Netflix sets a date for ‘Queer Eye’s’ Philly-filmed fifth season
Did the Fab Five take any of our suggestions for makeover subjects? We'll soon find out.
The Fab Five from Netflix’s heartstrings-tugging makeover show Queer Eye were filming in Philadelphia last summer, and next month we’ll finally get to see what they made of us.
The streaming service announced Thursday the 10-episode, made-in-Philly fifth season of the show will premiere June 5.
For one member of the makeover team, culture expert Karamo Brown, the time here represented a return visit: Brown got his start in “reality” television in 2004 in The Real World: Philadelphia. This time, he was accompanied by Antoni Porowski, whose specialty is food and wine; Bobby Berk (interior design), Jonathan Van Ness (grooming), and Tan France (fashion).
» READ MORE: "Queer Eye's" Karamo Brown talks returning to Philly, lessons of forgiveness
No word on whether they paid any attention to our suggestions for makeover subjects (though Mayor Jim Kenney’s hair, as we’ve noted, continues to look well-groomed during the pandemic), but the promotional material for the season advises keeping “an extremely absorbent box of tissues” handy.
The show’s time in Philly wasn’t free of controversy. In August, employees at an Old Navy store in Center City claimed that white workers were brought in to the store before a visit by fashion expert France, and that employees of color were pushed to the back of the store and told not to touch anything or move around.
» READ MORE: Center City Old Navy employees say white workers were brought in for "Queer Eye" filming
After one employee’s Facebook post was picked up by media outlets, France responded to it in a comment, writing, “I don’t know what happened behind the scenes, or overnight, but what I can tell you is that there is no way I would ever have allowed production to move POC to the back,” and mentioning that he’d had an African American woman employee at the store join him on camera for the segment.