The person that I see on there
is a person that I don't recognise really,
to be honest with you, and it's hard to watch sometimes.
- Hi babes, it's me, Tia Kofi,
and welcome to Attitude Tea Time in association with Taimi,
where each week I'll be serving you
the freshly brewed tea from Drag Race UK season three,
with the latest eliminee.
And this week, I'm joined by Macaulay Culkin.
No, it's Scarlett Harlett.
First thing's first Scarlett,
I've gotta talk about the fact that we know each other.
- We do.
- We've known each other for a very long time.
- We have.
- And we've like, seeing you grow and sort of become,
move from sound twink to full drag queen
and now Drag Race icon.
How does it feel to have like-
- I could say the same for you as well.
But I'm sure you can you can attest to this,
It is- I don't think there's any words
that could describe how wild it is
and like, you know, going through Drag Race,
so many unbelievable,
almost near impossible dreams become achieved,
that it's almost like you can't even pick one at that point.
Can you? Cause it's so wild.
So yeah. It's like, it's been an absolute rollercoaster,
as you've seen, but I mean, it's Drag Race.
And you know, I'm so happy to be on it,
and to, to be for the process,
even though it has been a bit like that,
but you know, we'll get into that.
- Oh, we will, we will.
But I feel like we should celebrate your time on Drag Race,
pop to the Admiral Duncan or Halfway to Heaven
for a little beverage.
- We'll get a good old bevy and cheers to
Bianca from EastEnders leaving Drag Race.
- I mean, but that was iconic.
Do you know what I mean?
You actually served Bianca on the runway.
- I had to be very on brand.
I'm the queen of the East End after all,
so I just thought I'd try and give Bianca
and give a bit of Ricky.
So, that's me.
- Oh, you need to tweet Patsy, Patsy Julie.
- Oh my god, you know I'm a DJ,
a semi-DJ, I might say I’m not a DJ, but I'm a DJ.
That's what she said on This Morning,
did you see that?
- Yeah, Patsy Julie, I love it.
(indistinct) to Patsy Julie.
Was that one of your backup Snatch Games?
- No, I was going to do Katie Hopkins actually.
Well, I was never planning on doing it, but you know,
you've got to take two options.
So, Katie was my second one.
- Go on, give us a bit of Katie Hopkins.
- Actually. I think you're quite ugly.
And I think you're quite hideous, actually, so, yes.
- You sound like my Grindr messages.
- Well, I never claimed to be hilarious all the time.
So that's why I was never going to do it, to be honest.
I had Danny Dyer and then obviously I did Macaulay Culkin
and I had nothing prepared.
But funny thing is that when I-
you know, RuPaul loved the Macaulay so much,
I thought, oh god, I've got to do it,
even though I don't know nothing about him.
I remember looking around the room,
thinking I need a sign to say it's OK to do Macaulay
because if I get a sign that will say that it will be OK
because I don't know anything about him.
So I looked around and I was like,
what am I going to wear? What am I going to wear?
And I saw in the corner,
this jumper that I bought to do Katie Hopkins with,
and it was almost identical
to one of the ones that he wears in ‘Home Alone’.
And as soon as I saw it,
I thought, well it's fate, I have to bloody do it.
So I pulled him, that character out of my absolute bum hole
with no prior knowledge because it's Drag Race
and you got to do what RuPaul wants.
And he made us all change, didn't he?
- At least he didn't mention Michael Jackson,
that's a blessing, isn't it?
- I did, but they cut it out.
And I won't say what I said,
because it was a bit crude, but yeah.
- Now you said Drag Race,
you have no time to really think, really time to prepare.
And this week you had a against the clock
timed challenge,
which felt like high drama all sort of like in the moment,
happening what, in the space of about three hours?
- Yeah, probably less, I can't even remember.
It felt like the snap of a finger.
And don't forget, you have the tannoys around the room,
which even, you know, and you know this,
RuPaul's voice puts the fear of God in you alone.
So to hear the tannoys while you're getting ready,
I just remember just my testicles leaving my body.
It was so scary.
But it's Drag Race and you've got to do what you got to do,
and you know, if they're telling you
you've got to get ready for the runway in 10 minutes,
then bitch you've got to get ready for the runway in 10 minutes.
