Lists

Why did Nick Groff leave Ghost Adventures?

Published

6 mins ago

April 18, 2024

Olivia Wilson

A lot of people believe in the paranormal, and although not many could claim to have experienced something like it, many have been intrigued by the idea and definitely wouldn’t pass on the opportunity to watch “Ghost Adventures.” Paranormal investigator, Nick Groff, catapulted to fame when he starred in the highly-rated reality television series from Syfy, formerly the Sci-Fi Channel. Fans were shocked when it was announced that he would be leaving the show at the height of its popularity in 2014, which led to various speculations, considering that he’s also one of its creators and executive producers.

Table of Contents

Early life and family

Nicholas Groff was born on 19 April 1980, in San Jose, California USA. His father David, was a lawyer, and his mom Maureen worked at his law firm. Nick grew up along with his sister, Dianna, in New Hampshire, as his family moved to a small town called Nashua when he was one year old. At age six, they moved to Salem, New Hampshire, which just 26kms away. His home was surrounded by forest, and he loved to explore the woods and all their mysteries. They later moved to Pelham, a short distance away.

At St. Patrick School, Nick wanted to make people laugh and be the center of attention so much so, that his teachers called him a ‘distraction in class.’ It didn’t help that he was ‘a smartass to his teachers.’ He daydreamed a lot in class, as he loved creating scenarios in his mind in which he became part of a movie he’d recently watched. ‘I was right there with the characters having an adventure. And when I left the theater, those adventures would continue, in the woods and in my head,’ he said. His teacher noticed, and helped him write it all down, which was how he started to develop his skills in storytelling.

However, his troublesome behavior at school resulted in his parents often being called. It came to a point that he was asked to leave, as the school couldn’t handle him anymore. He transferred to a Pelham public school in his sixth grade, and the kids yhere who were bigger, tougher, and crazier than him. Fortunately, with the help of a newfound friend who turned out to be his neighbor in Pelham, he was never bullied.

Journey to the paranormal

Horror has been his favorite genre in movies since he was a kid. He’s a huge Stephen King fan, and watching “Nightmare on Elm Street,” “Children of the Corn,” and “Twilight Zone” would give him nightmares such that he usually ended up sleeping in his parents’ bedroom, at the foot of their bed. However, it never stopped him from watching scary movies, as Nick loved the adrenaline rush brought by fear.

Nick has been sensitive since he was a kid, and would feel a presence in the room with him, but he would sometimes chalk it up to having an overactive imagination until it faded from his memory for a while.

Near-death experience

At age eight, Nick climbed a tree that was old with parts that were rotten until he was 12 feet – about four meters off the ground, and then a branch snapped and he fell. His left arm was cut open by a cyclone fence and his mom could see his torn muscles as his biceps was hanging from the bone.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CTHqtGVrtmB/

His mom was a former nurse and pressed a shirt to the wound. Had his mom not see him fall, or didn’t know what to do, he would have bled to death. He ended with 50 stitches on the inside and another 50 on the outside of the arm. Nick had been on the swim team since he was four, so his coaches and parents forced him to swim, even if each stroke was painful, to help rehabilitate his arm.

The accident didn’t stop him from going on adventures, and he was still as reckless as ever. After a year, he was back in the woods and attempting to swing using a rope attached to a branch; it snapped, and he fell on top of the leaves with rocks underneath. Nick lost consciousness and woke up feeling dizzy, and felt blood at the back of his head. He went home and his mom took him to the doctor again, and he had three stitches.

His brush with death when he was eight made him more open to all things paranormal. His first experience with a ghost was when he was 10. After school, he was dropped off at his house.

How’s your Monday going?
Exploring new haunted locations. #deathwalker pic.twitter.com/eU6j8xNrtt

— Nick Groff (@NickGroff_) September 27, 2021

And although he was used to being alone, there was a sense of foreboding that time, and as he peeked into the dining room, he saw a tall black figure by the glass door. Nick was so scared that he ran out until he reached his neighbor’s yard, where he waited for his mom to arrive. He never talked about it to anybody, not even to his grandmother who was interested in aliens and ghosts.

Interest in television

His high school had a television station, and he started running the channel with a friend. Nick took a telecommunication class from a member of the faculty in charge of the station, and learned the basics of TV production, from running a switchboard to doing deck-to-deck editing, and became good at it. He made his first short movie for a class project in psychology – ‘I loved watching movies and film, and now I had a taste for making them,’ he said.

After he matriculated from high school, he studied film at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. where Nick met Aaron Goodwin, as they both attended a lecture about producing movies.

