15 years after US reality series Queer Eye (formerly known as Queer Eye for the Straight Guy) launched on Living TV, the cult show is set to return for a new eight-episode season with an all-new cast on Netflix.

Advertisement

"In a time when America stands divided and the future seems uncertain, a team of five brave men will try to bring us closer together with laughter, heart, and just the right amount of moisturiser," Netflix said in a statement. "The Emmy Award winning Queer Eye is back and ready to Make America Fabulous Again."

Here is everything we know about the new series, including who is in the cast, when it returns and what is going to happen.

What is Queer Eye For the Straight Guy?

Queer Eye for the Straight Guy is a reality series originally made by Bravo which sees five gay men giving makeovers to straight men. The show was a huge hit when it originally aired between 2003-07, and though a UK version, which was launched by Living TV in 2004, never really took off, the original is still a seminal reality series for many fans.

When is Netlix's Queer Eye reboot going to be released?

An all-new eight-episode season will arrive on Netflix on Wednesday 7th February 2018.

More like this

Are the original Queer Eye cast coming back?

No, sadly the original 'Fab Five' of Ted Allen, Carson Kressley, Kyan Douglas, Thom Filicia and Jai Rodriguez are not involved in the new series.

“It’ll be a different kind of fabulous, but I think we need it now more than ever,” original cast member Kressley told TMZ when the revival was first announced. "Let's make America gay again!"

Who are Netflix's new Queer Eye cast members?

Like the original series, Netflix's Queer Eye will be led by five gay men, each of whom specialise in a particular area in which they will help to improve the hapless straight men. Get the low-down on the new Fab Five below.

Antoni Porowski (Food and Wine)

Porowski, who has served as head chef to original Queer Eye star Ted Allen, will be on hand to school their inductees on all things culinary.

He says he was initially worried about appearing on the Queer Eye reboot, thinking perhaps he should keep his career and private life off camera.

"I don’t know why, but I was very stubborn about making food a public thing," he says. "It was something very personal. I am all about boundaries, and I wanted to keep it as such."

In the end though, he decided to give it a shot: "I always try to lean in to fear."

Bobby Berk (Interior Design)

Berk is a New York-based interior designer who runs his own studio, Bobby Berk Home, which now has showrooms across the United States.

“As gays, we’ve had so many problems—problems with self-esteem because of rejection and problems with family and friends,” says Berk. “I think we’re really able to show people that, because of the fights, because of our struggles, we’re really able to help other people with theirs because we can relate. We can relate to that guy who doesn’t think much of himself because we’ve been there.”

Karamo Brown (Culture)

Houston-born Brown was the first openly gay black man on MTV reality series The Real World in 2004.

"For people of colour who are openly gay, there’s not many representations on television—that’s just the reality of it,” Brown says. “The fact that I could be on a project that was going to be international and that people could experience what I’ve been going through, what my life is, was really important to me."

Jonathan Van Ness (Grooming)

Van Ness is a stylist. You might know him as the star of Funny or Die YouTube series Gay of Thrones.

“Queer Eye was my first introduction into what I kind of saw myself as,” Van Ness says. “I had this group of grown men that were all interested in similar things to what I was interested in. In those days, it was very Will & Grace and Queer as Folk. Those had gay people in it, but it wasn’t gay people doing what I wanted to do.”

Tan France (Fashion)

Tan France is the creative mind behind London-based ladieswear company Kingdom and State, although he now lives in Utah with his husband.

"I saw it as an opportunity to help people in a real way, but also help my own community—I am an immigrant, I am Pakistani, I am Muslim, I’m gay," he says ahead of the new series. "I love the plan for what they’re wanting for this new show. It’s very much about the hero but also about us and our stories. I think it’s going to be formidable."

How will Netflix's Queer Eye be different to the original?

The new edition of Queer Eye looks set to explore social issues in much greater depth than its predecessor - marked primarily by creator David Collins' decision to trade the traditional New York setting for that of Atlanta, Georgia.

“It was time to leave New York,” executive producer Rob Eric says. “We realised that you can take anyone into a high-end Manhattan shop and make them look like a million bucks. We believed Queer Eye should be able to go anywhere—any city, any town, any community on any budget and makeover anyone of any gender with great results.”

According to Netflix, the new fab five will "forge relationships with men and women from a wide array of backgrounds and beliefs often contrary to their own, touching on everything from LGBTQ rights and social commentary to how to make the best farm-to-table guacamole and more".

According to a preview in Entertainment Weekly, one of the episodes features a thoughtful discussion about relations between the police and black communities.

Collins also confirmed that the new cast of presenters were encouraged to spend a lot more time with their protégé than in the previous seasons.

"To allow a real, authentic relationship to grow, you gotta hang out, you gotta have some coffee, you gotta eat some bread," he said. "Those are the moments we realised really gave breadth to the story… you see how the conversation grows and especially how the questions change."

Advertisement

Queer Eye arrives on Netflix in February 2018

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement