
Drag Race fans, start your engines – the new season of the UK series is here, and the cast is ready to take the nation by storm.
The long-awaited return of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK on BBC Three is just a day away, with acclaimed performers including Cheddar Gorgeous and Danny Beard joining the dazzling line-up for series 4.
Ahead of the launch, Metro.co.uk and other media caught up with all 12 of the competitors hoping to be crowned the UK’s Next Drag Superstar… and they were brimming with excitement to step into the limelight.
From the Fashion Week-worthy runways fans can expect to grace the stage to the charismatic guest judges joining RuPaul, Michelle Visage, Graham Norton and Alan Carr on the panel, the cast covered all bases when teasing what audiences can expect from the new episodes (while avoiding those ever-precarious spoilers, of course).
Here’s what they all had to say. Buckle in!
Just May
Just May, 32 from Essex, is convinced this season is going to be a ‘series to remember’, thanks to the ‘many different skill sets’ that the talented cast boasts among their ranks.

One aspect of their Drag Race experience that they found the most surprising was the fact that in the Werk Room, you can’t actually hear everything that’s being said… meaning that secret conversations can remain that way (except from the prying eyes of the camera, of course).
‘You actually do need to be quite close to people to hear what they’re saying. It’s like an echo chamber, you can’t really hear that much,’ Just May recollected.
They also found the social media response to the casting announcement ‘overwhelming’, stating: ‘It has been incredible. It felt like a celebration, and it’s now just building up the anticipation again for the episode on Thursday.’
Pixie Polite
Pixie Polite, 29 from Brighton, reckons Drag Race UK series four ‘could be the best season ever’, celebrating all of the queens in the ‘well-rounded’ cast as being ‘so incredibly talented’.

The drag queen listed off some of the most exciting guest judges on the roster, including Hannah Waddingham, the ‘iconic shame nun’ on Game of Thrones; Alison Hammond ‘of Big Brother fame’, and Scary Spice herself Mel B.
‘I met Mel B once before, years ago, and she signed a book for me. It was very camp. I gave it to Tia,’ Pixie said, referring to her friend and fellow Drag Race UK star Tia Kofi (who starred on series three).
‘I don’t think there was anyone that I wasn’t excited to see or meet you know. It’s a good crop of guest judges this year.’
Starlet
Starlet, 23 from Surrey, is proud to represent as the first South African queen on the show, despite having not yet been ‘introduced to the queer community in South Africa’.

‘I was very sheltered from the queer scene in South Africa. When I was in South Africa, I didn’t know that drag was something that you could do and make a living off of. So I’m excited to bring South African drag to Drag Race,’ the queen said.
However, Starlet has come into contact with some members of the queer community in South Africa online, who are going to be doing viewing parties of Drag Race UK to share their support.
‘They’re excited for South African drag being shown to the world. It’s really wonderful, I’m very happy,’ she added.
Jonbers Blonde
Jonbers Blonde, 33 from Belfast, is particularly excited for fans to see the jaw-dropping fashion that the queens have in store this season, revealing that the ‘runway looks are incredible’.

‘We do get compared a lot to each other, you know, drag queen to drag queen, and I think everyone has their own aesthetic,’ she revealed. ‘Everyone is so different and brings a different calibre of drag.’
Jonbers also expressed how excited they are to be representing Northern Ireland, following in the footsteps of Drag Race UK series one star Blu Hydrangea.
‘My home and my heart is in Northern Ireland and I think representation from Northern Ireland is really important, especially because we don’t see that many people from Northern Ireland on TV. So I’m really excited for young queer people especially to see that there is other representation from Northern Ireland on TV.
Sminty Drop
Sminty Drop, 23 from Lancashire, teased how breathtaking the fashion is going ot be on the runway, sharing: ‘The fashion this season is literally like you’re watching Fashion Week.’

She also promised that none of the stars of this year’s cast are going to ‘fade into the background with their personalities’, as it was ‘almost hard to get a sentence in’.
‘There’s never going to be a dull moment with any of us because we’re all such strong bubbly characters,’ she said.
As for what she found one of the most challenging aspects of the competition, Sminty admitted that she would ‘get in her head’ a lot by comparing herself to other people, so she would try to think to herself: ‘I’ve got this. Don’t cloud your judgement of yourself by all the other people.’
Le Fil
Le Fil, 36 from Yorkshire, found it ‘so important’ that this year, Drag Race UK is featuring ‘so many different types of queens’.

‘Even for myself as someone who has come from more of a fine art background, and not necessarily from within a drag context, it was something which was quite refreshing to me,’ they said.
‘Because even when I’m in full glam, I’m still referred to myself as a he/him. It’s never impersonating a woman – it’s about exploring femininity, and exploring painting and the iconography of gender.’
Le Fil also revealed how ecstatic they were to meet ‘camp icon’ Dame Joanna Lumley in episode one, having been left in awe by the Absolutely Fabulous star’s signature ‘fabulous eyebrow’ raise.
Danny Beard
Danny Beard, 29 from Liverpool, is glad that Drag Race UK is ‘opening up to other styles of drag’, as the first bearded queen to appear on the series.

