May 15
Antoni Porowski Dishes on 'Queer Eye' with Jeremiah Brent: 'We're Like a Middle Aged Boy Band'
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 2 MIN.
Antoni Porowski opened up about what it's like having Jeremiah Brent as Bobby Berk's replacement on the show: "I adore him," Porowski told Entertainment Tonight.
"Talking with ET from the Disney/ABC Upfronts in New York City, the 40-year-old culinary expert shared that more than five months after Berk, 42, announced his departure from the hit Netflix show, the cast is all getting along great with" Brent.
Letting slip the detail that the fab five – each of whom specializes in a different field related to personal care, fashion, or decor – have "been sharing a trailer since day one," the food and beverage pro admitted, "Sometimes we're not gonna get along but at the end of the day we're a family and we're like a middle-aged boy band, you know what I mean?"
"Through thick and thin, we're in it together."
ET recalled a Rolling Stone article that claimed Berk's fellow "Queer Eye" cast member Tan France had schemed to replace him with Brent, implicating Porowski in the alleged machinations.
France denied lobbying for Brent to get the job, declaring in a video posted to X, "My former colleague getting fired had nothing to do with me trying to get my friend hired."
The rumor of France lobbying to replace Berk with Brent did not seem to contradict a report from Us Weekly last November that, according to unnamed sources, "there was a loss of interest from Bobby filming the show," that his "heart was not in it," and that he was "not vibing" with the rest of the cast.
But Berk explained in comments to Vanity Fair that his departure was a matter of the cast's contracts expiring, then being renewed as the show was picked up for a ninth season. Berk, with other projects already lined up, chose not to continue with the show.
With production well underway for "Queer Eye" Season 9, Porowski told ET that he's getting along famously with the new addition.
"I adore him," Porowski said of Brent. "I met him very casually a couple of months before the whole thing started so we had a little bit of a friendship there."
As for the energy on the show itself, "We've been in Vegas for the past two months where it's very hot and very dry and he's killing it," Porowski said.
Are you looking forward to the new season of "Queer Eye?"
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
