While overall I think we’re in an age of reboot-fatigue, one noted exception is Queer Eye. The original Queer Eye for the Straight Guy was in many ways ahead of its time, enough that by the time the new iteration debuted in 2018 it had a mainstream audience (as opposed to a fringe one). Plus it was smart to expand the client profile beyond the proverbial straight guy. Netflix’s version has already outrun its predecessor with eight seasons (to Bravo’s five), with season 9 about to start filming in Las Vegas. But for the first time there’s a shake up to the Fab Five. Interior designer Bobby Berk confirmed his departure last year, and now his official replacement has been announced: Jeremiah Brent!
Berk out, Brent in: Netflix announced on Tuesday that interior designer Jeremiah Brent has been tapped to replace home design expert Bobby Berk in the upcoming season 9 of Queer Eye. Brent joins returning cast members Karamo Brown (culture), Tan France (fashion), Antoni Porowski (food), and Jonathan Van Ness (beauty) as they transform the lives of heroes in the upcoming Las Vegas-set season. The beloved Berk, often touted by fans as being the hardest working of all five hosts (he once built an entire barn from scratch in just three days!), leaves big shoes to fill, but Brent comes with a resume that proves he has the chops to step into the role.
Jeremiah’s resume: Brent, who got his big break as a styling associate to celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe on The Rachel Zoe Project, previously hosted the Oprah Winfrey Network’s Emmy-winning design series Home Made Simple and served as the design expert on Netflix’s sadly short-lived Say I Do. He’s been married to fellow esteemed interior designer Nate Berkus for 10 years and together they’ve fronted TLC renovation series Nate & Jeremiah by Design, HGTV’s Nate & Jeremiah Save My House, and most recently The Nate & Jeremiah Home Project, in which they helped families turn their existing spaces into dream homes. He’s also shared his skills over the years on TODAY, The Kelly Clarkson Show, The Drew Barrymore Show, Good Morning America, and more.
Contractual agreements: Berk announced last fall that the New Orleans-set season 8 would be his last. … In conversation with Vanity Fair earlier this year, Berk revealed that his exit boiled down to contractual agreements as opposed to any on-set drama, though he did confirm a clash with costar France. According to Berk, the Fab Five initially signed a seven-year contract that would’ve been fulfilled by September 2022. While Berk “thought we were done” and “started planning other things,” he claimed Netflix opted to renew the series last fall due to content shortage caused by the Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strike. Berk decided not to renew his contract, claiming that his costars mulled the same route before ultimately deciding to move forward.
‘There were definitely emotions’: “With only one of us not coming back, Netflix felt [it] could recast one person,” Berk said, admitting that the reversal initially upset him. “There were definitely emotions,” he said. “But each one of us had our reasons why we did what we did. I can’t be mad.”
I confess that I love watching The Nate & Jeremiah Home Project, and I hope Brent taking this gig doesn’t mean we won’t get a season 3 of the HGTV show! I’m very curious to see how Brent does as part of the Fab Five. Part (ok most) of what makes Home Project so much fun is the dynamic between Brent and hubby Nate Berkus. They’re hilarious together. They’ll be walking through a house with a client and Nate suggests something and Jeremiah immediately quips to the client “Don’t listen to anything he says,” but you know he also means it. Nate, for his part, constantly ribs Jeremiah on his strong fashion choices, like the time he found his husband wearing hooved loafers. So yeah, I want to see what Jeremiah is like with a new team.
And now I have to share a Bobby Berk story: I happened to see him on $100,000 Pyramid last fall (yes, another reboot!), and he was playing a round where he had to guess the words based on his partner’s clues. The word was ‘circumcision’ (because, of course), and his partner said “when they take the skin off the penis.” You guys, the look of sheer, visceral horror that seized Bobby was immediate and laugh-tacular all at the same time. He was mortified, as if he could feel the pain himself. Then his partner added “baby” and it clicked and Bobby got it before the timer went out. But it was beautiful. Television at its best. I wish him well in his future endeavors.
photos credit: IMAGO/Faye Sadou/Avalon, Ilana Panich-Linsman/Netflix and Getty