Kitty Scott-Claus reveals EastEnders’ Ian Beale took to drag ‘like a duck to water’-Simon Gage-Entertainment – Metro

Kitty Scott-Claus is attending her first-ever DragCon UK event (Picture: World of Wonder Marketing)

Can you imagine the pressure? Some 150 of the world’s most celebrated drag queens converging on one place and you have to come up with something to wear.

That’s the dilemma for RuPaul’s Drag Race UK star, and all-round celebrity, Kitty Scott-Claus as she gets ready for her first ever RuPaul’s DragCon UK in January. And all in the very presence of drag queen royalty RuPaul!

‘And it’s quadruple the size of last time!’ Kitty says, now in Louis Westwood mode, with nothing more than long green fingernails to give any clue to Louis’s other identity. ‘But it’s going to have to be very on-brand, very pretty, very blonde, very busty… very Kitty. Why would you go to DragCon and not look good? I’m not Choriza May!’

That’s a little drag-dig at one of 


Kitty’s competitors on season three of Drag Race UK. Sitting in his flat in central London looking way younger than Kitty – ‘Botox!’ he shouts when you mention that – Louis is still coming to terms with the global fame that came with appearing on Drag Race UK.

‘I thought I could walk around without my Kittiness and people wouldn’t know who I was,’ says Louis, oh so naive, ‘but I was in San Francisco with Vanity Milan this summer and people were, “It’s Kitty and Vanity!” That blows my mind, the impact it has.’

RuPaul Charles will be at RuPaul’s DragCon UK event (Picture: Tristan Fewings/Getty)

The impact and the career boost. Since Drag Race, Kitty has appeared on Celebrity MasterChef – ‘I thought I was going to be the joke but, getting to the final, I just wanted to learn’ – and on Queens For The Night, where she was tasked with transforming EastEnders’ Ian Beale, actor Adam Woodyatt, into a credible drag creation.

‘He took to heels and corsets and everything like a duck to water,’ says Louis. ‘Even tucking. The outfit didn’t even require it but he brought it up…’ So, how would you describe tucking to regular Metro readers who may not know? He thinks for a moment. ‘Playing hide the sausage with Sellotape.’

As for Kitty’s own look, it’s been an evolution. Originally an actor, Louis was recruited to Gals Aloud, a drag version of Girls Aloud, to play Kimberley Walsh, before ‘I saw the other queens getting free drinks and attention from boys and I thought, “I want that!”’

Kitty was created as ‘hyper-feminine, an idealised version of a woman: pink, big bum, big boobs, waist… But trends come and go and sway how you dress. And watching yourself back on screen in Drag Race and getting critiqued by people like Alan Carr and Graham Norton, Baby Spice, Oti Mabuse, Steps, Lulu… you can see what they’re saying, so you make the little tweaks.’

Kitty appeared on Celebrity MasterChef (Picture: BBC/Shine TV)

It’s why DragCon is a great place for anyone looking for drag-spiration, Kitty/Louis suggests: ‘There are so many queens from different walks of life. And there’s no rule book to drag: it’s what you want it to be, so the more you can immerse yourself in drag, the more you work out that it’s up to you.’ Not that DragCon only attracts wannabe drag queens: it’s for everyone from little girls to glamorous grandmothers.

Kitty’s own drag-spiration came from pantomime dames and Lily Savage, though Louis never thought for a moment he would end up doing anything like that. ‘I trained as an actor and was working as an actor. Then I found that drag was everything I wanted from being an actor but on my own terms. That’s what drew me: the freedom,’ he says.

More: RuPauls’ Drag Race UK

Even the famous downsides to drag – the endless putting on, and taking off, of make-up for instance – are all embraced by Louis, who says he wants to do drag as long as he can, simply because it makes him happy and makes him feel like the luckiest person in the world. ‘I love the make-up,’ he says.

‘It’s your Zen time before you get into it. You put your music on and get into the groove. Some days I don’t want to put a corset on and the boobs are so heavy and the tucking, but when you put everything on you don’t think, “Oh my little toe is hurting”, you’re just swept up in it.’

There’s going to be a lot to be swept up in, come DragCon. ‘I’m excited to see everyone,’ he says. ‘Especially the international queens. … this is like Eurovision and we’re the hosts.’

And is there anyone she’s hoping to avoid at DragCon? ‘Oh Choriza May… and her dirty tights,’ he says with just enough of a laugh so you know it’s a joke. Or is it?

RuPaul’s DragCon UK 2023 is at ExCeL London January 6-8, 2023

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