All 16 Queer Eye makeovers ranked (so yes, get the tissues)

Queer Eye season 1 episode 3 production still. Photo: Courtesy of Netflix

12. Cory, “Dega Don’t” (S1, E3)

I bet the Fab Five never expected to be making over a Trump-supporting, NASCAR superfan, but Cory’s best friend nominated him to help the police officer get out of his comfort zone and improve his sloppy style.

Cory’s style consists of gym shorts, ill-fitting t-shirts, a MAGA hat (seriously), and a huge collection of novelty costumes for his NASCAR parties that he stuffs into his basement man cave. He also has pretty much zero cooking skills, drinks pickle juice, and considers walking through Walmart a nice date with his wife.

Cory looked good after shaving off the ‘stache, cleaning up his hair, and putting on a well-fitting suit, but the change wasn’t drastic. His house looked great, because Bobby knows what he’s doing, but what’s important about Cory’s makeover is the story it allowed Queer Eye to tell. It brought a very important conversation to light about race issues in the U.S. right now.

Karamo had a bonding moment with Cory when they discussed their childhoods and Cory’s interest in hip-hop growing up. This led to the pair discussing the “Black Lives Matter” movement and agreeing that both police officers and people of color need to be part of the conversation. You can say what you want about their discussion, but getting someone like Cory, a redneck, Trump-supporting cop from Georgia, to just open up about the issue and calmly talk about it with Karamo made this makeover that much better.

Cory may not have been the biggest success story of the series, but the experience opened his eyes, and you can tell he truly took all of the Fab Five’s lessons to heart.