Neither leading lady Jackie nor host Daphne Brogdon knew what they were getting into when they signed on for a new FOX reality series which would later be called "Playing it Straight."

"I was told it was going to be a dating reality show," Jackie, an aspiring actress, says. "I was told there was going to be a big twist. I wasn't told what the twist was going to be, where I was going or anything else about the show. I went into it with an open mind and I just thought I was ready for whatever was going to come. I was bracing myself."

Brogdon, led to expect "'The Bachelorette' on a dude ranch with a twist," was told the show's surprise the day before production began at Nevada's Sizzling Saddles Ranch. It was her job to explain to Jackie that although she was surrounded by 14 sexy bachelors, an unspecified percentage of her potential bucking beaus were actually gay. If Jackie chose a straight mate, they would both split a million dollars. If she chose a gay flame, that man would have the million for himself.

"I was smiling and I was like, 'What? OK. I can do this,'" Jackie insists. Brogdon, however, recalls moments off-camera where the show's star had tears in her eyes.

A million dollars is a lot of money and while Jackie prefers to remember the Western-themed dates and getting the full ranch experience, the host had a prime view of the machinations and backstabbing that went on.

"There were some gay guys who tried to out each other," Brogdon reveals. "And there was one straight guy who was... a jerk, you know, kind of picks the fights or kinda tries to go, 'Oh, I think so-and-so's gay.' Whereas most of the straight guys wouldn't have any part of that."

Both ladies admit that some of the show's surprises left them a bit agog.

"If you're thinking in the mindset of the stereotypes, yes... some of the cast members did shock me in their sexuality," admits Jackie, a 21-year-old Wisconsin college student.

Brogdon, whose credits include hosting duties on FX's "The X Show" and Discovery's "Perfect Partners," is even more blunt.

"As somebody who lived in San Francisco for eight years, this show broke my gaydar," she says. "I was only right about one straight guy and I was right about one gay guy and everybody else either completely fooled me, or I scratched my head the whole time."

Brogdon argues that the cultural moment is perfect for a show about the blurring lines of sexual identification.

"The gay aesthetic has so penetrated straight culture that it's getting harder and harder to tell," she declares, playing social critic. "Straight men know to shave their whoo-ha's, wear striped shirts and maybe even get their nails done. I just started dating a guy recently and I said to him, 'Honey, you need a 'Queer Eye' makeover. You're a little ratty around the edges.' and thank God he said, 'OK honey, whatever you want.'"

"Playing it Straight" also arrives on television as gay marriage and attempts to outlaw such unions have become one of the nation's most hotly debated topics. Brogdon hopes that even more than previous FOX reality entries like "Paradise Hotel" and "The Littlest Groom," "Playing it Straight" might have a positive impact on the political discourse.

"My God, what a perfect time for this to be happening, when this is so part of the national dialogue," she gushes. "People like our president need to figure out that we're three-dimensional people and you judge people on the content of their character and not on their sexual orientation."

"Playing it Straight" premieres on FOX on Friday, March 12 at 8 p.m. ET.