Saturday, September 7, 2019

DC ExtraTime: The Ginger Man Meets The Queer Eye Fab Five

EDITOR'S NOTE: Because of the sensitivity and the recent controversy surrounding the subject being featured here, comments have been turned off for this post.

BY DC CUEVA                        
■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

It's now the month of September, and for those in television land this is the time where the cycle begins all over again: the 2019-20 broadcast year and the fall television season begin this month as the biggest shows on broadcast network television return along with the debut of many new series. The folks in cable land and in the streaming sphere have had a few months' headstart on their free-to-all counterparts with plenty of new shows and seasons.
   This Monday, the syndicated shows will get a headstart on their season, with one of those shows getting to welcome three familiar faces to MTV viewers... and we'll elaborate much more on that when it comes around. And for reality fans, in two weeks from now is what is regarded by many as the biggest night in the entire genre: the doubleheader of the season premiere of season 39 of Survivor and the finale of season 21 of Big Brother. And before that, this coming week sees the season finales of both Bachelor in Paradise and Are You The One?.

September also means that the annual celebration of the past twelve months in television will soon take place, when the 71st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards are handed out on Sunday, Sept. 22nd, just a few days before the official start of the network television year. Last year's Emmys marked a milestone in LGBT community's continued progression in their representation and acceptance on mainstream TV: RuPaul's Drag Race on VH1 added more statuettes to its awards case including the show's host winning the award for Outstanding Reality Host.
   But just as impressive was it being given their Emmy on-stage by the Fab Five of Netflix's revival of Queer Eye, which itself also won three awards of their own in Outstanding Structured Reality Program and two others at the 2018 gala. This year, it's up for that Outstanding Structured Reality Program honor again, along with four other Emmy nominations. And Drag Race is up for fourteen statuettes, all part of a summer that's seen AYTO, The Real World Atlanta and Ex On The Beach fully embrace the LGBT community.


Today - Saturday, September 7th - marks fifteen years since the national television debut of Karamo Brown, when he moved into The Real World Philadelphia house and became the reality genre's first African-American gay man. He holds a unique distinction in having done shows related to each of the three shows of what this site calls, the "Trifecta" - his original Real World season, one season of The Challenge on The Inferno II, and the Are You The One? spinoff, Second Chances in 2017.
   It was after that gig in Melbourne, Australia that Karamo got a call to join Antoni Porowski, Tan France, Bobby Berk and Jonathan Van Ness as the new Fab Five. The huge outpouring of support and acclaim for this second generation of a 2000's Bravo fan favorite has seen not one, but two seasons of Queer Eye this year: season 3 debuted in March while the current fourth season debuted in July, and a fifth season has been ordered for a premiere date in 2020.

Last month, the cast of this year's installment of a venerable fall tradition, Dancing with the Stars, was revealed on Good Morning America, and Karamo was selected to join this year's class of celebrities who will be competing for the famed mirror ball in the U.S. adaptation of the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing series. He joins Snooki, Mischa Barton, Kristin Cavallari, Audrina Patridge, Steve-O, Romeo Miller, CvS alums Terrell Owens, Lolo Jones, Shawn Johnson and Louie Vito; Teen Mom's Bristol Palin, Kelly & Jack Osbourne, TRL alum Vanessa Lachey, and 90's House hosts Christina Milian & Lance Bass among those with MTV ties who've appeared on DWTS.
   This year's class has something for everyone: Bachelorette Hannah Brown, Fifth Harmony's Ally Brooke, Christine Brinkley, NFL legend Ray Lewis, Nickelodeon icon Kel Mitchell, Dawson's Creek heartthrob James Van Der Beek, NBA'er & Kardashian husband Lamar Odom, and Mary Wilson of The Supremes. But the one inclusion that caught everyone's eye & ire was that of former White House press secretary Sean Spicer, and it was the support given by Karamo to a key figure in the soap opera at the White House that saw social media revolt on Karamo and led him out of Twitter for the time being.

