LOCAL MAYOR ON ‘QUEER EYE’ EPISODE

If 35-year-old Clarkston mayor Ted Terry ever runs for Georgia governor, he could use his episode of Netflix’s “Queer Eye” as part of his campaign.

Debuting last week as part of season two, his episode is a largely flattering portrayal of Terry. In reality, he isn’t quite as much of a reclamation project as some other folks featured on the revamped show, which shot its first two seasons in metro Atlanta.

The Fab Five, as the makeover team is dubbed, immediately honed in on his “resistance” beard, which Terry joked is very good at capturing food odors. The beard, as his girlfriend Andrea noted, is a bit ratty and more hippie than hipster.

And (spoiler alert!), the dreaded beard is gone by the end of the episode. Terry, who filmed a week with “Queer Eye” nearly a year ago, hasn’t grown the beard back in full.

“I have a little bit of stubble,” he said. But he took Jonathan Van Ness’ grooming tips seriously. “I have definitely upped my grooming game,” he said. “I’m moisturizing!”

Reality TV, as we know, will often finesse a story line for pragmatic reasons. During the episode, it said Andrea nominated Ted for the show. That Ted Terry, mayor of Clarkston, is featured on an episode of “Queer Eye” on Netflix. isn’t how it happened. The Netflix producers sought him out, he said.

He actually demurred at first to be on the show and suggested other people but the producers ultimately convinced him to jump aboard.

Terry is happy he was able to highlight that Clarkston — a major home for refugees — “is a welcoming place for immigrants and leads with compassion.”

Thanks to the show, his house has been nicely renovated so he can host dinner parties, his wardrobe was upgraded to give him a more mature look and Karamo Brown brought in a state speech champion to provide him pointers to improve his public speaking.

Terry appeared game to do anything to improve himself, even attempting a rap battle.

“That was so awkward,” Terry said. “I didn’t know what I was doing. They did a decent job editing it. It was embarrassing but I told Bobby [Berk], ‘I’m a politician. I embarrass myself on a daily basis. This is no different!’”

CONTRIBUTED BY NETFLIX