The Hollywood Reporter reports that the contract for the second season of Bravo's Queer Eye for the Straight Guy has been completed and is just awaiting signing by both NBC (Bravo's parent), Scout LLC (Queer Eye's producer) and the show's stars.
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Some information about the contract is already known: the second season will have 40 episodes, and the "Fab Five" (Ted Allen, Kyan Douglas, Thom Filicia, Carson Kressley and Jai Rodriguez) will get pay hikes that more than double their salaries per episode (from $3,000 each per episode to at least $8,000). Like the stars of NBC's Friends, each member of the "Fab Five" will get equal pay, which will help decrease behind-the-scenes competitiveness among the stars. In addition, the "Fab Five" will get additional payments for a specific number of episodes that will be "re-purposed" to be aired on NBC in prime time. Whether those shows will be new episodes or repeats (and the number of such shows) has not been publicly revealed at this time.
In return, the "Fab Five" agree that Scout and NBC co-own the "Fab Five" nickname (meaning that Queer Eye could continue to use the name even if one of the five was replaced or left), and so NBC retains approval rights to any endorsement deal that explicitly mentions the "Fab Five" nickname.
The "Fab Five" are reportedly entertaining numerous offers for commercial appearances and are free to individually pursue deals without NBC oversight -- but collective deals require NBC approval. The new contract also provides more wiggle room for them to participate in other outside projects but nothing that could pose a potential competitive threat like a regular role on another TV series. This clause may well end the Fab Five's regular appearances as cultural commentators on Viacom's MTV -- or, at least, it gives NBC a seat at the table during any negotiations.
Now that the contract is settled, only one question remains: will the second season of Queer Eye retain the cache of the first, or might it turn into another The Next Joe Millionaire?