Krystal Versace: RuPaul's youngest ever winner on Drag Race UK, who she thinks went home too early and her favourite looks

We catch up with Drag Race UK season three champion Krystal Versace to discuss being the youngest ever winner in RuPaul history and what she hopes the victory will inspire.
Drag Race UK season 3 winner Krystal Versace. Photo credit: BBCDrag Race UK season 3 winner Krystal Versace. Photo credit: BBC
Drag Race UK season 3 winner Krystal Versace. Photo credit: BBC

Krystal Versace is drag race herstory – literally.

The 20-year-old is the latest winner on popular reality television series, RuPaul’s Drag Race UK after coming out on top in last night’s finale, which was aired on BBC iPlayer.

One of the most tightly contested finals in recent memory saw fellow drag queens Ella Vaday and Kitty Scott Claws pipped at the post by the youngster, who was only eight years old when the series began, making her the youngest ever winner in RuPaul’s Drag Race history.

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Chatting to us fresh from being crowned the latest winner of popular reality television show RuPaul Drag’s Race UK, the Kent-born queen is hoping this is just the beginning of her journey onto drag queen superstardom.

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"I feel incredible.

"It's such an amazing honour to be crowned the youngest winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race. From here on in, I want to tour the world, get out there show the world what I have, keep reinventing myself and inspire others.

"My own favourite look of the season was between the cat look and Cruella, and the worst was my money, money outfit - I didn’t plan to wear it and it was just a back up, but my outfit didn’t turn up!"

"RuPaul was amazing. I forget a lot of the stuff he said to me - because they was so much said. He called me lazer eyes because he saw me looking at stuff and picking things apart. We had a moment, he got me and it's crazy how much he seemed to know about me."

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And while Krystal’s win is iconic in many ways, it’s perhaps most importantly the best example of just how far the show – and drag as an art form itself – has come, with the most recent winner of the RuPaul franchise being directly inspired by drag queens they had watched on their TV screens as a child.

“All he girls on my season are all incredible. They all inspire me, but when I was really young, the likes of Aquaria, Asia O’Hara - they were all incredible at what they did. Kameron Michaels. Violet Chachki.

"These drag queens really re-invented the wheel, they came in with such a modern take on drag and that’s what I wanted to do. They really inspired me to kick it all off."

Quizzed on if she felt any of her fellow contestants were sent home too early, Krystal doesn’t pause for breath.

"I think Anubis.

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"I don’t think she deserved to go home on the first day, I think they were very harsh on her.

"They obviously didn’t see what we saw, but she’ll be back.

And less than 24 hours after such an iconic win, it’s easy to get lost in the glitz and glamour of it all, but when the dust settles, what does Krystal Versace want her win to symbolise?

"Where I grew up there was no gay clubs and no queer culture.

"Hopefully that can change and start conversations now I’ve won. Where I live was very old school and they need to catch up.

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"People are starting drag younger, these younger people are more connected to themselves now because they have more people to look up to and relate to, so people are finding out about themselves far sooner than they use to, and finding out how they identify."

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