Can You Believe?

Queer Eye Season 2’s Most Memorable Makeovers: Where Are They Now?

Netflix’s Fab Five give essential updates on Tammye, Ari, Skyler, and more of their greatest “heroes.”
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Courtesy of Netflix.

The members of Queer Eye’s Fab Five don’t refer to the people they make over on their Netflix hit as “subjects” or “contestants.” Instead, these self-improvement specialists—who just premiered the second season of their uplifting, burgeoning pop-culture phenomenon of a series—affectionately call the people they help their “heroes.”

Now that the cameras have stopped rolling and the episodes have been binge-watched, Jonathan Van Ness (grooming), Bobby Berk (design), Antoni Porowski (food and wine), Tan France (style), and Karamo Brown (culture) continued the conversation backstage, following a sold-out panel discussion with fans at New York’s 92nd Street Y on Tuesday, to give post-show updates on a handful of fan favorites from both Seasons 1 and 2.

Season 2’s opening episode featured Tammye Hicks, the reboot’s first female “hero”—an active church member from Gay, Georgia, who came to accept her gay son, Myles. Once, Myles refused to attend church, felt rejected from home, and did not know how to connect with his family; now, he and his mother have a close and loving relationship.

“I talk to Tammye a lot on Instagram. I’m always on the D.M. with my queen,” said Van Ness. “I’m happy to let you know she is doing really good. She’s killing it by living her gorgeous life. Tammye, still just nurturing other people and giving so much of herself all the time.”

Brown added that Myles has established an even closer bond with his mother since the episode was filmed. “He’s now connected to his family, he’s now singing at the church again, he’s doing all these things that he didn’t do before. In essence, the episode was about a homecoming. Myles has now come home and he’s flourishing.”

Neal Reddy, the tech guy with a Grizzly Adams-looking beard—featured in the second episode of Season 1—is the hero that every member of the Fab Five has been actively chatting with over text and phone calls. The Queer Eye cast shared that he is currently confident and far more engaged than he was before he met them.

“Neal was in a very dark place in his life. He was very depressed. He had lost the passion and the zeal for anything in his life,” said Berk. “I’ve been there. I’ve had those mental-health issues where you just get to the point where you don’t care anymore. So to be able to show him, and to show the world, that just a little bit of self-care and self-love can completely change your mental health and your life—that man is texting me tile samples now! Neal is finishing remodeling the rest of his house that I didn’t get to, and he’s constantly texting me tile samples. He’s in such a happier place because he was shown a little love.”

Porowski agreed that Reddy has become a completely different person, one who embraces his self-worth. “I really feel like he woke up after we met him,” said the food and wine expert. “From his posture to the fact that he couldn’t engage in eye contact when we first got there, he’s changed. It was a very huge change inside and out.” Reddy now makes frequent trip to Cooks & Soldiers, the restaurant Porowski took him to for a food demo, where he holds court over sangria and tapas. “He’s exploring different culinary endeavors and has questions for me about omelets and things like that. I feel like it really stuck with him and he’s only been growing.”

William Mahnken, the movie-buff Walmart employee from Season 2 whose style icon was Frasier Crane, successfully found the courage to propose to his longtime girlfriend, Shannan, after taking the Fab Five’s advice. The couple made their relationship official by tying the knot last Saturday, June 16.

“Yeah, we all know they got married. They’re very much in love,” said Brown. “What I love about their love story is that his focus was to be an actor, but now it’s sort of shifted. He’s realized so many people were inspired by his love that he wants to continue to use his ‘I Shannan You’ platform to help and inspire people that you can find love in any place. You just have to overcome the fear like he did.”

Skyler, the transgender man who underwent top surgery (the removal of the breasts) shortly before he met the Queer Eye team, is still recovering physically, but living proudly and mentally feeling better than ever, according to Berk and Van Ness. France in particular has remained in contact with Skyler, who was the first trans person he had ever met.

“Skyler has taught me to be open-minded and to ask questions,” said France, who grew up in a conservative British-Pakistani family. “Sometimes I think we can be more ignorant because we’re not willing to ask questions, because we might think that we will offend somebody. But now, by asking these questions, I am saying, ‘I want to truly understand you better.’ That’s what he taught me. I’ve used that since then, saying, ‘I don’t know you, it might be insensitive—but do you mind if I ask you? I truly want to get to know you better.’”

Arian (who goes by Ari), the unmotivated 24-year-old student who failed to officially graduate from college, is no longer sitting at home all day long playing video games. He graduated from Georgia State University last fall and recently started a job as an analyst at a consulting firm in Atlanta. “I’ve been in contact with him and he finally graduated and has a job. I’m so proud of him,” said Brown. “He jokes that he still has some gray area that he lives in, but overall he is doing extremely well.”

Sean VanMeter, the 18-year-old singer-songwriter who was socially awkward because he was used to spending time with people decades older than him, has successfully finished his freshman year at Piedmont College and has made many friends his own age. He’s even attended a few college parties. “I just sent a message to everyone from Sean, and he literally went down a list and was like, ‘Thank you, Mr. Bobby. Thank you, Mr. Tan.’ It was the sweetest message,” recalled Brown. “He thanked us by saying, the way he now relates to the world as an 18-year-old man is different than what he would have ever, and that he is so much happier.”

Cory, the Trump-supporting cop from Winder, Georgia, featured in Season 1, is “one of the most dynamic changes I have ever seen, next to Neal,” Brown continued. “Cory texts me photos of him doing the hair routine that Jonathan taught him. He’s now an activist. His job and his position as a police officer is changing. He’s just extremely evolved now. Every time he does something that he used to not do, like comfort someone who had a negative point of view or ignorant point of view, he texts me like a proud kid, saying, ‘Look, I just did it!’ It’s pretty phenomenal to see that type of change because that’s so impactful for our country. To me, this is what our show is all about.”

The Queer Eye experience has forever changed these heroes—and it has also changed the Fab Five. For Berk, who has a complicated relationship with religion, meeting Tammye was a struggle—but in the process, he gained some new insight about the Christian community.

“For years, I had so much resentment and, frankly, hate towards a religious community for completely turning their backs on me. The day I came out, everything was taken away. Everyone who had said they loved me, suddenly said no,” said Berk. “Meeting Tammye was redeeming, though. She allowed me to see there are still good people in the church. I don’t instantly close off people who are religious now.” That said, the designer still refuses to step foot inside a church.

“Do I want to? No. It’s just not a place for me,” he said. “To me, I don’t need a church to be spiritual. I don’t need the confines of four walls to be that spiritual place for me. I can find my place wherever I’m at, and to me those four walls still have a lot of pain in them. So I would rather find my spirituality wherever I am, with the people that support me and love me for who I am.”

Tammye is also the hero that personally impacted Porowski the most. “Tammye shared about being so set in her ways and being such a conservative Baptist, and to have a complete shift in her perspective at her age is exemplary,” he said. “I try to take that in every facet of my life. She’s such a symbol for where I want the show to go to in future seasons. She’s the essence of unconditional love.”