- I mean, that was mad.
How many, you did three looks all in no time at all.
Like, absolute the rush, the panic, it was carnage.
- And literally, the funny thing was
about when we had to go on stage,
I didn't realise until we were there,
that we actually had to run off the main stage,
run backstage, like we had to run everywhere.
And so we didn't even have a moment to be like, okay.
It's like we had to run to the main stage,
run back up the main, it was non-stop.
It's like I'd taken about five Prozac or whatever they are,
or Pro Plus, I mean.
- Oh babe, I'd like to see the risk assessment
for queens running in heels.
- I know! Well, I was in a little kitten heel.
I was in a little tiny kitten heel for my swimwear,
so thank God, otherwise yeah,
that would have been an absolute lawsuit on their hands.
- I mean, we've got to talk about the lip-sync.
Can we just?
Because you, I understand,
you had to lip-synced three times,
it's not the best feeling in the world, is it?
- No.
-But your final lip-sync and you were against Vanity,
to the iconic ‘Scandalous’ by Mystique.
- That is the banger of all bangers, isn't it?
- I mean, isn't it just?
Also, not Alesha Dixon screaming over the top of you while-
- She wanted to get off the climb off of that main stage
and get involved.
She wanted to recreate Mystique there and then, I think.
I was living.
Even though I got eliminated,
the fact that I got to lip-sync to that song
and to have a fun exit,
like, I don't think I could have asked for a better,
even though nobody wants to go home on Drag Race,
I was more than happy to lose to Vanity,
because the second I knew I was lip-syncing
with that song and Vanity next to me,
I was like, book closed.
I'm going home, you know what I mean?
So, I just had a good time and just, you know,
I think that hopefully you can see that,
because that is one of my favourite songs.
I didn't need to learn the lyrics for that
cause I knew it already.
So I just, I had the time of my life
doing that song, I really did.
- I was lip-syncing at home
because it's one of my favourite songs as well.
And I just love the fact
that you gave like a full hen party vibe.
Just Bianca giving it a (indistinct)
- I was like, I was white girl wasted,
that's really what it was.
- Exactly that.
I do think the one moment that you were really outspoken
was the reading challenge.
- Oh gosh.
- How did you-
I mean, that was really releasing the beast, wasn't it?
How did it feel like getting that all out of your system?
- You know what, in the moment I remember-
this is the thing I will say that-
and I'm sure you can attest to this,
in the moment of filming it,
your feelings are so intense
that it can cloud your judgment almost.
And I remember the previous episode
with the fallout from Untucked,
I remember coming out of that
and feeling so alone in the room
and feeling so I just felt like,
I just felt like if I wasn't going to be my own cheerleader
and I didn't want, I didn't want the girls to see me sweat,
basically, It was just, you know,
it's the worst thing that can happen in the competition
because if the girls see that you're being hard on yourself
and you're kind of second guessing yourself,
like it happened in episode five,
they saw that I was second guessing myself
and they all just, you know,
went in for the kill per se.
And so my mentality was that even though in reality,
I wanted you to walk away crying, you know,
cause that's how I deal with things in real life.
I would be like, OK,
I'm just going to walk away
and take myself out of the situation.
But on Drag Race, you can't do that.
You know, you've got to keep going and blah, blah, blah,
and deal with things as they come.
So the person that I see on there
is a person that I don't recognise really,
to be honest with you.
And it's hard to watch sometimes
with the reading challenge and these things,
because I see someone that is desperately
fighting tooth and nail to prove to people
that you know, oh, I still deserve to be here.
Like, and it's hard to watch that because, you know,
I can just see what I'm thinking in my head.
And I'm just, it hurts me a little bit
to see it come out that way,
because I know it's just a silly defense mechanism
to just try and not show any weaknesses to the girls
and to try and feel like my position
in the place was validated at that time,
because they all said I should've gone last week
or the week before.
So yeah, I mean I do regret the way it came out,
but yeah, I mean it was still camp to watch
and it was fun, so yeah.
- I mean, you made it entertaining,
which contrasts with what you said about Ella this week,
which is that she's boring.
