With Queer Eye season 3 back on our viewing boxes this week, we will once again face the most delicious kind of mood swings: going from sobbing over the heroes' stories, soaring from the Fab 5's inspirational talks, and then disappointed that these beautiful souls are not going to burst into our own living rooms and become our new BFFs. Ah, but instead of that last sentiment, how about we congratulate one who actually made this dream come true: Antoni Porowski's boyfriend, Trace Lehnhoff.
In case you haven't been closely following our favorite guacamole chef-turned-restaurateur's love life all year, we'll back up. When Queer Eye's first two seasons aired last year, Porowski was living with his boyfriend of seven years, art director Joey Krietemeyer. Porowski went so far as to tell Vulture he was practically married to the guy. By October, however, sources told Us Weekly that the two had broken up months before in an "amicable" split.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
That "news" explained, after the fact, why Porowski was with Trace Lehnhoff as his date at the Emmy parties that September, as Us reported. Sources said the two met via Instagram, which in some way, gives us hope that one day we too will be able to connect with our social media crushes. Like, you could reach out to the guy in this picture and get a date.
Well, you can if you are Lehnhoff. He also happens to have a lot in common with Porowski, namely that he too once had his moment in the reality TV spotlight. Just after graduating from the Art Institute of California, Lehnhoff landed an internship at Jeff Lewis Design, a.k.a. the firm at the center of Bravo's Flipping Out. He worked his way up to a full-time position there, but then got the ax in season 5 (in 2011), when Lewis and Gage Edward discovered that he'd been designing for himself during work hours.
In a blog for BravoTV.com, Lehnhoff said while he hadn't thought his job would end that way, the timing was also right for him.
"There was a time I sensed my opportunity of progression slowing down, and I felt I would be happiest leaving my position and finding something where I could continue to grow," he wrote. "I wasn't sure when or what that would be, but I knew it was in the cards for me. I think Jeff sensed that in me and felt like I had lost a spark."
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
Lehnhoff went on to start his own design firm. He certainly found some success with it, as evidenced by the fact that Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka hired him to design their Harlem townhouse in 2015. Architectural Digest approved of his work there, as did the countertop company Caesarstone:
So, now we know that neither Porowski nor Lehnhoff is just a pretty face, we can sit back and enjoy their pretty faces. Once they went Instagram official in December, the couple has treated followers to a few cute pics of themselves together.
Lehnhoff brought Porowski home to Minnesota for Christmas; they spent New Years in Puerto Rico and jetted to Paris in January; and lastly, Lehnhoff got to visit Porowski when Queer Eye filmed in Japan in February.
We can only hope producers gave in to the temptation to put Lehnhoff back on camera, too.