Before the sixth series of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK revealed that the winner would receive a prize of 25,000 pounds, winners of the British version of the international phenomenon earned a WOW Presents Plus produced series of their own. RuPaul’s Drag Race UK 5 winner Ginger Johnson finally gets to share with the world her winning series, Ginger’s House. Marrying her perspective of comedy along with her gift of gab, Ginger’s House is a hilarious weekly romp that blends sitcom with a chat show. Where one ends and the other begins, that’s the fun! “It’s a blend of a sitcom and a chat show and where that line exists. I hope it is quite blurry. You can’t quite tell when we’re in chat show mode and when we’re in sitcom mode,” Ginger tells Collider exclusively.
Just a year ago, Johnson was crowned the UK’s Next Drag Superstar after snatching victory in the fifth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK. Bringing her effortless aesthetic of theatrics and pantomime into the world of drag, Johnson’s hilarious drag persona and versatility were warranted with a victory. Having the opportunity to share her art with the world, she is excited to drop Ginger into the television world and this is just the beginning of where you might find Ginger next.
‘Ginger’s House’ Is Quintessentially Ginger Johnson
“It’s inspired by a lot of the things that have inspired me along the way in my drag.”
Ding dong. It’s time to take a trip to Ginger’s House with the brilliant Ginger Johnson. How are you?
GINGER JOHNSON: I’m really good. Thank you. How are you doing?
I am doing so well. I am so excited I get to chat with you. You are fricking fantastic.
GINGER: Oh, thank you so much. That’s really kind of you.
I am so excited for the world to see Ginger’s House. The first episode is so funny. Tell us about this show.
GINGER: Well, this is my prize that I won for winning Drag Race UK. I get to make a series. I really wanted to do something that was quintessentially me. It’s inspired by a lot of the things that have inspired me along the way in my drag. A lot of British comedy. Sort of classic British sitcoms play into it quite a lot. I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to invite some of my gorgeous Drag Race UK sisters to come and join me in the show as well. We had so much fun making it and I really hope that comes across when you watch it.
Absolutely. What was it like to be able to spread your wings from stage to a televised format?
GINGER: Oh, so fun. The one thing that I really learned about it was that, because I’m a theater girl, if you have an idea to do something in the theater, then you can just have the idea and then do it. But if you have an idea in the moment when you’re filming a TV show, you can do it, but it might take three and a half hours to set up the camera and move the lights! I definitely had to be a little bit prepared and forearmed for the filming of it. But it was a really, really, really fun challenge, and it was a nice new playground for me to play in because, apart from Drag Race, I’ve not really made any television before. It’s a different way of telling stories, and you can achieve things that you can’t do on stage. That will become very apparent as we get further and further through the series.
Tell me about the synergy of bringing your universe and your world of drag onto the show.
GINGER: Well, I think my drag is all about celebrating queer joy and queer silliness…It’s a blend of a sitcom and a chat show, and where that line exists. I hope is quite blurry. You can’t quite tell when we’re in chat show mode and when we’re in sitcom mode. I like to think that that’s quite unique. That was my idea that I wanted to bring to this show. It was really fun. I’ve got these great guests, Cara Melle, Kate Butch, they’re from the first episode. Coming up, we’ve got Miss Naomi Carter and Danny Beard and Victoria Scone, Vanity Milan, Tia Kofi. All of these really, really funny people. Great people to bounce off in the show. It was really fun to try and bring my world and my aesthetic of this sort of brightly colored 1970s retro-esque aesthetic. We found this amazing location house where we filmed the show. I’ve actually had the location saved on my computer for about five years. I’ve always wanted to do something there. I didn’t know if I was going to do a photoshoot there or something else, but it just never quite came together. And then when I decided that I was going to do a show set in my own house, I was like, this is it. This is the one we’re going in there. It’s got a particularly fantastic bathroom which is very heavily featured in an episode coming up later on. It is my dream bathroom. I think that might be the gayest thing I’ve ever said. And that’s a lot considering what my job is!
Ginger Breaks Down Her Inspirations As a Drag Artist
“Getting to completely invent this character and this aesthetic for people… is really exciting to me.”
