God save the new queens of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK! Season 6 of the popular franchise is back, and the queens are ready to show the UK and the global audience what they bring to the artform of drag.
Blavity’s Shadow and Act was on hand to hear directly from the queens about how they felt about getting cast, what it’s been like for them to become part of the Drag Race family, and their goals for the season.
Chanel O’Conor has had her costuming work shown as part of Laurence Chaney’s drag package, but now that O’Conor is on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, she’s excited to show what she can do.
“It’s kind of like going to a wedding and being the bridesmaid and never being the bride, you know, and this is my time to get married to myself. I am the bride, the groom, the full party,” she said. “So it’s magical to be able to kind of the skills I’ve learned. had almost 10 years of development when it comes to sewing to be able to go and make all of my own outfits for the show was such a magical experience. [It was also] stressful, horrible, would never do it again, but I did it and I was able to go, you know what, I’m going to put my 100 [percent in] I want to do.
“My big talent is my, my craftsmanship and my attention to detail when it comes to seamstressing, I adore,” she continued. “So it felt magical to be able to, to finally, It’s my turn. So I’m so proud of myself and I’m so proud of what I was able to show so it’s very exciting I can’t wait for the world to see my skills, my taste, my eye for detail.”
Charra Tea is another non-British queen, representing Northern Ireland. As the third Northern Irish queen to make their debut on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, she said it’s “mad” and “so exciting” to put on for her country.
“There’s a lot of pressure there, but I think as well, it’s just nice that it feels really exciting that it’s me. It’s a massive opportunity,” she said. “And I’m very grateful for that because there’s so many incredible drag artists in Northern Ireland [and] from Northern Ireland. So the fact that it’s me adds a lot of pressure, but it’s just really, really, really special. And I’m very, very proud to represent Northern Ireland. And whilst I don’t live there anymore, I still feel like a Belfast queen.”
Lill has described herself as a luxury queen, and she said that she’s able to showcase her luxurious style of drag “on such a grand scale, like bigger than anything that I’ve ever done before.”
“I just love fashion, love style, love feeling luxurious. So to be able to do that and show off all my fab style, it’s been really good. It’s been great,” she said.
Actavia is the franchise’s first fluent Welsh queen, and along with Marmalade, they’re representing what the Welsh drag scene has to offer the world.
“I’m doing it with Marmalade [and it’s] incredible because I literally adore Marmalade, but when it comes to being fluent, it’s honestly surreal,” she said. Like “I’ve had so many messages and people come up to me saying how excited they are to hear the Welsh language on the BBC and Drag Race and it always like hits [me] because it’s like…I really am like that representation [to someone] that I didn’t have [myself] and it’s just wild to think but it’s so insane.”
Marmalade not only has Wales as part of her legacy. She is also the drag daughter of Victoria Scone and the drag granddaughter of Tia Kofi.
“Coming into it, I had a desire to do it for myself but also to use it as a way of showing these two people who have supported me so much just exactly what that support looks like,” she said. “I really wanted to do well for myself but I wanted to do well for them because I can’t think of a better gift to give them than the fruits of their labor, so to speak…I’m very lucky to have not just two very iconic drag queens as a part of my drag family, but two incredible drag queens in their own right to be there to support me, to give me advice, [and] tell me what not to do, what not to say, which is often more important.”
“I’m just very lucky [and] very grateful, but there is a certain amount of pressure to do [well] and do it for them as well,” she added.
Saki Yew is one of two Filipina queens this season, and she’s thrilled to share the moment with her other Filipina sister Zahairah Zapanta. And, with her background in dance and musical theater, Yew can’t wait to show her talents on a platform like RuPaul’s Drag Race UK.
“I retired early with my dance career, but I still wanted to be able to perform and to be able to show it on a big platform like RuPaul’s Drag Race. I’m just so grateful,” she said.
She added that representing Filipina drag queens in the UK is an honor for her, especially since she isn’t the only Filipina queen this season.
“I’m so grateful to be able to represent the Asian excellence that us queens show, especially since I get to share that moment with my other Filipina sister, Zahirah. It’s just nice to get the spotlight on the Asian queens that deserve it.”
Zahirah Zapanta is ready to show her showgirl style of drag to the world, as well as how she represents Filipina drag.
“On RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, there’s never been a Filipina queen, so to have two in one season feels amazing,” she said. “I can definitely feel the sisterhood, not just for me and Saki, but also the rest of the POC representation that we’ve got on this season, it feels great. It made me feel so much more at home and at ease to see people like me be on the same season. It felt really validating.”
