Warning: This article includes spoilers for the finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK.
After 10 weeks of toe-to-toe lip-syncs, fierce runways and shady remarks, the time has come for one queen to be named the UK’s next Drag Race superstar.
For the final time on the , 12 contestants were whittled down to just one after the broadcaster announced it was axing RuPaul’s Drag Race UK due to budget cuts.
On Thursday night, RuPaul crowned Flesh as the series eight winner.
The London queen snatched the title from Mocha, Naya Thorn and Alik, who also made it to the final episode.
The 26-year-old was crowned by last year’s winner, Bones, who is also her best friend and drag sister, with the duo performing together as Heavenly Bodies.
Speaking to Newsbeat after celebrating overnight, the Soho queen says the win still feels “surreal” and she spent the whole evening “smiling, crying, and laughing”.
She will be the last queen crowned on the before the UK edition moves to Wow Presents Plus, a streaming platform owned by the production company behind the show.
While some fans have welcomed the prospect of a new chapter for the series which might include bigger cash prizes, like in other spin-offs, others fear leaving the will mean less representation for LGBTQ+ culture.
Flesh says the move to Wow could widen the range of performers and subcultures featured on the show, but worries the shift to subscription could reduce the audience for drag.
“This is where it feels slightly sadder that we’re leaving the because for all of the parameters that it created that limited what we could do, there was more exposure than drag has ever been given,” she says.
She admits she is “concerned” about the “knock-on effect” this could have on the future of the UK drag industry, such as creating fewer opportunities for contestants.
“Without that exposure, there will be less demand and with less demand and less exposure, events won’t be able to be created,” she says.