Aaron wasn’t a student there, but was interested in filmmaking. He helped Nick with a short horror movie project he was working on, and they became friends. Nick later produced the feature film “Malevolence”in his senior year, which was screened in 2004 at the CineVegas Film Festival.

Veronique

Nick met Veronique in science class when they were in sixth grade in Pelham public school; they dated each other’s friends before developing feelings for one another in high school, and Nick proposed to her in his senior year in college. After graduation, she worked as an event co-ordinator at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, while he did video production work for weddings and commercials. They were married on 25 September 2004 – Aaron filmed it, and Nick edited it. He went online and hired a Vegas Voltage DJ named Zak Bagans for the music. The couple now has two kids, Annabelle born in 2010, and Chloe in 2014.

Four Reel Production Company

Nick kept in touch with Zak, and worked with him for wedding gigs, with Nick as the videographer and Zak as the DJ.

Nick Groff

The two established Four Reel Production, as they wanted to do other production work. They were hired to film actors during the “Ocean’s 11” premiere, and to do a presentation video for the American Heart Association, to honor Siegfried and Roy.

They were making money but they also wanted to produce their own project. As Nick was watching a paranormal show, he said to Veronique – ‘How awesome would it be to go out there and see if there are ghosts, and try to capture them on camera?’ She encouraged him to do just that, so he broached the topic to Zak, who liked the idea as he’d once saw a ghost when he was a kid. They talked about doing a paranormal documentary film, with themselves as the investigators. Nick brought Aaron into the project, as the latter was good with camera work. Nick then asked his parents for a loan, to buy the equipment that they would need.

Investigating paranormal activity

For their first documentary, the three went to Virginia City, where Nick and Veronique visited in 2001 on their road trip to paranormal hot spots.

Where are you going this weekend?
Me – #exploring the #unknown in a reported #haunted location with a lot of #history #paranormal #deathwalker pic.twitter.com/CFHPUG0tJF

— Nick Groff (@NickGroff_) September 17, 2021

The desert town looked like the Old West, with saloons, an opera house, and old mansions. A lode of silver ore known as the Comstock Lode was discovered in 1859, and the town boomed, with its population reaching 30,000 by the 1870’s. When the output of the mines started to decline around 1878, people began an exodus as well, and it eventually became a ghost town. The town wasn’t without its tragedies, from cave-ins to the great fire in 1875, so much so that even Mark Twain reportedly said that ‘the paper never lacked material for its front page’ because of it.

The crew stayed at the Silver Queen Hotel, and this was where they started provoking a ghost, which was Zak’s thing. In reaching the spirit of a prostitute who took her own life in Room 11, Zak pretended to do the same thing. This method was controversial, as some people in the paranormal community felt that it was disrespectful, not to mention dangerous as it could lead to possession, but Nick said that they get results with it. They found evidence of haunting as sounds of water filling the bathtub were heard, and Nick saw a strange mist forming by the door, followed by knocking sounds.

The phenomena were captured on their night vision camera.

They next stayed at the Miner’s Lodge at the Gold Hill Hotel and their audio recording captured an electronic voice phenomenon – on playback, they heard a voice saying, ‘Is it the devil?’ Their first apparition happened at a local establishment called the Washoe Club. Nick was watching the footage from the night vision camera that he set up in the former ballroom, and saw a semi-transparent ghost walking through the middle of the room.

Their first poltergeist activity was in Goldfield Hotel in Nevada. The spirit of a girl named Elizabeth was haunting the hotel, as she was killed in room 109; she was said to have been chained to the radiator while pregnant with the child of the Goldfield owner. When she gave birth, her baby was thrown down the basement’s mineshaft, and she was left to starve.

Just stepping inside the hotel gave Nick an ominous feeling, as it looked like something from a horror movie; it was the first time that Nick and Zak experienced a ‘lockdown’ in investigating paranormal activities.

It was dark, with only the LCD screen giving them light. Zak was taking photographs and Nick was filming him.

Nick could feel a presence following him as they explored the place. They saw someone peeking at them, and it was captured on film. While they were in the basement, they saw a brick levitated and hurled across the room; other things were thrown as well. They realized then that this invisible force could hurt them, so they ran out of the room. As they reviewed the footage, a disembodied voice was heard calling out Nick’s name; it was a first for him. After that, they escaped the place through the fire escape on the second floor.

“Ghost Adventures,” the movie

After all the filming was finished, Nick edited the documentary, and the music, which a friend wrote was added. They found an agent in Los Angeles who was interested in their work, and he advised on how to polish it. Syfy then got on board, and the “Ghost Adventures” documentary film originally had seven air dates in 2004 – nearly two million people watched the first one. It was a hit, and so another airing date was added.

