Ginger Johnson’s RuPaul’s Drag Race UK journey on Season 5 saw her competing against some of the strongest competition we’ve seen across the pond, yet Johnson still was able to soar to the top, becoming ‘The UK’s Next Drag Race Superstar’! With a holiday tour and a MAC Viva Glam campaign with her fellow Drag Race UK finalists, Johnson has big plans for 2024. I sat down with this UK sensation to reflect on her Drag Race UK journey, the moment during the competition that she actually thought she could go all the way to the top, & the sage words that she shared for queens all over the globe.
Michael Cook: Condragulations on winning RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Season 5! When you won the crown a number of fans, myself included, were truly touched and caught up in the moment.
Ginger Johnson: You should’ve seen me, I was a bit taken away (laughs)! I couldn’t believe it, I still can’t believe it.
MC: Do you think that there is a time during the competition that you thought to yourself “I think I could actually win this entire competition”!
GJ: I was constantly worried about getting the chop, constantly! The one moment that it flipped a little bit for me was when Cara Melle was sent home. We all know Cara’s amazing reputation; she is a formidable performer and an amazing queen. When she went home, I remember sitting and waiting for her to finish her lipstick message before we could all go back into the werkroom and I remember thinking “Oh…maybe I could do this”! Then the next day you come in and it’s a whole new challenge and a new world of nervousness and that slips away very quickly.
MC: Within your drag, you have such have such a reverence for our community and seem to give a nod to so many facets of our culture as a whole. Has that always been your style?
GJ: Absolutely. My original style inspirations were those amazing fiery red headed women of the Golden Age of Hollywood. People like Lucille Ball, she is my number one. Rita Hayworth, that entire crowd of amazing women. I’ve always loved the contrast, especially with Lucy, of that really beautiful glamourous look and that absolutely ridiculous attitude. That is something that I try to carry through all the time. Also people like Kay Thompson, she is one of my favorites. Kay Thompson in “Funny Face” I believe is one of the best musical performances on screen ever. I really do fall back to those old school, classic, queer references. That is the stuff that got me into this stuff in the first place.
MC: After winning Drag Race UK Season 5, how do you looking back on the entire Drag Race experience as a whole?
GJ: I’m proud of myself, I am really proud of myself. Every week when I’ve been watching what’s happening I’m like “wow girl, you’re pulling it out of the bag, it’s happening”! I think one thing that I have learned is that when you are there and filming everything is so fast paced, you have no time to think about anything. All you can do is just trust your instinct. I am someone that both in my real life and in my professional life outside of Drag Race, I very much overthink everything and it it gets in my way sometimes.
Watching myself thrive without that was a real moment for me where I was like “Okay, you don’t need to do this, you don’t need to fill your head with all of these questions”. You can just can just call in on that nerve in the Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve & Talent and you can just go for it. That is something that I am really going to work on, because it didn’t do me badly this time did it (laughs)?
MC: You have “The Angels of the North” tour coming with the final three from Drag Race UK, where you will meet so many people. Is there anyone that you have heard from since your win that totally left you gobsmacked and pinching yourself that “this person” knew you and was reaching out?
GJ: Michelle (Visage) just messaged me about ten minutes ago to say that I needed to change my Instagram bio; “you’re a winner now”!; it’s just absolutely wild. You know, one of the nicest queens that has reached out to me, and I have heard from loads of them, I am a huge Drag Race fan, I am in awe when I hear from any of them; the sweetest person is Cynthia Lee Fontaine. The day our ‘Meet The Queens’ went up, she messaged all of us, “Welcome to the family, so nice to see you” all of that. She has just been so supportive all the way through and it is just the absolute sweetest thing.
MC: What does the rest of the 2023 and into 2024 look like?
GJ: Well before the tour, I opened my solo show at Soho Theater in London called “Ginger All The Way”, it’s a Christmas cabaret that I am doing. I’ve got that running all the way up until January, and I also have the Angels Tour that I am doing with Michael (Marouli) and Tomara (Thomas). Lots of other very exciting and very secret things that I’m not allowed to tell you about (laughs)!
One exciting thing that happened is that myself, Michael and Tomora are the new MAC Viva Glam girls. It’s crazy because the original MAC Viva Glam girl was Mother RuPaul herself!
MC: There are so many performers who see Drag Race and think that there is not a place for their own style of drag out there. What do you tell those people?
GJ: Stop thinking. Stop thinking & start doing, honestly. if you are true to yourself and your vision, that is what carries you through, you know? If you try and express what is inside of you, through your drag…you don’t try to be anything else or please anyone else except that little child that lives inside of you that wants to be a superstar, then that’s it. That’s the whole job.
Follow Ginger Johnson on Instagram
