Ru-vealed! Drag Race UK announces its first guest judges

Hot on the heels of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK’s queens reveal, the show has announced the first guest judges on the season three line-up.

Among them are comedian and Bake Off judge Matt Lucas, Strictly Come Dancing star Oti Mabuse, and comedian and actor Kathy Burke. Lucas, who’s set to appear on the first episode of the new series, said in a press release that appearing on the show has always been on his bucket list. “But my years of wearing tights are behind me,” he said, “so I was both relieved and delighted to be asked to be on the panel.”

Burke, who said her drag name would be Pan Demic, said: “I’m a big Drag Race fan, so it was absolutely brilliant to meet RuPaul and Michelle Visage – and I loved the very-kind-to-old-ladies lighting.”

Professional dancer Mabuse is set to lend her dance expertise to the new queens. “They’re so funny, so talented,” she said in a statement, “but even more than that, they are real and it’s beautiful to see them really come out of their shells.”

While the remaining guest judges are still under wraps, rumour has it Little Mix’s Leigh-Anne Pinnock is also joining the panel. In May, an ‘insider’ told The Daily Star: “Producers have wanted Leigh-Anne to be a guest judge for a long time, so they were thrilled she was finally able to do it. Everything was very hush-hush and she wasn’t able to tell many people she was doing it.”

Season three of Drag Race UK will see the franchise’s first ever cis woman compete to be the next drag superstar. 27-year-old Victoria Scone from Cardiff said in a press release that her casting “feels right”. She added: “I definitely didn’t invent the art of drag for women. I am not the first and I certainly won’t be the last. Me being here is political, but you can just have fun with it. That’s why I started. I just wanted to entertain people and that’s what we’re going to do.”

Also joining the new line-up is last season’s Veronica Green, who had to drop out of the competition after testing positive for COVID during filming. Other queens include London’s Vanity Milan, Scarlett Harlett, and Charity Kase, Kent’s River Medway and Krystal Versace, Birmingham’s Kitty Scott-Claus, Essex girl Ella Vaday, Lancashire’s Elektra Fence, Newcastle’s Choriza May, and Brighton’s Anubis.

RuPaul, Michelle Visage, Graham Norton, and Alan Carr are returning to judge the ten-week competition, which will premiere on BBC iPlayer in September.