I really never thought,
felt really secure in myself in the show at all
and then I watched the episodes
and I thought, oh my God,
they could have just given me that win.
- Hi, I'm Tia Kofi
and welcome to Attitude Tea Time,
in association with Taimi,
where each week I'll be bringing you the freshly brewed tea
on Drag Race UK season three,
with the latest eliminee
and this week I'm joined by my favourite Pointer Sister,
the River is here, everybody dive in,
it's River Medway.
River, it's so good to see you. (laughs)
- Hi, Tia, how are you?
- I'm great, but I'm very upset
- Why? - that you've been eliminated.
- But all the best queens go home on this episode.
- Well, I've heard a rumour.
All the best queens go home on Snatch Game, it's so true.
- I've heard that.
- Let's talk about your Snatch Game.
I just wanna get this out of the way, okay?
I don't wanna dwell on the negative
so we're gonna talk about your Snatch Game first.
- Great.
- Amy Childs.
- Yes. - Why?
- Not my first choice.
- What was?
- Not my second choice.
Not my third- (laughs)
- What was your first choice?
- I had a few.
Couldn't do some of them,
some of them had been done on season two,
which I wasn't aware of
because of timings and airings.
But Amy Childs is one of those voices
that me and my friends just reenact ‘TOWIE’ scenes
all the time
and I was like, right, let me just go with it, like,
I think I can- I think I'll be all right doing this
and I actually did do all right doing it to be fair
and also, as you know, they don't keep everything in.
So. (laughs)
- I couldn't possibly comment.
(River giggles)
But do you feel like you weren't the worst
in the Snatch Game then?
- Oh no, I was the worst. Yeah.
- Oh.
Yeah. - Yeah. I was the worst.
I wasn't bad, but I wasn't- I was the worst.
Do you know what I mean?
- Yeah.
- Yeah, no I do- well, it's a strong Snatch Game,
you just, didn't do decisively well.
- I think there was a clear line
between people that did Snatch Game really well
and people that, sort of - people like me
that were just playing this character
and then not really going any further
with just playing a character. Do you know what I mean?
Not really doing Snatch Game.
- Yeah, but you know it was Snatch Game, right?
Yeah, so you weren't doing Snatch Game,
even though you knew it was Snatch Game.
- Well, no, but the way that-
So, I think Ella did Snatch Game.
Ella did- Nigella would not have said any of those things,
but it was Ella's interpretation of Nigella,
which is why it was funny.
But I, sort of, just did Amy Childs,
there was nothing more than just me going,
"Ooh, I'm Amy Childs, I'm gonna say these lines."
Do you know what I mean?
- Yeah.
I mean, you could have been helped out
with some additional camera trickery,
like a crash zoom in every time you screamed.
Do you know what I mean?
Or like a little flash of thunder and lightning
when you pretend to get possessed.
But that didn't happen for you, unfortunately.
Do you think your runway might have contributed
to you being in the bottom two?
- Yeah, there's something about
brown, round structures that people wear on the runway
that maybe don't go down so well on Drag Race.
I don't know whether you
know anything about that, or-?
- I mean, I don't know what you're referring to,
but stay tuned for the fruit bowl and ice cream cone tour
coming soon to the UK.
There have been some comparisons,
I've had quite a few tweets about it.
- That's all right.
Only the best minds think of stuff like that.
- I've gotta ask,
why weren't you wearing a little panty underneath
when you took that off?
I was like- - I wasn't planning on it.
Right?
I wasn't planning on,
I thought it would look worse with a panty on underneath
to be honest.
- So you thought wearing something over your bare tights
would look worse than your bare tights?
- Yeah, because it was like, a full nude moment.
Like why not?
What's fruitier than being naked in drag
on RuPaul's Drag Race?
- If you'd had a tiny little banana there,
I'd have bought into it. - No, I was gonna do this.
I'm- no, I full-on was gonna do this on the runway
and then get to the end of the runway
and then pull the bowl down
and have a banana and two cherries there
and then I thought, oh no, better not do that.
- Oh, that's a shame.
That could've been- - I should have.
