Bobby Berk Just Revealed Why He Left Queer Eye

Bobby Berk shocked Queer Eye fans in November by announcing that Season 8 would be his last, while the rest of the Fab Five – Karamo Brown, Tan France, Antoni Porowski, and Jonathan Van Ness — would return for a ninth season. Two months later, the interior designer has revealed why he’s leaving the Netflix series, also addressing rumors that he was feuding with France.

Speaking to Vanity Fair, Berk explained that the cast signed a seven-cycle contract with Netflix that ended when they wrapped filming Seasons 7 and 8 in New Orleans in September 2022.

“The Fab Five and the crew, we all stood there, and we took pictures and cried,” he said about what he imagined was their last day of filming. “We thought we were done. Mentally and emotionally, I thought we all moved on. I know I did, and I started planning other things.”

Why Berk Didn’t Return

During the actors’ and writers’ strikes, Netflix decided to renew Queer Eye and offered the cast new four-cycle contracts. Berk decided to stick with his plans and not accept it, and he said the others considered following his lead.

“We’d just assumed that the show wouldn’t come back if we all didn’t come back,” he explained. However, the remaining four eventually changed their minds. “And with only one of us not coming back, Netflix felt [it] could recast one person,” he said. VF confirmed that Netflix is replacing Berk, and the search is underway.

Berk was initially hurt by their decision. “Each one of us had our reasons why we did what we did,” he said. “I can’t be mad—for a second I was.”

However, it wasn’t enough for him to reconsider. “All the plans that I had made when I thought we weren’t coming back, I just wasn’t willing to change those,” he said. These plans include his new book, Right at Home: How Good Design Is Good for the Mind, and expanding his home design firm.

Berk’s Feud With France

Although his rumored feud with France had nothing to do with his decision to leave, Berk admitted that he did clash with his co-star. In the fall of 2023, fans noticed that he unfollowed France on Instagram and hadn’t tagged him in group photos of the Fab Five, which he attributes to an unspecified “moment” between the two.

“There was a situation, and that’s between Tan and I, and it has nothing to do with the show,” he said. “It was something personal that had been brewing—and nothing romantic, just to clarify that.”

Berk regrets that his decision led to their fight being discussed publicly. “Should I have unfollowed Tan? No,” he said. “Maybe I should have just muted him. But that day, I was angry, and that’s the end of it. We became like siblings — and siblings are always going to fight.”

However, he said they hugged and congratulated each other at the Emmys on Jan. 7 after the Fab Five won for Outstanding Structured Reality Program. Berk has hope that they’ll soon mend their friendship. “I can foresee in six months or a year, Tan and I at each other’s house being good,” he said.