When Life Gives You Ginny Lemons

Make it stand out

Celebrities just aren’t what they used to be: Long gone are the days of the rivalries and call outs of old Hollywood and the early noughties. The stars of the screen - both silver and cellular - are more focused on creating a brand over causing controversy. While this may mean that vicariously getting drama through the celeb world just isn’t the same, it also means when a unique character steps foot into the scene, they stand out more than ever before.

Enter Ginny Lemon: the midlands maverick who took RuPaul’s Drag Race UK season two by storm until they removed themselves from the BBC 3 show. In the time since, the yellow haired superstar has been causing mischief online and offline, making sure their iconic exit is far from the last piece of legendary antics you’ll see from this performer.

Speaking to our deputy editor Gina Tonic, the pair shared insights on everything from yellow snow to identity politics, you can read their conversation below:

I read a Metro interview with yourself recently where you said, "I'm not a competitor, I'm an icon." Do you think it's been easy getting the drag race audience to understand this mindset? 

No. Absolutely not. It’s different because Drag Race has got such a vast audience. I didn't realize how mainstream it had become until I was on the other end of it really. I don't watch much TV myself, I don't really know the impact of reality TV. ___STDY_PAYALL___

The show was something I went on to raise my profile and I never really saw myself as a competitor. I get caught in a Catch 22 - this is where I'm gonna be careful with my words - because I'm basically saying: Fuck competitions! But I also went on to a competition show. But it has been difficult kind of getting that message across and for the mass Drag Race fans to sort of understand me and understand my drag.

I think your drag has a very UK sense of humor as well, so I feel like it would be especially hard for the international audiences to get on board.

I'm from the West Midlands, I have a very West Midlands sense of humour. So, unless you're from the West Midland you may not get and to be honest, I don't even think half of the people in the UK understand me. It’s been nice seeing audiences from around the world reacting to my drag, and it has been amazing, but within that mass core audience of Drag Race, I'm seen as somewhat of an obscurity - but I'm happy with that. 

That's even more iconic than being one of the more ‘polished’ queens.

I don't like this idea of being polished or unpolished. Who is anyone to say that my drag is polished or not? My drag is mine. What I'm giving you is 100% what I'm giving you, so it's polished to the degree that I want it polished to! Just because I don't wear a cut crease and false lashes and big fake tits doesn't mean I'm not polished, because my performance is there and we need to stop judging people by how they look.   

I don't like this idea of being polished or unpolished. Who is anyone to say that my drag is polished or not? My drag is mine.

What you just said about the big tits thing really reminds me of when you were on Drag Race and they pushed you towards this certain type of sexiness, when you were sexy in your own right? There was this model of sexiness that they wanted you to fit into, but what would you want Ginny’s sex appeal to be?

What I did with Ginny is I tried to be as non binary as possible. I don't really want to relate to the norm. She's not a sexy character but myself? I know I'm a sexy bitch! I've got two partners, for fuck sake, you're telling me I'm not a sexy bitch! 

To me, sexiness comes from confidence, confidence within. Seeing people having that confidence within to be like, you know what? It doesn't matter what I look like; I'm still a sexy bitch. It doesn't matter what size you are and it doesn't matter what colour you are and it doesn’t matter what you look like: If you're a horny sexy bitch, there's ultimately going to be another horny sexy bitch out there for you, you know, if not two, three, or four! 

To me, doing drag isn't sexy. Like, I stink. I've got loads of costume on, I've got wigs on, makeup, like that’s not sexy to me. Crack one out if you want to wank over my tights, fair dues, but you know, for me, that's just not what I'm delivering on stage. 

I think with the art of drag, there’s all these expectations of expressing yourself artistically because it's drag. People don't apply that to other kinds of art, do you find it especially difficult?

Drag is a bizarre world to navigate anyway. Not only is there the Drag Race standard of drag, which has become very popular, and then there's also what UK drag is like, and traditionally, it's rooted in misogyny. There are lots of horrible sides to the drag community, which I hated working and, to this day, expose and call people out because I haven't got time for that shit. You can be old school funny without being offensive. 

Yeah, definitely. I remember when Ricky Gervais was saying that The Office couldn’t be made now and "why can't I just be offensive and let that be funny?" Uhh.. because the world has moved on?

Yeah! Also just take the time and educate yourself.

I really respect that in the time since Drag Race, you've been very open about still calling people out. Has it been especially hard doing that, or does it come naturally to you?

Now I have more of a platform, I'm a bit warier. We all just have bad days, and I don't want to be attacking someone who is just having a bad day, or just might come across like an absolute dickhead that day, because they could be an angel another day. I'm sure there are days that I'm not wonderful and I make mistakes.

I'm not really one for cancel culture. I don't believe in cancel culture. I'm not calling out to cancel anything, but also, you can speak up and say, this was my experience. For example, I was misgendered in Louis Vuitton, and I tweeted it, not looking to cancel them but to share my experience. Every arseholes got a voice on the internet, so why can't I join the myriad of arseholes who are out there anyway?

