Alan Carr says Paul O’Grady will be a judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK
Alan Carr told Zoe Ball that Paul O’Grady will be a RuPaul’s Drag Race UK judge (Tim P. Whitby/Getty and Jeff Spicer/Getty)
Alan Carr has said that drag queen comedian Paul O’Grady will be a judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK.
Carr let the news slip on BBC Radio 2’s The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show on Friday (February 15), saying: “Paul O’Grady’s a judge on it and so’s Graham Norton, but isn’t it funny, no-one said a word.
“Everyone’s like: ‘Oh yes, did you hear they’re looking for judges on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK?’ And no-one said a word. Everyone [was] keeping it secret.”
Paul O’Grady is reportedly joining RuPaul’s Drag Race UK as a judge (Stuart C. Wilson/Getty)
Carr revealed the casting news after he and chat show host Graham Norton were unveiled on Thursday (February 14) as judges on the UK version of the Emmy Award-winning reality competition.
The comedians will join RuPaul and Michelle Visage on the show, which is set to air on BBC Three later this year.
A BBC spokesperson told PinkNews: “In his excitement, Alan may have got over-enthusiastic.
“As brilliant as Paul O’Grady is, the other judges on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK have yet to be confirmed.”
Paul O’Grady has previously criticised RuPaul’s Drag Race
O’Grady, who rose to fame as drag queen Lily Savage, has previously criticised Drag Race, calling it “transvestism.”
In 2017, while speaking on BBC Radio 4 Extra’s Gay Britannia series, he said: “I can’t bear it. No really, I can’t.
“That’s not drag! It’s all about shading and contouring your face now and being like supermodels.”
The drag queen continued: “In my day we had the likes of Phil Starr, who was a glorious comedian… we had Marc Fleming, Auntie Flo, Mrs Shufflewick. We had great comedians in drag.
“Drag is doing an act. That’s dressing up. That [RuPaul’s Drag Race] is transvestism.”
— Paul O’Grady, who is reportedly joining RuPaul’s Drag Race UK
“This new brigade who just parade around going, sashay, shantay—that’s not drag to me.”
O’Grady added: “Drag is doing an act. That’s dressing up. That [RuPaul’s Drag Race] is transvestism.”
“Drag is an act, where you get up, you do your act, you get changed and you go home – you don’t parade round the streets doing all this business.
“I’ve no interest in it whatsoever, none at all.”
Alan Carr didn’t watch RuPaul’s Drag Race for ages
Carr also told Ball that he had long refused to watch the iconic US show before eventually giving in.
“Everyone was saying you’ve got to watch RuPaul’s Drag Race, and I put it off for ages,” he said.
“I thought, oh, it’s gonna be a load of gays going: ‘Mmm, mmm, girlfriend!’ and saucer of milk and all that, and I don’t want it—not when you live with it,” he added to loud laughter from Ball.
When he finally gave it a go, he said he loved the programme.
“Then I watched it, and it’s about journeys, it’s about people getting better—it’s amazing! These people finding themselves, it’s so full of love and joy,” said Carr.
“It’s got heart and you really invest in these people’s stories.”
Watch what RuPaul “will never understand about drag”:
The comment from the BBC spokesperson was added in after publication.