That might've- I mean, I still would have gone home.
But, (laughs) I guess it would have been a bit more funny.
- Do you think on the basis of your runway look
and the judges’ critiques
you might be feeling a bit of sour grapes?
- No, they're quite sweet actually.
- (chuckles) Delicious.
Not as sweet as Kitty's cherries and her confusing vines.
- The veins.
All the veins going through.
I liked Kitty's look to be honest,
but I think unless you're looking at it up close,
it did look a bit veiny, yeah.
- So, we've gotta talk about the runway looks as a whole,
because you made quite a lot of your runways.
- Yeah.
- Was that a decision that you made
for creative reasons or budget,
or what was the reason behind it?
♪ She didn't have the money ♪
♪ To pay people to make outfits ♪
♪ So she had to make them herself ♪
- And then they're acting like I'm a seamstress.
I'm not, it's like, no, I didn't have a choice.
It's that, or what else do I wear?
I have friends that helped me sew a lot of the stuff,
I think I paid two designers to make two of my outfits
and that was it.
Everything else my friends sewed,
or my friends helped me sew
and I just bought the fabric and I did bits of it
and then I made some of the outfits.
But yeah, it was literally,
there's so many things I could maybe have done,
but I just couldn't.
Which is a shame,
but that's the name of the game, you know?
- Well now you can, babes.
Now you can.
Are we going to be seeing a revamped fruit bowl look
anytime soon?
- Well, the thing is,
to get serious for a sec,
I was so upset with that look
and I never wanted to wear it
I really, really didn't.
And then I left it under my bed for so long
and I was like, I'm not gonna take pictures of this outfit,
I'm never gonna wear it again, blah, blah, blah
and then last week I was like,
I better just take nice pictures of it.
I'm going to.
And then I look back and I think at the end of the day,
I can't just focus on the good stuff,
I have to think about my entire experience
and what I've learned from the experience.
Anything can be turned into a positive
and I was like, I'm gonna shoot this look
and I've got some gorgeous pictures of it
and I just think at least I made this outfit.
I did every single wig on the show,
none of the other queens can say that they did.
No, sorry, Charity did a lot of her stuff as well.
None of the queens that are still in the competition.
It's just nice
that a part of my drag is actually a part of me.
You can see parts of me in all of my outfits
that I've made as well,
as opposed to just show-
which is absolutely fine,
if people wanna showcase something else
but to me it's really important that I showcased.
I was like, I'm not doing-
I'm not wearing hair by someone else,
I have to do hair on my own.
- Well, it's your thing
and that's what you're showing.
- Exactly. - And we really appreciate it.
- And it's cheaper.
- And it's cheaper. And that's the thing about Drag Race,
that's the beauty of Drag Race is that
everyone gets to showcase a massive part of themselves.
And I think you might have noticed
from the social media reaction
that everyone's kind of fuming
that their two faves, I'm just quoting Twitter,
their two faves left this week.
So I think you can take that one with you
and just feel the love.
- Yeah. Well this, I wasn't expecting it.
And I mean, you had a similar-
you were, I'd say you're a fan favourite, too.
Is it fair to say you weren't expecting that
when you filmed it?
- Oh no, I thought everyone was gonna hate me.
- Yeah.
Well.
- Everyone did on the show, so.
Not everyone.
- No, it is interesting how the way I felt on the show
is not how people have seen me on the show,
for the better, do you know what I mean?
It's not like, oh, I felt great on the show
and now everybody hates me,
it's like I thought I wasn't gonna have a great reaction.
I didn't think I was gonna make a big impact at all
and now I have and it's like, oh my God, amazing.
Great. Fab.
- Well, we've got a lot in common
and obviously I didn't know any of the spoilers
from this season,
but as soon as the Meet the Queens came out,
all of your fellow sisters were saying,
"I feel like you and River are gonna be friends."
And here we are, enemies.
- Mortal enemies. (laughs)
- Absolutely. You and Anubis.
You're on my list. - Great.
- Well, we've gotta talk about the lip-sync.
