Karamo Brown’s interview no-show is the latest chapter in the never-ending Queer Eye drama

Queer Eye, the inspirational Netflix show buoyed by positive, make-a-change energy, has once again become steeped in darkness and drama.

The tenth and final season of the life improvement reality series (which was rebooted in 2018; the original ran between 2003 and 2007 with different cast members) has arrived on Netflix. And with one final season comes one final, explosive dose of drama, something which has become an incongruent by-product of the show’s existence in recent years.

Ahead of the final season’s launch, the Fab Five – culture expert Karamo Brown, grooming expert Jonathan Van Ness, culinary guru Antoni Porowski, fashion superstar Tan France and interiors aficionado Jeremiah Brent – were due to take part in televised promotional interviews yesterday, 20 January.

Yet Brown, who has been a steadfast fixture of the Fab Five since season one, declined to take part. In an eye-wateringly awkward piece of television, CBS Mornings news anchor Gayle King read out a statement from Brown, in which he said he was protecting his “mental health and peace” by not appearing with his cast mates. An email from his assistant, also referenced by King, said he was “worried about being bullied” if he appeared, and that he had felt “mentally and emotionally abused for years”. On the advice of his therapist, he would not be promoting Queer Eye.

For a show that exists to improve the lives of ordinary people – dubbed ‘heroes’ by the Fab Five – across America, it seems to have, on occasion, made the lives of its expert hosts a lot more challenging. From former interior design master Bobby Berk’s exit in 2023, to the shock Rolling Stone exposé in 2024, here’s a rundown of the drama that blew apart the Queer Eye’s twee facade. 

Bobby Berk’s departure (November 2023) 

Prior to Bobby Berk’s surprise exit in November 2023, the Queer Eye clan seemed to be one big happy family. Cracks appeared when Berk, the show’s interiors expert, departed the show after season eight “with a heavy heart”.

In early 2024, in an interview with Vanity Fair, Berk shed light on the reasons he left the show behind, explaining that he and his fellow Fab Five members had agreed they wouldn’t be signing a new contract to host the show beyond season eight. However, after Berk brought his decision to Netflix, the others appeared to change their minds.

“There were definitely emotions. But each one of us had our reasons why we did what we did,” he explained. “I can’t be mad – for a second I was.”

The fallout from Bobby Berk’s exit (January 2024)

During his conversation with Vanity Fair, Bobby Berk made it clear that he and fellow Fab Five member Tan France had a contentious relationship. “Tan and I had a moment,” Berk said at the time.

“There was a situation, and that’s between Tan and I, and it has nothing to do with the show. It was something personal that had been brewing – and nothing romantic, just to clarify that,” he said, admitting to unfollowing Tan on Instagram prior to his exit from the show.

Fans noticed that France had returned the favour, seemingly unfollowing Berk on Instagram. 

Jeremiah Brent is announced as Bobby Berk’s replacement (February 2024)

In February 2024, Nate & Jeremiah by Design star Jeremiah Brent was revealed by Netflix as Berk’s replacement. Brent was known to the other Fab Five members – but had never spoken to Berk – and he seemed like a fair fit for the role.

However, in March, Rolling Stone published accusations that Brent’s friend and fashion expert Tan France had used “mean-girl antics” to get rid of Berk and replace him with Brent. 

The jaw-dropping Rolling Stone exposé (March 2024)

In March 2024, Rolling Stone published a detailed investigation into the toxic antics allegedly taking place behind-the-scenes at Queer Eye. The report, which cited seven people who had worked on the show’s production, claimed that stylist Jonathan Van Ness was a “monster” with “rage issues” who was frequently a “nightmare” to work with.

One source was quoted as saying that, despite Van Ness’s warm and charming persona in front of the camera, they would also “explode at least once a week”.

“Jonathan’s a person who contains multitudes and who has the capacity to be very warm, very charismatic, and has the capacity to make you feel really special that they are paying attention to you,” the source said.

“But at least once a day, they would need to yell at somebody… It might be something small, but there’s always going to be somebody to point out and blame and make the villain of the day.”

The investigation also offered a new insight into possible reasons behind Berk’s departure, with one source claiming Berk didn’t wish to shoot scenes with Van Ness due to their on-set behaviour, and another claiming Berk had grown jaded with his scarce screen time, despite doing the bulk of the heavy lifting as the design expert.

Tan France claims Bobby Berk was fired (March 2024)

Days after the Rolling Stone article was published, Tan France posted a video on Instagram attempting to clarify the facts. Specifically, he wanted it made clear that he had not used “mean-girl antics” to campaign for Brent to replace Berk.

In doing so, he claimed that Berk had actually been “fired” from the Netflix show.

“My former colleague getting fired had nothing to do with me trying to get my friend hired,” France said.

“Netflix and the production companies did a full-on casting. I didn’t put my friend up for the job. They ended up getting it because they were the best person for the job.

