Queer Eye star Tan France reveals how COVID affected filming upcoming season 6
The Fab Five revisited a participant for the first time in the show's history due to the pandemic
It's only a matter of time before we see the Fab Five back on our screens for Queer Eye season six but it sounds like this series might be a little different due to the pandemic.
Antoni Porowski, Tan France, Karamo Brown, Bobby Berk, and Jonathan Van Ness were only five days into filming their first transformation when coronavirus hit last year. As a result, they had to make a few changes.
Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com, Tan France revealed how the pandemic impacted them, with close contact pretty much a no-no – something they struggled with on the Netflix series.
"We hadn't even finished the episode when the pandemic started. Our episodes take six days. On day five, we had to shut down and go home," he explained.
This led to the group revisiting a participant for the first time in the show's history in order to resume filming.
Tan, who has just launched his very own podcast Queer Icons, continued: "We were able to catch up with that person and the reason why I kind of love that we went back to this person is because we got to see how their life changed. We knew who they were from before the pandemic and their life was affected so drastically because of the pandemic, so I think that is a fascinating episode. We've never revisited somebody, and we revisited them a year later."
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On each episode of Queer Eye, the Fab Five give a participant a marvellous makeover from their look to their lifestyle; they get to learn about the person and get very close to them. However, social distancing restrictions made this much harder.
"It affected the show in a really difficult way," Tan explained. "Our show is about connection. We are such huggers but we were only allowed to hug them on day one, and when we left, and no other physical contact, which is hard for my job. I have to touch them, I have to dress them, so it was weird to say, 'Here's the clothes on that hanger,' and then walk away.
"It was a lot more difficult than I've ever experienced. And I felt like a d**k because I'm such an affectionate person, so it felt like such a d**k move to not to be able to hold people and hug them when they were crying. I just had to say, 'I'm really sorry,' when really I was thinking, 'Give this person a hug!'"
Queer Eye season six will arrive on Netflix soon. Tan France’s Queer Icons is available to download now (for Audible members or free with Audible’s 30-day trial) www.audible.co.uk/queericons. While you’re waiting, check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight.