- Oh God, I'm so sorry about that.
But I will admit that I, again, that's another thing.
It goes back to what I just said.
I was saying that out of pure desperation
to feel like I needed to validate myself in the competition
and it's embarrassing to watch.
And I will be honest with you,
when that conversation started,
I could see where it was going.
And I just went, and fast forwarded it.
I couldn't watch it
because it was so embarrassing to watch me talk like that.
I just don't like it.
I just, I, you know, I just don't like it.
And I didn't like talking.
I didn't like seeing myself talk to Ella that way
because I completely,
I don't agree with what I said there,
Ella is so fun, and you can see that.
She just won the Snatch Game
for being funny and all of that.
And you know, that was just me being an idiot
because I was so desperate to feel like
I still needed my place and you know, all that.
But so yeah, I'm not going to lie,
I kind of skipped through it a little bit
cause I was cringing.
- I don't think you need to be so hard on yourself though.
Cause I think everyone,
like your season particularly are all so bonded,
so friendly and so, so lovely,
everyone understands what's going on.
Like, I mean, I been through it
and heard people say a lot of things about me
that I don't like,
but it doesn't mean anything in that kind of moment
in that competitive environment.
So much pressure.
And also we've been watching it for so many years,
you kind of have that thought of like,
what are the audience going to say about it in your head.
- You know, that's the thing, like,
I don't know if we're going to get into the Untucked thing,
but like it's the iconic line,
the now infamous line when I said,
"I don't feel like talking thanks" was because like,
that was my reaction of being like, if I could,
I would remove myself from this situation
and not discuss it because I was having so many,
you know, I was hanging on by a thread.
My sanity was hanging on by a thread at that point.
Cause I've spoken about my mum,
and then I walked onto the main stage,
I got read to filth,
and then I've got everyone said that I should go,
and then we walked into Untucked and then,
you know, I had to deal with it there.
So, I was literally trying to not burst into tears, you know?
And so my reaction came out as the way it did
because I was trying not to cry
and try not to be like, feel overwhelmed
by the whole situation.
So, yeah, literally like even though I watched that back
and it's nice to see it now and realise that like,
it's drama, it’s TV it’s Drag Race.
That's what it's about.
And as hard as it was to do it
and as hard as it was to watch it and it still is,
I can still appreciate that like,
this is what Drag Race is about.
It's about having drama and fallouts
and you know, not everyone's going to like you.
And unfortunately, you know,
I've had some negative feedback from that situation,
but I would just like people to know that, you know,
the person that I see there is not the person
that I am or I tried to be.
That is the person that came out of pure anxiety, you know?
And yeah, as hard as it is to watch it,
you know, we all got the drama
and that's what we live for on Drag Race
is the drama, and you know,
don't feel like talking about it now,
so we got the drama moment in the end, didn't we?
- I mean, we did,
but also for anyone who's giving you negative comments,
I wouldn't call it feedback.
I'd just say people giving their opinions
without being asked.
It's actually quite a smart decision
if you're in an argument and you don't want to sort of
rise to the situation and you don't want to get upset,
why wouldn't you remove yourself
from that kind of environment?
I kind of think it's fair enough.
People should do that more often
in real life shouldn't they?
- I agree.
- Instead of shouting at each other.
- I think in reality, like I am the kind of person
that when things get on top of me,
I immediately walk away and remove myself.
But you know, you can't do that on Drag Race,
RuPaul is waiting,
and so you have to face what's happening there and then,
and so, you know, unfortunately,
you know what happened happened,
but I'm hoping that as time goes on and as my journey-
because it's happening right now as it airs,
but as time goes on, I'm hoping that I,
and some of the people watching back
can just understand that, you know,
it's a really high pressure environment,
and sometimes you do things that you really, really regret
because of the pressure that you put on yourself
and that you feel from the other girls and the judges.
So, yeah.
- Yeah, I mean, that's one of the things as well,
you were very, sort of, proudly
saying that you're an East End queen,
you come from a working class background
and all of that kind of thing.
Do you think in a way some queens
have a bit of an advantage on the show
because of like where you come from
and that kind of background,
especially like financially, for example?
