Bobby Berk just added more fuel to the 'Queer Eye' fire.

It's the wholesome TV equivalent of Zayn Malik's sudden exit from One Direction: one of Queer Eye's Fab Five, Bobby Berk, is leaving the show. 

But while he announced back on November 13, 2023, that the upcoming season eight (which will air on Netflix this month) will be his last, the drama around his departure is... ongoing. 

*Reclines in chair, sips tea.*

Let's take it back to the start, shall we? 

"The love that I have received from you all over the last six years has been absolutely surreal," he wrote in a statement on social media revealing his departure, sharing several throwback photos from the show.

"You have tuned in and been dedicated fans and together we were able to share the healing powers of design. I learned from you all about kindness, love and acceptance and that has changed my life for the better. The way you have embraced me and accepted me for who I am is something that l will truly carry with me for the rest of my life."

He said he was making the announcement with "a heavy heart".

"It's not been an easy decision to be at peace with, but a necessary one," he said. "Although my journey with Queer Eye is over, my journey with you is not. You will be seeing more of me very soon."

It’s with a heavy heart that I announce that season 8 will be my final season on Queer Eye. It’s not been an easy decision to be at peace with, but a necessary one. Although my journey with Queer Eye is over, my journey with you is not. You will be seeing more of me very soon.

— Bobby (@bobbyberk) November 13, 2023

Berk's departure raised questions, such as 'will the other four be required to do actual work now?', and also... 'is there something going on behind the scenes?'

While his statement was pretty amicable, there were hints of something... strange happening.

Because 1. He does not actually mention or thank his co-stars at all in his statement, despite mentioning the show's heroes, crew and viewers, and 2. Some people have spidey senses and the sense (or the *opposite* of sense) to keep tabs on famous people's Instagram activities.

It's all a little suspicious.

Ten days after his announcement, the people of the interwebs noticed that Berk had unfollowed two of his four cast mates – Tan France and Antoni Porowski – on Instagram.

And considering there is a mute option that means you can ignore people without us plebs knowing, the move is TELLING.

Everyone knows we can see who they follow and don't follow.

Image: Instagram.

Neither France or Porowski have returned the unfollow at this stage, fyi.

Interestingly, it seems like Berk has been feeling a little conflicted over the unfollow buttons. He had unfollowed France earlier, but appeared to refollow him on November 16, when it started to raise questions in Deuxmoi's comments section.

As it stands, Bobby does not follow Tan but has re-followed Antoni, which brings us to the next turn of events. 

Now, it looks very much as if Bobby has taken a subtle swipe at Tan in his farewell to the franchise. On January 3, the interior design expert shared the promo shot for what will be his final season of the show, along with the captio, "That's a wrap on me ya'll! See you for one final season January 24th!"

But it was the tagging situation that sent a message: Tan was the only Queer Eye presenter Bobby didn't tag in the post.

And of course, followers quickly took note. 

"He didn't tag Tan, what happened between them?" one asked. Another commented, "Oh, I saw what you did here Bobby."

He has since gone back and tagged Tan – sort of. Rather than linking to the fashionista’s official Instagram account (which he doesn't follow), he linked to Tan's activist account, Shaded.

Whether this was intentional or not, it means that on the image of his four co-hosts, while everyone's names appear when tapped, Tan has 'Shaded' emblazoned across his chest. Hmm, choices! 

Bobby Berk bids goodbye to Queer Eye. Image: Instagram/@bobby. 

Deuxmoi previously shared intel that Berk had ruffled feathers with his cast mates, particularly avocado fan Porowski, fashion guru France and grooming expert Jonathan Van Ness, when he posted a Reel joking about doing the most work.

He also seemed to acknowledge the jokes, which aren't really jokes because it's true, in the comments section of his announcement.

"But who is gonna build their dream house in two days?!?!?" someone commented on his Instagram post.

"I dunno, but I hope [they] have a lot of stamina," he replied.

Image: Instagram @bobbyberk.

Fans of the show have also read into the fact that Berk only responded to the comment of the show's culture expert Karamo Brown, despite the three other Fab Five members also commenting on his announcement.

Brown was also the only cast member to make his own post about Berk – who commented, "I love YOU with all my heart. I wouldn't have made it this long without you there with me."

Somehow, US Weekly managed to publish a story that both corroborated and disputed this whole thing.

"There were many challenges with scheduling [and] there was a loss of interest from Bobby filming the show," one source said. "The network and the cast thought it was time to bring in fresh blood. His heart was not in it and the rest of the cast started to resent him because of that."

But then, in the same story, another source said Berk "was not asked to leave" and the "decision was amicable".

So... it seems like nobody knows for sure, but the vibe is off.

It's not the first time there have been rumblings of disharmony between the Fab Five.

In September, king of the pep talk Brown spoke about not being invited to Porowski's recent bachelor party during a radio interview with Andy Cohen. Judging off pics from the event, France was actually the only one who did.

Berk had previously told Cohen he couldn't make it due to a scheduling conflict, but Brown rubbished that.

"Bobby was not invited, I was not invited, and Jonathan was not invited. Just Tan was invited. The shade," he said.

However, he said he wasn't offended because events like this cost a lot of money per person.

Both Brown and Porowski have spoken about how they did not get along while filming season one of the show in 2017.

"People didn't know that we had an extreme amount of conflict," Brown told E! News. "We did not talk to each other at all during season one, even though we were shooting together... Before we would go on camera, we would say to each other, 'This is not about us. It's about this person.'

"But off camera, the minute that camera stopped rolling, 'Girl don't come near me.' And vice versa, he didn't want me to come near him."

In a 2019 episode of Brown's podcast, the pair reflected on how the issues began due to a third party.

"Our personalities got along, but then a third party got involved and once that third party got involved, he and I couldn't even talk to each other," Brown said. 

"We were too busy hearing rumours of what this third party was spreading about both of us."

This article was originally published on November 17 and has since been updated.

Feature image: Netflix/Instagram/@bobby.

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