RuPaul’s Drag Race! The best show in the history of television (don’t @ me) is back and this time it’s landing close to home. We’ve been waiting for, um, ever, for the US TV phenomenon to finally grace our isle and showcase some serious UK drag talent – and the day is finally in sight. That day, my friends, is Thursday.
I have a billion questions. Where can I watch it? Who’s judging? Dare I dream that the UK version might live up to the dizzying heights of the original American one? The latter remains to be seen, but the first two are now, at last, answerable. RuPaul’s Drag Race UK will drop at 8pm weekly, from this Thursday on BBC 3 (i.e., online only).
Judges, too, are cats out of bags: Graham Norton and Alan Carr are going to rotate, taking a week each as semi-regular panellists. Ru himself, and legendary Michelle Visage, will join the British recruits along with a glittering selection of guest judges said to include Cheryl Cole, Andrew Garfield, Michaela Cole, Maisie Williams and 60s icon Twiggy herself. All boding very well indeed, I’d say. While we wait, let’s meet the cast..
RuPaul's Drag Race UK Contestants
1 of 10Blu Hydrangea, age 23, Belfast.
'My name comes from the blue hydrangea bush that's in my garden. My nanny taught me that you have to plant it with a rusty nail so that it turns into a beautiful blue hydrangea. I love that story, of like something coming from a rusty, dirty nail into something beautiful — which is kind of like me.'
2 of 10Crystal, age 34, London.
'Crystal is a gender-bending, mess-with-your-brain kind of drag queen. She stands for tearing down gender constructs, and using creativity and looks and fashion and crazy performances to create excitement.'
3 of 10Divina Di Campo, age 35, West Yorkshire
'Drag to me is absolute freedom. You can do anything and everything that you want.'
4 of 10The Vivienne, age 27, Liverpool.
'My style of drag, I always say it's like a scouse wife who's come into money, she's moved to LA, blew it all and then she's had to move back to Bootle.'
5 of 10Cheryl Hole, age 25, Essex.
'I have been described as a lip sync assassin, and I would like to see any of these girls try to out-lip-sync me because this is what I do.'
6 of 10Scaredy Kat, age 20, Wiltshire
'I'm way too young to be here — I'm the youngest queen ever on Drag Race. My persona in drag is cute, pink and scared like a nervous flamingo.'
7 of 10Baga Chipz, age 29, London
'I'm the tart with a heart. Like chips, they can go with anything. [...] I'm not an instagram, makeup drag queen — but throw me on a stage and I entertain the absolute shite out of a room.'
8 of 10Vinegar Strokes, age 35, London
'My drag's influenced by family members and friends, who are really strong working class women who have kind of built their way up and climbed their way up through the mud and the shit to get to where they are.'
9 of 10Sum Ting Wong, age 30, Reading.
'I'm doing things now that I wanted to do as a kid. Drag helped that 12-year-old me finally live out his dream.'
10 of 10Gothy Kendoll, age 21, Leicester
'I think, for a lot of queens my age, RuPaul's Drag Race kind of sets the standard for what modern drag is, so i'm definitely inspired by the show. [...] Being in this competition means the world to me — the fact that I even got cast doesn't feel real.'