That brings me to my next question: The conversation you had with Bimini Bon Boulash about being non-binary on Drag Race provided some groundbreaking non binary representation for a whole mainstream audience in the UK. Since it aired, you said it felt maybe a bit forced. I wonder if you could expand on that?

Well, it's a difficult one because emotionally. I've had to watch that and see myself crying on national television while the world is kind of turning to me and being like, you've helped me so much. But it didn't sit right with me because we had the show, and then we went into lockdown.

I've had so many emotions, I've gone from hating to loving every single one of those people, on crew and production, you know, but I think ultimately I am so happy that the story was out there. I'm very open to talking about my experiences. 

But you know, I get pissed off, and I'm more than happy to say I got pissed off, but at the end of the day I'm really happy that Bimini and I had that conversation on telly and Drag Race gave me that platform - I'll be forever grateful. Even if I just want to slag them off every now and again, you know, I'm entitled to.

It’s just like when you complain about your job. No one's gonna kick off that I've said that retail was shit when I was in uni. So why is everyone kicking off when you say you've had a shit time with the BBC!

Exactly, exactly. I'm just human. At the end of the day, whether you put any label on me, if anybody wants to label me, I'm just a human. The impact of that conversation has been overwhelming. In good ways and bad ways. You know? How many times have you seen yourself crying on telly? I only really wanted to make people laugh. 

It wasn't just that you represented being non binary, but you also have fibromyalgia. I felt like it was great to have that representation, but it was brushed over a bit in the show. How was that experience for you?

That was another interesting one because I actually was diagnosed just a week before I went on Drag Race. So I delayed tests to go on the show and I've only just finished now, so it's been a long process coming to terms with what it is and seeing it for what it is. And then everyone in the world tells you that you haven't got it, that you've been misdiagnosed. People are always like, 'oh, it's not realIy real is it' about conditions like this, but I'm the one living with the bloody chronic pain, I think I'm the one to say if it's pissing real or not. 

It was good to chat about it but also I don't want to be labelled or lingered, you know, I'd want to be like, 'Oh, I'm the disabled non-binary queen'. It's brilliant, but it shouldn't affect any of the work that I do, you know? I'm not going to be defined by it. Because I think too much of this - it's like rabid during Pride Month, this tokenism representation, and I don't want to be part of that. I'm not going to be the spokesperson for no -binary people because you should listen to every non binary voice, not just mine. 

So true. Our latest cover story is with Paris Lees, and my friend Charlie Craggs interviewed her, and in the piece they discuss how annoying it is that her new book, which isn't about being trans, is automatically labelled 'a trans book.' It happens so much with anyone who's got a marginalised identity like I'm fat and queer and mental, and then people always like ask me about fat stuff. And it’s like, can I not talk about anything else? 

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Now the world is opening up again, what is next on the agenda? 

Well, I want to retire. [Laughs] I battle between this look-at-me, don't-look-at-me complex. But in the future, I do have some plans: I've got an album coming out, I'm hopefully working on a book, but at the moment, I want to get out on tour and work my ass off. I wanna see the country, see as many people as I can and do shows for people. I love that! I've missed the energy. I miss entertaining people. I've done it on telly, and that's fine, but come to a show, come see me there, and we'll have a really good time. And then who knows? Who knows? Hopefully, I'll retire and then just become the Kate Bush of drag. That's the dream? Then I can make albums and not have to do any publicity.

Like we said at the beginning: You are an icon and I fully believe that. What tips do you have for people to embrace themselves and find themselves as an icon?

Well, don't eat yellow snow. Always keep biscuits near. Being an icon, sometimes your sugars will get low. That is just practical advice for being an icon. And then I would say that probably most icons that I've met usually get told the same things. So they're either trodden down or beaten down, or they're told the opposite when they think they're fabulous and then people say 'you're too confident’, 'you're too outrageous' or 'you're too much.' 

I think people get told that they are ‘too much’ a lot more, especially nowadays, and I say fuck that. Who the hell can say who's too much! Let no one be the judge of you apart from yourself. 

You think it’s your parents growing up, and then as you come as an adult, you think it's work but fuck everyone else. And, you know, I hate to say it, you've got to love yourself before anyone else. Just fight, just be fabulous and be queer. Don't take any shit anymore. Now we're at the time of corporate pride, and if any fucking brand can wack a rainbow on anything and send it off, I think now it's time to call out the bullshit. Just be your iconic self.

I think I'm going to put ‘always have biscuits’ as the tagline for this piece to be honest. But what biscuits should we keep in stock?

People always ask for my favourite, and I’d say a pink wafer, but I don't want to get into the politics of it. 

Words: Gina Tonic | Photography and Set Design: Emma Jones | Make up and styling: Blü Romantic | Wig: Charles Stanley