Drag Race UK’s Krystal Versace shares what RuPaul said to her when the cameras weren’t rolling

Words: Alastair James; pictures: BBC

Drag Race UK’s Krystal Versace has ru-vealed an off-camera conversation she had with RuPaul where the queen of drag told Krystal exactly what she thought of her.

The 19-year-old queen is one of three finalists in the show’s third series alongside Ella Vaday and Kitty Scott-Claus.

Speaking to Attitude and Tia Kofi for Tea Time, in association with TAIMI, the world’s largest LGBTQ+ social and dating app, Krystal also said the show had helped her mature.

Asked about the praise Mama Ru has heaped on the young drag queen Krystal opened up about an off-camera moment that left her truly gagged.

“After the lip-sync [between Krystal and Vanity Milan] she took me aside off-camera in the werkroom and she spoke to me and said: “I just want to let you know that was incredible and the way you’ve told a story with your body is amazing.

“She was like, ‘I’m literally gagged.’”

But Krystal doesn’t think it means she will take the crown in the end estimating: “It’s fifty-fifty, I think.”

She also reveals to Attitude that she wasn’t expecting to get to the top three at all, and actually thought she’d leave in week two after the Dragoton challenge. She ended up winning the challenge, her second in a row.

On being an early frontrunner as a result she thinks it changed how she was seen by the other queens.

“Initially the girls just saw me walk in the werkroom and were like, ‘Oh, she’s the pretty one, she can’t do this, can’t do that. I was under the radar ready to do my thing. Afterward, I think they were like she’s killing it. It definitely added pressure.”

But she adds that she developed while being on the show, which she admits was weird to watch.

“I started very… not cocky, but I was more closed off and anything that came out was to look a certain way, it was not to let people know who I was. I’m Krystal Versace and I’m going to do this and I’m going to do that. As the show went on it became I’m a person and this is who I am.”

“It feels like doing Drag Race has matured me a lot. It feels like it’s put me through all these things that normal people go through in life over a few years into a few weeks. It feels like I came in as one person and came out as another.”

Asked why should she be the UK’s next drag superstar she replies: “I am that f***ing bitch.”

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