They started to become popular, as their work was talked about online. They also formed the Ghost Adventures Crew, an organization composed of fans and paranormal investigators, and took the crew to the locations in the film so that they could have the same experience.

“Ghost Adventures,” the series

Nick made a sizzle reel, and he along with Zak and Aaron pitched the series to several networks. An executive from the Travel Channel liked the idea, and Matt Butler, the one who brought the British TV series, “Most Haunted” to the network in the US, came to view their work. After that, an eight-episode series was greenlit. Working on a series had a time limit, as they had to film for four days for an entire episode including reenactments, interviews and lockdown. The first episode, “Bobby Mackey’s Music World,” aired on 17 October 2008.

Their roles in the series just fell into place, with Zak having the front-man role who would relate the history of the place, Aaron the funny guy, and Nick the voice of reason.

Nick’s scariest moments in “Ghost Adventures” include an entity calling him by his full name at the Washoe Club, a spirit using him as an unwilling channel at the Moon River Brewery in Savannah, Georgia, and locking eyes for two seconds with a full-bodied apparition of a woman at the Linda Vista Hospital in L.A.

Nick’s exit from “Ghost Adventures

The TV series was quite successful, but Nick announced on 24 November 2014 that he wouldn’t be returning for the 11^th season. He thanked everyone for their support, and said, ‘I am honored to have helped build an amazing paranormal phenomena that has touched people’s lives all around the world.’ No reasons were given for his departure from the show, but Nick further shared that he would continue to investigate and research all things paranormal in the next stage of his life.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CSXG_xOLBHo/

Back in September 2014, he addressed a rumor posted by a fan on Twitter and said, ‘I did not quit Ghost Adventures.’

In December 2016, Zak, in his Twitter rant, accused someone of being deceptive for including “Ghost Adventures” in his ‘resume of achievements’, considering that he was fired from the show for doing ‘bad things’, but not specifying what they were. It was said that Nick violated the terms of his contract, and went behind their back to produce another paranormal show on a depsrate channel in 2014 – “Ghost Stalkers” aired on Destination America. Zak also tweeted, ‘Disgusted to see someone using our show name ‘Ghost Adventures’ to keep promoting shows & himself that we want absolutely nothing to do with.’ Around that time, Nick was promoting the second season of TLC’s “Paranormal Lockdown”, in which he was the paranormal investigator, and one of its executive producers.

https://www.facebook.com/thelittleentertianingfacts/photos/a.166292960445924/1123026258105918/

Nick continued to delve into the paranormal in his TV projects, but hasn’t found one that was as successful as “Ghost Adventures.”

In his personal life, Nick and Veronique were divorced in 2018, after he was allegedly caught having an affair with Elizabeth Saint, another paranormal investigator who appeared in all 15 episodes of the “Ghosts of Shepherdstown” (2016-2017). Whether it’s true or not, their professional relationship was not affected, as she also worked with Nick behind the scenes in “Paranormal Lockdown” from 2018 to 2019, and “Death Walker” in 2021. Nick is currently engaged to the psychic medium, Tezza DelZoppo, whom he often referred to as his soulmate. ‘I have two girls and Tessa DelZoppo has two boys and we all love each other as one big family. We are very happy,’ he wrote in his Facebook post.

Even with all the rumors and speculation surrounding his work and love life, it was evident in his social media posts that he couldn’t be happier with everything that has happened in his life.

Olivia Wilson

As the Freelance Writer at Net Worth Post, I steer producing riveting stories about the lives and triumphs of influencers. With an unwavering commitment to precision and a flair for weaving compelling tales, I guide our content creation, from the depths of research to the pinnacle of narrative excellence. My responsibilities encompass the full spectrum of editorial management, including the meticulous investigation, narrative development, and upholding the integrity and high standard of our output.

Click to comment

Lists

What happened to ‘Win the Wilderness’ winners?

Published

2 mins ago

April 18, 2024

Olivia Wilson

There has always been considerable interest in reality television shows featuring Alaska, and “Win the Wilderness: Alaska” was no exception. It featured six British couples vying for a chance to own the homestead of Duane and Rena Ose as a prize. The show premiered on BBC2 in 2020, and then Netflix, with one lucky couple, Mark Warner and Emily Padfield, declared as winners. An unexpected drama unfolded after the show as what was supposed to be a dream come true became a nightmare, and had people wondering why things turned out the way they did.

Table of Contents

About “Win the Wilderness: Alaska”

The story of Duane and Rena Ose

The Federal Homestead Act of 1862 signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln, had Duane Ose and his 15-year-old son Dan, trekking in the remotest part of Alaska in 1985 in search of a new home to pursue a life in the wilderness that he had always dreamed about. He did find it near Denali National Park, and in October 1986, he filed a claim to the five-acre land he later named Ose Mountain.

