-We're back and thank you, guys, again for speaking with me.
I really appreciate it. You know I'm a fan,
and I know this is tough to talk about a show.
But it's really heartwarming, and it's on Netflix,
and this season is in Philadelphia.
Philadelphia freedom opens the show,
and it is right immediately two seconds in,
you're like, "Ah."
How did you choose Philly, and, Karamo,
is this like an old "Real World"?
You having flashbacks?
-Yeah, the producers choose our city,
and they do a great job
because we end up being fish out of water
because Philly people are tough nuts to crack.
And so it was a challenge for all of us.
But for me especially, like you said, 15 years ago,
I was on "The Real World" there and to come back,
it's wild because now I'm, like, this mature adult with kids.
And when I was there, I was a 23-year-old drunk.
Like, you know, I didn't even tell the guys this.
We were at a -- one of our hero, his name is Nate.
He has a gym and we -- Bobby remade it over.
And literally, I went to a block party down the street from there
15 years before where I was, like, throwing up and puking.
And now I'm over there giving him, like,
life advice of like, "Be better.
You can do great things."
-However, I will say this.
You did say that now you're more mature.
Ain't none of us mature. None!
-You're right, you're right, you're right, you're right.
[ Laughter ]
-But Philly is a tough nut to crack.
They are tough.
-Philly is the only place I've ever had somebody be like,
"Mm, I'm good."
-But it was just mostly initially, Jimmy.
So when we first -- -Yeah, initially.
-Yeah, when we first meet them, they're actually
quite similar to the Brits, and I say that as an American.
[ Laughter ]
-Yeah, you do.
Yeah, you do. -Yeah.
But the Brits are kind of a closed-off people.
We call them stiff upper lips for a reason.
You don't show emotion.
You don't really open up voluntarily.
And so it was a little harder this season.
I usually find it very, very easy to build a bond
with people and get them to talk to me.
It was the most difficult experience I've ever had.
-Usually -- -After doing hair in
Los Angeles and New York City for 13 years,
I just really didn't feel like they were any harder.
I really -- I don't know.
I didn't feel like they were any harder.
-Really?
Is there any advice that you guys have had
after five seasons that you --
kind of maybe go-to advice that you're like,
"This is really good to give out"?
-I'll start.
I think one of the things is that all of the heroes
and even in the time we're in right now, it's --
we always want to help other people.
You want to help your kids.
You want to be the best employee, the best boss.
You want to be the best sibling, spouse.
But really, you have to focus on yourself first,
and it's not selfish.
Because if you can't lift yourself up,
you can't lift anybody else up.
And I think that's something that's key every season.
Focus on you so you can then focus on others.
-Mine is really easy, Jimmy, and it's something
that I really started to encourage people to do
when we first started filming the show in season one.
And I still say it to this day.
And with everybody else, I say the same thing.
Don't -- Don't think that the way you present yourself
to the world is not important, and also,
the way you look at yourself in the mirror is not important.
Be kinder to yourself.
Yes, there are certain parts of your body
that you may not be happy with, but don't focus on those.
There's so much more about you that's wonderful.
So don't beat yourself up.
Actually look at yourself with kind eyes
and when you present yourself to the world,
know that that is a reflection of you.
You have to make an effort.
-You know, for me it's visibility.
You know, one of the I think most powerful parts
of our show is visibility.
And not just visibility for the LGBTQ+ community from us,
but visibility of our heroes.
You know, allowing the world to be able to put themselves
in a position of somebody else
and to see somebody through the eyes of someone
that's different from them.
You know, with the Black Lives Matter movement right now,
there's so many people's eyes
I think that are being opened up who weren't against it,
just didn't think about it.
Didn't think about how other people's lives
were being affected because it didn't affect them.
And so for me, I think visibility is so important
because it opens everyone's eyes to be like, you know what?
There are people out there who struggle every single day
because of the color of their skin.
And that's not okay. "It didn't affect me.
I didn't think of it before but you know what?
Now that I'm seeing it, it does.
And I'm going to get out there and I'm going to march
and I'm going to do everything I can do to change it."
So I think visibility
is one of the most important things to help change.
-Antoni? -Microwave a lemon
for five seconds before you squeeze it
and you'll get a lot more juice out.
-Really?! -Wow.
-Wow. -No, on a serious note, I'll --
Karamo, I'll text you instructions after.
-No, because I want to say, whey did you never give that tip?
-Antoni. -I was truly blown away.
-Antoni. -I swear to God.
I swear to God. -That's a fruit.
Karamo's not going to eat that.
-Fair. -No, but in all seriousness,
I think, you know --
and this is kind of more of an all-encompassing thing,
whether it's -- with the heroes,
I always try to encourage them to educate themselves
about how to feed themselves, how to cook for other people.
And that really goes for just about anything.
If you're confused about literally anything,
if you don't understand
the systemic racism in this country -
I know we're bringing it up a lot
but it's literally like the topic at hand, educate yourself.
Resources are out there.
Education is so incredibly powerful
in taking something that's a concept
that you don't understand, and making it personal
and understanding why it's important.
-Speaking of education, this is what I would say.
Honey, it took me 1,600 hours to get my hair license, right?
So before you go in to do kitchen beautician at home
and do at-home hair color or an at-home haircut,
think about how many hours your stylist went to school
and how many experts, like, are trying to figure out
how to do your hair cuter, right?
Because especially if you're dealing with,
like, loss of job or insecurity of finances and stuff
and it's going to be harder for hair dressers to, like,
take new clients, because it's such, you know,
a new world in terms of, like, salons and reopening and stuff.
I know I always say be cautious and, you know, Jimmy,
yes, it's good you've only cut the very back, isolate it.
Keep your job small.
Don't do too much.
Remember that hairdressers, like, really work
so hard to figure out how to do good hair.
And actually, you know, our training is like,
I think at least double what the average police officer's
is to get their training, so,
yeah, think about how hard hairdressers work and really --
you don't want to be going back to the salon
to get corrective color or corrective haircuts
when you're trying to make
really important changes in America.
You don't want to be focusing
on going to the salon every two seconds.
You know? -Yeah.
-Don't mess it up at home.
-Let's go. We need -- We need change.
This is great.
I can't even tell you, the world needs it right now.
It's really some light that's helpful and again,
just getting out there and talking and showing
that it's okay to talk
and there's other people that are feeling the same way
and have the same questions that you do.
It's comforting.
And so I want to thank you guys so much for what you're doing.
Thank you for coming on the show.
Congratulations on the season.
I'm sure it's going to help a lot of people.
-Thanks, Jimmy. -Bye, guys.
-Bye. -Love you, guys.