With three seasons released so far, Netflix’s Queer Eye has taken the world by storm, providing just the right balance of feel-good comfort television, hilarious humor, and cultural commentary. The reboot of the long-running early 2000s series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy follows the new Fab Five - stylist Tan France; grooming expert Jonathan Van Ness; culinary expert Antoni Porowski; culture expert Karamo Brown; and designer Bobby Berk - as they work to give people in need of some tender love and care a full life makeover.
The series really caught on like crazy and became a total worldwide sensation during the release of its second season in the summer of 2018. But its first season, released in February 2018, contains some of the series most touching makeovers to date. Check out where the first season’s eight heroes are today.
Tom Jackson (“You Can’t Fix Ugly”)
In the series’ first episode, “You Can’t Fix Ugly,” viewers are introduced to Georgia native Tom Jackson, a 58-year-old who was nominated by his daughter because she felt he was in desperate need of a little shakeup in his very routinized life. The Fab Five gave him a total makeover, internally and externally, and also helped to facilitate a romantic reconnection between Tom and his ex-wife, Abby - whom the Fab Five immediately realized he had never gotten over.
Since Tom’s episode premiered in February 2018, he has taken to social media, sending out the occasional adorable tweet under his @TomJack20176306 Twitter handle and thanking the show and its fans for changing his life. But best of all, in May of 2018, Tom and Abby remarried, providing Queer Eye with its first happily ever after.
Neal Reddy (“Saving Sasquatch”)
“Saving Sasquatch,” the second episode of season one, follows the makeover of anxious tech genius Neal Reddy, who was nominated by a longtime friend. Neal was getting ready to launch a new app he had been working on for a long time, and after struggling with self-esteem issues for so long and putting up walls to keep people out, he didn’t know where to start when it came to thinking about planning a launch party.
After the Fab Five hooked him up with a new look and outlook, Neal has continued on with his facilities management app, HUMRUN, and also begun to explore life as a stand up comic. His Instagram account shows that his close connection with the Fab Five continues, and that he is now much more open in sharing his emotions than he has been in a very long time.
Cory Waldrop (“Dega Don’t”)
The third episode of season one, “Dega Don’t,” features one of the series’ most conversation-starting stories. Georgia police officer Cory Waldrop was the subject of the makeover in the episode, and his discussion about racism, politics, and much more with Karamo Brown made for truly gripping television as the Fab Five worked to make over the husband and father.
Since undergoing his Fab Five makeover, Cory has maintained a close relationship with Karamo, with Brown even calling Cory a true “lifelong friend” as a result of all the emotional ground they covered during their difficult conversations.
AJ Brown (“To Gay Or Not Too Gay”)
Episode four of season one, “To Gay Or Not Too Gay,” finds the Fab Five offering some much needed TLC to AJ Brown, a young man who was struggling with how to come out to his stepmother. While openly living his life as a gay man among his friends, and even being in a serious relationship at that point, AJ was feeling incredibly anxious about how to come out to his family, and how to present himself as a comfortably gay man in public, too.
After his confidence-boosting makeover, AJ was able to come out to his stepmom in one of the series’ most emotional moments. Since then, he went on to share some incredibly exciting news in June 2018: AJ and his longtime boyfriend, Andre, are now married.
Bobby Camp (“Camp Rules”)
“Camp Rules,” the first season’s fifth episode, finds the Fab Five trying to improve the life of the harried father of six Bobby Camp. A hardworking father who barely slept two or three hours a night, Bobby had more or less given up on taking care of himself and his appearance, putting all his effort instead into raising his children, working his job, and building his faith community.
Bobby’s episode is perhaps best remembered for his frank discussion of religion and love with designer Bobby Berk. Since the episode aired, it looks like Bobby Camp has continued on with his new approach to life - at least if his wife’s Instagram posts are anything to go by. The Camp family seems to be as sweet as ever, and Bobby’s style makeover has definitely stuck.
Remington Porter (“The Renaissance of Remington”)
Episode six of season one, “The Renaissance of Remington,” finds the Fab Five coming to the rescue of Remington Porter, a young man living in his late grandmother’s retro style home and at a loss as to how to start an independent, driven life. With dreams of being a business mogul like Don Draper, it was clear that Remy had a whole lot of potential inside of him. He just needed the support of the Fab Five, his family, and his best friend, Ponder, to get him there.
According to his Instagram account, it looks like Remington has really become a man of the world, working in real estate and traveling abroad. Recent posts show him traveling to the Dominican Republic, Thailand, and Cuba. He also seems to be a big fan of hitting the gym now, too, which shows a marked change from his laid back approach to self-care in the beginning of the episode.
Joe Gallois (“Below Average Joe”)
“Below Average Joe,” the first season’s seventh episode, follows the makeover of aspiring stand up comedian Joe Gallois. Joe had struggled to make a name for himself on the comedy scene, living in the shadow of his brother, and didn’t put much stock in his own talent or much effort into crafting a signature look. All of that, of course, changed with the arrival of the Fab Five, who helped him clean up his look, hone his material, and brand himself as a marketable comedian.
While Karamo created a website for Joe to market his talents, Joe took it down shortly after the episode aired. Nevertheless, Joe is still active on the comedy scene, performing in gigs whenever he can and honing his craft as a social media observational comic on both Twitter and Instagram.
Jeremy Holmes (“Hose Before Bros”)
The first season finale of Queer Eye, “Hose Before Bros,” finds the Fab Five coming in to help makeover firefighter and father of five Jeremy Holmes. The dedicated family man wasn’t as interested in helping himself as he was in helping his fellow firefighters, which was why Bobby worked to redesign their firehouse living space. But of course, Jeremy also got the standard self-care and self-esteem boosts that only the Fab Five are able to provide.
Since the first season aired in February 2018, Jeremy shared some truly exciting news: in July 2018, he was named the new Fire Chief of the Covington Fire Department. He is also currently finishing up his last year of law school, in addition to his work as Fire Chief, and parenting his five adopted children along with his wife, Bonnie.