We've heard Veronica talk about how she had no money to
prepare for it. - Absolutely.
I think a perfect example for me
is with the wet lettuce dress,
I actually, I couldn't afford to get a proper-
like this was meant to be my fruit look, an orange,
but I was worried it was a bit too simple
because it's just a dress and blah, blah, blah.
So I decided to go with that dress,
but I hired that dress,
and I know that a lot of people out there
will have seen that other people have worn that dress.
Like I think A’Whora has worn it at some point as well,
so, I'm not the first person to wear that dress,
but I didn't have the money to go in there
and create a new outfit for every single category.
And so, I had to do what I had to do.
And you know, if you've got a walk out there
as a vegetable and not a fruit,
then sometimes you just gotta do
what you gotta do, haven't you?
- Babe, we're all fruits in a way, aren't we?
I was just upset no one walked out dressed as Ginny Lemon.
- Well, exactly.
I was almost like Ginny Lemon
when she did the toxic look when she walked off.
- That's very true.
So all the queens on your season, as I said,
are just like super lovely and super friendly.
Are you all like chatting in a WhatsApp group,
having a camp old time together?
- We have our lovely WhatsApp group,
and you know what I can't ask for sisters to be honest,
cause even through the whole drama of what's happened
and blah, blah, blah,
like they've been so supportive,
they have really, really been so supportive.
Like, and it's been hard because like I said,
the first, my first reaction,
when things get difficult
and watching the past couple of episodes
have been difficult, I'm not going to lie,
and you know, people's reaction to it,
but they have helped me so much with that.
Just checking in on me.
Because it's easy for me to just shut down
and be like, OK, you know.
But they've kind of made a conscious effort
to kind of reach out
and make me feel like it's OK and all of that,
which I can't tell you how much that's helped me
because like, they were there with me.
They were in the experience with me.
So they are the only 11 other people
that know exactly how it feels,
it felt in that moment.
So it's really comforting to know
that I still have their support,
even after everything that happened.
And we're all amazing friends.
And like you said, we all got on really well,
probably a bit too well.
So that's why we all fell out, you know,
who should go home tonight and why,
but you know, it's Drag Race.
What happens, it's the deal, isn't it?
- You were going to do Danny Dyer for Snatch Game,
you dressed as Bianca on the runway,
is the plan to be in ‘EastEnders’?
- Absolutely, I'm waiting for that call.
I just bought a new iPhone
so that I can wait for that call from the BBC, darling.
I went on Drag Race just to get on EastEnders.
This is my platform now.
I'm ready to be Bianca's chavvy little brother,
or sister, or whatever.
- I love that.
I went on Drag Race to get on ‘Doctor Who’,
to be honest with you,
so I can relate with that. - Exactly
It's a launchpad after all, so.
- It really is, right.
I want you as your final thought
to sum up your time on Drag Race in three words.
- An absolute rollercoaster.
- I love it, I love it.
- Ebbs, flows, ups, downs, ins, and outs,
I wish, left, right, all of it.
And you know what?
I wouldn't change it because it's just madness,
and I think it made the season what it was, so yeah.
- It really did, and Scarlett,
since you know, we've come from that sort of
old school drag world and all of that kind of thing,
wouldn't it be camp to see
some of the older queens on Drag Race?
- I would love to see some of the older queens.
And I also, I love that I still remember
that last year you gave Miss Rose Garden
a shout out for that dress that she gave you.
Rose Garden for season four.
- Start the campaign right here, Rose Garden.
- GoFundMe!
- Let's do it, let's make it happen.
- I would love it.
I would love to see all, Rose Garden,
Miss Jason, Sandra, all of them.
- I think we can do it. - Absolutely.
- Take note BBC, World of Wonder.
- Thank you very much, good night.
You're not my mother and never will be.
You're not my mother, anyway.
- Yes I am.
It's been an absolute pleasure.
I hope you have a gorgeous day
dressed as a wonderful stunning fruit.
Thank you for watching Attitude Tea Time,
served to you in association with Taimi.
Make sure you hit like and subscribe,
and join me, Tia Kofi again next week
for some more scalding hot tea
with the Drag Race eliminee.
Bye for now.