The Real Reason Karamo Wants to Make You Cry
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Karamo captured hearts as a member of the Fab Five on Queer Eye, but he's been in the reality-TV game for much longer than that. He celebrates his 20th year in television next year (he got his start on The Real World in 2004) and scoffs at the idea that he was an overnight success. "I've been just hustling and people look at it and they're like, 'Oh, overnight, Queer Eye came up!' And I'm like, 'Girl, I have been working my butt off,'" Karamo told Parade.
Nearly two decades into his career, the man is booked and busy, juggling tapings for Queer Eye, his skincare line, Mantl, and filming for his talk show, Karamo, which premieres its second season on Monday, Sept. 18. (For Karamo alone, he tapes an incredible six episodes a day for seven months straight.)
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The show is brought to you by the same production company that made Maury and Jerry Springer—and, yes, Karamo's guests deliver much of the same spice. But with a background in social services, Karamo's goal isn't to shock—it's to counsel.
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"There was one [episode] where this mother was a really horrible mother," Karamo explained. "And she was grieving in her own right. She lost her husband and she was just not a good mom at the moment. And it just stuck out that there are moments where it's not about healing the relationship between, like, a mother and a daughter, but making sure that the daughters have enough courage to build their own self-esteem and know they could be okay without the nurturing of their mother during these hard times."
Karamo's ability to dig deep wasn't always seen as a positive thing. Early on in the taping of Season 1 of Queer Eye, he says production told him he'd be fired if he made another guest cry, and that the show wasn't "about that." He stood his ground that his counseling work was an important part of the makeover process and by Season 3 production changed their tune, switching the tagline of the show to "I'm not crying, you're crying."
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"I'm thankful that people got to see, like, that's who I am. That's what I want to do," Karamo said. "I want to be there for people. I want to help them."
Vulnerability is at the core of his work. "I want more people to be okay with bringing their emotions, their raw emotion...and knowing that once you do that, there's somebody who's going to be there to give you a tool to help you to be better," he told Parade. Furthermore, he hopes his show offers a place for not only his guests to learn, but also his viewers.
"At the end of each of my shows I say, 'let's keep talking and growing,' and I mean that. I just want to keep talking and helping the world to grow."
Season 2 of Karamo premiere Monday, Sept. 18.
Next, 'Queer Eye' Star Jonathan Van Ness Wants You to Take Better Care of Yourself
