‘Queer Eye’: Did the Fab Five Know Each Other Before the Netflix Show?
It may feel like the Fab Five has been around forever, like a group of immortal gay beings who were sent to Earth to save humanity with the use of special tools like sunscreen and avocadoes. But Netflix’s Queer Eye first aired only about a year ago. Can you believe?
Right off the bat, the show stole the hearts of viewers everywhere. Today, Queer Eye has a Rotten Tomatoes scoring of 97% and an audience score of 88%. What initially drew viewers in so dramatically, other than the straight-to-the-vein feel-good content the show provides, is the cast’s chemistry.
Watching at home, we all wanted to be best friends with Antoni Porowski, Jonathan Van Ness, Karamo Brown, Tan France, and Bobby Berk because they were best friends. It’s infectious, they’re fun and kind. Their chemistry is so good, in fact, one has to wonder whether the five knew each other prior to the Queer Eye audition.
The Fab Five were strangers before the show’s audition
As close as they are now, the five had never met prior to the show’s audition. The intense two-day audition took place in Los Angeles in 2016, according to Variety.
“It was like speed-dating,” Berk told Variety. “We’d go in groups of five from table to table with various executives and just rotate until they found who they were looking for.”
According to David Collins, an executive producer of both the original Queer Eye and the reboot, the five’s close connection was clearly evident from day one (even though they had just met).
“It was really amazing because they had like an instant bond in the casting,” Collins told Bustle. “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.”
Their chemistry wasn’t the only thing that helped the Fab Five book the gig
Yes, their chemistry is a true joy to watch, but in addition to being buddies on and off the screen, the five are incredibly talented and qualified professionals. Van Ness is the star of the viral web series, Gay of Thrones; Porowski is the former personal chef and protégé of Ted Allen; Berk has his own home furnishings line; France is the creator of the Kingdom & State clothing line; Brown was a social worker for 10 years and the first openly gay black man on The Real World. That’s quite the resume between them.
When will the next season of ‘Queer Eye’ air on Netflix?
Missing your five friends? Us too. Thankfully, season 3 of Queer Eye will be released on Netflix on March 15, 2019.
This season will be filled with all the things we love about the show: makeovers, breathtaking personal design, yummy recipes, and unadulterated human connection! But there’ll be a lot of new content as well.
According to RadioTimes, this season will feature some female makeovers (the boys are very excited about one lesbian guest in particular), Porowski promises to try to make more challenging dishes, and the group heads to Japan to make over some international friends (the Japan episodes are separate from the rest of the season and will air later in 2019).
“In just a year since we launched season one, Queer Eye has become a global phenomenon once again and the Fab Five are truly the ambassadors of self-care and compassion that the world needs now more than ever,” says Collins. “Filming in Japan is a wonderful opportunity for us to work with four deserving heroes that will help showcase the incredible traditions and customs of their country.”
Read more: ‘Tidying Up’: What is Marie Kondo’s Book Called?
Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook!