What I love as an American watching the international seasons of Drag Race is learning a little bit about other styles of drag. And for me, British drag just hits home. It’s the kind of blend of camp and theater that I adore. How would you describe British drag to the world?
GINGER: Well, the amazing thing about drag all over the world, but in Britain as well, is that there are so many different flavors of drag. Drag is the paint and you are the artist. You can paint any kind of picture you want with it. That’s what’s so brilliant about drag. It’s why it’s so attractive to people because you can really go wherever your imagination wants to go. I come from a tradition of live performers who talk. And that’s partly because I’m not very good at dancing, as we all saw on the television. So, if you can’t dance, you’ve got to bring something else to the table. I’ve always been someone who likes to tell stories and tell jokes and, try and bring an audience into my world in that way. That’s the tradition of British drag that I come from. My icons of UK drag also come from that kind of tradition. I have a huge appreciation for anybody that is brave and stupid enough to stick on a wig and get themselves in front of a room full of people and try to entertain them, you know? And some of my favorite drag is actually nothing like what I do at all. Not at all. Sometimes you want to take a little bit of flavor from lots of different places. Variety is the spice of life, as they say.
Now, you do marry the worlds of theater and pantomime into your drag with ease. Who are some of the influences in those worlds that have inspired you as an artist?
GINGER: Oh, wow. Well, when I was younger, much younger, when I was I was a child, there was quite a lot of drag on television in the UK. Like primetime programming. So we had Lily Savage. You might know of Lily Savage. She was a huge icon of drag. She had her own TV show. She did stand-up shows. She did game shows, all of that kind of thing. And she is best known for being really sharp and witty and a little bit bitchy. So she was definitely an icon of mine. And we also had Dame Edna, who was a ridiculous camp character that lent into the absurd a little bit more, so she was a big influence on me. And then there was also a character called Mrs. Merton, who was played by an amazing comedic actress and writer called Caroline Ahearn, who’s sadly no longer with us. She played this older lady character, and that also managed to fit into lots of different situations. And those three, I think, are probably the drag that I grew up around. Apart from, of course, pantomime dames. I stand by the pantomime dame in the Newcastle Theatre Royal, very near to where I grew up…There’s an amazing dame, the performer called Chris Hayward. He is one of the all-time greats of pantomime dames. He’s just phenomenal. So he’s definitely been a big influence as well. I’m incredibly lucky to have these people to inspire me.
Absolutely. You make your own drag. We got to see so many amazing looks during the season. How did you learn to get into the world of creating your own looks?
GINGER: Well, it actually comes from pantomime because when, in the pantomime tradition, when you get the part of being the dame, you often have to supply your own costume to the show because it’s part of what you bring to the table as a dame. And I got my very first professional panto job while I was still at university. That was the situation. I had to provide my own costumes. I was a student. I didn’t have any money to buy any or pay anyone to do it. So I just had to learn how to do it. I knew how to use a sewing machine because my grandma had taught me how to use a sewing machine when I was younger to make puppets, which was my first kind of performance love that I had. And I still use puppets. There is a puppet or two featured in Ginger’s House as well. So I knew how to use a sewing machine. I just did the classic. I took apart clothes that fitted me and I drew around the pieces and I tried to work out how the hell to put them back together. I remember really clearly I needed 10 costumes for that pantomime and I made 25 dresses before one of them was actually something that you could wear. The rest of them were disasters. Then I got to number 25, and I was like, right, I’ve nailed this now, I know how to do it. Making the clothes is actually one of my favorite things in drag. Getting to completely invent this character and this aesthetic for people and try and transport people to a different time and place in existence is really exciting to me.
Winning ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race UK’ Has Meant Everything to Ginger
“I have honestly had the time of my life this year.”
Winning ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race UK’ Has Meant Everything to Ginger
“I have honestly had the time of my life this year.”
I love that. Well, since I have you, I do want to talk about one of your looks from this season: the Mirror Mirror look. Called one of the stupidest, best looks ever. And then, a few weeks later on Drag Race Germany, we saw Metamorkid with a very similar and unique concept. I was gagged. Talk about this synergy behind the history of that look.
