Rainbow Crew is an ongoing interview series that celebrates the best LGBTQ+ representation on screen. Each instalment showcases talent working on both sides of the camera, including queer creatives and allies to the community.
Next up, we're speaking to Pixie Polite about her time on Drag Race UK season four.
Pixie Polite didn't just break "The Brighton Curse". She well and truly smashed it with an impressive run that took her all the way up to the season four semi-finals.
Unfortunately, her pixie dust lost some of its spark right before Pixie had a chance to snatch the crown, but this won't be the last fans see of her — and not just because everyone's usually brought back for a bit in the finale anyway.
Digital Spy caught up with Pixie Polite post-exit to discuss the roast, her exit, and repping a different kind of plus-sized positivity for fans watching back home.
In your exit chat last night, you said, "I’m going to be a very different Pixie, and I’m happy about that." Could you expand more on what you meant there?
Going into the competition, I knew I had all the right ingredients, but I just really struggled to believe in myself – self-confidence and just general "loving myself" is always something I’ve struggled with.
I think going through the experience, and doing so well, and proving myself mostly to myself, if that makes sense, was very empowering. Being validated for the things I could do well, and even the things that I didn’t expect I would enjoy or be good at, like walking on the runway, showing off my outfits, and showing off my body, which is a big insecurity – even that, I really enjoyed.
It gave me the sense of like: I can do everything. I can do what these other girls can do. And I’ll be gorgeous and big and fabulous while I do it. So watch out, girls.
I left the show feeling very thankful and very reinvigorated in who I was. I know that sounds like a lot to put onto a reality television experience. But I found it very personally validating and very transformative, shall we say?
That's so great to hear. What did you think of the judges' critiques as a whole?
To be honest, my overall experience with the critiques was a positive one, because I got some very glowing critiques from the judges, spread throughout the whole season. And even when I had negative critiques, it was never anything really bad. It was always just like, "Oh, we wish you could have pushed that a bit further" or "I wish this one thing was better, but we really like you".
It all felt like they were willing me to do well, and that was really nice, because it didn’t feel like a critique. It felt like I was in a mentorship programme, and they were giving me my feedback.
The incredible, incredible comments I received all season, specifically from Ru, were something I will never forget. There’s even a lot of things that Ru did say to me that didn’t make it into the edit that were absolutely mind-blowing things that I never expected to hear from someone who is an icon like Ru.
And I think that was also, again, very validating. I never expected to be so loved by the judges. But I was, and that’s something I’m very thankful for.
How did you feel watching the comedy roast challenge back last night?
It was pretty much how I remembered it. Obviously there’s some music and some sound effects they put on in various bits of the episode to heighten things. I definitely had a lot of good jokes, but I also did have a lot of dead air. I think at that point, if my runway had maybe been slightly better, maybe I might have been saved.
Because I think it was quite a close call. Danny was obviously by far and away the winner. Danny was incredible. And the rest of us were all swimming about and scrambling.
I do agree that maybe me, Peppa and Cheddar were probably the bottom three. The moment that I knew I was up against Peppa, I was like, "Well, where’s the bus? I’m off."
I was just like, "You know what? I’m going to try and put on the best performance I can in the moment, and just try and go out in a positive note, and do myself proud."
It was a great lip-sync! Peppa's been in the bottom a few times now, so I don't think it was a given who would be leaving at that stage.
Well, I was also in like six-inch Pleasers. Anyone who knows me well, knows I never walk in anything higher than a kitten heel if I can avoid it. So I was up against it in the lip-sync-y dance category.
I thought I did pretty good in the lip-sync. I thought I did pretty good in the roast. Overall, watching it back, I was actually quite happy with how it all came across.
Watching myself sashay away, it was how I remembered it. For me, it was a perfect moment. I got to stand there and look in the judges' eyes, and tell them how much I appreciated them and the experience. I got to have a final hug with my sisters and a bit of a laugh.
