Drag Race UK SE6 finalists’ group chat: ‘You think it’ll be cutthroat and vicious – it’s not’ (exclusive)

How does it feel to be Drag Race UK finalists?

Marmalade: Incredible, surreal, but correct!

Kyran: On top of the world, is how I’d describe my experience the entire season. I tried to have as much fun as possible. I was walking around with tears in my eyes yesterday. It’s such a crazy, fast-paced ride. Then you’re like: ‘Oh god – it’s finale week!’ My emotions have been really high.

Rileasa: It’s been a ride, honey! When we’re in the werkroom, everything’s so condensed and compact in that timeframe. Having watched it over these weeks – I forgot a lot of things that happened! And also, things I didn’t know happened! It’s been an interesting process, having been in it, and now watching as an audience member. I’m looking at myself like, girl, you got to the final bitch! 

La Voix: It such an honour. This is not my first reality show. Finally I’m in the final of one! It’s a lifelong dream. To be surrounded by the other queens – I’d name them, but I can’t remember their names – was just sensational. 

The bond you all have seems really powerful. Do you agree?

Marmalade: You think you’re going to go into Drag Race it’s going to be: ‘We’re here to tear each other apart.’ But you work so hard to get there, and you work so hard when you’re there, and when people start to go home, you realise, that person worked just as hard as me and has to leave. You do get close and want everyone to do well. I mean, I want to do slightly better!

Kyran: Creatively, we all gelled really well. The Rusical, Snatch Game, the girl groups. All the challenges we were dealing with as a group, we all had a similar outlook, that we wanted to make it the best it could possibly be.

Rileasa: On the one hand, it’s a competition and you want to put your best foot forward. On the other, you’re a collective. There’s so much talent in the room. Someone like La Voix who’s in musicals – we don’t want it to be like La Voix [and everyone else; instead] it’s like, the talent in the room pulls each other up. Which was really nice. Despite there being tiffs here and there – a bunch of strangers in a room in a high intensity environment?! –beyond that, we all came here with the same thing of like, we’ve invested so much to be here. We want to make however long we’re here for, worth it. It was a really good vibe on set.

La Voix: I’d reiterate all of that. You go into these shows and think, like Marmalade said, it’s going to be cutthroat and vicious. It’s really not. It’s a bit like the drag version of Squid Game. You all pull together massively. You don’t want anyone to go. But also, you know someone needs to go for it to eventually end! You can’t go through that season for your whole life. Could you imagine? But it was amazing to feel the bond you didn’t think you were going to have. You’re going into a competition, you make friends, and then it’s genuinely sad when people go. 

What were your highest and lowest points?

Kyran: Highest – acting and Snatch Game. Snatch Game was the most joy I’ve ever felt in my life. That Snatch Game episode was probably the best day of my life. Lowest – not winning the Rusical. 

La Voix: Awww.

Kyran: I’m joking. That was Marmalade’s answer. No, I guess the semi-final. It’s one of those things, you magnify it. My critiques weren’t that bad, and watching it back, I had some funny jokes. Yeah, I shouldn’t have done a character. But that was the only time in the competition when I blew it out of proportion. I got one negative critique and the world crumbled. Watching it back I was like: Oh, girl, get a grip.

Marmalade: The highest was the Rusical. Everything fell into place. Perfect character, song, runway, everything. I felt that episode I’d either proven people wrong or proven I was more than just aesthetics, which some people assumed. It sounds so silly, but my lowest moment was Actavia going home. She’s a good friend. We’ve gotten so close. I could see how hard she’d worked and how much she was fighting for it.

Rileasa: Highest was anything music-related. The Rusical shocked me. I was like: ‘I don’t sing like this in public’. My low-high would be anything comedy-related. I came in mortified at the idea of telling jokes. I tried with a friend of mine and she was like: ‘Baby, you’ll just have to lip-sync!’ For me, it’s more having faced those moments, twice. A low internally, but the aftermath was like, bitch, I did that. I was scared to death. Baby, she knows she’s got a funny personality; she’s just not a ‘why did the chicken cross the road?’-kind of bitch, know what I mean? 

La Voix: One of my loveliest, highest moments was having my dad on the show. That speech, so eloquent, and the love and support from my dad. The whole message he portrayed – wonderful. Lowest? Probably playing Liza all day long. Don’t get me wrong, it was my favourite day on set. But doing jazz hands that long did give me carpal tunnel-mild arthritis in my wrists.

What’s the biggest way you’ve evolved?

Kyran: To be aware of my energy in a room. It’s a good quality, that I can affect people, and that conversation in Untucked episode seven when some of the girls were airing out how they feel being vocally confident… I saw it in two minds. Yeah, part of me thought, you shouldn’t be wishing someone else fails to make yourselves look better. But at the same time, I never, ever want to make somebody feel uncomfortable or upset. I never want to be perceived as arrogant. I want to move forward being confident and uplifting everyone else, and hoping others can be that confident too, rather than feeling less-than.

Marmalade: I can really trust myself. I’ve got the skillset. Half the cast are from around London, half from around Manchester. Then there’s me on my own from Cardiff. I felt quite out of place when I got there. I had to play at being confident. Telling myself to pretend I was at the level of everyone, to be there. I learnt, ‘Oh no, you are at that level. That’s just silly self-doubt.’ I really learnt how to put that aside and trust I have everything within me.

Rileasa: I’ve learned there are things I am capable of doing that I never give myself credit for. Watching myself while knowing internally, bitch, I’m shitting myself, and I’m like: ‘Hey guys! What’s happening!’ I learnt I have an ability to work through high intensity situations and still have a smile at the end of the day. For me – I’m that bitch, you know?

La Voix: Similar. You learn you can keep the ball up for so long. For days and days. You don’t learn that about yourself usually, because you’re not in that pressured situation. I also learnt that RuPaul is a bald man in his 60s. That shocked me. I also learnt that Geri Halliwell invented fascism. 

To end, what were your highlights of the Attitude Awards?

Kyran: Elton John stepping on stage. Crazy. We all looked at Marmalade like: ‘Aaaah!’ Surreal.

Marmalade: When Elton stepped on and I knew I’d done him in the Rusical, but the episode hadn’t come out yet, so I couldn’t say anything… The really special moment was seeing my drag grandmother Tia accepting her Award. I stood back and saw how many people were witnessing her have that moment. That was special.

La Voix: The Lost Boys and Fairies series getting recognition. It was a beautiful TV show. It had such heart. Some of these TV shows – they see it as being a risk. It really isn’t. That fact they [committed] wholeheartedly to that storyline on mainstream, I thought was wonderful.

Rileasa: Talk about community – seeing queer people in a space that’s all about us celebrating; seeing the amount of very successful people in their own fields, creatives etcetera, all gathered in a room and feeling glamourous? For me, that was the highlight. That’s my people. 

The Drag Race UK season six finale airs on BBC3 on Thursday 28 November 2024.