Dec 4
EDGE Interview: Kyran Thrax, Rileasa Slaves & Marmalade on a Gripping 'Drag Race UK' Season 6
Timothy Rawles READ TIME: 6 MIN.
"RuPaul's Drag Race U.K." Season 6 is now over and a new queen has been crowned. It came down to four finalists, Kyran Thrax, Rileasa Slaves, Marmalade, and La Voix. If you still need to catch up and don't want to know who won, go watch the finale before reading this article.
EDGE got to talk to the winner and some two runners up just ahead of the grand finale. World of Wonder kept the winner under wraps until the final episode, so our interview took place before anyone, even the cast, knew who won. Now that the final episode has aired, we can finally say condragulations to Kyran Thrax and first runner-up, La Voix.
Speaking over Zoom, three of the four queens (La Voix was not available) spoke about their time on the show and how it changed their lives. There were some lessons learned, some lifelong friendships forged, and enough camaraderie to assemble an unflappable drag squad. Individually, they faced a lot of personal challenges throughout the season. One common thread was breaking through their comfort zones.
"What I've taken away from this as a life lesson is to step into your fears," said a very enthusiastic Rileasa. "You know, I feel we limit ourselves from doing things because of fears. Our fears make things seem bigger, or unachievable, or not possible. In reality, if you step into those spaces and places, you shine a little bit of light on it. We've had, what, 10 weeks now and I'm good, and if anything, I've learned something from it. So yeah, I think stepping into your fears really allows for this kind of alchemy which makes life so beautiful."
For Marmalade the fear was based on self-confidence. It wasn't a particular challenge that made her nervous, it was what seemed like a bout of imposter syndrome.
"This is my life," she says. "So for me, what I've really taken away is just to be sure of myself, just to trust that I know what I'm doing but if I fall back, I'll be caught and I'll figure myself out like I've always done, because if I could do that on 'Drag Race' for 10 weeks and stay longer than eight of the country's most incredible drag act, then really, I can do anything."
Competitive reality television is a gut-wrenching gig for cast members. First, they have to endure intrusive cameras in their faces for a majority of the day and then they have to perform, sometimes on the spot. It's a lot of pressure. Rileasa, Kyran, and Marmalade had their queasy moments on the show.
"I think probably even when I look back and I watched myself, the moment they said 'Snatch Game,' I shut down," Rileasa says. "I was like, I didn't even give myself a fighting chance. I'm like, OK, cool. Just give me a lip sync, like send me home if you want to. I'm done. It's over. I can literally just see something just dropped in me and I feel like even on set, which I remember the queen team at the time were like looking at me like something's not right with her. Normally I'm chirpy but that time I was quiet --- let's just get to the end of this episode, whatever happens, happens."