Duane and his first wife divorced four years after she accidentally shot him in the eye at close range in 1978, with the bullet said to be still inside his head. He owned a concrete contracting company, but after the accident he started receiving Social Security disability payments. This left him free to do what he wanted with his life.

It was said that he had to live on and make improvements to the land for five years after claiming it, so it would qualify as a homestead. He started by building a 12ft x 15ft (4 x 5mtrs) dugout and lived there for four years, often by himself six months at a time. Needing female companionship, he advertised for one in a magazine during one of his trips to Minnesota, where his ex-wife and children lived. Rena from New Brunswick, Canada, who’s in her 40’s like him, answered his ad and they corresponded for a year before they met in person; it was Rena who proposed to Duane.

They were married and he brought her with him to Alaska, where they lived in the dugout for nine years while building the three-story house made up of around 2,000 spruce trees before they finally moved in. Rena peeled the logs, and also skinned the animals that Duane trapped.

They survived and even thrived following a self-sufficient lifestyle. The couple made improvements over the years, including building a greenhouse and a guest cabin, using solar power or generator, and installing a satellite dish for internet access. However, there’s no running water so that came from rain or melting snow. The nearest road is 100 miles away, but they had an airstrip where groceries could be flown in once a month.

Ose Mountain had been their home for 30 years, but with Duane and Rena in their 70’s and with health concerns, living there became much more difficult.

Could you live in the wilderness with your partner? Here are some tips from these loved-up couples… ??? #WinTheWilderness pic.twitter.com/y6HJoaVJFV

— BBC Two (@BBCTwo) February 20, 2020

Their children had no intention of taking over their home and following their lifestyle. According to his daughter Carol Hansen, the couple had been trying to sell their homestead for several years, but nothing came of it.

The show

The idea for a reality show was first pitched to American producers, and many were interested. However, they wanted to add their own spin to how his life story would be presented, and Duane wanted none of that. As a result, they ended up having British TV and a digital media group called Twofour as producers, and the couple was paid six figures. The six-episode series would be shown in the UK, which meant that those who would be competing to win the homestead and continue the legacy of the Oses would have to be British to make it more relevant to the viewers.

With almost 24 hours of daylight, filming was in May through June of 2019, at a wilderness camp near Lost Lake, almost 200 miles away from the Ose Mountain.

https://www.facebook.com/winthewilderness/photos/283593603230915

A local survival expert named Clinton “CJ” Stewart would give the challenges set by Duane and Rena which would ‘replicate the major hurdles they encountered in the wilderness.’ CJ would sometimes be joined by other experts to teach and assess each couple’s survival skills, and determine if they had what it takes to live in the area.

Six couples were chosen to participate in the show: world travelers Chris (sales manager) and Tina (industrial designer); long-time married couple Pete (retired police officer) and Jane (midwife); adventure-seeking academics Jerome (university lecturer) and Laura (sustainability consultant); childhood sweethearts Matt (RAF engineer) and Rachel; lifestyle bloggers Theo and Bee; and farmers Mark and Emily.

Their first challenge was to build shelters, and the whole group worked together in setting up tents for each couple.

It was followed by a series of tests, and after each one, a couple was chosen by Duane and Rena based on CJ’s feedback for a 24-hour stay at the homestead. so the elderly couple could get to know them better and observe them as they were put to work; only four couples were afforded this chance.

After staying with them, they would either head home to the UK or return to the wilderness camp to be part of the shortlist, no longer required to participate in the rest of the challenges but still given tasks. For Duane and Rena, the next owners should be able to fully commit to taking care of the place. They met with those on the shortlist to talk some more about how they envisioned life would be on Ose Mountain, and what their future plans were. It gave the Ose’s more insight into which couple would thrive living there. The Ose couple ultimately decided on Mark and Emily as the new owners of the Alaskan homestead.

Win The Wilderness

The winners

Mark Warner and Emily Padfield had been together for 10 years when they joined the show. She said she couldn’t imagine life without him, and he found contentment with her despite the 16-year age difference between them. His family has a traditional English farmhouse that’s 350 years old, and around 850 breeding ewes and 80 cattle. Mark has twins from his first marriage that lasted for 17 years, and his 23-year-old son, William, was left in charge while they were in Alaska.

Some viewers found it interesting that they were chosen to participate in the competition, much less win it, as they had the other obligation in the UK, and Emily has multiple sclerosis. She admitted that she couldn’t afford the health insurance in the US, and that her MS could flare up anytime in the form of fatigue, numbness, pins and needles, as well as waking up one morning not being able to walk or see.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CDcAsyMDnoc/

Mark understood her condition and helped her manage it, since there is still no cure. Fans of the show couldn’t help but wonder if they could take on everything in the wilderness, no matter how willing or determined they were.

