Oh, bloody hell. Another season of Drag Race? I’m knackered.
On Wednesday, the full cast of queens was announced for the upcoming RuPaul’s Drag Race UK. “Each of the UK queens is so unique, so courageous and so special,” RuPaul said in a statement released to the media. “I can't wait for the UK — and the world — to fall in love with them the same way I did.”
The UK — and the world — doesn’t quite seem to be in love with the lineup, but maybe that will all change once the show premieres in October. Keep scrolling to meet the queens of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK:
“I think my biggest mishap was about the third time I did drag. I went out with a leotard with no pants dancing the night away. My friend just said ‘Sam’ and looked down. Then my knob was out, balls and everything. When I found out, I tucked it away and carried on dancing — I didn’t care.
“Drag to me is absolute freedom. You can do anything and everything that you want. If you want to do a lip sync number about 1940s Germany, you do that; you wanna do something about time travel, perfect, let’s put that in; politics? Even better; just entertainment? Perfect. I’m down with that. You can do whatever you find interesting. The process is what I find most exciting about drag, that you started with an idea and by the end you have a full rounded concept you can put on stage. And hopefully, it's something you can make money from (laughs).”
“Around four years ago I was crowned by RuPaul himself as the UK ambassador for RuPaul’s Drag Race in the UK. It was like a role to have here in the UK to make some noise about Drag Race."
“Blu Hydrangea is like a GCSE art project, high fashion from outer space, a cartoon character — with muppet realness. She is queen of the makeup brush and her strength lies in her mug. Not only am I a look queen but I can dance, I can perform, I can do some funny movements to make people laugh.”
“My style of drag is that Essex glamour with a touch of showgirl. Everything’s got a bling, a touch of vajazzle, but a real girl at heart. I like to play up the Essex stereotype and really incorporate that into my drag.”
“I’m not competitive with other people, but I’m very competitive with myself. I have really high standards for myself and so I can be very hard on myself. I’m a control freak so I’m quite nervous about the loss of control. I’m a huge perfectionist and I know so much about the show is letting go and trusting and being free and wild, and I’m not very good at that. It’s going to be interesting.”
“My greatest strength is probably the fact that I’m terrified of everything. I also have okay makeup skills I guess. I think being the youngest queen is a blessing and a curse. I haven’t got masses to prove but then again I’ve got barely any experience. I’m hoping the others will underestimate me, especially, because I look this cute.”
“I embrace who I am. I’m a working class girl and I like to put that in my act and celebrate that and wear my heart on my sleeve. It’s really important to me because we live in an age where so many want to be something else and actually it’s great to celebrate who you are.”
“My drag comes from singing. I was a little emo kid at 12 years old and I loved to sing. I can’t be a singer out of drag. I am a Chinese male who’s overweight and losing his hair. I’m never gonna make it like that so drag helped me, and the 12 year old me, finally live out my dream of performing and singing. That’s the only reason I put all of this on — so I can perform and sing. It’s the best job in the world.”
“I think I’ll do really well in the Snatch Game and the acting challenges. I like playing different characters. I’m good at accents, but I’m absolutely petrified when it comes to making dresses, or wigs. I’m the star dear! I normally have people do that stuff for me. You don’t see Lady Gaga or Shirley Bassey sewing their own dresses or doing their own makeup do you?!”
