‘Drag Race UK’: Hear from season two’s sixth place queen

Did Psychic Sally see this coming? Sister Sister may have won the Reading is Fundamental mini challenge, but that wasn’t enough to keep her on Drag Race UK. Lip syncing against Tayce, Sister found herself sashaying away to become Drag Race UK season two’s sixth place queen. 

It feels like Sister Sister has been around the world and back with all the drama she’s been a part of during the series. From the queens crapping on her new teeth, to the whole fish ‘n’ chips debacle between her and A’Whora, it seems like the whole werkroom was out to get her. 

Nevertheless, she persisted until the very end, and we’re glad the world got to meet Sister Sister. She may not be the season two winner of Drag Race UK, but she will not be forgotten.

Taking on the haters

Sadly, it wasn’t just in the werkroom where Sister Sister was dealing with a load of hate. As Drag Race UK aired around the world, the trolls online were getting ridiculous. In a heartfelt piece posted on February 22nd, Sister Sister got honest about how the haters are affecting her. But thankfully, the piece was met with love from her fellow queens. 

“No one’s doing anything phenomenal. What they’re all saying is ‘Yeah, this thing exists. And we need to talk about it.’ That in itself is phenomenal. But these stories are just so often. Scarily often.” 

Copycat queens?

We all remember the drama of A’Whora and Sister Sister having similar lewks, but it was interesting to see A’Whora copy the lips from Sister Sister’s entrance lewk in episode seven. “So this queen who’s been pointing fingers to doing plagiarism this whole time…. Okay, okay.”

But don’t worry, A’Whora & Sister Sister aren’t actually fighting anymore (for now). “We talked about it on Untucked and I said ‘This looks familiar.’ And she was very gracious about it. She said, ‘Yeah, I’ll give you credit for it.’”

You can read our full interview with Sister Sister below.

What got you into drag in the first place?

I was living in London at the time, and the London drug scene is really varied and really fun. There’s also like a queer side to it which is super political and that’s where I started hanging out. I used to go to a bar in Camden, and the drag queens there were just so bloody tall and just, you know, really easy to look up to. 

I just went home one day, got on eBay and bought a pallet of really cheap, chalky makeup. I was like, “I’m going to do this. I’m going to be the best looking thing that’s ever happened.” That was true, I did it. 

But I was not the best looking one. That’s kind of my advice to the kids who want to start doing it now. They think there’s some sort of magical formula to start doing it and it’s like, there isn’t. You do it. You look bad in the beginning, and you grow from that. But document everything, cuz the bad pictures are the best things to look back on in years to come.

Why did you want to audition for Drag Race UK, and what was your reaction when you were cast?

The story that I tell is, I applied on a whim. I lied, I don’t do anything on a whim. I’m a Virgo, so everything is so considered, to the point of just not being any fun anymore. So, I knew that I was going to apply throughout the year because I started stockpiling stuff. I was buying accessories, I was getting stuff ready for it. 

And then I put an audition tape together and just before I sent it, I rewatched it again and was like, “This is horrible. This will never work.” I deleted it and took the next day off work, and refilmed the whole thing. I sent that one off and that was a successful one. Let me tell you, there were two very different audition tapes as well, so it could have been a very different story for Sister Sister. 

You got extremely honest about the online hate you’ve been receiving since the beginning of the season. Were you planning on speaking out on a large scale?

I don’t think anyone can predict something like that. It was less than a fortunate situation, let’s say that. The timescale of it was incredibly quick. I realized that I’d had enough, like enough was enough of this. Thursday, as soon as the episode had gone up, I just kept seeing the tweets coming in.

I described in the article as a wall of hate, like it literally felt like there was an angry mob outside my window. I was also, you know, showing all the typical signs of just being overwhelmed. I was in bed, curtains closed. I was in the dark. I stopped eating. 

Then someone reached out to me and said, “Listen, you’ve got two options. You can let this overcome you. Or, why don’t you use the skill that you’ve got to change the temperature of the water?” That night I emailed The Guardian saying, “Listen, I really want to speak up about this thing.”

The next morning they got back to me and said “Absolutely fine. When can you have it submitted by?” and I was like, “It’s already written.” Then it went to print on Monday, so it was literally just like bam bam bam over the space of a few nights. And you know what? It kind of has to be.

It’s when something is that boiling hot right then and there, you have to speak on it. It’s so strange because I know, looking back, I was in a really dark place. But there’s some, like, inner strength that I pulled out. I was just like, literally enough is enough I have to do something.

