John Bargeman’s life has been changed forever, but not by any cataclysmic or beatific event.
What happened was that five gay men barged into the 25-year-old Hamilton Park man’s apartment one morning in early July to give him a makeover in preparation for his marriage proposal to Tina Bakhtamian, 31, his live-in girlfriend of two years.
The entire transformation – captured on tape for the wildly popular “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” reality television series on Bravo – changed his life in a variety of ways, Bargeman said in an interview at his Erie Street apartment last week.
Not only did it succeed in earning him an affirmative response from the woman he loves, but it also opened some doors on his way to building a career as a screen actor.
An audition was scheduled last week with casting executives at NBC, parent company to the Bravo TV network that developed and now carries the “Queer Eye” series. After having worked with an acting coach, Bargeman was getting ready to read 10 pages of dialogue, putting some last touches on his performance and detailing his delivery of the material.
“Queer Eye” debuted in prime time last month and became wildly popular. The show picks one heterosexual socially-inept or culturally-inept man who is preparing for some life event. The “Fab Five” come to the rescue, with Carson Kressley offering fashion advice, Ted Allen refining the straight guy’s Epicurean tastes, Jai Rodriguez injecting a little culture into the straight guy’s life, Thom Felicia providing interior design suggestions, and Jersey City resident Kyan Douglas giving grooming tips.
Titled “He’s a Little Bit Country,” the show featuring Bargeman focused on revamping his cowboy appearance with a bit of cosmopolitan flair so that he could impress city-slicker girlfriend Bakhtamian, a Queens native who works as an executive assistant at New York University. Needless to say to any English-speaking person with a television, the transformation was successful.
They’re here, they’re queer…
Bargeman never believed he would get to this point in his career from appearing once on a one-hour reality television series. But it was just that one hour – which initially aired July 29 on Bravo TV and then again on NBC during primetime on Aug. 14 – that launched Bargeman into the national spotlight and instantly secured fame for the five men now collectively known as the “Fab Five.”
Bargeman said he first heard about the show from an ad on www.craigslist.com. Almost two months after the national broadcast of the ordeal, Bargeman said the experience has had a lasting impact.
“It’s changed life a lot,” Bargeman said, “just in my appearance alone. I pay more attention to what I put on in the morning and how I take care of myself. I have a lot more respect for myself than I used to, you know? And a lot more confidence. I don’t think I would’ve thought about it unless these guys came into my life and did it for me.”
Having gone through adolescence rather awkwardly in the small Virginian town of Poquoson, Bargeman said he tried everything to make himself look better. But the culture in his hometown – an oceanfront community on the lower Chesapeake Bay with approximately 12,000 people spread across almost 16 square miles – wasn’t very conducive to the hip, urban style commonly championed by big-city types.
“[Poquoson] is a dinky town,” Bargeman said. “It was a small town. We had one traffic light until two years ago, when we got two more. I’m a small-town boy.”
His lack of access to any and all things cool was further compounded by his family’s strong and no-nonsense emphasis on hard work. Grandfather E.W. Scott Berry, 74, a military man who Bargeman describes as the most significant influence in life, sent Bargeman at the tender age of 8 to U.S. Navy SEAL Cadet Corps at the nearby naval base in Norfolk, Va. Bargeman also worked as a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician.
“I was a geek in high school,” Bargeman said. “I had big bifocal glasses. I had braces. My fashion statement was K-Mart. Not to say K-Mart doesn’t have anything nice, but I tried everything I could to change the way I looked.”
Although Bargeman said he was never exposed to the queer touch that the men in the “Fab Five” personify, it didn’t bother him to be doted on so aggressively the day of his makeover. If anything, he said, the experience shattered stereotypes and gave him a deeper understanding of homosexuals.
“One thing’s for a fact: I have more respect for gay people now than I ever did in my whole entire life,” Bargeman said. “Coming from a small town in Virginia, I was never mixed into different kinds of cultures and different ways of living. My town is Hickville, [it’s] country. I love it, but I just wanted to broaden my horizons.”
