Bobby Berk breaks silence on ‘situation’ with Tan France amid Queer Eye departure

Bobby Berk had admitted that there was a “situation” with his former Queer Eye co-star Tan France – but that the two will always be brothers and have since moved on. 

It emerged in late 2023 that Bobby was leaving the hit Netflix series, and he then unfollowed Tan on social media. It led to speculation that his departure was due to a feud between the pair, but the interior designer has now insisted that the pair “will be fine”. 

“I hope this interview will help extinguish some of the speculation,” Bobby told Vanity Fair as the seventh season of the Netflix reality show dropped on the platform. “Tan and I had a moment. There was a situation, and that’s between Tan and I, and it has nothing to do with the show. It was something personal that had been brewing — and nothing romantic, just to clarify that.” 

“Should I have unfollowed Tan? No,” he added. “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.” 

Bobby also shared that his departure came because the Fab Five – Bobby, Tan, Antoni Poworski, Karamo Brown and Jonathan Van Ness – had only signed a seven-season contract which came to an end in 2022. He claimed that on their final day of filming the current season in New Orleans they “stood there, and we took pictures and cried”. 

“We thought we were done. Mentally and emotionally, I thought we all moved on. I know I did, and I started planning other things,” he admitted. But due to the WGA and SAG strikes in 2023, Netflix reached out to the five about a new contract as they were in need of new content, and Bobby revealed that he “wasn’t willing to change” the plans he had already made when he believed the show was not returning. 

© Byron Cohen

“I would have had to pump the brakes on multiple other projects that are already in process. We had mentally just prepared ourselves to move on — that’s why I left.” 

Queer Eye is a multi-Emmy award winning series that sees the five men help a down-on-their-luck “hero” find self-confidence, improve both their physical and mental health, and turn their life around. 

The series has worked with people from Atlanta, Austin, Philadelphia, and New Orleans, as well as specials set in Australia and Japan.