There can be few better ways to start the new year than with over one hundred and forty drag queens all under one roof in London town, the greatest city on Earth – and that’s exactly what we’ll be doing at DragCon UK 2023!
Taking place at Excel London from 6-8 January, all your favourite Ru girls will be sashaying under one roof to lip sync, spill the tea and sell their merch to us all! The last DragCon UK was pre-Covid so this truly promises to be thee event, especially as it is now in the much bigga…and betta Excel Centre.
UK Season 3 fave, Kitty Scott-Claus, zoomed us to tell about how excited she is to meet queens from all over the world and rejoice in the ‘circle of love!’ Ooh err…
So Kitty, I have a confession to make, this is my first DragCon…
Same! So we’ll both be virgins at it.
Then, what do you think virgins like us need to know about DragCon UK?
Well, obviously it’s my first one as a Ru girl, but actually it’s just my first time going full stop. But obviously I am very close with Cheryl Hola, Baga, Tayce and girls from other seasons and from what I’ve heard, they all say it’s amazing. What makes this one so special is that it’s going to be quadruple the size of the previous DragCon UK. Excel is so much bigger than Olympia. When it happened the first time there was only Season One of Drag Race UK. Now we have four seasons, plus the international franchises. Before there were like fifty queens for DragCon UK, now there are 140 confirmed so far and counting…
Which queen are you most excited to meet for the first time?
Oh my God, do you know what, there are so many. I feel like such a fan of it myself. I love RuPaul’s Drag Race. I love the fandom. I love everything about it. So I am just excited to meet all the international queens that are coming over to the UK. It’s just going to be a gorgeous time to meet everyone. It’s almost like Eurovision, isn’t it? We’ll have Graham saying, ‘And next up we have…’
Totally. I was going to ask you what your favourite moment was from the last DragCon UK but I didn’t realise this was your first too. In that case you were saying you’d been talking to Cheryl about it. What was her favourite moment from last year?
I think it was just meeting everyone. It’s so wild for me at least to think, ‘OK, when I started out doing Drag, in a tiny little bar in Camden, we were doing shows to like three people, thinking, ‘THIS IS IT!’ Now that Drag has become so mainstream and it is so celebrated, there are thousands and thousands of people that come to this. It’s just meeting people, being grateful and showing my appreciation for people that support me and at the same time them showing their support for me. It’s one big circle of love.
I’m sure you have been given some great presents by fans before…
Oh my God, do you know? We get given so much stuff and I love it. I keep them all! It’s fascinating to me. Literally over there, someone made me a doll of me which I was obsessed with. Like, this is mad, this is wild, why would someone want a Kitty doll?! But that someone has taken the time and made the effort to do that is amazing. I’ve got drawings. Oh and oh my God…so we have just been on the Drag Race tour, and people know I love Lisa Scott-Lee. This boy called James got me a special edition of Steps’ last album with just Lisa on the cover and he’d even gotten her to sign it, ‘To Kitty Scott Claus, love Lisa.’ Amazing.
You are known for all the pop culture references you brought on to the show. Which do people say to you the most now?
I get a lot of, ‘I’m Ready.’ Do you know what I’ve noticed also? That’s popping up everywhere now. I don’t want to say that I brought it back, but…
You know what, I have to say, when you said it on Drag Race, I really felt seen. Haha…
I went to see Little Mix on the last tour so that was like May this year and onstage, they were like, ‘I’m ready…’, ‘You said that with some determination.’ But obviously that was on X Factor and me and my friends would say that all time. So to have that as one of the things people remember me for…people even say it to me in interviews! They’ll start like, ‘Ok, are you ready?’ and I’ll be like, ‘I’m ready.’
Are there any recent quotes that have joined your phrases?
Do you know what? I am obsessed with the Snatch Game with Dakota doing Pete Burns. I don’t know how she didn’t win! She was incredible. And then I was remembering Pete’s phrases like, ‘My coat’s in police custody. I want my coat back in the next four hours.’ Iconic. And I mean you can’t beat Kim Woodburn, can you?
We are named after the biggest selling single of 2001 so if you were to do A Night of 1000 Mariah Careys. what look would you rock?
I would do the New Year’s Eve Times Square look when the backing track didn’t work. Like Shangela did in All Stars 3 when she was like, ‘So….let’s let the audience sing along.’ Iconic.
And we always ask what is your favourite Mariah song?
You can’t beat ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You.’ I’m sorry. It’s past 1st November, she’s thawed, she’s here. It’s inevitable. How camp was that Halloween/Christmas video she posted? Every year she’s like, ‘Not yet…’ You can’t blame her though. She’s so clever because she is monetizing what is obviously a happy memory for people and one they will just keep coming back to. She’s smashed it. That’s why we’re doing ‘Hey Sis, it’s Christmas.’ I’m just going to keep wearing Christmas outfits.
DragCon UK is 6-8 January 2023.
