it was funny I was living in Alexandria & I saw the pub & I thought wouldn’t it be great to have a regular event at that pub? I did contact them & nothing sort of came from it. Then a couple of years later I moved to Zetland & the owner of the Zetland hotel emailed me & said we are looking at doing drag bingo would you be interested in doing it? That was four or so years ago. They have put me on weekly since. It was a little quiet in the beginning. But once people started coming & they tell one more person & then five people come. It just has grown into such a great Wednesday night. I think it has really changed a lot of people’s perspective on drag because. People know what they know & I don’t work on oxford street. So. For me what I give to bingo a lot of people may never have seen before & quite often they are saying to me that that was so different to what they are used to. People come back every week. The drag just helps people forget about their troubles forget about what is going on in their lives & just come & have a bit of fun. That’s why I do what I do. Because life is hard people are going through a lot of shit that a lot of people don’t know about & it is very easy to fall into a slump. I like people to have a little escape. At my bingo night you are the show! I genuinely do not know what is going to happen on the night. I go in there with the only expectation in my head & that is to have fun. But. I go into bingo & I genuinely don’t know who is actually going to be there. The perception of drag that a lot of people have is it’s about crushing people with your words & for me it’s not about that. Because if you want to be ripped to shreds quite often you’ll be at work & your boss will do that. I am not about that I am not interested in putting people down. My job. The way I see my job. I either want to lift people up to a better place or at the very least leave them where they are. I don’t ever want to diminish them. When I started drag. I remember seeing a drag competition & this poor young drag queen got up there she was terrible & the judge just laughed at her & said all this nasty stuff & the poor drag queen actually balled her eyes out & ran off the stage. I remember saying to myself that night that if I ever get to that point where I am nasty & putting people down.. I need to stop drag. It really is a family my Zetland bingo. They are great people they have respect for the pub they have respect for me & they have respect for each other. We end up having the best night because of it. Nigel the owner is so grateful that people come to that bingo. Many times I thought the boss will get rid of me. But even if there was ten people there one night.. Nigel would say that that is ten more than there would normally be & I am making all ten of them happy. Well. I was studying musical theatre at the institute of music & I remember seeing priscilla the musical & loving that. Then when I eventually came out. Because I can out at uni. I remember going to a gay club on oxford street & seeing drag & saying to the drag queens that I think you’re incredible. I don’t think I could ever do what you do. The drag queen said to me I’ll give it three months & you will be in drag. I said no darling it’s not me. Well. Within about a month I had bought heels I bought a wig I bought a dress. I remember being told that drag isn’t something you can make a career out of. It’s a side job so don’t ever give up your day job & always look at it like a hobby because that way you’ll never be stuck. I love when someone says that to you because it makes me want to do it. I. For eleven years now. Have lived off drag. I was in America this year & I couldn’t work out why I was not feeling good & then it hit me the second week I was there. I am not on stage & not performing. I really thrive for that feeling of being on stage. I had friends in New York & they were putting me on in one of the clubs a couple of days later & everything felt right again. A lot of people come to drag because it makes them happy but me being up there on stage makes me happy & makes them happy. It is kind of like everything colliding & magic happening. I can’t live without it.