They were upfront about their situation with the Ose’s, even if they knew it could lessen their chance of winning. At first, the Ose couple were unsure of Mark and Emily, not in terms of their competence and willingness to do hard work, but with his age as he’s in his 50’s, and her health issues. However, they really liked the two and said, ‘The reason we chose you two is because you’re basically in the same situation we were in when we started this. You two make a great couple.’ The deed to the homestead was signed in June 2019 – Mark and Emily stayed for a month with the Ose couple after winning.

Fans were wondering if the show was going to be renewed for season two, but so far there haven’t been any announcements from its producers.

What happened to Mark and Emily after the show?

As agreed upon, the remaining cast and crew left as soon as filming was over in 2019, and the Ose couple moved out by September and retired to Redwood Falls, Minnesota. However, things didn’t go as planned after that for a variety of reasons. Mark and Emily couldn’t go back to Ose Mountain due to the travel restrictions brought about by the covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Their friends in Alaska were looking after the homestead in the meantime, and keeping them updated. Their plans for the place include staying there as much as they can, once everything was in place and they could travel and then make it available for ‘veteran and first-responder therapy resource for wilderness-based rehabilitation.’

https://www.facebook.com/winthewilderness/photos/222457986011144

Rena Adeline Ose died on 14 May 2020 at the age of 76, from complications after heart surgery at a hospital in Minneapolis. She wanted her ashes to be scattered on Ose Mountain, and Emily and Mark planned to go with Duane to do just that. However, Duane suddenly distanced himself from them as well as his family, and decided that he’d be keeping the homestead. ‘Reclaiming my legacy, my home from faux foreigners who do not care for my wishes,’ he posted on Facebook. According to Duane, Mark and Emily violated the terms of their agreement concerning Ose Mountain, as he claimed that it was being neglected since the couple didn’t live there, as they were supposed to.

Some were wondering why Duane had a change of heart when it was his and Rena’s decision to ‘give’ the homestead to another couple via the reality show in the first place, and they were the ones who chose Mark and Emily as winners, even after they disclosed their situation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOMZ1FcQ6gc

Duane accused Mark of lying to him about not wanting to steal his legacy, and would return the homestead to him. In his Instagram post, Mark said that he would give it back if he could talk to Duane and he was of sound mind. In another post, Duane wrote that Emily and Mark ‘incited five weeks of aggressive harassment of an elderly man and a sweet caring woman who has helped me more than any one fb friend ever has.’ According to him, all those wellness checks only wasted the time and manpower of the troopers.

Communicating with Duane had been difficult as it was done through social media, and Emily said that the words in the posts were not what he generally used. This was frustrating for the couple who previously had a good relationship with Duane. They believed that he might have been influenced by the woman named Ellie-Mae Blair, also known as Eleanor Ribera or Ellie White, whom he married after Rena passed away.

The marriage to Ellie, whom he met on Facebook, was not verified by the family.

Duane’s children were worried that Ellie was only after his money, and wanted to cash in on his life insurance policy. On his Facebook page, he had been posting his complaints against his children, accusing them of leaving hurtful comments such as ‘You are too old. You are crazy…You are drugged. You are spending my inheritance. You are not safe to be in Alaska…and finally, you are not you?!!’

His daughter believed that it was actually Ellie who had been posting on Facebook, as this wasn’t how her dad used to write. Carol is very much concerned about the welfare of her father, who had suffered a heart attack as well as survived colon and prostate cancer. She further revealed that Duane and Rena had already been living in an apartment in Fairbanks every winter in recent years ,as it had become much harder for them to stay at Ose Mountain with their health issues.

In October 2020, Mark posted a video regarding Ose Mountain, saying that they had no plans as of yet on spending money on their project for the place, considering what had been happening with Duane. They decided to move on and focus on their farm at this time. Mark further shared that Duane and Ellie found a pilot who flew them there, with the former subdued and walking on unsteady legs upon landing with Ellie doing all the talking. The owners didn’t want the newlyweds living there as they were trespassing, but also worried about their safety, especially Duane given his condition.

A US Army helicopter went to rescue Duane and Ellie after the pilot who delivered the supplies reported Duane’s condition. Ellie said he had broken his back after a fall, but was diagnosed at the hospital with dehydration and a bladder infection. While there, Carol had the opportunity to talk to her father, but couldn’t convince him to live closer to the family.

