Queer Eye’s Karamo on ‘full transparancy’ with boyfriend Carlos Medel: ‘We showed each other our credit scores on the first night’
Exclusive: TV star also reveals in interview with Attitude that he went on "40 dates in 40 nights" while single
Queer Eye star Karamo has offered some honest insights into his relationship with boyfriend Carlos Medal, saying the pair showed each other their “bank accounts and credit scores on the first night.”
The advocate for “full transparency” – who worked as licensed social worker and psychotherapist for over a decade before transitioning into TV, and often helps guests mend dysfunctional relationships on his chat show, Karamo – shared the detail in a new interview with Attitude, to be released in full next month.
Speaking to us ahead of the release of the new series of Queer Eye on 24 January, the star also got candid about his love life before Carlos, revealing he once went on “40 dates in 40 nights.”
“It was the first time I practiced something, which was full transparency on the first night,” the star explained of his first date with Carlos in 2021.
“We talked about everything from family to fears to finances. We showed each other our bank accounts and credit scores on the first night. Which seems odd to some, but we were putting everything out there.”
“We talked about everything from family to fears to finances” – Karamo on meeting his partner
“I met him when we were both in relationships, although there was no funny business going on,” the 43-year-old explained. “I was in a 10-year, he was in a four-year. We got talking about work on Instagram. Ironically, our conversation shifted to the issues we were having with our partners. The pandemic happened and we fell out of touch. In January 2021, I was like, now I want to flirt.”
Karamo went on: “I hit him up and he was like: ‘I was just thinking about you – I broke up with my boyfriend!’ I was like: ‘Me too! Let’s have a date!’ Actually, it wasn’t that – we said we were going to get together and have sex, and that was it! That night we did not. We got there at 8am and stayed up until 6am talking. And crying.”
Talking about dating apps, Karamo said: “I did give them a go while I was single. I went all in. I did 40 dates in 40 nights – people on Tinder were like: ‘I don’t believe this is you!’ – and I hated every minute of it.
“I realised, because the access and availability of finding someone else, I thought there was no point in getting invested, asking more questions, or going to the next level. I hate dating apps, because they allow us to reject on one of the worst and most superficial levels of being human. I think we really haven’t seen the effects, especially in the LGBT community, of what this is doing to self-esteem, and our relationships with each other.
“That ability to find spaces, and each other, and hear each other’s stories, made us strong as a community. When you get to a point where all I have to do is look at a photo, and now I don’t like you? It’s a slippery slope. If I haven’t taken the right photo at the right angle, or put the right bio, now I’m not worthy of being learned about?”