- OK. - Ru said,
that you two did not give enough
and I'm just gonna say it,
I'm pretty sure you did five cartwheels.
- I actually think I did about ten,
but you didn't see them all.
But I, (laughs)
I blacked out to be honest,
I don't really remember it.
But I think I did a lip-sync that matched the song.
Do you know what I mean?
I'm not gonna be there all like.
(laughs) I'm not gonna give that in ‘Shout’ by Lulu.
I think I did good,
I enjoyed it, I had fun.
Me and Choriza there being stupid on stage
'cause that's what we do for a living.
(Tia chuckles)
One of your highlights has got to be,
ding.
- I don't remember that.
- So, on episode one, you dressed as,
I think it was, was it Peter Pan with a cone on his head?
I'm not sure.
The statue of Thomas Waghorn.
Can I just say, me and River talk.
If anyone's gonna come for me
and tell me that I'm being really mean to her,
(River laughs)
we are actually friends.
- I was gonna say, we're being really sarcastic
and I'm forgetting that people don't know
that we're friends.
(Tia laughs)
We just hate each other and being horrible to each other.
- That's what happened on the first one.
I'm not having it happen again, thank you very much.
But you dressed as the statue of Thomas Waghorn
and it was an iconic moment with your point
and making Ru hysterically laugh.
How do you feel about literally being
everyone's favourite Pointer Sister
and the most meme-able moment of the season so far?
- It just feels a bit weird, to be honest,
because when I did it,
what I did just made sense in my head.
I thought, oh, well, anybody would do this.
I'm dressed up as a statue,
so, of course, this is what I'm gonna do.
Obviously.
It just made sense in my head to do that.
So, then everybody's like,
"Oh my God, this is hilarious."
and I'm like,
it's not really,
I'm just a statue pointing down the runway,
but I guess not everybody's mind thinks the same as me,
but the response has been really, really good.
It's really, really nice.
- It made sense to me, do you know what I mean?
- Yeah, of course I'm gonna do that.
I thought people were going to be like, yeah OK.
(Tia chuckles)
It's those ones.
- We've got a connection.
Yeah, it's the one where you go.
- Yeah.
This is the thing, I know what I'm doing.
I knew what I was doing.
About halfway through,
I was like, I'm gonna give them what they want.
Do you know what I mean?
You have to play the game.
- Absolutely
and you played it brilliantly.
I think we've gotta say the other iconic moment
has to be the double elimination that took place.
I mean, were you expecting that?
Did you sort of think- - No.
- "Yeah, it's gonna be both of us”?
- No, of course not.
I thought Choriza was gonna be saved
because I thought she was doing much better than me
in the competition
and just- competition?
I thought she was doing much better than me
in the competition
and I thought she's gonna go all the way
and this is just my time to go.
- Well. - After the lip-sync,
I was like, yeah, Choriza's-
I said to her, "You've got this, you've got this."
and then neither of us had.
- Well, you say doing better than you in the competition
but if the fans are anything to go by,
people are saying that you were robbed of a win last week
in the advertising challenge, Draglexa,
and a lot of people have said
that you should have had a solo win
for the girl group challenge as well.
I'm not the one saying it, I'm just quoting the fans.
Don't come for me. - You are the fans.
You are, The Fan, Tia Kofi. (chuckles)
- Every time I say the fans,
what I mean is (laughs) I want River to win.
That's what I mean.
- Just covering your own back.
- Did you feel like you were robbed of a win,
particularly in Draglexa?
- Well, it's weird because at the time I didn't.
I thought, oh no, maybe this is my time to go.
I really never thought,
felt really secure in myself in the show at all
and then I watched the episodes
and I thought, oh my God,
they could have just given me that win.
But,
when you win something,
it's so much more than getting a badge, right?
And I feel like I got everything
that you would get when you win, I just didn't get a badge.
Do you know what I mean? So, I'm not actually mad.
I'm not mad, of course I'm not mad about it.
I've still had the reaction as if I did win something,
so it doesn't matter to me.
Do you know what I mean?
- Yeah.
And I totally remember what it's like
to actually win a badge
so I can really empathise with that.
