Michelle Visage: ‘I would totally fear me, as a judge!’
Michelle Visage says RuPaul’sDrag RaceUK – the most colourful, funfilled show on TV – is just the thing we all need to lift our spirits…
Glamorous and straight-talking New Jersey native Michelle Visage couldn’t be more excited to be back for the second season of RuPaul’s DragRaceUK, joined by fellow judges Alan
Carr, Graham Norton and, of course, RuPaul himself – as well as an impressive cast of guest judges, including Dawn French, Liz Hurley, Sheridan Smith and Gemma Collins. Following the original US format, the show sees 12 drag queens go head-to-head in challenges and lip-sync battles, to be crowned the UK’s Drag Superstar. The 52-year-old mum-of-two, who dazzled on StrictlyCome Dancing in 2019 with Giovanni Pernice, talks shopping trips with Ru, being a tough judge, and why this show will put a much-needed smile on our faces… RuPaul’s Drag Race has
gone global. Why do you think it’s touched so many people?
It’s not so much the drag, which is amazing – it’s because at the heart of this show is the tenacity of the human spirit. It doesn’t matter what your struggle in life is, viewers see people on-screen who are determined, who bounce back, who have overcome incredible hardships. It’s about confidence and selflove. It’s also a lot of fun and, especially right now, a show like this gives us something to look forward to. Viewers are going to be blown away. The glamour is ramped up and the standard is HIGH.
You still can’t bear people who strut on to the stage in a basic bodysuit, can you?!
A basic leotard with some bling stuck on it?
No, absolutely not! Not on this show. At the pub, absolutely, but not the main stage of RuPaul’s Drag Race, because it takes no thought! Even if you make it look like it’s not a bodysuit, that will make me happy. I just want to see people take an extra
step to please me. Yet I still see it, wherever I go, and I’m like, ‘OK, so you’re not listening…’ In one episode you’ll see a flat shoe. And, as Alan Carr said, ‘ We were all sick into a bucket’! No. This is the Olympics of drag!
What items would you go for if you were a contestant yourself?
Well, I love charity shops. I go to them all the time – and have my favourite ones near where I live. You can always find an incredible pair of earrings at any charity shop. Big, bubbly, OTT earrings.
They can make you feel fabulous instantaneously. You can always find some kind of scarf or wrap, and a pair of questionable heels and you’re good to go.
If you were competing, would you be scared of you as a judge?
I would absolutely fear me, 100 per cent! I wouldn’t only fear me, but I would want comments from me – I feel like I give constructive criticism. Maybe it will be in a blunt way, but it’s meant to make that person strive for more, it’s not self-serving – it’s literally so their career can last longer. So yes, I would want to impress me the most.
Who has been your favourite guest judge to date?
I’m a mother of two biological children, and mother to hundreds of disenfranchised kids in the world – that’s like saying, choose your favourite kid! Can’t do it. A lot of them are my friends – like Andrew Garfield, and my ‘shero’ Lorraine Kelly. Every guest judge that comes on is always such a superfan of the show, that’s the absolute joy of it, they’re like, ‘I’ve had five kids,
‘I want to see people take an extra step to please me – this is the Olympics of drag!’
I won an Oscar – but this is the absolute highlight of my career!’ So, we’re all giggling like we’re on a school trip.
Who would you impersonate on Snatch Game [the challenge which tests contestants’ skills at celebrity impersonation]?
For the American version, I’d probably be the US actress Rosie Perez, of White Men Can’t Jump? Because literally anything she says is funny. The key is, stay in character, make stuff up – and most importantly, make Ru laugh. But for the British version? I’m pretty rubbish with British accents. Mmm, I’d have to think about that…
Finally, if you had to pick a Drag Race contestant to play you in a film, who’d it be?!
People might think I’d choose BenDeLaCrème, because we look alike. But I’d actually choose Sharon Needles, because Sharon can look like me, but she also knows how to embody me – we’ve toured so much together, she knows all my personality quirks!
RuPaul’s Drag Race UK season two is on BBC iPlayer from Thursday 14 January.