Ellis reveals pain of his journey to TikTok stardom
HE HAS almost 200,000 followers on TikTok and has people all over the world in stitches with his characters, but for Rhondda’s Ellis Lloyd Jones the path to success and happiness has been a long time coming.
In the new BBC Three series, Young, Welsh and Bossin’ It, the third-year Cardiff University student tells of his journey from an uncertain, bullied schoolboy to a sassy, happy TikTok success story, who has also been hired by the Welsh Government to spread safety messages throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
Ellis, from Treorchy, doubled his followers during the pandemic in 2020 with his cheeky drag characters. But he also speaks of the “toxic masculinity” which almost stopped him from pursuing his dream of being a performer.
“I started doing drag five or six years ago, it was basically an expression of my femininity, all my life I was told not to be camp, not to play with the girls, to go play rugby with the boys,” said Ellis.
“I started off just doing my eyebrows and then it was eye shadow, then a base and doing a contour, then one day I thought ‘let’s buy a wig.’ I went online, got a wig for £25, chucked it on and I felt amazing, fantastic. Every time I do dress up in drag that’s how I feel. I love the way I look.
“All my life I didn’t have anyone to look up to be like ‘it’s OK to dress up as a woman, it’s OK to be feminine.’ I’ve always had toxic masculinity rammed down my throat. I like to think I’m that person for people. They can look at me doing whatever I want to do, be feminine and dress up, and inspire them.”
Among Ellis’ characters are the gates of hell receptionist, the Welsh TikTok tollbooth person and, for Welsh Government, Aunty Bac, who encouraged social media users to follow hygiene rules to help combat the spread of coronavirus.
In a heartbreaking scene towards the end of the episode Ellis visits his home town of Treorchy, where he admits he felt uncomfortable while growing up and didn’t understand what it meant to be gay and felt excluded for being different.
“Growing up in the Rhondda Valleys I got bullied a lot in school because it was clear to everyone I was gay. Even at times when I didn’t identify as being gay, because I didn’t understand it. I got asked ‘are you fridge or a freezer’ and it was like ‘does that mean I’m gay?,’” he said.
“It was so confusing. All these people were saying these negative things about being camp and being gay and I didn’t want to be like that because I don’t want to be seen as something different or bad. I
felt left out, I was bullied by the boys and patronised by the girls. It made me feel crap to be honest.”
In the scene he and his mam chat about whether he misses being home in Rhondda.
“Do you miss being home?” asks Ellis’ mam. And he tells her that, mostly, no he doesn’t due to the bad memories.
“I feel like when I see someone from that bad memory it makes me remember what happened at that time, I feel ‘right OK, you’re Ellis from the Rhondda now, not Ellis from TikTok.”
“That kills me that does,” Ellis’ mother replies, gutted by hearing her son’s experience. “I know your life now is in Cardiff, and I love the fact that you can be who you want to be. But Rhondda will always be home.”
But most importantly Ellis’ TikTok success has proved to himself that he can do what makes him happy and with 170,000 followers, he’s making lots of other people smile, too.
He added: “Since being on TikTok I’ve proven to myself and other people that, all this time I’ve been told I can’t do something, well I can. If 12-year-old Ellis saw me now he’d be over the moon.”
You can see more of Ellis on Young, Welsh & Bossin’ It on BBC iPlayer.