I remember it so vividly.
- I was gonna say, at least I had one.
- Yeah, literally, at least you had one.
Where is it? Have you still got it? Have you framed-?
- It's in a packet on my bedside cabinet I think.
- Oh, keeping it as a prized possession, then.
- Well, the thing is,
I had it hidden for a long time
in case obviously people are visiting my house
and then I got it out the other day
and then I was sitting on my bed
and I was like, just put it down
and then I forgot about it.
But it's still in the packet
'cause I just wanna keep it in there.
- It's still in the packet
just in case you fall on hard times
and wanna sell it on eBay.
I'm with you, babes. I'm with you.
I get it. I get it.
Now, we have to talk about
what was an absolutely incredible moment
with you having a heart-to-heart with Ella
about your mum and about the COVID situation.
I have to ask, watching that back,
was it a moment of feeling proud and happy
or did it bring back emotion?
- I guess it's a mixture of both
and it always will be.
I wasn't pressured into it,
which is really nice,
which is why I hope that it came across very authentic
because it felt very authentic
because it was.
They really just gave me the space
to speak my truth
and I did, and I just let it all out.
And I just said everything how I was feeling
and I said what I knew I had to say,
as in, I was like, if I'm gonna speak about this,
I need to not hold back at all
and I think I did that.
And when I watch that back,
I still feel that, obviously,
but I'm just in such a different place emotionally,
but I enjoyed- not enjoyed- I'm glad,
it was nice to watch
knowing that other people could watch that
and be like, oh my God,
me, I get that.
So, that's really important to me.
And this is the thing,
there are so many important things on the show
aside from a RuPeter Badge
and that's what I never lose sight of,
the important things that come out of Drag Race,
which I think a lot of people need to remember as well.
- Yeah.
I think that conversation particularly
was a really important thing,
because as you said,
you, sort of, giving a lot of people something
to look towards
and feel hopeful
and look up to you about,
which is lovely.
I also love the fact
that Ella had that whole
emotional conversation with you,
with her nipples out.
- Yep.
- Also really gorgeous of her as well.
- Staring at me like.
But this is the thing,
she also really just gave me the space to be like,
this is your time to speak
and it was very much,
this is why it felt so good to just-
We were getting really close around that point anyway,
so it was really nice that it was with her
and it was just, it really was just real
and also there were no cameras
right here or anything,
which was good.
It didn't feel like I was like,
OK, now I have to talk about this, I need to.
Yeah, it was really good
and Ella was really great as well.
You know, if anyone comes for your fruit bowl,
I am just gonna remind everyone
that you were going through that sort of emotional phase,
we hadn't been earning any money during that time
and if they want to say anything,
send them to me
and I'll drop kick 'em
while dressed as an ice cream cone.
Do you know what I mean?
I've got your back, babes.
- It doesn't phase me to be honest.
I thought it was a funny look, so what?
It's not that deep it's drag, it's literally drag.
Not that deep.
- I thought it was great.
Right, final few questions. - Yep.
- Let's do it quickfire style.
How about that? - Yep.
- Okay, are you and Scarlett OK now?
- Best friends, honestly.
We've had some of the best chats since the show.
We're so, so good
and I just think people need to remember
that is not a reflection of us and our friendships now.
We're really, really good.
I love Scarlett, I love all of them.
- What was your favourite challenge while you were there?
- Girl group, a hundred per cent.
- What was your least favourite challenge
while you were there?
- Snatch Game.
- Babe, same.
And final question as we wrap it all up,
who is your pick to win the crown?
Who's gonna win it?
- It doesn't really matter to me
'cause it's not gonna be me.
So any of them could win for all I care. (laughs)
- Babe, I didn't win either
and I'm having a great time.
I feel like we've got the same energy.
It's gonna be gorgeous.
Yeah, have a good day, babes.
- Thank you. - That's that all wrapped up.
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 scolding hot tea.
Bye, babes.
I really never thought,
felt really secure in myself in the show at all
and then I watched the episode
and I thought, oh my God,
they could have just given me that win.
But,