GINGER: Well, that look is inspired by a look from a Schiaparelli collection. The year is not coming to me right now, but it’s not that long ago. It’s a really spectacular look and it screams drag because it’s a really unique shape. There’s a sense of illusion to it because of how the waistline is cut into it. And it’s completely impractical. You cannot live a normal life wearing that outfit and drag needs to be that sometimes. We need to say to people, ‘your clothes don’t have to serve you.’ Just get on with it, put the most ridiculous thing on that you can find. I was actually really happy to see somebody else do it. And I believe someone on another franchise has also since done that. And we all did it at the same time before we’d seen each other do it. So I think that just speaks to how fabulous and theatrical Schiaparelli is as a designer. My Matador It for the finale was also partly inspired by Schiaparelli because they did a whole matador collection. It’s just one of my favorite designers and great to see that it chimes with other performers and audiences as well.
You are the fifth winner of Drag Race UK. What does that mean to you?
GINGER: Oh God, it means everything to me. When I went into the competition, I never in a million years thought I would win. Never in a million years. It just wasn’t even on my radar at all. And watching it back, I think you can tell. I think you can tell that I’m just there trying to have the most fun that I can and make the most of the opportunity. And thankfully, those are two things that really chime with RuPaul, you know? She loves to have fun, and she loves to see people that are ambitious and want to make the most out of life because that’s who she is. It’s, it’s been a huge honor. My time as the reigning queen is unfortunately coming to an end now. I have honestly had the time of my life this year. So many dreams that I’ve had for many, many, many years have come true this year. It’s not just the crown and the scepter and the TV series that I get out there. It really has completely changed my life, and I’m so excited for whoever it is that gets to do the next year of it because they’ve got such a fabulous time in store for them.
You’ve been able to take your victory on the road. You’ve gotten to see the world, and it also means extraordinary opportunities. What has been the wildest experience you’ve done since winning Drag Race UK?
GINGER: Oh, there’s so many of them. I went to Australia. I don’t know this, but Australia is incredibly far away.
Yes, it is!
GINGER: And to be honest, I’ll be very honest with you. I had never had any interest in going to Australia at all. Partly because it’s so far away, and I am terrified of flying. I’ve gotten better at it this year because I’ve had to fly lots of places to do exciting things. Going to Australia with the other Angels of the North, Michael [Marouli] and Tamara [Thomas], and seeing all the amazing animals there, and being recognized on the street on the other side of the actual world is the most insane thing. I don’t think I will ever get used to that. I’m still amazed every time anybody recognizes me in the UK, but to be so far away from home and people see me on the street and want to talk to me about my drag, that’s just a dream come true.
I love that. I love a good recurring bit, and I can already tell that Kathy might be our recurring bit from Ginger’s House. What is it about the relationship between you and Kate Butch that is just so magical and special?
GINGER: Well, I tried incredibly hard to bar Kate Butch from the set of Ginger’s House, actually. And we went to all sorts of measures. We put a great big metal fence all the way around the set. We didn’t tell her what day it was on. We didn’t tell her anything about it, but somehow she still managed to be there knocking at my window. I don’t know. Kate and I, we immediately got on on Drag Race. We have a very, very similar sense of humor. I think we have the kind of outlook on life that it’s really not that serious. There are very few things in life that are serious. We just have a really great time together, and I’m so happy that she’s part of the series as well. There are some really great Kate Butch moments coming up.
Are there any other universes or mediums that Ginger Johnson might drop into next? What’s the next dream?
GINGER: Oh, all of them! All of them! Well, I’m currently touring my new solo show called Ginger Johnson Blows Off. That’s all about me trying to become a daredevil stuntwoman. It leads up to me firing myself out of a cannon at the end of the show. Inspired by me seeing a woman fired out of a cannon when I was a child. That’s the challenge that I’m taking on at the moment. I’ve been doing this a long time now, and I’ve written a lot of theatre shows. In my mind, and probably nobody else’s, I think of Ginger as a time traveler who can sort of land in, I can drop her into any situation and just watch the chaos unfold in front of her. And that’s what really inspires me. So who knows where she’s going to go? Well, I know where she’s going to go next, but I can’t tell you yet.
Ginger’s House is available to stream on WOW Presents Plus. RuPaul’s Drag Race UK streams on Fridays on WOW Presents Plus.