To say Queer Eye’s new episodes are leaving fans emotional is an understatement as many are taking to social media to share they’re “bawling” at season 8. This season’s Heroes hail from New Orleans and have been nominated by their nearest and dearest to get some help from the Fab Five.
In episode 4, Protect the Nest, viewers join Tan France, Antoni Porowski, and co as they head to Louisiana School for the Deaf to meet Denton Mallas. For the first time in the Netflix show’s history, Queer Eye featured a deaf person in its cast and fans are hailing the episode as “eye-opening.”
Meet Denton Mallas from Queer Eye
Denton is Louisiana School for the Deaf’s Athletic Director who has a passion for football, but an even bigger passion for working with his Deaf students.
He found out he was deaf at 18 months old and his whole family learned sign language from then. Denton’s father became a football coach and encouraged him to partake in the sport.
Now, Denton is doing the same for the students at his school.
The Netflix star puts everything into his job. But, his wife worries he’ll get burned out at the pace he’s going.
She said: “…athletic director, head football coach, assistant basketball coach, weightlifting coach, you name it, Denton does it.”
Louisiana School for the Deaf now
At the start of Denton’s Queer Eye episode, he explains he needs to do all he can to help his kids.
It appears he is still doing as much as he can for the school. Denton shares links to fundraising pages on social media. He also writes in his bio he’s now “Dean of Students and Athletic Director.”
The school gives a shoutout to Denton as he appears on Queer Eye, writing: “Denton’s journey is a testament to his resilience and dedication to making a positive impact to his students and our school. We are thankful to the Queer Eye team for supporting LSD students and staff!”
Per comments on Denton’s Instagram posts, fans are keen to donate to the school and many say the episode had them in tears. One commented: “Thank you for all that you do for your community…”
Given Denton’s selflessness, many of the show’s viewers are taking to X (Twitter) to say he needs to be “protected at all costs.”
Denton giving JVN his sign name is just so sweet 🥹 #QueerEye
— Prajakta M. (@SocialBitterfly) January 26, 2024Hero sign names Fab Five
Following the release of Queer Eye season 8, some fans were curious to understand how Denton’s episode was filmed as Karamo Brown, Jonathan Van Ness and co speak with Denton as he uses ASL.
One person tweeted they were “sad they didn’t get to see the interpreter on the show,” but the filming process is explained on Denton’s IG page.
A fan asked in the comments: “Do Tan and Antoni know ASL or are they just nodding along cluelessly? I don’t see an interpreter lol”
The Netflix show’s interpreter replied: “No, I was standing off camera near them and voicing what Denton was signing.”
He added: “My voicing was only so the Fab 5 could understand Denton. For the episode, it was decided no voice over in order to honor ASL as Denton’s voice.”
Denton also shares the sign names he gave to the Fab Five since the show.
He shared the “deaf culture tradition” of giving a person a sign name after getting to know them.
Denton explained: “Not anyone can give a sign name,” adding the names all have meanings behind them.
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