Bobby Berk Opens Up About His Exit From ‘Queer Eye’

Now that the 8th season of the Emmy Award-winning reality series Queer Eye has premiered on Netflix, designer Bobby Berk has opened up about the real reason he left the ‘make better’ show. https://www.instagram.com/p/C1mfZZjuscf/ In an interview with Vanity Fair, Berk explains he and the rest of the Fab Five were all originally signed to a seven-cycle contract that ran through September 2022. When the men finished filming back-to-back seasons in New Orleans, Berk says, “The Fab Five and the crew, we all stood there, and we took pictures and cried.” https://twitter.com/VanityFair/status/1750772545379275014 “We thought we were done,” he adds. “Mentally and emotionally, I thought we all moved on. I know I did, and I started planning other things.” But then, with the double whammy of the actors and writers strikes in 2023, Netflix was short on original content. And so, the streamer came back with offers to the Fab Five for four more cycles. With other plans in the works and having had conversations with his fellow castmates, Berk thought the Five weren’t going to re-up. From Vanity Fair:

Berk decided not to sign—and at first, he says, other members of the Fab Five were considering doing the same. (Netflix did not respond to a request for comment.)

“We’d just assumed that the show wouldn’t come back if we all didn’t come back,” he says. “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.”

Then, for reasons Berk doesn’t elaborate on, conversations were had that changed some minds. Shortly before the deadline to sign the contract, his four costars all decided to move forward with the series after all. “And with only one of us not coming back, Netflix felt [it] could recast one person,” he says.

Berk admits initially he was upset to find his co-stars had all changed their minds. “There were definitely emotions. But each one of us had our reasons why we did what we did,” Berk says. “I can’t be mad—for a second I was.” Berk adds that with multiple new projects in the works, he felt he couldn’t put those on pause to return. Plus, he’d mentally prepared himself to exit the show, so he stayed his course. https://twitter.com/AttitudeMag/status/1750987071705997694 Berk flatly denies rumors that there were tensions among the cast regarding his work load being a much heavier lift since he redecorated entire houses in the span of a week. But he does admit that there is a bit of a rift between him and fashion maven Tan France. Fans had picked up on something when Berk unfollowed France on Instagram. “Tan and I had a moment,” Berk shares. “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.” https://twitter.com/outmagazine/status/1748783782981763501 But he feels that the issue is already on its way to healing. There was no drama on sight at this year’s Emmy Awards where the Fab Five won the Emmy for “Outstanding Structured Reality Program.” And Berk says he can see socializing with France sometime in the next several months and everything “being good.” Read the full Vanity Fair interview for much more insight into the experience and impact Queer Eye has had not only on its audience but on the Fab Five as well. Don’t don’t miss the new season of Queer Eye now streaming on Netflix. https://youtu.be/76L9aPDUD0E?si=w1zxPFAVi2xBTBz1