No one has as amazing a reaction as Bobby Berk. It's only surprising considering he's probably seen it all after eight seasons traveling the world as the interior design expert on the Netflix reboot of “Queer Eye”; writing his 2023 book, “Right at Home: How Good Design is Good for the Mind”; making many television appearances (including a Taylor Swift video) and selling just about anything to make your home shine on BobbyBerk.com.
But in his new HGTV series “Junk or Jackpot?”, premiering Friday at 9:30 p.m. Pacific, Burke often elicits genuine reactions when he enters the homes of Los Angeles collectors and sees not only rooms filled with action figures, pinball machines, puppets, marionettes and more, but also some jackpot items simply sitting on a shelf. In one episode, for example, a collector shows Berk a trading card he has valued in the $100,000 range. “I'm pretty sure I said, 'What the fuck?' although I guess it rang because it's HGTV,” Berk says from his Los Angeles home. “I'm used to Netflix, where I could say whatever I wanted. But yeah, that was crazy to me.”
Reactions aside, the real wonder of “Junk or Jackpot?” is seeing an enthusiastic Berk break into people's homes to help them learn how to embrace a collecting hobby that has become something that is suffocating homes and putting a damaging strain on relationships. “Obviously I'm not a therapist. I'm a designer, although in our field we often make the joke that we're not just designers, but marriage counselors,” he says.
But Berk, born in Houston and raised in conservative Mount Vernon, Missouri, is a self-taught pro at identifying what's wrong and doing everything he can to fix it, even in his own life. Case in point: Berk, not feeling safe coming out in Mount Vernon, left home at age 15 and bounced around various cities for several years, never finishing high school. “From 15 to 22, I moved and I can't even count the number of places I had to move just because of finances and life situations,” he recalls.
Eventually, he landed in New York City and worked for stores like Restoration Hardware, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Portico before opening his first online store in 2006 and his first brick-and-mortar store in Soho in 2007. Soon after, Berk was racking up appearances on networks like HGTV and Bravo before “Queer Eye” came calling in 2018 and took him to new heights, including his 2023 Emmy win for the show. structured reality. He also received an honorary degree from Otis College of Art and Design in 2022.
Now, with “trash or jackpot?” About to launch, Berk, 44, spoke about how he was hand-picked by professional wrestler and movie star John Cena for the show, the key to helping collectors let go of the things that weigh down their lives and, after living in many places and traveling the world, where he calls home with his husband Dewey Do and their mini Labradoodle, Bimini.
“I'm not a therapist. I'm a designer, although in our field we often make the joke that we're not just designers, but marriage counselors,” Berk says.
(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
What are the origins of “Trash or Jackpot”? And what does John Cena have to do with all this?
I've been playing around with HGTV for years, even when I was still on “Queer Eye,” but with my exclusivity with Netflix, I couldn't design shows with anyone else. We always kept that line of communication open, so when this specific opportunity arose, Loren Ruch, the head of HGTV, who has unfortunately since passed away, reached out. He said, “Hey, John Cena created the show for us and you're first on his list of who he wants to host it.” John was a big “Queer Eye” fan, so I said yes. It was filmed here in Los Angeles, which was very important to me. We were really lacking entertainment jobs here in the city, so it was a huge plus for me to be able to bring jobs here to Los Angeles for all of our amazing teams.
And it is not the typical design fair. Obviously, there's nothing wrong with a typical design fair and they help people. But coming from “Queer Eye,” where we helped everyone, it was because it was someone who deserved it, someone who was going through something and needed that extra boost in their life. Is that what happened with “Trash or Jackpot”?
Each collector, as we called them, had a story. With Patricio and Roger [in the premiere episode]Roger had moved out and their relationship was in ruins because there was literally no room for Roger. With Carly and Johnny in another episode, they had a child they didn't expect to have in their early 40s, so it was a life-changing moment for them. His priority had to be his son, JD.
I love the show because it helped people in those times in their lives where they were like, “We have this thing that we love and it's brought us joy, but now this is starting to make negative things happen in our lives.” I wanted to go in and really bring back the happy part of his collection.
