For any Washington viewers, the most relatable moment in “Queer Eye’s” 10th and final season happens in Episode 3, as the Fab Five greet Kate, a D.C. firefighter and single mom of twins, whom they are there to make over.
“How are you?” asks Karamo Brown, the show’s life coach.
“Sweaty,” Kate replies. When grooming guru Jonathan Van Ness compliments her lovely, curly red hair, she replies that it’s hard to style “because of the humidity in this stupid swamp town.”
The quintet filmed the D.C. season of the show — in which five LGBTQ experts in lifestyle fields give makeovers to people going through difficult phases of life — at the peak of the city’s summer heat and humidity. And as part of her glow-up, they provided our girl Kate with armpit Botox to cut down on her sweating.
“Holy moly, does it get hot there,” Jeremiah Brent, the show’s interior design expert, told The Washington Post.
In separate interviews, the cast reflected on ending the show that catapulted them all to fame — and the significance of bringing it to a close in the nation’s capital, during a politically tumultuous era for queer people and a time when perhaps we need a gentle show about bridging divides more than ever. To misquote the show’s famous intro theme: All things do not, in fact, just keep getting better. Probably the opposite.
“Sadly, I think the show has never been more important,” Brent says. “It’s really an example of what happens when we show up for one another, when we meet each other with grace and dignity and recognition. The show always allows differences of opinions. And it’s through shared experience that we find a common ground.”
Queer Eye” is a Netflix reboot of the 2003 Bravo series “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” which dropped the latter part of the name as it evolved. The reboot’s original cast included interior designer Bobby Berk, who left the show after Season 8, and was replaced by Brent. The show has won 12 Emmy Awards.
Like the original, the show is heralded for its queer representation. But its predecessor was much more focused on the superficial. Instead, “Queer Eye” took a holistic approach, attempting to help its “heroes” (as the show calls its makeover candidates) with their mental and physical health, and with weighty issues such as generational trauma and toxic familial patterns. The way we feel on the inside is reflected in how we show up on the outside, the show explained, so a person’s style issues or cluttered home might also be a reflection of their low self-esteem or codependency. Throughout 10 seasons, there were plenty of tears, and the final one is no exception.
Now that it’s over, the cast has been able to reflect on what it all meant and how it might be regarded decades in the future.
“Our legacy is that we allowed the world to see our truest, most vulnerable selves in order to try and change the perception of the queer community,” says Tan France, the show’s fashion expert.
“Heroes tell us, like, this is the first time I ever spoke to a gay person,” says Antoni Porowski, the cast member who focuses on food. “I feel like we sort of chipped away at the idea of them looking at us as a concept.”
“We were just a small, 10-season show,” Brown says. “But what we did was remind people that they deserve to be taken care of. They deserve to feel special, to feel loved.”
It is fitting, all five of them say, that the show ends in Washington, even though none of the people featured on this season work in politics. They’re all regular Washingtonians (plus a Virginian and a Marylander) — a teacher, a firefighter, an elder lesbian, a marina-dwelling boat repairman and a tour guide.
One episode focuses on Digital Pioneers Academy, a charter school in Southeast Washington — which Brown says he continues to support, financially and through mentorship.
“I saw these young Black and Brown faces, and I was thinking to myself, ‘Jesus, this is me.’ Feeling scared, feeling lost, feeling like I don’t have any opportunity,” Brown says. “It’s pretty powerful to see these kids competing and doing amazing.”
The only glimpse of political D.C. comes from a brief, wordless cameo by Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), whom the Fab Five visit in her office.
“I was such a fan girl,” Brent says. “I mean, it was really like meeting Mariah Carey for me.”
They all enjoyed their time in D.C., they said. Van Ness went to Solidcore classes. Porowski bought cheeses at Calvert Woodley. Asked to assess D.C.’s reputation as a place for dowdy and somewhat conservative dressing, France gently affirmed the stereotype: “The corporate wear just felt very 2010.”