“I went on the show to not only represent myself, but represent my community so that someone who’s a kid, who’s figuring things out who might look to me and think, ‘Wow, well I can do that if they’re representing themselves as authentically and as queer as they can be, then [I] can do it too,’” she added. “Fortunately, I was raised in such an open and loving family with lots of culture in it. I definitely want to bring that to the table, so watch out. Hopefully, you’ll see things on the show that help represent not just myself but my Filipino community and my Asianness.”
Dita Garbo is one of the oldest queens this season, and is and the oldest to compete in RuPaul’s Drag Race UK herstory– but don’t think that’s a deterrent; for Garbo, her maturity in the drag game is a secret weapon.
“I think what’s lovely about our season is that everybody on the season is so different,” she said. “And for me, being the oldest UK contestant to ever be on UK Drag Race is incredible again. And it just shows that this season not only is diverse across color, but also across age, which I think is super important as well.”
“I always say that if you’ve got charisma and uniqueness, nerve and talent in your twenties, you’re still going to have it in your thirties, and in your forties. and in your fifties and beyond,” she continued. “Sometimes our bodies don’t allow us to do exactly what we could do in our twenties. But I’ve been lucky enough and I’m still able to, you know, jump split and all the rest of it [and] turn it out as much as those younger girls. And so to be able to represent that at the age I am is super important. Hopefully we’ll just break down a few of those little boundaries and there will be more older queens represented throughout the world.”
Kyran Thrax is another queen who has drama training, but her style is about celebrating chaos, hence her self-proclaimed title as a “bin queen.” She said it feels “amazing” to represent her brand of drag.
“To be honest, I just would get drunk and get into bins a lot and it kind of became my brand. And I remember everyone around me kind of being like, ‘Are you sure?’” she said when describing how she got cast on the show. “When I was applying for Season 6, everyone was like, ‘Are you sure you want your brand to be bins?’ And I was like, ‘Yes.’ And they were like, ‘I’m not sure that’s the best angle for you.’ And I was like, ‘Well, you watch, you sit and watch.’ And then I got on the show, so I was like, OK, bins it is!”
“I always want to represent something that’s a little bit more rough around the edges, so it feels good,” she said. “And it smells good,” she added, jokingly.
Rileasa Slaves is another queen who comes from a drag lineage, with her mother being the iconic UK drag queen Freida Slaves. Both Frieda and Rileasa are St. Lucian, and with Rileasa becoming a RuGirl, that means she has another St. Lucian sister in Monét X Change. Slaves said she feels it’s “amazing” to be a part of drag history. Kiki Snatch, who is also on UK Season 6, is St. Lucian.
“Being Caribbean born, bred, raised, [and] lived [there] until I was 16 and came over to the UK, I honestly probably had very limited ideas of how far [I could go], what I could do. I love doing performing arts, [but] I was going to be a chef. I never knew about drag and I think London, the beauty of it is that it’s such a cultural melting pot,” Rileasa said, going on to describe how she first felt when she started drag. “It’s meeting people like Freida who say, ‘You should do drag.’ I was like, ‘I don’t know about that, honey.’ I was [afraid] I’m going to get shot. That was where I was coming from. I had that rooting of fear. And getting to a point where I’m starting to do drag, where at first I was scared to leave the house, then I was like I’d only go if my friend would take me. When I first started, I was probably one of maybe first melanated queens on the London scene. You just knew everybody. And I think what’s beautiful now is over the years I’ve been doing drag, there’s so much more of us out there and I think it’s important for me, when I applied, [to represent] whoever it might be, even if it’s just for my own inner child, to be able to be like, ‘Wow, I did that.’ A little island girl come up here and just [made it] on the BBC. That, for me, is a big achievement and I don’t take it for granted.”
“At the end of the day, there are people back home in the Caribbean who I have already started to receive love [from],” she added. “Funnily enough, if I’m honest, I was scared about doing this because [I would be] so much in the public eye. I love the anonymity of [doing] drag in London, [going] back home, [and] no one knows about it. That’s not the case anymore. But just to receive the love and to see people who come from the same place as I did who are probably wondering about the possibilities out there in life, to be like, ‘Wow, she left here and did that? Maybe I can do something.’ That’s the importance of us being on the show. You don’t really see yourself unless you see yourself, you know what I mean? It’s important for representation. And here we are–I’m bringing a little big of island coochie-coo, and I want the world to get a little bit of that island seasoning. Not just the salt and pepper.”