Drag Race UK champion Kyran Thrax on All Winners 2: “Let’s go!”

Kyran Thrax, the UK’s Next Drag Superstar, reflects on her triumphant Drag Race experience and her plans for “world domination, baby!”

WORDS BY SAM DAMSHENAS
SPECIAL THANKS TO JASMINE ALOMA AND SOFIE VAN DE GRAMPEL AT THE BBC

Although she’s just been crowned the UK’s Next Drag Superstar and has her claws full as 1) the world’s supreme Hugh Grant impersonator and 2) Suzy’s ma(w)ma, Kyran Thrax is already vying for “world domination, baby!”: “I’m not just going to make an impact on the winners’ circle. I’m going to make an impact on the world. My ambitions are sky-high and I’m going to meet them.”

On Thursday (28 November), the bin bag bloodsucking diva (sums her up, no?) conquered the sixth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK after defeating her bestie La Voix in a lip-sync smackdown to Queen’s ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’. With three wins, zero bottoms and a plethora of iconic moments, from Hugh Grunt to her vampy girl-group verse and “even the bacon’s confused!”, Kyran’s induction into the UK Hall of Fame was celebrated as a fitting end to one of the most acclaimed seasons in Drag Race herstory.

Read ahead for Kyran’s post-win chat with GAY TIMES, where she reflects on her triumphant stint on Drag Race UK season six, her connection with La Voix and whether she’s interested in competing on All Winners 2. Spoiler alert: it’s a massive yas, and she even reveals the one legendary champion that would leave her “sweating”.

Kyran! How are you babe?

Oh my god, I mean, how do you think I am?! I am reeling, absolutely reeling. I’m on top of the world. My brain is just mush.

You look absolutely stunning, as always, and I’m glad Suzy’s made an appearance.

Oh yeah, Suzy’s taking care of the sceptre back here. Love you, Suzy. We did it!

How are you feeling after last night? Have you had much sleep?

I’ve had an adequate amount of sleep – an adequate amount. Listen, I could’ve had thirty seconds of sleep. The adrenaline right now? I feel like I could punch through a brick wall. My adrenaline is wild. I mean, the word is “grateful”. I’m just so grateful. This is beyond my wildest dreams and I feel honoured. I’m going to make everyone so proud.

You already have, Kyran. You’ve slaughtered this season. Take me back to what was going through your mind when you were waiting for RuPaul to reveal the result and then he announced you as the UK’s Next Drag Superstar?

Nothing can ever prepare you for that moment. Literally, nothing in your entire life can prepare you for that. Me and La Voix sat there side by side, holding each other. I love that queen so much. I love her with all my being and all of my heart. It was just so, so close. The lip-sync finished and I went, ‘Oh my god, I’ve got it, I’ve won’. And then I went, ‘No, wait, La Voix’s won,’ and ‘No, it’s me.’ I just went back-and-forth through the 40,000 stages of grief and celebration in a space of 0.5 seconds. It’s just unbelievable. I thought they were going to do a Frankenstein edit and double crown us. I really did. Obviously, I’m not complaining, but she is one of the most incredible people in the world and she deserves it. She deserves every bit of her success. Every single person on this season deserves their flowers, they’re so incredible.

I also thought it was going to be a double crowning. With the UK franchise, there’s always a double crowning-worthy moment… I never really mind who wins?

I know. I think it’s just because UK drag is that good, baby. It’s always so down to the wir. It could be the toss of a bloody coin. The relationship I have [with La Voix], that is a prize in itself. Do you know what I mean?

You and La Voix come from entirely different generations and approaches to drag, yet this friendship works. It’s iconic. Why do you think you both gelled so well?

I feel we work together so well because of how different we are. First impressions, we walked in and saw each other and went, ‘Oh, we are not going to gel!’ She saw me in a bin bag and cockroaches and went, ‘What is this queen doing?’ By the end of the first episode, we just understood each other. Each episode it developed and developed and developed. We really understood each other creatively. We really understood each other as human beings, and I think we saw each other, and you could see that. And we just wanted to have fun and give each other the most fun experience possible.

Is a joint tour in the works? Is that something you’ve both thought about?

We’ve had the conversation about it. Yes… I’m not going to say too much! I don’t want to spoil anything. But, we’re in conversation.

How did your family react to the win? How did Ritchie react? How did Suzy react?

Suzy was screaming from the rooftops with Benjamin. They were having a wild time. They’re so excited for me. They’re so “chuffed” as Lill would say, “chuffed as a butty”. It’s just something that’s so impossible to process, especially in the moment. I think they were all just trying to make sure, firstly, that I was okay. I was basically having a mini panic attack. But, they’re so proud, they couldn’t be more proud. It was one of the most emotional experiences of my life. I called my mum in the cab afterwards and she was just sobbing down the phone. Actually, she called me the day before the finale like, ‘Can you just tell me if you won?’ and I was like, ‘Mum, I don’t know!’ She was like, ‘Yes you do.’ She’s so proud, and I’ve got so many special people in my life who have been cheering me on for so long, supporting me and helping me make this come true and a reality. I’m just so happy and so grateful that I could do this and make them proud.