Throughout the season, which premieres Wednesday, a parade of D.C. businesses and hot spots are in the spotlight: Nellie’s, Annie’s Paramount Steakhouse, Pineapple and Pearls, Tuckernuck, Cranes and the Bearded Goat barbershop are among them.
Filming wrapped shortly before President Donald Trump ordered the National Guard to deploy to D.C. neighborhoods.
The administration’s narrative about D.C. “was very different than my experience there,” Brent says. “I found it to be beautiful and kind and lovely and not dangerous, and quite the opposite.”
Though one day, filming a segment where they walked in front of the White House, “The energy was definitely, I would say, like, a little uncomfortable and dark,” Porowski says. “I was thinking how, if we had a leader who was inclusive and really embraced diversity, how different that experience could have been.”
Van Ness says they detected “a little bit of an on-edgedness” in the city because of “the government layoffs and the instability around the administration. And I saw that really playing out around me economically in salons and conversations I was hearing people having in salons.”
There are differing feelings among the cast members — who have long been rumored to have internal disagreements — about this chapter coming to a close.
“I do think there’s something nice about 10,” Porowski says. “We started with the same sitting president as we have nine seasons later, which is kind of wild. … I think [Barack] Obama said something at one point about how sometimes you take a step forward, and then you take two steps back, and when you sort of look at that and apply it to our show, it really does hold true. It’s a reminder that we just kind of have to, like, keep moving forward.”
“I think ‘Queer Eye,’ as a show, is, like, more needed than ever, and what a bummer of a time for it to not be on,” Van Ness says. “I just wish that it could keep going. I wish that I could come back. I wish that it wasn’t over.”
Brown, on the other hand, says it “feels great to close this chapter.” Now, he said, “I’m living in the best state in my life because I’m protecting my peace and protecting my mental health from environments and people that were trying to destroy it.” He did not elaborate on who those people were, but some sharp-eyed viewers noticed this month that Brown does not follow Porowski, Van Ness or France on Instagram. (He does follow Brent and his former colleague Berk.)
On Tuesday, Brown abruptly pulled out of a scheduled “CBS Mornings” interview with his castmates. Host Gayle King said that Brown’s assistant said “he’s worried about being bullied.” He missed another appearance the same day on “Today With Jenna & Sheinelle,” saying in a statement that he “has felt mentally and emotionally abused for years,” without specifying by whom.
Fellow cast members reacted uncomfortably to his statements as they held hands.
“I think, definitely a little surprised, but at the same time, look, we’re so sorry that he’s not here,” Porowski said on “Today With Jenna & Sheinelle.” “We fully support, I think as a collective unit, him taking care of himself, and I think to echo what he’s saying, we’re here to honor the legacy of a decade, which is so wild to think about and all the heroes we’ve helped. And to just really put a spotlight on the incredible heroes we have this season in D.C.”
All of the Fab Five are moving on to other projects within their areas of interest. Brent teased a new brand, Jeremiah Brent Home, on Instagram last week. Van Ness is touring his comedy show and promoting his line of hair-care products.
Porowski will debut a National Geographic travel docuseries, “Best in the World,” in 2026, highlighting people and places in London, Paris, New York and Mexico City. He’s also planning on another cookbook focused on cooking for oneself.
“When I was single, it was something that I really struggled with,” he says.
Brown continues to host his namesake daytime talk show, and his main post-“Queer Eye” focus is “protecting myself from people or things that were detrimental” and “making sure I have great coping skills and that I’m handling situations and that I’m the healthiest I can be,” he says. “And that’s not bulls— talk. This is real talk.”
France, who has previously hosted “Next in Fashion,” is planning to spend time with his kids.
“Not knowing after all these years what is next is really exciting,” France says. “I’ve never felt this kind of freedom in a long time.”
But he — and the others — say they will carry their “Queer Eye” experiences with them into their next acts.
“I find people that are kind and caring and curious and want to say hello and want to talk,” France says, “and it does give me hope for what America could be again.”
The post ‘Queer Eye’ ends in D.C. with tension, tears and armpit Botox appeared first on Washington Post.
