THE last time we paid a visit to the home of Queer Eye fashion expert and French Tuck enthusiast Tan France it was Halloween and he’d done exactly what he has been doing for the past 10 years and that was put up his Christmas tree.
It’s an unusual tradition, granted, and if it was the first year he’d indulged Sleb Safari would have put it down to the pandemic and predicted that the tree would still be up now, in March. But no, Sleb Safari has checked Tan’s Instagram and there is no evidence of that tree in his home. Unlike Drew Barrymore who still has Christmas stockings hanging over her fireplace and for that we salute her. Whatever gets you through Drew, whatever gets you through.
It does raise the question of when Tan celebrates Halloween; that bank holiday weekend at the end of August when the rest of us are at the Lammas Fair?
Tan only spent 32 days in his own home in 2019, fact fans, so perhaps November 1 has had to become his Christmas Day for the past decade.
Now that we’ve solved the ‘is the French Christmas tree up or is the French Christmas tree down’ mystery, it’s time to find out how Tan’s been getting on in 2021. He’s been chatting to Laura Whitmore on her Castaway podcast, for a start.
Tan and the rest of the Fab Five who front Queer Eye are famous the world over because the Netfix show is streamed in 190 countries but Tan, who’s from South Yorkshire, says the most starstruck he’s been was meeting Phillip Schofield on This Morning.
Tan, we get it, Phillip is a silver haired fox and has been from the get go.
“I went on This Morning last year, or the year before if I remember, and we’d already done mega things in America at that point and I was kind of calm about it,” he recounted.
“I wasn’t as obsessed as I was about the stars as I was with British stars, so I went and I met Phillip Schofield and I geeked out so hard.
“And he found it really weird. He was like, ‘Tan, we’re about to post pictures on the show of who you hung out with at the Emmys and you’re getting really excited, it’s just This Morning’.
“I was like, ‘You are an icon to me, I watched you since I was a baby, your Gordon the Gopher blew my mind’.”
Way to make Phillip feel old Tan. But you’re right about Gordon the Gopher, there were two stars in that broom cupboard.
Tan added: “So yeah, when you see these people that you knew when you were a kid, they’re often more exciting to you than a Meryl Streep, truly.”
Way to make Meryl feel rubbish Tan. Three Oscars you say Meryl? Impressive; but have you heard of Gordon the Gopher?
You can take the boy out of South Yorkshire...
Critics Choice Awards fashion wins
HOT on the heels of Viola Davis’ exquisite Golden Globes dress come two ladies in tuxedos at the Critics Choice Awards.
Step forward Kaley Cuoco and Amanda Seyfriend. Kaley’s is a Dolce and Gabbana dream and Amanda’s is Miu Miu and comes complete with a small child chalking a red ‘carpet’ on to the driveway. Both tuxes are bejewelled beauties.
Interior Design Masters is a must watch
Are you watching Interior Design Masters on BBC2? Of course you are. It's completely addictive and even more inspirational than watching Angel on Escape To The Chateau.
This week it’s the semi-final and what a talented bunch of four they are. There are only supposed to be three of them at this stage in the competition but judge Michelle Ogundehin didn’t feel any of the designers should be eliminated last week when they transformed a hair salon and a barber's.
Among the semi-finalists is Paul from Belfast who has a deep, deep love for wallpaper and while all four designers are super talented and Sleb Safari would happily let them loose in every room of its house, it would like to see Paul win.
You can catch Interior Design Masters with Alan Carr at 8pm on Tuesdays on BBC2 or watch it at your leisure on the iPlayer.