Twitter @WestonBergmann
The 2019 seasons of Queer Eye have seen the show take its talents from the Atlanta area to the part of the country that series creator David Collins grew up in: the Midwest. And though his first choice was to bring his creation and the Five to Collins' hometown of Cincinnati, both seasons 3 and 4 are taking place in Kansas City. That is the home to several MTV'ers: three-time Challenger and Real World alum Sylvia from Season 30, Jenny from RW Ex-Plosion, and a man who made his return to regular Challenge competition earlier this year on War of the Worlds.
   After participating in all three legs of The Challenge's other and more lighter trilogy of Champs vs. Pros/Stars, Wes Bergmann returned to a full-fledged season in taking a break from the passion that he started after his second Challenge win and took time off to pursue it: entrepreneur and helping those in KC and Tulsa, OK with getting their businesses off the ground... as well as having Hunter join him to build a new gym. After finishing in 3rd place in last season's final, this week saw him battle not just the water, but also an illness he had been battling after he moved into the house. He had medics help him out after that challenge, but appears to be OK despite not being at 100%.

Before flying out to do his first regular Challenge season since Rivals III, Wes found that Queer Eye was filming in what the locals there simply call their hometown, KCMO. Being that an MTV alum is part of the new cast - and that his wife was one of those who love to binge-watch the show as her favorite show on TV, Karamo hooked up Wes and co. to watch, behind the scenes, them film Season 3 of the show as they went around "the Heart of America," and he posted the first of two pics with the cast when that season was posted on Netflix back in March.
   And earlier this week amidst the news surrounding Karamo was circulating, Wes got to share his Queer Eye story with his Instagram followers, two months after Season 4 debuted.

 INSTAGRAM @westonbergmann 
"I ran into Karamo at the airport. He invited my wife and I to set because they were filming season three and four in our city. She had seen every episode of season one and two. I had never seen it, but was leaving for The Challenge a couple days later and wanted to score some points. ⁣She loved it; it made her day; and bought me a lot of leeway for when I left her for two months.    When we arrived we got to meet the entire cast. They were incredibly welcoming, so I gave the show a shot. Especially because it features my hometown. ⁣It was fucking glorious. So darn motivational. And incredibly funny. I’ve since gone back and watched season one and two, and can now say I’ve seen every episode and am pumped for season five. ⁣Since watching I’ve grown out a beard and landscape it everyday (Thanks Jonathon). I’ve redecorated my kitchen and living room (Thanks Bobby). I hug everyone whenever I see them; confront anyone who has tried to kill me; and smile more (Thanks Karamo). I cook more often (Thanks Antoni). I dress up for work (and play) more than I have in over a decade, or probably ever honestly (Thanks Tan). ⁣   Long story short: these men are badasses. And their show is a great deviation from my normal viewing (serial killers, drugs, hookers, soccer, football). ⁣   Cheers! 🍻 ⁣#queereye #yesqueen"












This past week, the nominations for this year's People's Choice Awards were announced... and both Karamo's and Wes' shows were shortlisted for the original awards show where the fans have all say in who wins. Queer Eye was nominated for Reality Show of 2019, joined by Faith Stowers' original show Vanderpump Rules, Jersey Shore, Love & Hip-Hop, Bachelor in Paradise, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and the Beverly Hills and Atlanta portions of Bravo's Real Housewives franchise. And The Challenge is up for Competition Show of 2019, joined by Drag Race, American Idol, America's Got Talent, The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, The Voice and The Masked Singer. Queer Eye is also up for Binge-Worthy Show, while the subject of MTV's YouTube show No Filter: Tana Turns 21, Jake Paul's wife Tana Mongeau, is up for Social Star, among other nominations for the big gala to take place in November.

And it was on Thursday that Karamo returned from a temporary social media hiatus after the events of over a week ago, and he posted on Instagram @Karamo: "So... some of you may know I deleted my other social media pages and took a long break from posting on ig because I been in a bad state of mind. My kids/family & I were being threatened by strangers... People who I thought supported & loved me turned their backs on me... saying I was a traitor, a horrible person, delusional and treating me really bad... but as I walk into my first dance rehearsal for @dancingabc No More Tears and No More Holding My Head Low! Im playing my favorite/pick me up song from @marenmorris ... taking a deep breath and reminding myself #EverythingsGonnaBeOkay ❤️😘 #ImBack".


- I AM DC
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