Netflix Star Says the Company Payed ‘Basically Nothing’ For His Hit Series

“Queer Eye” is one of the most popular reality shows on Netflix. Because of this, many assume the cast of the show, which is a reboot, would have pretty good paydays. However, Bobby Berk, one of the show’s former stars, says this wasn’t the case. 

According to PEOPLE, the former “Queer Eye” star recently sat down for an interview with the Networth and Chill with Your Rich BFF podcast. When it comes to the pay from the show, he said, “The first two seasons, I definitely lost money being on the show.”

Bobby Berk continued, “Because, I mean, they were paying us basically nothing. And the amount of money that I was losing from not running my company and being gone because we had to move away.” Bobby says they were filming for five months out of the year. They also had to do press tours for the rest of the time. 

He added, “To be frank, they never really paid us well. You know, compared to what they pay scripted stars, we made a single digit percentage.”

The Silver Lining of “Queer Eye” Casued Fan Backlash

Despite the low pay from “Queer Eye,” Bobby Berk admits that being on one of the most popular reality shows on Netflix helped in other ways. According to him, “Obviously, what it did, though, was open up doors for working with brands, working with companies.”

The interior designer then highlighted an issue with the attention from big brands. He says fans of the series were “annoyed” that the cast was “promoting brands, promoting companies, doing brand partnerships.”

He went on, “They’re like, ‘Oh, we’re just so sick of this.’ And we’re like, ‘Well, girl, we don’t make money off the show. How do you think we continue to do the show?'”

Bobby then said of “Queer Eye,” “It was tough the first few seasons, but the doors that it has opened for other things — absolutely. I mean, you can’t pay for that type of exposure. We got really, really lucky to find lightning in a bottle, and the show came out, you know, right at a very defining moment in the world.”

Bobby Berk Left the Show In 2023

Bobby Berk announced on Instagram in November of 2023 that he was leaving “Queer Eye.” He said, “It’s with a heavy heart that I announce that season 8 will be my final season on Queer Eye.”

His statement continued, “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.”