“Am I so happy that they have the job? Uh-huh. I really am. I think they’re going to be incredible on the show, but I didn’t get them hired by getting rid of somebody else,” he continued.

“From the horse’s mouth: I’m telling you, that that’s not at all how it went down. And that’s all I’ll say on the matter. If you need to dig deeper, if you still don’t believe me, so be it – but that’s it.”

The rest of the Fab Five respond to Rolling Stone’s investigation (2024)

For the remainder of 2024, the Queer Eye Fab Five appeared untangleable from Rolling Stone’s report on the backstage drama. The cast were asked about the alleged rift between them throughout the year, and answered with various degrees of ambiguity.

In May 2024, food and drink connoisseur Antoni Porowski addressed the alleged rift between the Fab Five, arguing that as they had all “been sharing a trailer since day one” on the show, there would of course be times where “we’re not gonna get along”.

“But at the end of the day, we’re a family,” he said. “We’re like a middle-aged boyband, you know what I mean? Through thick and thin, we’re in it together.”

In June 2024, Jonathan Van Ness appeared on Jessie and Lennie Ware’sTable Manners podcast, and addressed the investigation into their apparent “rage” on set. They stated that it wasn’t “really based in reality” but contained anecdotes that could be “taken out of context to make [them] look as bad as possible”.

“I think a lot of people were looking for a reason to hate me or looking for a reason to be like, ‘See, I always knew that they were a fake c***,’” Van Ness added, describing the online reaction as “intensely hurtful”.

Asked about his relationship with Bobby Berk in December 2024, Jeremiah Brent confirmed that the pair had not spoken.

“I never met Bobby before the show, I haven’t spoken to him,” Brent said. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for what he did in the show.”

Bobby Berk accuses Netflix of “erasing” him (December 2024)

Ahead of season nine premiering in early 2025, Netflix unveiled new Queer Eye themed icons that fans could select as their avatar on the streaming service. Only the current Fab Five members – so Jeremiah Brent, not Bobby Berk – were available as options. In a swiftly-deleted comment under Netflix’s Instagram post about the icons, Berk wrote: “Wow… y’all really went and erased my icon instead of just adding Jeremiah? Damn, I’m done.”

The end of Queer Eye announced (July 2025)

In July 2025, Netflix announced that Queer Eye would be coming to an end with its tenth season, much to the devastation of the show’s loyal fans.

The day after the news was announced, former Fab Five star Bobby Berk announced his new HGTV show Junk or Jackpot? was coming out soon. Some Queer Eye fans thought the move had been planned, but Berk rebuked this. In an interview with US Weekly, he said Netflix could have given him a “heads up” about the end of the show.

“I have to say, I swear on my mother’s life, my show announcement date was set,” he told the publication. “No, this was planned. Show announcements don’t happen on a whim.

“I mean, [Netflix] could have easily given me a heads up on when that was going to be announced. I mean, I was on the show for [eight] seasons, but yeah, it’s fine.”

Relative peace – until now (January 2026)

Queer Eye season nine, with Jeremiah Brent on board as the new interiors expert, came and went with little fanfare. Brent confirmed to PinkNews in April 2025 that a tenth season was to begin filming soon, which it did, and Netflix announced in July 2025 that it would be the show’s very last season.

Bar some wistful reflections on the Queer Eye chapter being closed for good, the lead up to season 10 appeared to be going forward without a hitch.

Yet Karamo Brown’s no-show bombshell during press day on 20 January seems to have revitalised once put to bed rumours that the Fab Five are actually the Fractured Five.

Curiously, Brown largely seemed to keep to himself during the fallout from the Rolling Stone investigation and Berk’s exit, with much of the controversy revolving instead around Van Ness, France and Berk.

Now, it’s clear that he too has been affected by tensions within the group. In addition to his shock claim of feeling “emotionally and mentally abused for years” – though he has not specified by who – it also appears that Brown has unfollowed all of his fellow original Fab Five members on Instagram. On the platform, Jeremiah Brent is the only member he now follows.

Attempting to put the Queer Eye drama behind them (January 2026)

The tenth and final season of Queer Eye is now out on Netflix, and it’s bittersweet – and sour. Despite the events that occurred prior to the season’s release, the cast appear committed to focussing on the positives, much like they were when confronted by Gayle King on Brown’s absence.

“It’s not about how or even that it ended – the journey of it all was the part I’ll hold close to my heart,” Porowski wrote on Instagram on 21 January. “Thank you to each and every one of you who watched, laughed, cried, screamed, binged, and related to the stories we were lucky enough to be a part of for almost a decade.”

“Happy Final day of this Queer Eye journey, to my incredible cast mates, incredible heroes, incredible crew,” France wrote on Instagram.

“And you incredible audience who have made my wildest of wildest dreams come true the past 9 years of my life! I will love and miss you!”

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