Taking the nation by storm, Essex’s very own drag legend Cheryl Hole managed to squeeze five minutes into her busy Death Drop tour schedule to sit down with Reality Titbit to talk about Drag Race UK.
Cheryl spoke to us about the “pressurising” environment of filming the Emmy Award-winning drag show after Baby took to the main stage of BBC Three’s RuPaul’s Drag Race UK season 4 and quit the competition, citing mental health reasons.
‘You are mentally and physically exhausted’
Drag Race UK S4 queen Baby took to the main stage on episode 5 of the currently airing series and stopped RuPaul Charles in her tracks by proceeding to let the judges know it was her time to leave to better her mental health. On asking Cheryl about the intense pressure put on you when competing on Drag Race, she had a lot to say.
“Drag race is a pressurising situation because we put so much pressure on ourselves. We’re putting our art on display every single week for audiences to watch and critique and sometimes tear us apart,” Cheryl said. “When we are on that main stage, we’re constantly thinking, ‘is this gonna land us in the bottom? Are we gonna do well this week?’ And you’re constantly thinking so you are mentally and physically exhausted.
“It is a very hard thing to go through and it’s all well and good for people to sit at home and go ‘I would’ve done this, I would’ve done that’ but until you were there, you can’t comment on how things can be because it’s one thing watching, it’s another thing to do.”
‘If the phone calls comes in, I will never say no’
Cheryl gained a huge fanbase after taking part in Drag Race UK S1 and returning to Drag Race UK vs The World where she unfortunately got the chop sooner rather than later. Fans of the Essex-born drag star are desperate to see Cheryl return to their screens. On asking Cheryl whether she would ever return, she was sure to let us know.
“If the phone calls comes in, I will never say no because if they still want to see what I can bring and see what I deliver, then of course I’m gonna say yes,” Cheryl said. “But I’ve had enough time now to really settle back in, do my own thing and get over the trauma that was UK vs The World.
“Who knows, another year older, another year wiser, let’s see what the future brings. For now I am just so blessed to be doing this show and having a fabulous time and just kind of step away from the club scene for a bit and twirling and death-dropping and doing all that and doing some acting chops for now.”
‘Black Peppa is such a phenomenon’
The queens of Drag Race UK S4 are taking the nation by storm as each week a queen gets the chop when the public wants no-one to go home. However, in the name of the game, each week RuPaul, Michelle Visage, Alan Carr and Graham Norton are sending queen by queen back to their home towns.
We were desperate to find out who Cheryl was rooting for and, in the short, Cheryl is rooting for all of her fellow Drag Race sisters.
Cheryl said: “Black Peppa is such a phenomenon. I have adored her since the first time I met her and I would not want to share a stage with her because I would just wanna be in the audience watching her because she’s such a phenomenon.
“I truly think Danny Beard has got it in the bag this season, but the work Cheddar Gorgeous is producing is beyond anything and is just so breathtaking. I remember coming up in the drag world and looking up to Cheddar Gorgeous and being like, ‘this is the pinnacle of drag in the UK scene for me’. So those three are absolutely destroying it but, then again, so is Dakota.”
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