Drag Race UK’s first ever trans queen is ‘ecstatic’ to be making herstory

Words: Alastair James; pictures: BBC

The new series of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK is making herstory with the first trans queen to enter the UK werk room.

In the announcement ru-vealing the queens, 22-year-old Dakota Schiffer (she/her) from Sussex says she’s “ecstatic” to be making her entrance and to be breaking new ground for the UK edition of Drag Race.

Speaking ahead of the show’s premiere later this month the queen told the BBC that “I’m so excited to represent my trans sisters, siblings, and brothers, and I can’t wait”. 

She explains she’s been doing drag for four years and got into the art because she has always loved fashion, hair, and makeup, and “it combines all my hobbies into one amazing profession.”

She also shares that “Initially, I struggled to embrace my feminine side and drag gave me the escape I needed to come out as trans and embrace all of my inner femininity.”

Describing her drag as a “love letter to the nineties redoes the sixties” she lists her icon as Sharon Tate in Valley of the Dolls. ‘I worship everything she’s ever been in, she’s just such a style icon for me,” she adds. 

“I’ve dreamed of being on this show since I first watched it. I am so excited for season four. I’m so excited to meet my new sisters! Bring it on!”

Elsewhere she says Sussex has no drag scene and that it’s “not the best place for a six foot one trans woman and drag queen to grow up. I always stood out but simultaneously felt invisible but I think certainly, it’s made me the person who I am today.”

Dakota joins a growing list of trans contestants that have competed on various editions of Drag Race including Kylie Sonique Love, Peppermint, Willow Pill, and Jasmine Kennedie.

Check out more from the Drag Race UK series 4 queens below:

RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Series 4 returns to BBC Three and BBC iPlayer on 22 September at 9 pm.

The Attitude September/October issue is out now.