Ant and Dec tease plan to bring back drag personas at Mighty Hoopla

Presenter duo Ant and Dec have hinted at plans to revive their much-loved drag personas at Mighty Hoopla festival in London.

Ant and Dec introduced the world to their drag personas – Lady Antoinette and Miss Donna Lee – in February 2022 during an episode of their Saturday Night Takeaway. 

The Angels of the North performed with three winners of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK for charity single “We Werk Together”, and their performance left fans “screaming”. 

In an interview with Metro, the iconic duo, who faced Ofcom complaints at the time of showcasing their drag personas, reflected on the significance of their act.

‘It meant more than we realised’

Ant said: “The people stopping you and talking to us about it afterwards was huge – more so than any other end of the show-show.” 

Dec added: “It meant more than we realised.  We’ve always had a good relationship with the community, and even back in the days of PJ and Duncan playing G-A-Y, we always loved doing that.

“But we definitely felt a real sense of appreciation after we did the drag, especially from younger people just saying that meant such a lot.”

The pair now plan to bring back their drag acts for the UK’s queer pop event, Mighty Hoopla, which will take place in Brockwell Park, South London, on 31 May and 1 June.

Dec confirmed that the plan is to “bring the girls back”. 

Ant said of drag: “It’s tough though, it’s a skill so we had to put rehearsals into it, a lot of time and effort. We wanted to come up with personas and all of it – you can’t just whack on a frock and think suddenly you’re a drag artist. We learned a lot that week.” 

Mighty Hoopla announced its line-up for 2025 last year, with stars including Kesha, Ciara, Loreen and Adore Delano on the bill.

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• Dec 01 2023

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