Queer Eye star suggests not all the ‘straight guys’ were as straight as they made out
Queer Eye star Jai Rodriguez hinted that the straight men on the show weren’t always so straight. (Getty/Tommaso Boddi)
Original Queer Eye star Jai Rodriguez has hinted that the straight men he helped make over on the show weren’t always as straight as they said they were.
2023 marked twenty years since the landmark, Emmy award-winning series hit our screens, with the original fab five – Rodriguez, RuPaul’s Drag Race judge Carson Kressley, Ted Allen, Kyan Douglas, and Thom Filicia – coming to together for a reunion event set to broadcast on 16 December.
Ahead of the reunion, Rodriguez, who was the show’s pop culture and relationships expert, has suggested that there are still some backstage secrets about the series yet to be unearthed.
During an Instagram Live interview with Philadelphia Gay News, the 44-year-old actor referenced Queer Eye’s ten-year reunion special in 2013, which was hosted by Bravo’s Andy Cohen.
As part of their discussion, Cohen asked whether all the men that the fab five made over were really straight. According to Rodriguez, the other Queer Eye cast members suggested that he was the best one to answer the question.
Now, Rodriguez has admitted that there is a story behind their comment and an answer to whether all the straight men on Queer Eye were actually straight, and he plans to unveil all at the 20th reunion event.
“I do have a story there, but I only gave a soundbite on Andy, so at the reunion show, you’ll get the full story,” he explained.
“I feel like after 20 years, it’s safe to tell.”
The original Queer Eye series saw the five gay professionals give fashion, grooming and interior design advice to a different heterosexual man on each episode. It ended in 2007, before being rebooted by Netflix in 2018, with Tan France, Jonathan van Ness, Antoni Porowski, Karamo Brown and Bobby Berk leading the fab five.
Berk announced he was leaving the series in November, after reportedly not “vibing” with the rest of the cast.
While the show has become a global success, Kressley, who has been a judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race since 2015, explained earlier this year that the original show almost didn’t make it to air.
“I didn’t really think anybody was gonna see it. There was some trepidation from other networks; they’re like, ‘oh, no, the name is too aggressive’,” Kressley revealed.
Luckily, Bravo did give it the green light.
“Bravo from the get-go was very supportive about it. The producers and the creators of the show were very adamant that it be called Queer Eye because it was … reclaiming that word, and putting a positive spin on it,” he added.
“It’s not something derogatory.”
