Netflix’s ‘Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’ Reboot Has Found Its Food Expert

Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, a show that turned wide swaths of America onto fresh new ways to eat, dress, and decorate their dwellings, is gearing up for a reboot on Netflix more than a decade after the original program left the air. Although the new show will adhere to the same general format — experts in food, fashion, culture, design, and grooming give schlubby dudes complete lifestyle makeovers — the show’s creator, David Collins, thinks the goals of the new Fabulous 5 will be slightly different this time around.

“It’s a new time with a new audience,” Collins tells Entertainment Weekly. “If the original round was about tolerance, this time it is about acceptance.”

For the first series, Collins tapped a young journalist, Ted Allen, to be the food expert. He, of course, went on to become a bona fide food personality and the host of Food Network’s Chopped, a show that’s currently in its 35th season.

But for the reboot, that role will be filled by a relative newcomer to the food scene: actor Antoni Porowski. According to his IMDB page, Porowski has had roles in short films and a cameo on The Blacklist. The main reason for his casting, it seems, is that Allen knows him personally and can vouch for his taste in food and wine. Collins remarks: “He was actually Ted [Allen]’s protégé. Ted sent him our way and we couldn’t be happier. He’s got that adorable face and you just want to squeeze his little head off.” Apparently, Porowski previously worked as Allen’s personal chef. Judging by his Instagram page alone, it’s clear that Antoni cooks a lot.

Although Queer Eye might not be familiar to TV viewers under the age of 30, the show had a huge impact on TV and pop culture in general. As Ted Allen noted on the Eater Upsell last year, it was the first American TV show to feature an all-queer cast, and it paved the way for the kind of lifestyle-centric television that dominates cable programming these days. “We made 99 episodes and it became the linchpin of what Bravo still is today,” Allen said. “The president of Bravo used to say this all the time. She called it the Queer Eye Unified Theory of Bravo, which was, those are still the subject areas that they’re interested in.”

Head over to Entertainment Weekly for details on the rest of the Fab 5 2.0, and stay tuned for more info on the Queer Eye reboot, which will land on Netflix in February, 2018.

• Meet the new Queer Eye Fab 5 in this first look [EW]
• Ted Allen Explains the Hoax That Is His Career [E]