In a new interview, Queer Eye star Antoni Porowski opened up about the rumours that there is tension among the Fab Five, following the departure of interior designer Bobby Berk.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight on Tuesday at the Disney/ABC Upfronts, an annual event during which networks and streamers promote their content to advertisers, Porowski said that the Fab Five “are going for dinners… and all hang out together.” However he also added, “we’ve been sharing a trailer since day one,” meaning that “sometimes, we’re not gonna get along.”
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“But at the end of the day we’re a family and we’re like a middle-aged boy band,” Porowski continued. "Through thick and thin, we’re in it together."
The avocado afficianado also had high praise for Jeremiah Brent, who was recently tapped to replace Berk as the design expert in the Fab Five, calling him “a really sweet guy” who’s “killing it.” Porowski also told ET that he “adored” Brent, and that the two had met “very casually a couple of months before the whole thing started so we had a little bit of a friendship there.”
“He has an amazing design aesthetic. He cares so much, which is really sweet,” Porowski said. “The only thing I’m a little salty about is that he might even cry more than me, so I have my competition there.”
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Recent reports have hinted at a slightly less utopian picture behind the scenes of Queer Eye. In November, Berk announced that he was leaving the show after eight seasons, and in January, he opened up about the reasons behind his departure. Berk said he had previously thought that the Fab Five wouldn’t renew the contracts they had with Netflix, but because of last year’s SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, the streamer was strapped for content and offered the group a new, four-cycle contract. Berk added that though his castmates previously said they wouldn’t do the show, he felt blindsided when he found out that everyone but him had signed back on.
Rumours also swirled about an alleged feud between Berk and the show’s fashion expert Tan France, but Berk would only say that the feud had nothing to do with the show and that it was a personal matter.
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Additionally, a March report in Rolling Stone suggested other drama on set, with the Fab Five competing over screen time, according to an anonymous production member who spoke to the magazine. The report also claimed that beauty expert Jonathan Van Ness had acted in “abusive” ways that seemed to indicate “rage issues,” citing anonymous production sources.
The most recent season of Queer Eye, which aired earlier this year, was set in New Orleans. Season nine, the first without Berk, will take place in Las Vegas.
This article originally appeared on THEM.