Win The Wilderness

He said that Ellie had saved him, and didn’t like that everyone was mean to his wife and wanted to break up his relationship with her. Duane told Carol that he planned to hire people to help care for the homestead when they returned there, but troopers arrived at the hospital to talk to him about them invading the home that was already owned by the British couple.

On the Facebook page of the Fairbanks Police Department, it was posted that Duane was reported missing, was last seen on 29 November 2020, and asked for the public’s assistance in locating him. By 10 December 2020, it was said that he flew out of Fairbanks on the 7^th to go to the Midwest and was no longer considered missing.

In his post, Duane wasannoyed about people disrespecting his new wife whom he calls, ‘my lil cutie pie,’ and had to defend his decision in life, saying, ‘What better way to relax and enjoy my retirement years than to chase a beautiful naked wife around the garden, and enjoying her awesome cooking in front of the fire…’

Could you live in the wilderness with your partner? Here are some tips from these loved-up couples… ??? #WinTheWilderness pic.twitter.com/y6HJoaVJFV

— BBC Two (@BBCTwo) February 20, 2020

People who had watched Duane in “Win the Wilderness: Alaska” might be surprised when they read his Facebook posts, as he seemed a different man. It might be hard for some to reconcile the two, but perhaps the difference was that he’s moving on with his life with a new wife after losing both the homestead and Rena, and his family couldn’t accept that. However, his children couldn’t be blamed if they didn’t believe it was their father who uses his Facebook, unless they had the chance to spend time to talk to him. They wanted to see for themselves how well he’s living, so that they could stop worrying about him. They did turn to Alaska Adult Protective Services, but the officials refused to intervene as they said that Duane was still capable.

It was unfortunate for Mark and Emily that their dream turned into a nightmare. Their fans were hoping that they would push through with their plans for Ose Mountain as it was legally theirs. Based on their Facebook page, they are now busy with their farm and other projects such as building a tiny house.

Lists

Queer Eye: Where are they now?

Published

2 mins ago

April 18, 2024

Olivia Wilson

Netflix scored a hit with “Queer Eye,” a reboot of the American reality television series, “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” aired on the Bravo network from 2003 to 2007. It adapted well to the new era without losing the charm, magic and flair of the original, as it featured a new Fab Five bringing forth positivity and creating a better version of the individuals they meet. The show was well-received by viewers, with mostly favorable reviews from critics since it premiered in 2018, and earned Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Structured Reality Program, and Outstanding Casting for a Reality Program.

Table of Contents

The Show

The series ran for five seasons from 2018 through 2021, with special episodes that featured clients in Japan. The first two seasons were filmed in Georgia, and then in Missouri and Pennsylvania for the rest of the seasons.

https://www.facebook.com/QueerEyeNetflix/photos/1149162188901385

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, filming for season six was halted, so their schedule of airing two seasons per year didn’t push through in 2020. Filming was resumed in April 2021, in Texas.

According to one of the Fab Five, while the original series was fighting for tolerance, the revival was fighting for acceptance,. The format is basically the same, with five gay men in a car on their way to their clients, discussing how they were going to help improve their lives. However, this time around, their clients were not limited to heterosexual men, as they helped all kinds of people, regardless of gender, color, religion, and political or economic background. The show was not just about doing a makeover of a place or changing styles, but also instilling confidence and making people feel better about themselves, so that they could get out of the rut they were in, and reach for what they wanted out of life.

In the process of doing all this, they tackled issues that people were dealing with from day to day, making it relevant to most viewers, and giving them hope. At the very least, the show offered a moment of relief from what was happening in their lives or around them.

Searching for the new Fab Five

For “Queer Eye,” the secret in making it a phenomenal success as with the 2003 show was in the casting. Carson Kressley (Fashion Savant), Jai Rodriguez (Culture Vulture), Kyan Douglas (Grooming Guru), Thom Filicia (Design Doctor), and Ted Allen (Food and Wine Connoisseur) as the Fab Five were a tough act to follow. As early as 2016, Danielle Gervais of ITV America and Gretchen Palek of Leftfield Pictures started searching globally for five men who were masters of their craft. The finalists, 25 men for each area of expertise, were sequestered at an hotel where they went through improv sessions and interviews with people from Scout Productions, ITV America, and Netflix.

Let’s try this again y’all! ? We’re SO EXCITED to step our cowboy boots back in Austin to film Queer Eye: Texas! ? Can’t wait to bring more smiles (and tears) to your faces! ??✨ pic.twitter.com/f7rQihiYcV

— Queer Eye (@QueerEye) April 23, 2021

Five guys were grouped together for fishbowl questions to see ‘who looked great together, but also who allowed others to talk, and of course, who just got along.’

