SPECIAL THANKS TO DANIELLE TEMENG AND JASMINE ALOMA FROM THE BBC

With their “offbeat” sense-of-humour, avant-garde runway presentations and “poptimistic” charm, Le Fil became a strong fan-favourite on this season of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK. While the Brighouse entertainer triumphed at the Yaas-tonbury Festival with their future Grammy-winning rock collective Queens of the Bone Age and garnered praise for celebrating their Chinese culture, fans denounced the panel for ‘completely overlooking’ Le Fil and judging him more ‘harshly’ than his season four competitors.

Speaking with GAY TIMES, the star admits the critiques “got progressively harder” for him: “I felt, ‘What else can I do?’ By this point, at the end of week six, I was like, ‘I think this is it, babes, I’m just going to enjoy myself and have fun, pack my bags and head off.’” 

Episode six saw the contestants play the Snatch Game, with Le Fil impersonating legendary Japanese consultant, author and television presenter Marie Kondo. Despite their pink tent runway slay, their lack of experience in the improv department landed them in the bottom two for the first time, where they competed against Black Peppa to Spice Girls’ classic anthem Stop. Ultimately, Peppa was saved over Le Fil and he became the seventh contestant to sashay away. 

Following his elimination, we spoke with Le Fil about his ‘thrilling’ Drag Race UK journey, the “powerful” response from Asian and Chinese viewers and his brand new EP, Le Filosophical, a five-track collection of quirky pop anthems about “all the lessons” he’s learned from his experience on the series.

Le Fil, my darling, how are you?

I am feeling wonderful! I loved watching the episode back last night and I’m just filled with how everything’s gone, really. Yeah, still dead excited and full of poptimism!

I say this every week and I genuinely mean it because I love this whole cast, but I’m really sad to see you go. How did you feel after your elimination?

I was so sad to go because I feel I have so much to show on that platform and all the different challenges. At the same time, I was dead exhausted, so I was proper chuffed to go and get some sleep! I left knowing that I did as much as I could on that show and each week, it got progressively harder for me in terms of hearing the critiques. I felt like I was getting harsher critiques than everyone else so I felt, ‘What else can I do?’ By this point, at the end of week six, I was like, ‘I think this is it, babes, I’m just going to enjoy myself and have fun, pack my bags and head off.’

You looked like you were having the best time and were just so happy to be there, which has been such a joy to watch.

Aww, that’s good. I’m glad that transpires. With any of these competitions, there’s no point in completely shutting out. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and it is a fabulous platform to be able to show all our different skills. I went in there to have fun. It felt like a theme park ride, where you go in and you’re like, ‘Ooh, this is what this looks like,’ and then you tackle the rollercoasters and at the end you get the picture.