Antoni Porowski Jokes 'Queer Eye' Stars Have 'Chosen Family Boy Band Syndrome' from Trailer Sharing (Exclusive)

The tight-knit bond between Queer Eye's Fab Five is not an act for viewers at home — it's just reality for the cast of the Netflix hit.

Antoni Porowski tells PEOPLE that he and his castmates Bobby Berk, Karamo Brown, Tan France, and Jonathan Van Ness are as close in real life as they appear to be on screen.

Since "day one," the Fab Five have shared the same trailer during filming, Porowski, 39, reveals, and it's in the more intimate moments they spend together in between takes that their friendship has truly blossomed.

"We used to jokingly complain about [sharing a trailer], but I think that it's something that's kept us really close and bonded together," he says. "Just the intimacy of, like, having to change in front of each other and laugh and giggle and have snacks in between our scenes."

He notes that it's unusual for cast members to share one trailer, and that, at first, the Queer Eye stars thought they wanted their "own separate space." But with time, it's become one of the strongest tethers they have to each other.

"I think it's part of the reason why we haven't killed each other and why we're still close," Porowski continues. "And why we have this weird chosen family boy band syndrome going on, because we just know all of each other's quirks."

As Porowski and his cast mates — "the Muppets," as he calls them in conversation with PEOPLE — gear up for Friday's premiere of the makeover show's seventh season, he says he's "super excited" for fans to see the group's experience as they take on New Orleans.

"You know, I say this every season, but I really mean it — it continues to amaze me," he says of the "diversity of stories" the Fab Five encountered over the course of the season.

The show's resident food and wine expert notes that, "wherever we end up, whether we're in Japan, Kansas City, or now New Orleans," the stories they hear are always special.

Though he remains tight-lipped about the specific heroes viewers will see in NOLA, he admits that there are plenty of powerful moments.

"When you get to meet an individual who is the direct recipient of [an] injustice or inequality… It makes it so much more personal and it allows you to really understand it," he says. "And I'm so immensely grateful that we get to continue to do that."

In the upcoming season, as they take on New Orleans and its overbearing heat — "it was hurricane season and humid as hell with torrential downpours," Porowski says — the cast branches out when it comes to the recipients of their signature makeovers.

In the trailer for season seven, which PEOPLE exclusively premiered last month, the cast makes a visit to an unexpected destination as they help out the brothers of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity.

"There's flies everywhere!" hairstylist Van Ness, 36, screams while taking a look around the frat house.

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Porowski tells PEOPLE that he's "super excited" for fans to see the upcoming season, and he admits that, as a lover of food, New Orleans was an ideal destination.

"Selfishly, New Orleans, for me, from a food perspective — it might be the most richly diverse place I've ever been to in the US," he says. "It was so exciting."

Season 7 of Queer Eye premieres May 12 on Netflix.