After eight seasons of heartfelt makeovers, Queer Eye is undergoing a transformation of its own.
Season eight of Netflix's hit show will be the last to feature Interior Design expert Bobby Berk, who announced his exit back in November 2023.
Queer Eye paid tribute to Bobby at the time with a heartfelt statement online: "After six incredible years of life-changing transformations, season eight will be Bobby Berk's last with the Fab Five. We appreciate the heart and dedication he has brought to Queer Eye and wish him the very best."
And we do too. Honestly, it's hard to imagine the Fab Five without Bobby, and not just because he did all the work. We jest, of course, but it's true to say that his contributions to the personal development of each hero were huge and should not be overlooked.
But still, the question remains; Why exactly did Bobby Berk leave Queer Eye? And what does this mean for the show going forward?
Queer Eye: Why did Bobby Berk quit the show after season 8?
Bobby confirmed his exit via Instagram on November 14, 2023, where he shared pictures of himself and various heroes he's helped throughout the years on Queer Eye. The final photo in the slideshow depicts Bobby with the rest of the Fab Five: Antoni Porowski, Jonathan Van Ness, Karamo Brown and Tan France.
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"To the Queer Eye Community who have become family to me," wrote Bobby. "The love that I have received from you all over the last six years has been absolutely surreal. You have tuned in and been dedicated fans and together we were able to share the healing powers of design."
"I learned from you all about kindness, love and acceptance and that has changed my life for the better. The way you have embraced me and accepted me for who I am is something that l will truly carry with me for the rest of my life."
At the end, Berk wrote: "It's with a heavy heart that I announce that season eight will be my final season on Queer Eye. It's not been an easy decision to be at peace with, but a necessary one. Although my journey with Queer Eye is over, my journey with you is not. You will be seeing more of me very soon. I love you all so so much and I'll meet you all in Nola for one final season."
Other members of the Fab Five shared supportive messages in the comments below, including Antoni, who wrote, "#foreverthefab5 indeed, and don’t forget it," followed by red heart emojis.
Jonathan simply shared three red heart emojis too while Karamo wrote: "@bobby we are #ForeverTheFab5 | no matter what. I’m about to be a Netflix’s door & e-mails telling them you can’t leave!"
Yet even amidst this public support, a report by Us Weekly published soon after claimed that Bobby was actually "asked to leave" the show "because he wasn’t vibing with the cast".
"There were many challenges with scheduling [and] there was a loss of interest from Bobby filming the show," it was reported. "The network and the cast thought it was time to bring in fresh blood. His heart was not in it and the rest of the cast started to resent him because of that."
However, in this same report, a different source denied that Berk was asked to leave, explaining that the "decision was amicable".
Without any official response from Bobby himself, there's no way to verify these wildly contradictory reports. Still, that hasn't stopped fans from sleuthing online.
Much has been made of the fact that Bobby doesn't directly mention or thank his co-stars at all in the one statement he's given on the exit. People have also claimed to have noticed some following and unfollowing going on between Bobby and his former co-stars on social media, but again, there's only so much you can infer from things like this. It's easy to read too much into social media interactions without knowing the full story.
All we do know is that there has been friction amongst the cast before.
Back in September 2023, Karamo revealed that he hadn't been invited to Antoni's bachelor party. Speaking on SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live, he revealed that only Tan France was invited to the celebration.
"The shade of it all," Brown told Cohen. "Bobby was not invited, I was not invited, and Jonathan was not invited… just Tan was invited. The shade!"
Karamo went on to say that there were no hard feelings though: "When it comes to events like that — like family things, weddings — it costs money, so I don't take offence to it."
In a 2019 episode of Brown's podcast, Karamo and Antoni discussed how there was friction between them while they filmed the first season of Queer Eye:
"Our personalities got along, but then a third party got involved and once that third party got involved, he and I couldn't even talk to each other," said Karamo. "We were too busy hearing rumours of what this third party was spreading about both of us."
Neither incident directly involves Bobby of course, but it's just worth remembering that things weren't always fab between the Fab Five.
Whatever the truth is, it's probably going to be a while before Berk speaks out on the exact reason why he left, if ever.
Note also that his statement mentioned, "You will be seeing more of me very soon." Perhaps this new gig was actually the main reason why Bobby left? And everything remains amicable between him and his former co-stars.
Either way, it looks like the already-confirmed ninth season may soon introduce a brand new face to take over the Interior Design moving forward, which might end up being a good thing when it comes to the show's longevity.
Nine seasons in, Queer Eye isn't quite as fresh and exciting as it once was, aside from that gut-wrenching excursion to Japan, so new blood might reinvigorate interest.
We won't have too long to wait either because Netflix has already confirmed that the ninth season, filmed in Los Angeles, will arrive towards the end of 2024.
Let's just hope they manage to cast someone even half as charismatic and talented as Bobby because truly, no one worked harder than he did.
Queer Eye is available on Netflix.
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After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival.
In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.
David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.
Beyond that, David has interviewed all your faves, including Henry Cavill, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Colman, Patrick Stewart, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Dornan, Regina King, and more — not to mention countless Drag Race legends.
As a freelance entertainment journalist, David has bylines across a range of publications including Empire Online, Radio Times, INTO, Highsnobiety, Den of Geek, The Digital Fix and Sight & Sound.