HGTV hasn't given a big budget to renovate the homes and collectors have to work themselves to sell their collectibles to pay for the renovation. How did that angle come about?
It was a bit of therapy and I wanted collectors to really realize that, yes, the collection they have has value, but this other thing that's happening in their lives because of this collection also has value. I wanted them to be able to prove to themselves that what they wanted to change in their lives had more value than those things. Like Patrick, Roger had value.
I wanted them to do the “You have to start separating yourself from things” exercise. And if you notice, I never pressured them to get rid of the most prized pieces in their collection. I pushed them to get rid of things that they often had duplicates of but that weren't necessarily like, “Oh, I bought this when I was a kid,” or “someone got this for me.” I wanted them to emotionally disconnect from those things so that they could better prioritize things in life and, in the future, would find it much easier to let them go even if I wasn't there to push them.
Displays and mood boards in the Berk office. The host of “Junk or Jackpot?” He says it is not your typical design exhibition. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
How do you consider the budget with collectors? In one episode, you choose to cover a brick wall instead of tearing it down and building a new one.
The owners are the ones footing the bill because, again, part of this is the exercise of letting go. To your point, if we had come to HGTV and said, “Here's all the money!” They say, “Okay, I have no motivation to get rid of anything.” I wanted to make sure we made budget-conscious decisions and I think it's also a really important thing to share with people at home that you don't always have to go out and put out a fireplace if you hate the material. You can make something like microcement and completely change it for minimal cost.
What would you say you learned while filming the first season of “Junk or Jackpot”?
I wouldn't say I necessarily learned anything new, but it reaffirmed for me the emotional attachment and mental health aspect that your space and design can have on you, whether for better or worse.
In a bad way, your house becomes so cluttered and overwhelmed with something that used to bring you joy, but is now having an effect not only on your mental health, but also on your relationships with other people. On the other hand, the difference in your mental health simply remaking that space, reorganizing that space, reclaiming that space can have on your mental health and your relationships not only with yourself, but with your family and your friends.
Vivian, who collects Wonder Woman memorabilia, her friends stopped coming because there was simply nowhere to sit. His best girlfriend used to come from Las Vegas all the time, where she lives, and spend the night and now she says, “I can't take it anymore because I'm literally surrounded. It's too much and I can't do it anymore.” You'll see how simply changing your space can really change your life.
“I wanted to make sure we made budget-conscious decisions, and I think that's also a really important thing to share with people at home, that you don't always have to go out and put out a fireplace if you hate the material,” Berk says.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Season 1 is set in Los Angeles, but assuming you have more seasons, would you like to do it in other cities or countries?
Personally, I would always love to continue performing in Los Angeles. I live there and with “Queer Eye” for eight years we traveled throughout the United States. That said, this is a very specific show, so it may be difficult to continue doing it in the same city season after season, so we'll probably have to go to other cities, and that would be fine with that. But I would at least like one or two more seasons in Los Angeles. After spending the last eight years filming “Queer Eye,” I like being home.
That said, you've lived in New York, you're now in Los Angeles, and you also have a place in Portugal. Where do you call home?
Los Angeles is definitely my home. Portugal is fantastic, but Los Angeles is definitely home. Although the more time we spend in Southeast Asia, specifically Vietnam, since my husband is originally from there, the more I feel at home too. I believe in reincarnation and I definitely went from there in my last life. Like when I landed in Vietnam, China or anywhere in Southeast Asia: I feel at home.
“Queer Eye” was a rollercoaster for all of you, but what are your reflections now that it's behind you? Were you able to enjoy it at the time?
Yes and no. It was an incredible roller coaster. I enjoyed most of it, but there were times when we were simply exhausted. I don't know if you know the flight app “Flighty”, but it tracks your flights and tells you how many hours you've been on planes each year and how many times you've been on the exact same plane. The other day I was looking at how much I flew in 2019. Keep in mind that in 2019, I was filming for five months of the year, so I didn't fly anywhere. So it was only seven months and I did 200 flights. I flew over 500,000 miles. I don't miss it. That was a lot. But as far as I can remember, I look back fondly.
