HOWANDWHY OFQUEEREYE
Wholesome ‘make better’ show returns with a twist.. this time the guys are dishing out their advice to women too
YAAAAS. Queer Eye is back to provide wholesome, uplifting television to a grubby, fractured world.
The Fab Five have moved north from Georgia to turn their attentions on Kansas.
From this Trump-voting Midwestern heartland, Antoni Porowski, Tan France, Karamo Brown, Bobby Berk and Jonathan Van Ness will dispense hugs and lifestyle advice to women as well as men.
Otherwise, the formula remains the same.
An individual whose life has stalled, gone wrong or not got started yet is nominated by a friend or relation.
The white SUV pulls up and the quintet bound like puppies released from a cage.
In five days, they will turn the quiet, messy, takeaway-eater into a smarter, happier, more confident version of themselves.
This new and improved version will be revealed at a rerun of a wedding reception or a church social.
To prepare for this big event there must be new outfits, full glam squad and a cookery lesson.
While this fun stuff is happening, Bobby is heaving burst sofas and overwashed bed linen into the skip, to be replaced with sleek new shelving, leafy plants and lovingly reframed photographs.
Queer Eye does have some irritating quirks – referring to the people taking part as “heroes” and calling it a “make better” rather than a makeover show.
It reframes the kinds of improvements women have been trying to get men to make for years by making them manly and exciting.
Throwing out baggy three-quarter length cargo shorts and replacing them with trousers that fit. Flossing. Tidying up and putting stuff away.
When women suggest these things, they are nagging. When Antoni does, it is part of an amazing journey and everyone is in tears.
This is not the Fab Five’s fault but it is noticeable that men will accept Jonathan pirouetting around their bathroom in a crop top but resist a similar suggestion from their wife, sister or mother.
The Fab Five love-bomb their heroes out of toxic behaviours that have been festering for years, sometimes decades.
And they do it without being critical or prescriptive.
No one is ever told to lose weight. They raise really important issues – race, homophobia – in a nonpreachy way.
Best of all, a happy ending is guaranteed.