'People expect you to be swimming in riches but it isn't like that': Krystal Versace on life after Drag Race UK

It’d be easy for even the most seasoned of pros to be swallowed up by the hype and pressure of competing in a show like RuPaul’s Drag Race UK. The reality show, fronted by drag icon RuPaul, aims to find the world’s best drag superstars and has run for 14 seasons in the States, spawning numerous international versions.

But when Krystal Versace - at just 19 years old - strutted onto our screens last year in season three of Drag Race UK, she oozed confidence and beauty as she declared the “sex on legs” had arrived. If she felt any pressure being there, she certainly didn't show it.

Born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, the drag performer made history by becoming the youngest ever winner of the franchise. Having started drag some seven years earlier at the age of 13, it was a glow-up like no other before. “I started drag because of Drag Race,” Krystal, now 20 and otherwise known as Luke Fenn, tells the Manchester Evening News. “I remember seeing Sasha Velour on season nine and just falling in love. I was obsessed with her face, her angles, her everything.”

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She adds: “I had always wanted to be a make-up artist. I’ve always been very artistic and creative from a young age so it was pretty obvious that I’d head down that kind of route really. I remember in school, my notebook would be full of drawings of women’s faces.

“But I also wanted to be on the stage performing, so as soon as I found out about drag then it just made total sense. Drag seemed to me like the perfect combination of being able to share my interest in make-up with my love for being on the stage. So that’s how Krystal Versace was born, really.”

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