What was it like hearing stories from fellow queens about online trolls?

It’s safety in numbers. I literally felt like I was recruiting my own little army as well and it’s basically everyone who’s just like minded. You know, no one’s doing anything phenomenal. What they’re all saying is, “Yeah, this thing exists, and we need to talk about it.” That in itself is phenomenal. But these stories are just so often. Scarily often. 

And the thing is, you know, we will never quell the haters. They’re not going to go anywhere, they’re always going to be there because it’s what they do. I just want to implore people, when you’re talking about something online, consider the power of your words. Just be ready to take responsibility for them. That’s it. 

As a human being, that’s all you can do: take responsibility for it. Because these words have consequences. And sometimes they can have disastrous consequences right. Sometimes you might just hurt someone’s feelings but, we live in an age where tragedies happen at the hands of reality TV. Is that really what they want? I think we can do better. I think we can do better as people.

You’ve been picked on since episode five for “copying” A’Whora’s lewk, but it’s far from the first time queens have had similar lewks. Do you think you were being unfairly targeted?

I know people love it though. It’s strange because I think it’s more of a story of communication breakdown over lockdown between me and A’Whora than plagiarism. But plagiarism makes much better TV than saying they didn’t speak as much as the others when they were in lockdown. And I can still hand on heart say, I never saw A’Whora’s outfit, and therefore didn’t copy it.

I mean, the way that it played on camera was literally happening in real time. I thought, “Me and A’Whora, we’re gonna be adults about it and just not address the elephant in the room.” And then I went back to untuck, and Tayce came at me and then A’Whora was rolling her eyes and then Lawrence Chaney chimed in. I was just like, it looks like I’m on the precipice of losing it. 

But I’m kind of like “No one’s given me any credit for what I do. You know what everyone’s ignoring my history and my references.” Again, good TV but that’s what it looks like to be attacked from all sides basically.

Fans online pointed out A’Whora’s glitter mask lips seemed very similar to your entrance lewk. Any comments?

I noticed that as well, so strange. It’s so funny cuz I noticed the story producers kind of didn’t pick up on any storyline for it in last night’s episode. You know the internet will see it. Everyone’s gonna see it and go, “Oh, hold on a minute. So this Queen that’s been pointing fingers this whole time about plagiarism is…. Okay, okay.”

We talked about it. I said, “This looks familiar.” And she was very gracious about it. She said “Yeah I’ll give you credit for it.”

Even Psychic Sally herself loved your Snatch Game performance. How does it feel getting praise from the icon herself?

It’s been an absolute whirlwind. Me and Sally have been in touch with each other since that episode came out as well. She’s absolutely just such a bang on drag fan, she loves it. She got involved with a little video that we made. Yeah. 

It’s so fun and this is when Drag Race gets so fun. These are the joys that come from it.  I describe it as it’s literally being on an emotional roller coaster. There’s so many highs and there’s so many lows. It’s just important to let the highs resonate because my God. 

In what jobs would you be able to get the person that you’ve done, the celebrity psychic that you’ve done the snatch game with to come on board with you and then basically just become lifelong friends? Like it’s just, it’s so nuts. It’s so silly. 

Do you think the 15 seconds for winning the Reading is Fundamental challenge hurt you more than help you?

Honestly I still fully stand by that outfit. You know, I absolutely love it, it’s taking pride of place in my drag room at the minute. I might even get it framed. I think the idea was there, but the execution was just a little bit off. 

But then, you know, I remember that day so well. That was a long day of filming, I sewed non-stop and was constantly making stuff for it. My god, you can tell there’s probably about four or five different outfits just on one body.

Do you think Drag Race UK helped you grow as a performer?

Yeah, I think any situation where you put all of your skills, all at once to the test, in such a melting pot can only make you toughen up and get stronger as an artist. It helps you build your platform as well. Like my fans, especially since you know the Guardian article came out, have just been unbelievable with their support. I barely even dented the message requests. Just going through them it’s just a lot of love  still coming through now. That’s the real reason. That’s literally the reason I got into it.

Where can the fans find you, and what’s coming next for Sister Sister? 

You can find me on Twitter @SisterSisterHun, and you can find me on Instagram @officialsistersister. You can also shop merch on my site, I always have new merch coming out. I’m also working on a one-woman show like any good drag queen should be doing while in lockdown. I genuinely can’t wait to get on the road and just showcase everything I’ve been working on so far and meet people in real life. 

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Drag Race UK airs Thursdays on BBC Three in the UK and WOWPresents Plus in the U.S. & selected territories.