Bobby Berk is finally feeling refreshed in the sixth season of Netflix's Queer Eye. Though the hit reality show only debuted in 2018, the Fab Five featuring food and wine expert Antoni Porowski, fashion expert Tan France, culture expert Karamo Brown, grooming expert Jonathan Van Ness, and design expert Berk successfully shot two seasons each year, in addition to special overseas episodes. To put it lightly, the Fab Five quickly become tired, burnt out, and struggled to authentically give each of their heroes the emotional care they deserve. As the Fab Five were filming the first episode of the new season, the global pandemic shut them down leaving an unfinished episode. Nonetheless, the global pandemic turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the Fab Five's heartstrings, giving them an opportunity to reset and reconnect with their heroes.
Now that production on Queer Eye season 6 has wrapped, Berk is continuing to spread the love by partnering with SunChip's Be Your Own Wave campaign to give one-of-a-kind artists, writers, and creators a new way to share their individuality. The brand's first national campaign in four years encourages artists to celebrate their originality and doesn't give any boundaries in terms of the type of art accepted for the contest. In the end, Berk will have the opportunity to choose five winners who will each take home a $10,000 prize, in addition to getting their art replicated into a painted mural and placement on the SunChips website and social media with links that will take followers directly to the artist's personal websites.
Bobby talked to Screen Rant about Queer Eye season 6, revealing how the effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic will make this the most emotional and raw season to date. Plus, the interior decorator reveals a new partnership with SunChips that will help struggling artists find success after galleries and art walks have been closed down for the past two years.
Screen Rant: Tell me a little bit about SunChips Art Seen and why you decided to partner with the initiative.
Bobby Berk: One of the main reasons why I decided to partner with this initiative is because SunChips is really focusing on highlighting people who are being their own wave and being an individual and unique. Not to mention, and I realized after doing this that SunChips has been around since I was like 10, which now makes me feel old, but it was one of the few snacks my mom let me eat growing up, and to this day, it's the only chip that's in my trailer when we're filming Queer Eye or anything.
I like partnering with companies that really is something that I eat or I use and so when SunChips came to me, especially with this initiative, it was a no-brainer for me. I really wanted to be a part of it because so many people have been affected by the pandemic, but especially artists, especially small makers who have not been able to have the gallery walks that we're normally used to, the art walks, and the gallery openings and they've really had a hard time getting their art out so SunChips was like, "You know what, we want to give back to these people and we want to give them a way to showcase their art in front of millions of people." It made me really excited because I know when I was a young artist, the hardest thing about it was getting your art out there for people to see and they're really giving people a platform to be huge.
In a year of a global pandemic, how important was it to uplift these local artists who no longer had a platform to showcase their craft? Did you see anything that inspired you?
Bobby Berk: I mean it's so important, especially people who didn't have a large platform, they really had no way of getting their art out there. So you know through the Art Seen program, we're literally looking through thousands of submissions, which the submissions are open until the 28th so you can keep submitting. We're going to pick the top five, and the top five are going to get ten thousand dollars plus they're going to get their art replicated in a mural, which is going to be huge.
Their art is going to be featured on SunChips social media and the website, there's going to be direct links back to their website so consumers can engage and buy and I think it can really have the potential to change their lives, which is what we do on Queer Eye so it was really exciting to me. There have been some really cool ones.
My art, personally, I have my own art line that I've been doing for years, my art is very, monochromatic. I don't use a lot of color, but for some reason recently, I think it's because after the pandemic I just want to stuff to be bright and happy, bright and colorful stuff has really been catching my eye.
Speaking of inspiring, the Fab Five took a year off due to the global pandemic. Once you returned to set, were you all recharged in a way that will cause deeper tugs at our heartstrings?
Bobby Berk: I know I was crying more than ever. By the time we got done with season 5, honestly, we were exhausted. We were doing about two seasons a year, plus press tours, overseas seasons. In 2020, we went to do season 6 in Austin and we were just tired, and frankly, kind of emotionless. Having that year off allowed us to really be reminded of what's important and it's that human connection and that's what we do. It's lifting people up, it's giving people a platform, and so it was really good to feel recharged and refreshed again.
The stories that we are able to tell not just about COVID, but a lot of our heroes have been through a lot through the pandemic. They've lost family, they've lost businesses, they have lost their platform to get their businesses and art out there, and so it was really great to be back to doing what we're doing and be reminded of the importance of it. There's a lot of more emotion, I'd say.
What was it like when you finally got to safely hug each other and your heroes?
Bobby Berk: It was great. It was really nice to start hugging again. Very uncomfortable in the beginning, but we were all tested sometimes multiple times a day so we felt safe.
How many of your heroes were struggling from the effects of the global pandemic?
Bobby Berk: I mean all of them in some way, whether it was loss or people who were out there in the trenches giving people tests and vaccines. I would say there was not one hero that wasn't affected in some way.
What was the most touching story you encountered in this season’s heroes?
Bobby Berk: This will be the first season we've ever [gone] back and visited a hero we helped before. The very first episode, we almost finished it back in 2020, just a few scenes left to be done, we ended that scene that week in 2020 with me revealing her home, saying goodbye, and we walked to our trailer and we were told that we were getting shut down. We didn't end up finishing the last few scenes of that episode so the next year we picked it up by visiting her again and she had definitely been greatly affected by the pandemic, in bad ways, and in good ways. It was great for us to go back and see how what we did for her had an effect on her life and her family. We really can have an effect on people.
Queer Eye season 6 premieres on Netflix on December 31.