“I would get rid of this fake plant,” Rachel Coster tells me, pointing to a real plant. Then, noticing the Dusen Dusen Dash pillow on my bed, she groans. (“Childish” and “very gay guy,” she says.) Coster, 28, is the pantsuited host of the new series Boy Room, a quasi–nature documentary in which she tours and dissects the gross, often kind of insane bedrooms of 20-something men in New York City. She is also my good friend, so I invited her over to talk about the show and — as she has so many times in our relationship — insult my taste in interiors.
Boy Room premiered last week from Gymnasium, the production studio run by Adam Faze, who helped create other viral, New York–centric shows such as Kareem Rahma’s Keep the Meter Running (and is possibly the subject of Olivia Rodrigo’s “Vampire”). So we talked about that, why men live the way they do, and how a Supreme sticker is actually very “of the people.”
Describe Boy Room.
Boy Room is a show where we investigate the boy bedrooms of New York City. Generally, they’re gross. The nice ones are really boring, but obviously those exist in New York too.
What makes a boy room a Boy Room?
A Boy Room boy room has to have some Supreme stickers, empty beer cans, stuff on the floor. And moisturizer close to the bed.
How did you come up with it?
When I was dating, I loved going to people’s apartments. After a date, I would always say “yes” if they wanted me to come over, not even because I wanted to bang but because I loved seeing how people live. One time, a guy had a bedside table that was just a cardboard box with a Gatorade on top of it. He was a Republican. But once I started dating my boyfriend, I didn’t get access to that kind of thing anymore so I had to create a whole show.
Blake’s room in your first episode isn’t just messy; there’s a feral quality to it.
In New York, we’re all hustling. It is easy for your space to become a total mess. A lot of people I know, myself included, are basically never home unless they work from home. So it almost doesn’t matter if your house looks like total chaos, because you get home, you knock out or maybe you smooch someone, and you’re out of there. Also, most of the people we know are vagabonds and bohemians.
Coster inspects my boy room.
Photo: Zach Schiffman
You’d call someone with a Supreme sticker bohemian?
Yeah, I think it’s of the people.
What’s the worst thing you’ve seen so far?
Yesterday, a boy had three Gandalf wigs in his sex-toy drawer. They looked like a dead dog.
How do you find the boy rooms you feature?
At first, we were just asking our friends who were disgusting, or I was texting people and being really vague and creepy about it and seeing if I could just come over and surprise them with a camera crew. Now, people are reaching out, and it’s making my life a lot easier.
Do you trust that people will leave their rooms in their authentic state?
That is something I am definitely concerned with, but I do hope most people will be honest. I think if it’s messy, whatever, as long as it feels true to them.
Coster is here to help.
Photo: Zach Schiffman
We’ve talked about my room before. I feel like you kind of hate it.
I think your room is for a child, a really adorable child but one whose mummy and daddy think he’s the light of their life and got him a Joe Colombo art cart or something. Obviously, you don’t have that, but it would fit here amazingly. It’s very primary colors and symmetric. The
finger painting of Mindy Kaling over your bed is spooky. I hope one day you have to interview her for something and it’s in the background.
Mindy, if you’re reading this, keep scrolling. What should I change?
I would put a carpet in where it’s just bare floor, and I would get rid of this strange chair. [Points to a black metal folding stool near my closet.]
It’s a stool so I can reach the top of my closet.
I would get rid of your little short-guy stool.
So who do you make the show with?
I make it with Gymnasium, Adam Faze’s production company. He’s awesome. We were making stuff under its first name, FazeWorld, but then they got a cease-and-desist from something. He’s the person. The team is Sky Saffar. SexyDamion directs it. He’s amazing. We have either Grace Pomilla or Ari Cagan on camera two. It’s for online, but it’s real cameras, not iPhones, and we have mics and stuff.
Do you find yourself in competition with people like Caleb Simpson or other people on TikTok doing home tours?
I’ve never been on TikTok, really, minus to look at makeup tutorials.
What’s your room like?
My room is a work-in-progress because I’m not as rich as I intend to one day be. I have a bed. It’s a mattress from Amazon, but it’s on a Floyd. It’s so heavy and big and low, and I’m not really sure I love it. But also if they wanted to sponsor Boy Room, then they are welcome to email us. I have Hue lightbulbs. I love being able to change the mood lighting and make it sexy. It’s crucial.
Is there a path to redemption after being featured on Boy Room? Do you think guys can stop being disgusting?
Every boy who’s living like that … there’s no way that their spirit feels at peace. I think with some healing work and growth — realizing that you want better for yourself — there’s hope. I think there are a lot of opportunities for men to just put stuff in drawers.
It’s more like you’re doing a nature documentary than a design show.
I’m an explorer of the rooms in which guys must endure their own minds.
This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.
