Antoni Porowski has addressed rumours of beef between Queer Eye’s Fab Five. (Getty)
Food and wine expert Antoni Porowski has attempted to clear up rumours of in-fighting among the cast of Netflix’s Queer Eye.
The Fab Five’s world was rocked last November following the announcement that interior design specialist Bobby Berk would not be returning to the show after the release of season eight in January.
Burke’s announcement spurred a flurry of online rumours about potential conflicts among the publicly buddy-buddy stars, and he has now been replaced by fellow design specialist Jeremiah Brent.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight at the Disney/ABC Upfronts event last night (14 May), Canadian chef Porowski admitted that there is occasionally tension among the group, but he shut down suggestions that the cast are constantly at loggerheads.
“We’re hanging out, we’re going for dinners… we all hang out together. We’ve been sharing a trailer since day one, so yeah, sometimes we’re not gonna get along, but at the end of the day, we’re a family,” he said, referencing the current Queer Eye line-up.
“We’re like a middle-aged boyband, you know what I mean? Through thick and thin, we’re in it together.”
The reasons behind Berk’s departure from the show were apparently plentiful, with Berk himself being under the impression that season seven would be the last season for the other four stars – Antoni Porowski, Tan France, Jonathan Van Ness, and Karamo Brown – too, as they had reached the end of their contracts.
Yet the other four signed new contracts, while rumours of a rift between France and Berk escalated. France has since refuted claims that he was keen for Berk to leave the show and be replaced by his friend, Brent.
Brent will step into Berk’s shoes from the next season onwards.
“He’s just a really sweet guy. It’s just new blood,” Porowski said of Brent.
“He’s just killing it. He has an amazing design aesthetic, he cares so much, which is really sweet, and the only thing I’m a little salty about is he might even cry more than me, so I have my competition laid up for me.”
Brent has also since cleared the air regarding claims of a rift between the Fab Five members, urging that there is “no drama” between any of them.
As the Fab Five look ahead towards filming season nine of Queer Eye, they may still be under scrutiny from the show’s fans following a bombshell Rolling Stone investigation earlier this year.
The report included testimonies from production crew members who alleged that Jonathan Van Ness had “rage issues” and would “explode at least once a week” while on set.
Crew members also claimed that Van Ness’s on set antics led to there being “absolutely tension between everybody else” among the Fab Five, as Van Ness “didn’t want to ever share the spotlight with anyone”.
Van Ness cryptically addressed the situation via song lyrics in an Instagram post last month, but is yet to respond to the claims directly.
Queer Eye is streaming now on Netflix.