Drag Race UK star A’Whora RuVeals the tense main stage showdown that didn’t make it to air
A’Whora on Drag Race UK. (BBC)
Drag Race UK star A’Whora on the unseen moment that caused serious untucked drama – and what her nan thought of that gaping a**ehole joke.
Another week, another hall of fame-worthy episode of Drag Race UK and another crushing elimination.
This time it was the turn of A’Whora to sashay away from the competition after a stand-up routine that had bottoms clenching up and down the nation and an emotional lip-sync against her friend and real-world housemate Tayce.
It was the shock end to a particularly tense episode, which saw the Drag Race UK queens clashing over Ellie Diamond’s allegedly shady dealings in choosing the stand-up running order. But it turns out, there was more to it than that.
PinkNews caught up with A’Whora to break down her experiences with the fandom, why she wants to see drag kings on the show and the unaired moment RuPaul asked the queens “the dreaded question” on the main stage.
How was it watching the episode back last night?
It’s always a weird feeling to watch it back. Even weirder watching it with Tayce, who sent me home! But we get a bottle of wine, we laugh about it, we don’t take anything to heart. It’s like looking back through an old family photo album. It happened a while ago, we’ve moved on from it.
What did your nan make of it?
Obviously I wasn’t speaking on fact, my nan doesn’t genuinely need jet-washing down ‘cos she’s covered in s**t! When Peter Kay talks about his family, that was always funny to me to watch. So that was the direction I took it in. My nan, she wasn’t happy with the content [laughs], that’s possibly why they bleeped it out of respect. But it’s all fine, she supports me and loves me. She’s cool.
I thought you did really well in the comedy challenge!
Thank you. I thought I was an absolute knock-out sensation! I think I gave Dawn French a run for her money.
The feedback was that you’d relied too much on crude humour. Was that fair or was RuPaul being a bit of a prude?
I just think at the end of the day, British humour is crude humour and that’s the difference between us and Americans. We all grew up watching Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, Little Britain and Bo Selecta, things that were borderline hitting a nerve. Some of the things we grew up watching probably can’t even be said now. So that’s how I was brought up, that northern pub banter. So to me it wasn’t even crude, it was just normal!
You came in as the fashion queen but you turned out to be really funny. Did you surprise yourself in that respect?
I’ve always been praised on my attitude as George – how I just laugh everything off, never take anything too seriously. So it’s weird when I do A’Whora – I think because A’Whora is a defence mechanism, it’s a front, I do take everything personally. She’s kind of like my child –I want to protect her and make sure she has the best of everything. I think that’s why I take everything so seriously as her and with her.
To go onto the show as A’Whora, I think, was a very different experience to if I was walking into the werk room as George. And first impressions are everything – which I’ve realised from watching the show and the reaction of fans. It’s very important to make a good first impression. So, I very, I was very surprised to see me be funny, I think had a real breakthrough moment with the Essex girl challenge, and from then on I think people just started to different sides to me, and I think I opened up many more doors being that person.
How has that fan reaction been over the last eight weeks.
From episode one to three it was not a nice experience. I’m very lucky to have the BBC, World of Wonder, the team at Drag Race, everyone is so supportive. People like to say things and think that tagging me in something isn’t going have an impact. It was hard to come into this industry so fresh and have that straight off the bat. Things got easier down the line; as people get to know people they see different sides. And I think people then start to understand how to interpret my b***hiness and shade and not take it so literal. My shadiness is my humour, my wit. I think people understand that now and they take it with a pinch of salt. But it’s definitely a coping mechanism for me. And I’ve never really been around drag queens. Having that social circle and that sisterhood around me made me feel more protected and I let that wall down, I became a better person from being around other inspiring people.
Has that Drag Race UK sisterhood continued?
Yeah. It’s hard because we’re in lockdown – we can’t make memories and go on tour and do all the good things that come with the show, so it has ben lacklustre in that sense. The London girls stick together, we can see each other in the park now and again, but it’s harder for me to have a relationship with say Ellie or Lawrence. We FaceTime, we have a WhatsApp. And I look forward to getting to know everyone beyond a TV production where you’re producing yourself.
You said on Twitter that you and Ellie had talked things through.
Yeah, you know, in the moment Ellie was upset, I was holding her hand and she explained why she did what she did. You make amends, that’s what you do as sisters, you get on with it and dust yourself off. Yeah, I was annoyed, because I was Ellie’s best friend in the competition, so was Lawrence, so for her to throw us under the bus was kind of a shock.
And if you wanna know why I was upset during untucked, it was cos rupaul asked the question who should go home tonight and why? And someone said my name…. so I had good reason to be pissed, that’s all!
— A'WHORA (@awhoraofficial) March 4, 2021
But then for her to do it a second time when we were asked the dreaded question [who do you want to go home?] on stage, which didn’t air, I took it even more personally. But we FaceTime every day, she’ll get into drag and be like girl what do you think of this hair? And I’ll say you look f**king disgusting. Or she’ll FaceTime and be sat having a poo and I’ll be eating my dinner. It’s just that, it’s family, it’s how we are. You put things aside because what’s the point in holding a grudge? I’ll just get her back when we do All Stars. I’ll f**k her up then!
You also tweeted about wanting to see drag kings on the show.
Yeah, this show is very inclusive, we have so many representations on there and I love it. I’m not pulling the show down, it opens up so many doors for so many people. But when we’re men dressed as men and it’s being taken so lightheartedly and RuPaul’s having a laugh, you kind of think to yourself, that’s something that could be explored on the show.
We’re all messing around with gender, the ideals of gender and taking the piss out of them, so we shouldn’t just be up there repping women, we should be up there repping men. We’re all about equality in our community so it only makes sense to make everything equal.
Drag Race UK continues Thursdays at 7pm on BBC iPlayer.
