The interpersonal politics of applying to fellowships

[angrywombat]

I am applying for fellowships now and my main questions are about how to manage the personality issues around applying.

My residency program has the fellowship I am interested in and I am open to staying there but also want to interview at some other places to see if they fit what I want better. How open can I/ should I be with the fellowship faculty at my program that I am looking at other options? They have indicated they would like me to stay with them for fellowship and it seems like a lot of people do stay for fellowship, so I am not sure if they will be offended or annoyed that I am asking them for letters of rec to go elsewhere.

My other question: I have had mostly positive feedback from the faculty at my program in the subspecialty I want, but one faculty member in this subspecialty I want to do gave me a very lackluster evaluation. I passed everything, but it was consistently mediocre scores and his only free text comments were on some things he didn't like about my style.
The problem is that he is a recent grad from a fellowship in another state that I would be interested in applying to. I am wondering if I should even bother to apply to that particular place though. Is it likely that someone from that program would ask this recent grad about me off the record, even though I am not planning to use him as a recommendation?
It seems like the world of fellowships is a small community so I am not sure if this one person's opinion of me will be a huge deal. Has anyone else had a similar situation? What did you do?

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[NotAProgDirector]

You'll need LOR's, even if you're staying in the same place. I'd like to think that most people are professional enough to know that you should look at other programs, and won't take that as some personal affront. Then again, I work in a world where the docs and nurses all get along, so perhaps there's something wrong with me.

if you're worried about this and someone asks you, then tell them that you're certain you want to stay, but you want to look at other programs to get ideas for this program.

As far as your last concern, as far as you know they think he's a jerk and could care less. Apply, go to an interview if they offer you one. What do you have to lose? Plus, I've seen the best letters from someone the resident was certain hated them.