As they finally found the five relatively unknown individuals who met their qualifications, they were put on a final test run in which they had to transform a person and a home without knowing anything in advance, letting them do what they do best. They pulled it off, and the rest is history.

The New Fab Five

Jonathan McDonald Van Ness – Grooming extraordinaire

Jonathan was born in 1987, and has been openly gay all his life. He’s a professional hairstylist who starred in the Funny or Die series’ “Gay of Thrones” from 2013, in which he played the role of a stylist doing a recap of the recent episode of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” and earned a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Short Form Variety Series. His podcast is called “Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness.”

He launched his own hair care line called JVN Hair. In his Instagram post in December 2020, he shared that he married his best friend, Mark Peacock.

Karame Karega Brown – Culture and Lifestyle extraordinaire

Karamo was born in 1980 in Houston, Texas. He came out when he was 16, and in 2004 became the first openly gay black man in a reality show when he was cast in MTV’s “The Real World: Philadelphia.” After that, he worked for 12 years as a licensed social worker. In 2007, he discovered that he fathered a child when he was 15 with his high school girlfriend, and gained custody of his son named Jason and then in 2010, he adopted Chris, Jason’s half-brother. He and his ex-fiancé, Ian Jordan, went their separate ways in 2020, after being together for a decade.

Bobby James Berk – Design extraordinaire

Bobby was born in 1981 – he left home when he was 15, had no formal training, but worked his way up to become the creative director of a luxury home furnishing business.

In 2006, he launched the Bobby Berk Home online store, and later on a specialty interior design service called the Bobby Berk Interiors + Design. Bobby also has his own furniture line for A.R.T. Furniture. He and his boyfriend Dewey, a maxillofacial surgeon, were married in 2012 as soon as it became legal to do so.

Tanveer Wasim “Tan” France – Fashion extraordinaire

Tan was born in 1983 in South Yorkshire, England, and studied fashion at Doncaster College. He has worked in the US since 2008. After being employed by various brands and retailers as company director and/or designer, he established his own fashion company called Kingdom & State in 2011, and then launched a couple of apparel brands. He retired after selling his company, with plans to have a family with his husband, Rob, whom he married in 2007. His son, Ismail France, was born in July 2021 via surrogacy. His memoir entitled “Naturally Tan” published in 2019, became a New York Times bestseller.

Queer Eye

Tan was the first out gay Muslim, and one of the first South Asian men on TV who’s openly gay.

Antoni Janusz Porowski – Food and Wine extraordinaire

Antoni was born in 1984 in Montreal, Quebec. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Concordia University, but had no formal culinary training being was self-taught, but worked as a sommelier at a restaurant, and became the personal chef and assistant of Ted Allen, later opening a restaurant called The Village Den in New York City. In 2019, he released his cookbook “Antoni in the Kitchen,” which he called his culinary memoir, which established him as a New York Times bestselling author. In 2021, he released another the book “Let’s Do Dinner”, featuring simple recipes for his favorite meal of the day, and including personal anecdotes.

He’s in a relationship with Kevin Harrington, a strategic planner based in New York. People assumed he’s gay, but the closest description or label he has for himself was queer and fluid; he’s been with more women than men. People Magazine declared the John Mayer-lookalike as the Sexiest Reality Star in 2019.

The Heroes: Where they are now

In “Queer Eye,” the Fab Five called the people they helped “heroes.” The first episode set the tone for the rest of the series, and the viewers loved it. Here are some of the heroes they helped and how the show changed their lives for the better:

First episode: Tom – “You Can’t Fix Ugly”

In Dallas, Georgia, 57-year-old Tom has been living each day doing most of the same thing – getting up, going to work, and then home to his basement apartment where he would fix himself a redneck margarita and watch TV. His style of wearing jorts (jean shorts), had been the same for 27 years.

He believed that he’s unlucky in love, being divorced three times because he’s ‘butt ugly’ and even said that the guys could make him look better, but that ‘you can’t fix ugly.’ It was his daughter, Katie, who ‘nominated’ her father for the make-over.

The Fab Five went to his place and got to know him better, so that they could figure out how to help him. After that, they created a great space for him to entertain people, including his lady friend, gave him a new look, and made him change the way he looked at himself. The Fab Five left and went back to their office where they watched how the new Tom took Abby Parr out on a date to a car show, and then to his place where they enjoyed a light snack.

Abby was Tom’s third ex-wife, and they still see each other from time to time. He shared that the love was still there on both sides, and Abby told him that he’s the best man she had ever been with; he didn’t disclose what went wrong between them. Based on his Twitter posts after the show’s premiere, he and Abby were no longer together, but later reconciled.