I stood at the back. I took it all in, and said my line. And I was like, "Peace, I’m off. I’m going to have some Wagamama in my hotel room. Enjoy the finale, bitches." [laughs]
What’s the fan response been like for you overall?
There’s always going to be overwhelmingly more positive feedback and love out there for you. But the nature of social media is, unfortunately, the negativity – despite it being smaller in size than the positivity – does carry a lot more weight, because it’s coming at you from all angles.
At the end of the day, I think people forget that we’re human beings. And we’re also people who have been suddenly thrust into the spotlight. We’re not used to the criticism and commentary and negativity that suddenly comes out way.
Unfortunately, at the beginning of the season, I did receive some very thinly veiled fatphobia from a cross-section of the fandom, which is fine, because, unfortunately, I knew that was going to happen before I even went on the show. That sort of died a bit more.
Some people just didn’t really click with me. I don’t think that’s really a "me" problem. You’re never going to win over everyone. Not everyone’s going to like you, unfortunately. And I’m very lucky that I do have a lot of very lovely, loyal, and positive people who follow me, and love what I do.
The main sort of negativity really kicked in for me in week seven when it was the makeup challenge, and I was in the bottom with Dakota, and Dakota went home. She unfortunately was a big a fan favourite, so the reaction to her going – people felt the need to take that out on me. And it was very overwhelming. I did come off of social media for several days, just because I knew it would have died down by the time the next episode came.
Because people were angry that Dakota had left, they decided that was my fault. And it sort of opened this can of worms as well where people just didn’t like me for any reason. I had lots and lots of people saying that I was mean, and I was a bully, and I’m making horrible comments about people in the Werk Room, and I’m a villain, and I’m so unlikeable.
I was kind of shocked about it, because all I’m really doing is pissing about in the Werk Room, having a laugh with my friends, and cracking jokes about them. We’re all laughing in the moment. So I find it strange that people would be so offended when we’re just having a nice time.
It's something that I decided I’m going to reclaim. I’ve adopted Pixie Not-So-Polite as my unofficial middle name now, because you’ve got to make a joke out of these things. At the end of the day, if that’s what people are going to think of you, why not make it a branding thing?
Thank you for sharing that. I’m really sorry you had to deal with all that. But on a more positive note, what do you hope fans take away from your journey, and your artistry, and who you are as Pixie Polite?
The thing that I’ve always wanted people to take away from my drag is just positivity. For me, drag has always been about entertaining people, having fun, and just bringing a bit of sunshine to people in their day. That’s what my "Ru are you" look was about. It was about the power of drag bringing light into people’s lives, maybe on a rainy day that they’re having.
And I hope that that’s what my run on the show has done. I hope people have enjoyed me personally, and what I’ve brought to the show.
On a more personal note, I am very aware that representation is important. Obviously we’ve had Dakota on this season, which I think is an incredible important step in our current political climate, and we’ve had Baby and Peppa and Le Fil representing their POC community.
In a similar way, I’m very proud to represent plus-size people. I think it’s very important to see somebody who’s body positive, especially because I’m not someone like, for example, Lawrence Chaney, who is plus-size and very in-your-face about it, like "I am the big girl who’s going to be super, super confident."
I have had lots of people come up to me and say, "It’s good to see myself represented, not only for my size, but as a plus-size person who isn’t confident, and doubts myself."
People have found that very important. Somebody came up to me, and said, "Watching your journey, and learning about who you are, has maybe saved my life." I thought, "Well, do you know what? If that one thing is the one thing that’s positive from this whole experience, it’s worth it."
It’s worth it to me to be able to positively affect people in those ways, because as a queer community, we are very troubled. We’re very hard on ourselves. We have lots of insecurities and issues.
I think that this show does serve— as much as it’s for entertaining, there’s an important purpose in just showing us for who we are, showing that we’re not alone. Especially for the young fans who watch this show. I think that’s really, really important.
RuPaul’s Drag Race UK season 4 airs on Thursdays at 9pm on BBC Three and BBC iPlayer. It streams on WOW Presents Plus in the US.
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