Feelgood hit of the summer: Queer Eye

The surprise television smash of the year pretty much dropped out of the clear blue sky. It’s a reboot of an early 2000s reality show in which gay men treated/subjected often semi-reluctant subjects to “glamorous” makeovers.

The difference is that where the original Queer Eye For The Straight Guy cheerfully celebrated stereotypes – not an unprogressive move for its times – Netflix’s new series has a more serious mission.

In this age of Trump, the alt.right and religious nutters trying to influence Irish referendums, the show argues people are innately kind and that prejudice more often than not flows from ignorance. As the cast tell Hot Press, it’s not a makeover show – it’s a make better show.

“For the first time in a while there is a glimmer of hope on television,” says Bobby Berk, the quintet’s designated “design expert” . “It’s about people being positive rather than trying to tear one another down.”

Queer Eye 2.0 is also about challenging preconceptions about gay people – caricatures that even well-intentioned programming has perhaps furthered.

“People were okay with gays being on television when they were designers and hairdressers and cooks,” says Berk. “Not husbands and fathers. Here, you really see us as individuals and not just gay stereotypes.”

Those aren’t the only lazy assumptions confronted. Season one and its imminent follow-up are filmed largely across the American South, aka the heart of Trumpland. Whether meeting a police officer who has never previously interacted with black people, or the African-American church member who has struggled to accept gay people, Queer Eye has gone out of its way to humanise sectors of society often demonised in the media.

“If you think about Corey the cop – I had thoughts about what this guy is going to be like,” nods Berk. “There’s a Trump sign in the yard, a Make America Great Again hat. Growing up in the Midwest and the South, I had an idea in my mind as to how backwards these people were going to be. Queer Eye really reminded me to stop looking at people just by their vote – to realise we’re all humans, even if some of us might have incorrect political views.”

A strict religious upbringing clearly scarred the Mount Vernon, Missouri-raised Berk. In the first episode of season two – released on June 15 – we see him refuse to enter a church in rural Georgia. There are too many painful memories – of self-loathing, loneliness, rejection.

“There were times filming the episode I would go home and cry myself to sleep,” he says. “It dredged up a lot of pain and hurt from my childhood. My entire life growing up was religion. I would be in a prayer meeting before school and then back to church afterwards. When I came out… to have everyone in my life who had said, ‘I unconditionally love you’ …to suddenly say, ‘never mind…’

“At the start of Queer Eye I told them that I would do anything but don’t ask me to go into a church. Then the episode with Tammy [aka the Christian seeking a makeover] came along. A lot of conversations had to happen for that to be okay.”

One of the break-out stars is style guru Tan France, a British Muslim from the north of England now married and living in Utah. He’s obviously proud to be part of Queer Eye – but, even more than that, to be on a series that depicts gay people in a modern, progressive light.

“The beauty of our show is that we represent many versions of the gay man. As much as I love the original Queer Eye, they were only able to push one version… which is the stereotype. We were able to tackle every version of what we represent. That’s why people reacted so strongly. We are quashing some very strong misconceptions.”

“People call it a makeover show. We prefer to think of it as a make better show,” chimes Karamo Brown, Queer Eye’s ‘culture expert’. He’s also a graduate of the same Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in which 17 students were killed in a mass shooting and an advocate for gun control.

“We all remember a time when someone has beaten us down, told us we’re less, that we’re not good enough. And it stopped us going after our dreams. We have helped people break through. And people at home are watching and thinking, ‘If this person on screen can break through… maybe we can break through too.’”

Queer Eye season two begins on Netflix on June 15.