Allison Celeste Rose
For those of us old enough to have watched Bravo’s Original series Queer Eye For The Straight Guy, we were delighted when Netflix decided to pick the show up!
Shortened to just Queer Eye, the new series follows Bravo’s basic premise; five fabulous gay men (aptly named The Fab Five) perform life makeovers on a ”victim” chosen by a friend or family member.
The new series, in light of dropping ”For The Straight Guy” performs life makeovers on women, gay men, straight men, and one transgender nominee.
Queer Eye is transformative, guests are left with no stone unturned in their personal journey toward self-improvement as the Fab Five’s various experts address their concerns individually and pinpoint challenges the contestants are facing in overcoming these life obstacles.
Let’s take a look at how the Netflix revival compares to the original series, shall we?
Culture
Jai Rodriguez
Jai has been criticized for having a vague role on the original series and no formal training in matters and etiquette. Jai’s focus on the show ranged from helping the guys pick appropriate music and entertainment for their big reveal party to reviewing appropriate topics for dinner conversation.
Karamo Brown
Karamo got his start on MTV’s The Real World. Karamo’s role as the Culture Expert on Queer Eye has faced similar criticism as Jai’s Culture Expert role, although the areas Karamo focuses on when helping guests of the show are broader than what Jai typically touched upon.
Karamo probes guests on their innermost hopes, fears, and what they hope to take away from being on the program. In one episode, Karamo even encourages a contestant to propose to his longtime girlfriend.
Food and Wine
Ted Allen
Ted focused on helping the straight guys prepare simple meals, often a dinner for a girlfriend or potential romantic interest and was very careful to choose widely available, simple ingredients. Where Ted was more selective was his choice in wine, ensuring the proper wine was chosen for the guest’s specific needs and occasion.
Ted can be quoted as saying ”These guys can barely make a Pop Tart.”
Antoni Porowski
Antoni has been criticized for his seemingly remedial cooking skills and asked whether or not he has any formal culinary training.
Antoni was a student of Ted Allen, who ensures his training and credibility. Antoni follows Ted’s approach in keeping the meals and ingredients simple and non intimidating.
Grooming
Kyan Douglas
Kyan grew up in Miami and was considered the heartthrob of the original Queer Eye. Since his role on the show ended, he’s been a regular cast member of TLC’s Ten Years Younger and has appeared as a correspondent on Rachael Ray.
Jonathan Van Ness
Jonathan is a fan favorite among millennial viewers — likely for his sassy, flamboyant, and very ”out” personality. Before starring on Queer Eye, Jonathan was a New York City stylist and YouTube contributor.
Interior Design
Thom Filicia
Thom holds a Bachelor’s degree in Interior design, and since working on Queer Eye has published Thom Filicia Style and hosted several shows on the Style network.
Bobby Berk
Bobby focuses on renovation on Queer Eye’s revival, taking guests shopping for home and furniture items that speak to them and reflect their personal style. He is often said by fans to do the most work of any of the Fab Five, while receiving the least screen time.
[queer eye]
jonathan: a little lip scrub goes a long way
antoni: hummus is the guacamole of the middle east
tan: try wearing a short sleeve shirt with a collar
karamo: look in the mirror and say something u like about urself
bobby: i have built u a brand new house from scratch— Bob Vulfov (@bobvulfov) March 2, 2018
Fashion
Carson Kressley
Carson is arguably the most flamboyant and fashionable of all the Original Fab Five, making him the natural choice for Fashion Expert.
Before appearing on the show, Carson worked as an independent stylist for Ralph Lauren and gained widespread popularity in his field, dubbed ”fashion savant”.
Carson focuses on purging entire closets full of outdated, poorly fitting, and just plain unappealing wardrobes to help the men find a new style that is all their own.
Tan France
Tan hails from England, and manages his own clothing line for women called Kingdom & State. Tan spent several years working for high end fashion retailers after graduating with a degree in Fashion from Doncaster College, in the UK.
Much like Carson’s role on the show and similar in fashion sense and personality, Tan helps the guests find a style that is all their own.
Tan shines at picking out options that the contestants will feel comfortable wearing long after appearing on Queer Eye, taking the time to get to know the contestants to let the true personality hiding underneath all those old flannel shirts shine through!
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