Drag Race UK’s Krystal Versace on her biggest competition, virginity and who the judges overlooked
Krystal Versace. (BBC)
And just like that… Krystal Versace has been crowned the UK’s next drag superstar.
This week saw another dramatic, hilarious, scandalous and raucous season of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK come to an end.
It was 19-year-old Krystal – the youngest queen ever to reach the final of Drag Race – who won over RuPaul and the judges to be crowned the winner. Krystal narrowly beat Ella Vaday and Kitty Scott-Claus in one of the most talented final line-ups Drag Race has ever had.
From the start, Krystal Versace showed signs that she was the queen to beat. She won the first two challenges and slayed in week three’s sewing challenge, despite being a self-described newbie at making clothes.
As the competition progressed, other queens raised their game, but Krystal stayed with them.
Even when the challenges weren’t her natural skillset, she persevered and gave it her all. And she absolutely killed the final performance challenge and runway.
In the aftermath of her stunning victory, PinkNews caught up with the UK’s next drag superstar herself.
PinkNews: Hi Krystal Versace! Congrats on your win! What was it like watching the final back? Were you surprised to take home the crown?
Krystal Versace: Well, I don’t think that the RuPeter Badges really matter, necessarily!
It’s been shown in the past that they don’t really. If you kill the competition and you impress Ru, and you show growth and you show vulnerability.
If you show you as a person and have the ‘Drag Race journey’, you can surprise yourself! I think that’s sort of what’s happened with me: overall these weeks, I started somewhere completely different to where I ended.
You threw yourself into every challenge, whether it was your thing or not, how did you keep believing in yourself?
That’s the one thing I’m so proud of myself. Looking back, I literally put my all into everything, even if it was like my worst nightmare or felt uncomfortable.
Even for the comedy roast challenge, I knew I wasn’t going to be good, so I just went out there and took the piss out of myself. There was a lot of stuff that wasn’t shown but it was mostly just me laughing at myself!
You’re the youngest queen ever to win Drag Race. Did you learn anything from your queer elders in the competition?
So much! With so many personalities coming together, we’re a sisterhood. I think that in itself is a lesson. Learning from each other has been an amazing journey.
You shared on the show that you were a virgin at the time of filming. What made you decide to share that with the audience?
I didn’t really plan on talking about stuff like that, because I thought: “This is my drug, it’s not about me.” It just sort of came out.
The competition pushes you so much and there’s so many ups and downs, so you end up talking about stuff because other people have conversations and you end up talking about loads of these topics.
At that moment, it came up in conversation. I think people wouldn’t expect it, because my drag is “sex on legs”.
My drag is “she’s a sex goddess, she’s stunning”.
So, I thought people would think: “Oh, I didn’t expect that!” So I turned it around and thought: “I’m going to take a few things that made me insecure as a boy, and put it in my drag.”
Vanity Milan and Krystal Versace. (BBC)
I notice you don’t have Twitter. I was wondering if that is anything to do with fan behaviour?
No, I just don’t want it, I don’t want to see it!
What’s the fan response been like?
It’s all been amazing! I’ve literally haven’t seen anything negative.
Like, it’s been incredible. Everyone has been so loving and understanding of my drag and following my journey. I’m so thankful.
You served some iconic looks this year on the runway. Were there any of the other queen’s looks which stood out to you?
I really liked River’s “expenny henny” look. It was unbelievable. Anubis’s finale look was stunning and so was Kitty’s “goddess” look.
Was there anyone’s drag who you felt was slept on by the judges and fans?
I strongly believe in Anubis. She’s amazing and she’s one of the most underrated queens ever on Drag Race.
You killed the final challenge. Do you plan to do more performing?
Definitely. I’ve got tours and stuff coming up, but I just need a bit of time. You’ll have to wait and see! I’m going to be performing all over.
Who was your favourite guest judge?
I really liked Alicia Dixon. She had such a vibe. She was lip-syncing and singing and dancing and bouncing around. She was brilliant and she was loving it!
Who stood out as your biggest competition on day one in the workroom?
I definitely think Victoria [Scone]. I think we all knew she was gonna come in hard. So I think she was definitely big competition.
I knew Kitty would just go in and have fun and not worry about a single thing, so her too.
Some of the queens from this year have spoken about the difficulty of pulling together outfits on a budget, was that difficult for you?
I think it’s what you do with it. You can really not spend loads of money if you’re super talented – like Charity [Kase], she turned it out and had sickening looks. It was stressful, especially because of the lockdown.
Two of my outfits actually didn’t arrive on time, so I had to make do without, so it was definitely stressful!
What’s next for you, as the UK’s next drag superstar?
I’m ready to take over the world! I’m looking forward to touring and representing the UK and showing the world what I’m capable of.
I want to do everything you don’t expect and keep reinventing the wheel. I don’t have a straight plan of exactly the route I want to go down, because that’s just never how I’ve worked.
But I hope I can keep inspiring myself and others.
What advice do you have for anyone who’s inspired to do drag, or anything else, after watching you on the show?
I would say, don’t listen to what people have to say about you, or what they tell you to do. Follow your gut and follow your heart. If you want to do something, then you go and do it! Work hard.
You really have to work hard: I’ve worked so hard for the last three years to work every gig I’ve had.
Stuff like that, you have to hustle and do your best. Stick to you and don’t look back!