He no longer shaves against the grain. He realizes the inherent value of moisturizer. He now successfully achieves that perfectly unkempt hairstyle that movie stars commonly sport. Bargeman even now plans to get facials, manicures and pedicures every six weeks. The one thing he won’t give up, however, is his signature dark tan needle pointed-toe boots.
Satisfying his dream
Bargeman, like many others before him, came to New York City to make it big. He hoped to break his way into the glitzy world of acting, and his mind was set on that goal when he snuck out of his house at 4:30 a.m. on the morning of his 20th birthday. Equipped with a bag and the $27K he had saved up over the years, he got on a bus and made the 12-hour trip to Manhattan, where he had no local family members, acquaintances or connections.
After discovering how expensive staying in New York can be, Bargeman managed to reach the far more affordable hotel rates in northern New Jersey. He lived in a Wayne hotel for three months, then moved into the Lincoln Park family home of Michael Hillpot, a friend he met while staying in Wayne. The head of the Hillpot household took Bargeman in graciously.
The wheels of fate were then put into motion. For two years, Bargeman worked for Eltech Inc., the elder Hillpot’s elevator repair company. It was on the job that he met Bakhtamian, who was at the time working for public relations firm BTNR. After dating for some time, they moved in together.
Bakhtamian was living in an apartment near the Grove Street PATH station when Bargeman first moved in. For work, Bargeman took various odd jobs while simultaneously building his modeling portfolio.
Represented by an agent in Milan, Bargeman has been featured in advertisements for Dasani bottled water and other products.
Although his modeling resume is impressive for someone with no professional training, acting gigs still eluded him. He scored a few jobs as an “extra” on shows like HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Sex and the City,” but speaking parts were hard to come by. He said he hopes the exposure he garnered from his “Queer Eye” time will give him more leverage in angling for roles.
Neighborhood fixture
Until the time when Bargeman is a regular face on television, however, he says he’ll live the rest of his life the way he did before his queer makeover.
The aspiring actor can be seen walking around various sections of Downtown, not only in his Hamilton Park neighborhood but elsewhere in Harsimus Cove and near the Grove Street PATH station. A regular at Basic coffee shop at Eighth and Erie streets, Bargeman also frequents Hamilton Park Ale House at Ninth Street and Jersey Avenue. In fact, Bargeman said he and Jersey City resident Kyan Douglas – the “Fab Five’s” grooming guru – had lunch at Hamilton Park Ale House a few weeks ago.
In addition, Bargeman regularly sings karaoke every Wednesday and Sunday night at Downtown watering hole P.J. Ryan’s, a bar favored by police officers and other city employees.
His time in Jersey City has been a good one, and Bargeman said he has no intention of leaving his neighborhood if – or when, rather – he hits the big time.
“I never thought I’d be living in Jersey City, but let me tell you: I love it around this Hamilton Park area,” Bargeman said. “I actually never thought that Jersey City could be as nice as this. I’m not moving. I don’t feel like moving. I’m going to stay here. I like the community here.”
And the community, apparently, likes him. Bargeman can be seen striking up conversations with various strangers on his travels Downtown, some of whom presumably recognize him from his “Queer Eye” experience. Recently, residents walking their dogs at night passed him in the street and waved. One resident passed him as she was walking down Eighth Street and audibly remarked how he bore a striking resemblance to actor Tom Cruise.
“It’s funny, but I get checked out a lot by gay guys now and I feel more comfortable,” Bargeman said. “It makes me feel good. It might sound weird coming from a straight guy, but if gay guys are checking you out, then you know you’re good looking, you know?”
Bargeman says he likes greeting people, acquaintances and complete strangers alike, because he doesn’t want to be consumed by the insular and sometimes snobby entertainment industry culture.
“There’s more to me than just, ‘Oh, there’s the guy on the TV screen,’ ” Bargeman said.