You’ve had so many insane moments this season, from your talent show to the Snatch Game and Hugh Grunt, which is one of my favourite ever moments from Drag Race…

Thank you. Yeah, it’s a highlight, definitely. Just getting given that script and it saying “grunts” and me going, ‘I want this one!’

Has Hugh said anything? Has he reached out?

No, oh my god. I really want him to though, [but] he might be sending me a lawsuit.

Fuck’s sake, Hugh.

I hope he has seen it. I really, really do. I hope he bump into him one day and he tells me he never wants me to do that again.

And then there was the girl group challenge and, of course, the runways. But, what moment from season six are you most proud of?

Something that’s always going to be a huge highlight for me is the Snatch Game, because that is just so monumental. To win it with my absolute angel La Voix was such a special moment to me. And yeah, acting Hugh Grunt, because acting is what I do. It’s what I’ve been trained to do. So, to get validation from that, it means everything to me. The whole season was a highlight! I will cherish every single thing. I kept looking around the room whilst I was there and going, ‘Take this in, remember this for the rest of your life and enjoy it,’ and I really feel like I did.

I hope this is okay to bring up, but earlier in the season, in an incredibly powerful moment, you opened up about your experiences with grooming and abuse. What do you think your win will mean for the people who have gone through a similar experience? To see you come out the other end of that, thrive and slay life as the UK’s Next Drag Superstar?

If I can help one person see themselves as a winner, if I can help one person feel like they can get out of that situation and do anything they want to and anything they put their mind to, then it’s absolutely worth it. The messages that I’ve received have been, I mean… I can’t even begin to describe it. The emotion after episode five… I just say bawling going through my messages because of people saying they felt seen, that they’ve never heard their story told on television before. People [were] saying that they feel like they could finally tell their family and be open about it. This just makes every single second of it worth it.

@gaytimes #DragRaceUK’s @Kyran Thrax reflects on their winning moment ???? #rupaulsdragrace #dragrace #rupaulsdragraceuk #dragqueen #drag #dragracecontent #season6 ♬ original sound – GAY TIMES

Kyran, you’ve truly excelled at so much this season that I have no idea what you’re going to do next. You’re quite unpredictable because you’re not a comedy queen, a fashion queen, a music queen. You’re all of it. So, what do you aim to do as the UK’s Next Drag Superstar? How are you going to make an impact on the winners’ circle?

I’m not just going to make an impact on the winners’ circle, baby. I’m going to make an impact on the world, truly. My ambitions are sky-high and I’m going to meet them. World domination, baby. You’re going to see me everywhere. I want TV, theatre, film, West End, Hollywood. I’m going to do everything because I feel like I’ve been given the platform to, and I’ve been given some money so I can invest. I can make the shows and I’ve always dreamt of making to give everyone the best show ever. I’m going to make everyone so proud, that’s the main thing. This is going to be a reign, let me tell you that.

I have to ask, because I’m an insatiable Drag Race poof: if the call comes for All Winners 2, what are you saying?

Yes. There’s no hesitation, not a single hesitation. If they called me right now I would say, ‘Oh wait, hello? Yeah, let me grab Suzy.’ If they called me right now and said, ‘We’re filming tomorrow’ I’d say, ‘Let’s go!’ Filming Drag Race has been the most joyful and happy experience of my entire life. When we were there, I was literally like, ‘If you told me there were 10 more episodes, that we were going to be filming for six more months, sign me up.’ I had the most amazing experience, the most amazing time. If they want me for All Winners 2, I’m there! Call me, baby. Let’s go!

And who would you like to compete against…?

Oh my god, everyone! All of them. They are all so incredible. Somebody who I’ve been wowed by and inspired by for so long is Sasha Velour. I would love to compete with her. Somebody that I’d love to compete with, because I adore them, is Lawrence Chaney. But also, that is a person I would hate to compete with because, I mean, she is so adored by RuPaul. If she walked in, I would be sweating! But yeah, I’d love to compete with Lawrence, Sasha, Bob the Drag Queen. Oh my god, Bob and Alaska. That is actually a potential thing that could happen in the pipeline. It’s so surreal to me. You know what? All Winners 2, every single winner, let’s go! Let’s just do a huge season, every single winner, and just battle it out.

Do you think the rainbow people can handle this? I mean, who do you even root for? Suzy?

Me! No, Suzy’s the only answer.

I love you babe, but Suzy’s got it going on.

Baby, she won this crown. Honey, look at her.

Drag Race UK season 6 is streaming in the UK on BBC iPlayer.

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