‘For years. I never thought someone like me would be on a show like this. So I’m just really excited. I’m excited that the whole cast is really diverse. We got our first trans contestant in one of our gorgeous sisters Dakota. So I just think overall, it’s going to be a good season,’ they said.
Danny, who appeared on Britain’s Got Talent in 2016, hopes that viewers sees ‘different sides’ to them, describing themselves as a ‘sassy, shady, signing cartoon clown’.
‘I think the beautiful thing about Drag Race is it doesn’t just show us in drag. It shows us out of drag. So you get to see the person behind the persona,’ they added. ‘I think not just for me, but a lot of the girls, the person behind the persona is often a lot more interesting than the persona.’
Copper Topp
Copper, 38 from Cheltenham, expressed how excited she is for fans to watch her many talents, from stand-up comedy to singing.

‘I’m very keen for people to see that side of me. I love to be silly. I love to act. I love to do comedy. So that’ll be nice to show,’ she shared.
The performer explained how she comes from a ‘wonderful line of very camp cabaret queens’, with a drag family made up of ‘drag queens, drag kings, drag things and drag monsters’, who are ‘the best in the entire world’.
As for the competition, she teased that the competition ‘gets off to a very quick start’, teasing: ‘It’s certainly that little old slogan – start your engines. We really do start the engines, and we go fast, and we go hard, and we go strong. I think you’re in for a real treat.’
Cheddar Gorgeous
Cheddar, 38 from Manchester, recalled how in the past, Drag Race stars have remarked that the competition ‘isn’t RuPaul’s best friend race’… ut in their ice, it was ‘RuPaul’s falling in love race’, due to the close connections the series four cast forged in the Werk Room.

‘I just feel like we were really close very, very quick. And that for me is the key memory I take away from it,’ they said. ‘The idea that we’ve very quickly become a little gang, a little group, a little family.’
Cheddar found RuPaul ‘insightful, warm, interesting, intelligent’ and an ‘admirable person’ – but what really fascinated them about the head judge was how good she smelled.
Recalling how they used to ‘position themselves’ so that they were near enough to get a good whiff of RuPaul’s scent, the drag queen continued: ‘It’s those details for me. I envy that level of presentation and to actually have that level of effort. That’s what made me go, wow, that is next level stuff.’
Dakota Schiffer
Dakota, 22 from Sussex, said it was a ‘privilege’ to represent her community on Drag Race, as the first trans queen ever to compete on the UK show.

‘I know at least in the UK, specifically, it’s a really difficult time and climate to be trans right now. And to be given that opportunity to represent my community and be a positive representation of my community… I was so overwhelmed to be given the opportunity,’ she said.
Emphasising how ‘daunting’ it can feel, Dakota outlined how representing her community ‘motivated’ her on the series, stating: ‘Obviously at times you feel like you have to represent everyone and everyone’s experiences because trans representation is few and far between, especially on such a massive platform, but it motivated me massively.
‘My drag is separate to my identity. It was such a core reason why I wanted that specific platform. The platform is Drag Race UK.’
Baby
Baby, 25 from London, said it felt like an ‘honour’ to ‘be a part of something that represents so many people’.

She was left utterly astounded by how quickly their Instagram notifications blew up after she was tagged in the BBC announcement, but felt ‘so much love and positivity’ from fans’.
Speaking about her first impressions of the judges, Baby said: ‘Obviously we’ve been fans of the show for years, and everybody lives up to expectations, in the best way possible.’
‘You have an idea of how they’re going to be judging it,’ she continued, explaining how they were aware before taking part in the challenges that they would ‘pick up on certain things’ or like certain elements of their looks.
‘That was really helpful at knowing the audience you’re going to be performing to,’ she added.
Black Peppa
Black Peppa, from Birmingham, couldn’t believe how ‘amazing’ the judges looked ‘all the time’, as the panel were ‘radiating all this light all the time’.

Describing the ‘motherly’ nature of Michelle, the 29-year-old said: ‘Getting to be judged by them was just genuinely an honour. Even if they might not like my look, I don’t care. It’s Michelle, what does it matter? It just felt amazing and the other judges, Alan Carr and Graham Norton… it just felt so surreal.’
Black Peppa added how ‘happy’ they feel over how representative and diverse the cast is.
‘Seeing the representation, the diversity of the cast this time around, it just felt amazing,’ they said. ‘It felt correct. It felt good to me being in the Werk Room and looking I was lie, “Oh wow.” It just felt really nice seeing it.”’
RuPaul’s Drag Race UK series four launches on Thursday September 22 at 9pm on BBC Three and BBC iPlayer.