DC ExtraTime: Queer Eye with Karamo

Repost of an ExtraTime story previously posted during Champs vs. Stars, 

updated to include trailer that dropped this past week

BY DC CUEVA                     

■ @DC408Dxtr  @ TW / IG / YT

With the cat out of the bag now of what will go down January 2nd, one of those who we'll be seeing on that Vendettas season is Devin, who we last saw be eliminated in the first Purge on Dirty 30, but earlier this year teamed with his AYTO perfect match Rashida to win AYTO Second Chances in Australia. After original host Ryan Devlin took his leave after the Season 5 collapse and before Terrence J. took over for Season 6, Real World Philadelphia's Karamo Brown hosted that spinoff, bringing us back memories of his time on Season 15 of the reality O.G., his lone Challenge, Inferno II, and him being reality TV's first African-American gay man. And Karamo is the focus of this ExtraTime which takes this story across the cable dial.

Karamo (2nd to left), with fellow QE hosts Bobby Berk,
Antoni Porowski, Jonathan Van Ness & Tan France.

If your mom happens to be an avid reality TV watcher -- which is the case of fellow MTV podcast host Brian Cohen and his mom Sue (@PlainViewSue), then likely her favorite cable channel is Bravo. It was once that snoozy, PBS-style channel airing high-brow programming like fine arts, film and something still on air today in Inside the Actors Studio with James Lipton. But once NBC Universal acquired the channel in 2003, it became home to reality series catering to both the housewives and the gay & lesbian community, led by The Real Housewives franchise.
   The show that helped spur Bravo's rise in cable land was Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, which premiered in summer 2003 and turned Ted Allen, Kyan Douglas, Thom Filicia, Carson Kressley and Jai Rodriguez -- aka the "Fab Five" -- into the channel's first big-name stars. With their passions of fashion, style, grooming, interior design and pop culture, as well as them all being "queer" in being gay, the Fab Five teamed with on a usually straight guy in giving his style, home and ways of life a new makeover. The series became a cultural phenomemon, won an Emmy Award and spawned an female spinoff.
   More than a decade after its Bravo version went off the air, earlier this year Netflix announced a new version of Queer Eye, with a new generation of the Fab Five to bring this hit series to the capital of all of your binge-watching. Karamo was lucky enough to be picked to be part of this new iteration as Jai's old role as the resident culture expert of the Fab Five, focusing not only pop culture but also building relationships and social interaction which has certainly changed since 2003 in us having 2nd relationships with our smartphones. He will be joined by groomer Jonathan Van Ness, fashion lover Tan French, food & wine expert Antoni Porowski and designer Bobby Berk, and this group will call Atlanta home instead of New York.
   Amidst the backdrop of the new America in these tense times and just a few months after fellow pioneer Will & Grace returned to the air, show creator David Collins says of the new Queer Eye, "It’s a new time with a new audience. If the original round was about tolerance, this time it is about acceptance." And given what happened on Karamo's Real World season of having a brush with the police and saying the N-word, he will have a moment to relive that when he and a local police officer will get to discuss relations between the cops and the African-American community.
   In talking to Entertainment Weekly, Collins adds of Karamo, "Karamo is just the epitome of style and taste and class. He’s so charismatic, he pulls you right in, smart as a whip. What’s beautiful about him is, he’s an amazing listener; he stops and really hears what everyone, what the guys are saying to him and then he’s able to really process that and bring it back. It’s really a beautiful gift of his."
   Given his broad TV resume since we first saw him move into that Real World house thirteen years ago, when Netflix announced Queer Eye's return Karamo was no doubt on that shortlist of those who would help to bring this show to a new generation. And given the qualities Collins mentioned in him, no doubt Queer Eye and Karamo Brown are a perfect match... it drops in February on Netflix.

- I AM DC