Heidi N Closet on Drag Race UK, H&M-gate and why money talks on the runway
The season 12 star speaks exclusively to Attitude and Drag Race UK's Crystal as she releases debut single 'GAP'.
By Will Stroude
As Heidi N Closet releases her debut single – the infectious, pandemic-themed ‘WAP’ parody ‘GAP’ – the heart of season 12 is ready to give her blessed and highly-favoured two cents on Drag Race UK, H&M-gate and the reality of werking it on the runway when you’re not rolling in dough.
Sitting down with Attitude and Drag Race UK series one star Crystal for an exclusive chat to mark the release of ‘GAP’ (which you can read more about here), Heidi reveals which British queens from series two are taking her fancy, and why she believes when it comes to the great H&M debate, Mama Ru should have made like Elsa in Frozen and just ‘Let It Go’.
“I have a soft spot for the one and only Lawrence Chaney, I love her”, Heidi tells Crystal, who recently launched her new podcast series The Things That Made Me Queer, which sees celebrity guests and friends discuss the touchpoints of their queer journey through the items they ‘bring’ along to the studio.
“I love Tayce. I love Bimini. I feel so bad for Miss [Veronica] Green not being able to to come back – that was heart-breaking, she’s so talented. Hopefully she’ll go back and work it out.
Heidi adds: “But honestly I don’t think there’s a single person in the cast I don’t like.”
Asked about H&M-gate, aka RuPaul’s already-iconic rant about not wanting “to see any f**king H&M” on the series, Heidi admits she thinks the fact Joe Black’s high street faux pas came during a challenge and not on the runway meant she should have been given an easier ride by Ru.
“Ooh, child. I mean, I’m notorious for not having the best runways, but I’m like, it was just for the challenge?!” exclaims Heidi.
“It’s not like it was the runway. Let it go. It was just for the challenge. If it had been a runway, read her down for filth, absolutely, because that’s where you’re supposed to bring the look.
“But it was just for the challenge, so I thought it was fine.”
Asked by Crystal whether she believes queens who are unable to afford the most extravagant look are unfairly penalised on the runway, Heidi admits that in her experience, Drag Race is far from a level playing field.
“I don’t think people are penalised… I think it’s hard for people who don’t have the money or the access to it, because your runway really can save you or hinder you,” she explains.
“If your runway keeps getting you in trouble, like it did for me, it can really get you down and get you in a bad state of mind and it can really affect your overall performance. So I can really understand the feeling.
“I wished it wasn’t such a heavy [burden to] carry, because not everyone comes from money, not everyone has saved thousands and thousands of dollars for this. And some people have been doing drag for 20 years and have a whole wardrobe that’s bigger than my apartment [which that can] pull stuff from.
“For me, I was still new to drag, relatively, and still trying to build up my drag on the show. I made all of $9000 the year prior and spent over half of that to get there, and still my stuff wasn’t up to par with some of the other girls.”
Despite the cost of her season 12 run, Heidi reveals she’d “definitely” return to the workroom for a future season of All Stars – “if they were to ask”.
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