Things seemed to be going great for the couple, as they tied the knot at a private ceremony in March 2018 in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. ‘The best part of the day was during the ceremony as we stood before the minister, both of us excited and happy to be recommitting ourselves to each other in marriage,’ he posted on Twitter. However, the two divorced again, finalized in September 2019.

AJ – “To Gay or Not Too Gay”

In Atlanta, Georgia, 32-year-old Anthony “AJ” Brown, who worked as a civil engineer, was nominated for the makeover by his best friend, Al, as he lived in a man cave and his style was conservative and masculine. He was uncomfortable showing off his good physique, as he associated it with gay people who were focused on looks. AJ said he was a different person at work, around his family, with friends, and when he’s alone. He has a long-time boyfriend named Andre, unknown to most as he’s not openly gay.

https://www.facebook.com/QueerEyeNetflix/photos/902674543550152

His biggest regret was not coming out when his father was still alive, so he planned to reveal his true self to his stepmother, and the Fab Five came to help him out.

After spending time with the Fab Five, he was transformed not just on the outside, but also on the inside. He said hearing their stories of coming out made him believe that he would survive his’ as well. It gave him the courage he needed to tell his stepmom about being gay, at the cocktail party at his place, where he also invited Andre and their close friends. In his room, she listened to him read his letter to his dad in which he said, ‘If what people say is true that our loved ones really do look down on us from heaven…then you also know that I’m gay.’ His stepmom assured him that he wouldn’t lose her, and that she’d always be there for him. AJ was finally able to enjoy his relationship with Andre in the open, and at Netflix’s FYSee event in June 2018, he revealed that he and Andre were married.

Queer Eye

Skyler – “Sky’s the Limit”

Skyler Jay is a 30-year-old transman from Athens, Georgia, who had undergone top surgery, which means her breasts were removed to have a masculine chest, six weeks prior to meeting the Fab Five. He said he was born a female, but realized early on that he’s different on the inside, so he was miserable in his body which affected his interactions with other people. His family didn’t understand, and even said that ‘I’m insane for thinking I could ever be a man.’ As a result, he made the painful decision to cut ties with his parents, and left home at 17.

It was one of his roommates, Katie, who nominated him for the makeover. In this new chapter of his life, the Fab Five came to help him ‘become the man he was born to be.’ He said that he had a Peter Pan syndrome, and it showed in the interior design of his place and his manner of dressing.

The Fab Five redecorated his apartment to make it more suitable for a young man, got him the suit that he had always wanted to have, and a more fitting wardrobe for work and play, then accompanied him in getting his new license with a male marker. Todrick Hall made a surprise visit to Skyler, who was so happy to see the YouTube star as he’d been such an inspiration to Skyler in his transition, as he learned to embrace both his masculine and feminine side.

Skyler went back to school, and finished his undergraduate studies in December 2018. He worked at the University System of Georgia (USG) Athens campus as a catering manager, and filed a lawsuit against his employer for not covering trans-related health expenses including affirmation surgery, in his health care plan. The insurance company wasn’t liable as they could only enforce the policy that was chosen by his employer.

https://www.facebook.com/TransFamilySOS/photos/gm.1442078289274770/1453679061438515/

As of September 2019, the policy was overturned, providing trans-inclusive health coverage for the 60,000 employees of the 26 public colleges.

Tammye – “God Bless Gay”

Tammye Hicks – fondly called Mama Tammye – from Gay, Georgia was the first woman to received a makeover from the Fab Five. She was nominated by her friend Gene, who said ‘If the world was full of Ms. Tammye, we wouldn’t have all the problems we have, that’s for sure.’ She’s a schoolteacher, who visited sick children and ushered people in at church which her grandmother had co-founded around 50 years previously.

They had an annual homecoming service coming up, and she wanted help from the Fab Five to put the finishing touches to their community center where it was going to be held. It was the first time her mom wouldn’t be able to attend, as she succumbed to cancer, so she’s emotional about this; Tammy herself was also diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer.

She’s married with three children, and her 22-year-old son Myles, moved back home from Atlanta and wasn’t keen on attending church or the homecoming, as he felt he wasn’t welcome after he came out as gay. He ended up going with his family, as he was assured of their love. The Fab Five designed the interior of the community center, and did a makeover of her bathroom. They also styled her and her children for church and the event.

Tammy said that she wasn’t the only one who transformed, but also her family and the community after the Fab Five visited them. ‘I’m living my best life,’ she said. The center had become a place where people loved to gather, and it also became a venue for the “Queer Eye” heroes’ get-together in September 2018.

“Queer Eye” is more than a makeover show, as it’s renewed the spirits of the people they meet, with the Fab Five teaching self-love and instilling self-worth to those who had forgotten, or didn’t know-how.