Are the ‘Queer Eye’ Cast Members Friends In Real Life?
Since its premiere in 2018, Queer Eye has quickly become one of Netflix’s most popular shows. A reboot of Bravo’s Queer Eye for the Straight Guy from the early 2000s, the new Queer Eye has captivated fans everywhere for its touching makeovers and emotional moments.
More importantly, fans of Queer Eye also love the chemistry between the five main makeover experts, dubbed the Fab Five. These guys sure have great interactions on the screen, but are they actually friends in real life? Read on below to find out.
Who are the ‘Queer Eye’ Fab Five?
The Fab Five is made up of hair and skin expert Jonathan Van Ness, style expert Tan France, design expert Bobby Berk, lifestyle expert Karamo Brown, and food expert Antoni Porowski.
Some of them were familiar faces before Queer Eye. Van Ness, for example, had his own comedy web series called Gay of Thrones. Meanwhile, Brown was on MTV’s The Real World: Philadelphia more than 10 years ago.
The Fab Five had instant chemistry during the audition for ‘Queer Eye’
While the Fab Five did not know each other before the show, they instantly connected with each other during the Queer Eye casting process back in 2016. According to
However, their chemistry was noticeable for the people present. David Collins, the creator of the show, shared: “It was really amazing because they had like an instant bond in the casting. I stood in front of the top 50 and gave my kind of welcome spiel speech to them all, and [the Fab Five] said when I was doing that they all locked hands and looked at each other and were like, ‘Let’s do this.’ And ultimately that’s what happened. The chemistry revealed itself.”
The Fab Five hang out with each other when not filming ‘Queer Eye’
Given that they got along right off the bat at the beginning of the show, it’s no surprise that the Fab Five actually are friends in real life. Simply scroll through any of their Instagram accounts and you will see lots of photos of the group together. They’re basically inseparable!
Van Ness once described themselves as a fraternity. “I was always a GDI [a goddamn independent], and so I never would’ve fancied myself a fraternity person, but this is the cutest fraternity,” he said.
Van Ness also shared that he hangs out with the guys, especially Tan France and Antoni Porowski, often. “I call Tan all the time. And Antoni and I hang out every Wednesday. We go to the gym, grocery store, shop, and then go to his house by like six to beat the traffic.”
France confirmed that he’s quite close with Van Ness and that the two of them talk with each other all the time. “[Jonathan] enriches my life. Sometimes he ruins my life when he calls me 70 times a day. Kidding. But he does call me around five or six times a day. That’s no joke,” France said. “He just calls to say he misses me and I love that. We often do shower time together on FaceTime. It sounds [weird], but it’s not!”
It’s clear that the Fab Five members care for each other a lot like a real family. In fact, they even were thinking about each other when they were negotiating their salary — a surprising move in an industry where most people are encouraged to only look after themselves and their own success.
Even though some of them have had more of a brand name than others, Jonathan Van Ness shared that the five of them actually insisted that they all got paid the same amount. “We’re homies,” he said. “We’d all feel so resentful if one of us was getting more or less than the others. It would create a very, like, not cool work environment.”
