After months of speculation as to the real reason why Bobby Berk made the decision to leave Queer Eye, the star has set the record straight.
On 24 January, the eighth season of the reality makeover show premiered on Netflix. This comes after the home transformation guru revealed that, after 71 episodes, this would be his last.
In late November, he shared on Instagram post with the caption: “It’s with a heavy heart that I announce that season 8 will be my final season on Queer Eye. It’s not been an easy decision to be at peace with, but a necessary one.“
Since the announcement, there’s been swirls of online speculation as to the real reason behind Berk’s departure, particularly as the other four cast members have chosen to continue.
The Fab Five, made up of Berk, Tan France, Karamo Brown, Antoni Porowski and Jonathan Van Ness, originally signed a seven year contract. In September when the team thought they were finished they “took pictures and cried,” Bobby recalled in an interview with Vanity Fair.
“We thought we were done. Mentally and emotionally, I thought we all moved on. I know I did, and I started planning other things.”
In Autumn 2023, Netflix opted to renew the series and the Fab Five were offered a new contract for an additional four cycles. The interview reported that Berk chose not to sign and allegedly other members considered the same choice.
“We’d just assumed that the show wouldn’t come back if we all didn’t come back. I was like, I’m not going to be having FOMO ’cause the show is not going to happen. I had become at peace with it.”
However, the other four members signed the contract and “with only one of us not coming back, Netflix felt [it] could recast one person.”
Berk explained how he felt “mad” for a time, however he had “prepared” for the next chapter of his career “and chose to move on.”
Later in the interview, Berk confirmed that “Tan and I had a moment” and “there was a situation, and that’s between Tan and I, and it has nothing to do with the show. It was something personal that had been brewing—and nothing romantic, just to clarify that.”
Addressing his unfollowing of France on Instagram he said: “Should I have unfollowed Tan? No.
“Maybe I should have just muted him. But that day, I was angry, and that’s the end of it. We became like siblings—and siblings are always going to fight.”
Queer Eye won the Outstanding Structured Reality Program at the Primetime Emmy Awards, earlier in January. This provided the catalyst for the pair to start to rebuild their relationship: “We embraced each other, and we both said congratulations. And that’s where we are right now.
“I will always have a very special place in my heart for him and Rob [France’s husband] and the kids. I can foresee in six months or a year, Tan and I at each other’s house being good. The Emmys was already the first bandage on that wound.”
The show first aired on screens in 2018 as a refresh of the 2003 Bravo series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. The original Fab Five were Ted Allen, Kyan Douglas, Thom Filicia, Carson Kressley and Jai Rodriguez.
You can watch season eight of Queer Eye on Netflix now.
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