lot of the stuff he does is what I call comfort-food bliss . . . he’s a cook with a point of view, and I appreciate that.”

In 2016, Porowski heard that Netflix was casting a Queer Eye reboot and told Allen he wanted to audition. Allen introduced him to David Collins, the show’s creator. “I texted Antoni’s information and a link to his Web site to David, and his response was, ‘Yowza, handsome!’” After several chemistry tests between the finalists, Porowski landed a role on the show.

Though the series has been a hit for Netflix—it’s already been renewed for a second season—34-year-old Porowski has also been the target of ribbing from those who say he leans on overly simplified meals on the show, such as hot dogs and grilled cheese sandwiches. He’s also been mocked for mixing Greek yogurt with guacamole. But Allen is quick to defend his friend’s abilities.

“I know better than the haters do on whether the boy can cook. I’ve witnessed his passion. I ate his food for three years. Bottom line, when you are dealing with people who don’t know anything about cooking, you don’t begin by showing them how to roast a goose or make a croquembouche,” he said. “I would argue that there is an art to making a good cheese sandwich, but I hear you: it is simple. But you start with the basics.” Allen can also vouch for the rest of the new cast members; he’s hit it off with his successors, and recently invited Van Ness, France, and Porowski to his home for a dinner party.

Allen remains close with Thom Filicia, Jai Rodriguez, Kyan Douglas, and Carson Kressley, the rest of the original Fab Five; he and his former co-stars still try to get together when they’re in the same city. “Going through Queer Eye with the four other guys is a pretty intense experience,” he said. “So we are bonded forever, whether we like it or not.” But while viewers have clamored for an episode that would bring together the original cast with the current guys, Allen is against the idea. “I would love to come together with all the guys and have a Fab 10 dinner, but I don’t want it to be for a show,” he said. “I’ve been there, done that with that show. I have Chopped. I am very happy where I am with the Food Network. Makeovers? No, thanks. Let the youngsters take over that gig.”

Allen may be especially happy now that his Food Network competition has added a new judge: Martha Stewart, who previously appeared on the series’s kid-focused Chopped Junior. She appears in 13 episodes of the upcoming season, expected to premiere this summer.

“Martha is such an icon that I wasn’t sure how she was going to respond to being on Chopped. I’m thrilled to say that she really enjoys it,” Allen said. “The first time she judged Chopped Junior, I felt like I needed to warn her. I said, ‘Martha, sometimes chopping children is difficult. They feel their emotions so intensely.’ Then she said, ‘Ugh, Ted, I chop children for breakfast!’” On set, Allen said, Stewart loves to poke fun at herself, tells great ribald jokes, and is otherwise of a font of Martha Stewart-level material. During one break, he remembered, Stewart ended a phone call, then turned to Allen and said, “Ted, I’m so relieved. My peacock has come home!”

“Apparently her rare peacock had wandered off into the woods from one of her houses,” he said. “Nobody else tells a story like that.”

Allen will have the opportunity to catch up with more food titans at City Harvest’s 35th Anniversary Gala in New York on April 24, which will honor José Andrés for his hurricane relief efforts in Haiti and Puerto Rico.“ There’s no one more deserving in the food world right now of accolades,” said Allen, who supports and attends the gala every year. “Now it’s time to show some appreciation for the luck so many of us have received in our lives, and try to give something back.”