Rainbow Crew is an ongoing interview series that celebrates the best LGBTQ+ representation on-screen. Each instalment showcases talent working on both sides of the camera, including queer creatives and allies to the community.
Next up, we're speaking to Drag Race star and Sew Fierce co-host Crystal.
In the wake of Drag Race, RuPaul's game-changing empire, more shows have begun to revolve around queer artistry in that same kind of vein. And Crystal, a fan favourite from Drag Race UK season one, has been involved in quite a few, to say the least.
After finishing in sixth place on the UK's premiere season, Crystal guest starred in Canada's Drag Race before going on to host the dating show Group Sext and become a regular Drag Mother in the competition series Call Me Mother.
Crystal's own empire continues to grow in 2024 with a new co-host position in season two of Sew Fierce, a design-focused drag series where queer artists tackle fashion-based challenges with camp and flair.
Digital Spy caught up with Crystal to discuss joining Sew Fierce in season two and what sets the show apart within this much-needed new wave of queer reality TV. We also talk about her new role as a drag commentator on Sky News and why it's more important than ever to deconstruct harmful myths around queerness and the drag community, specifically.
How did you get involved with season two of Sew Fierce?
I've got a great relationship with MTV, and they asked me to step in. I've got a background in costume design — that was what I studied at uni — so it's actually a perfect fit for me.
I was really excited to get involved because I think this is the first TV show of its kind. I've never seen anything like it which is focused on the people behind the looks that we all love in drag. So it's a neat twist on a format that we know.
If you're anything like me, you watch Drag Race for the looks just as much as anything else. So getting to see the people who make these is really exciting.
Design is such a great distillation of what drag is all about in many ways. There's so much personality and artistry, plus there's a performance element with the runway as well. Why do you think that's such a great thing to hone in on within this show especially?
One of my favourite things about drag is watching a person's creative brain figure out how to translate a concept in their head to a stage-ready look or that's going to capture an image. It's definitely the reason that I fell in love with drag, figuring out how to translate my internal feelings into a stage persona. So I love that. And then you've got so many amazingly creative, intelligent people. Just watching the way their brains work really.
I love the design challenge on Drag Race. I think it's always really exciting, even when people bomb. It can be so exciting. You see how people can take such trash and turn it into such treasure. That's what is so beautiful about being queer as well. We're used to making do with what we've got and figuring out how to spin it into something really magical. That's the story of drag, that's the story of design, and that's what you're gonna see on the show.
The talent and the creativity that we've got is really exciting. We have designers who are full tailoring and corsetry and like really slick precision. Then we've got people who just love using trash to make amazing looks. Both of those things are so valid, and both of them are so drag. It's really cool.
We've discussed some similarities between Sew Fierce and Drag Race, but in your eyes, what does Sew Fierce do that's different than anything else we've seen on TV, in any other kind of drag or queer show?
I think it's showcasing how much work and skill goes into creating the looks that we see on places like Drag Race or on other drag shows that we love. That's part of it. It's also very queer-forward. It's a design competition show, but it's just really freaking gay.
Because of the drag element. everyone involved is gay, so it's just really fun in that regard. It's got a twist because we're not looking for high fashion or runway. We're looking for camp and for drag. So that just makes every episode really fresh and exciting as well.
Camp can be overlooked sometimes these days in comparison to high-gloss glamour, but camp is extremely important to queer culture and queer history, too, of course.
I mean we definitely have designers that are really, really camp on this series, and it's really fun to watch. Like you say, camp is getting lost a bit in drag right now. I don't particularly want to see another bodysuit and human hair wig. I want to see Priscilla, Queen of the Desert styrofoam wigs and dresses made out of flip flops, you know? And yeah we've got that as well.
You've been a contestant on Drag Race UK and you've also been a judge in Call Me Mother, so was there anything in particular you learned from either show that you've been able to apply to Sew Fierce?
I think I'm just constantly learning. Every opportunity to be on TV is a great opportunity to hone your craft a bit.
One thing I have apparently not learned is how to sit on a stool. I've watched screeners of the episodes where I'm sitting on a stool, and I'm used to having a table in front of me when I'm judging, so I should really reconsider my underwear choice [Laughs].
But beyond that, it's honestly been my favourite TV experience that I've ever done. It was just such a lovely crew. Such an amazing cast of people. It was really exciting to just be around all of that talent.
That's so great to hear. That joy comes through on-screen, which is not always the way with reality TV.
It's easy for me when all I have to do is be a judge. On Call Me Mother, it's kind of a hybrid role because you're mentoring and trying to steer your family to success, so you feel like you're part of the competition. You're not just a judge. Whereas here, I literally was just a judge, so the pressure is off me. I get to just sit there and have fun and look at amazing clothes and do what I do best, which is be incredibly judgmental [Laughs].
Why do you think it's important to have other kinds of drag shows beyond Drag Race on TV?
I think our community is so rich and diverse that we deserve other kinds of shows beyond just the one. As much as I love Drag Race, and I am so thankful for it, it has become a real monolith. It would be great to see more kinds of entertainment, so we're not just relying on one vehicle for our platform and our success and our opportunities.
Speaking of other opportunities, we love that you recently got involved with Sky News as a commentator. That feels like such an important step for queer representation on TV.
Yeah, it's scary and cool, but I've got a lot of opinions, so it's nice to have a chance to share them. But it's also incredibly scary because drag is typically associated with being a bit silly, a bit camp and frivolous. Not taking things too seriously. And then suddenly you're on TV talking about the news of the day and you have to have real opinions about real stories that are things that really matter.
That's an interesting balance to find. It's kind of like the story of Elle Woods in Legally Blonde. People don't take her seriously, but she's actually got a lot to say. That's what's nice about being in drag on the morning news. It's like, actually, I can look like this, and I can still have valid opinions that are worth being shared.
It's been a surreal experience, though, because you get up at 5am, and then you've got about one hour to find what you're gonna be talking about and have some opinions on all those stories of the day. So that's a lot, but it's really fun. I like it.
A lot of people have a very specific idea of what drag is, what queerness is, and obviously, you're reaching a wider audience who are not perhaps used to seeing queer people have queer opinions on the world.
Yeah, like what is the right way to look in order to be "respectable" or in order to have an opinion? We've seen that conversation play out in terms of things like business dress in the office. What is a respectable hairstyle, and how does that play into things like race or culture? I guess this is another example of that.
It's like, "Why can't someone be gender non-conforming and have opinions about what's going on in the Middle East?", for example.
You've been creating a lot of educational videos online recently where you address misconceptions around queerness and drag specifically. Why do you think it's particularly important to have these kinds of conversations right now?
Off the back of my legal victory against Laurence Fox, it gave me a little bit of a confidence boost in just trusting my own voice and realising that people are happy for me to share more than just a pretty picture or something funny.
I can actually be a multifaceted person who's got lots of different sides to me, and that's something I wasn't always sure people necessarily wanted from me or would respond to from me. My legal victory showed that actually, there is space for me in that arena.
I've always had a lot of opinions, but I haven't necessarily ever felt like it was right for me to share them. So it's been an interesting learning experience for me in that regard. And yeah, the response has been really good.
I just want to take a moment to thank you for everything you did working towards that legal victory. It's meant a lot to many, many people in the queer community, so I want to thank you personally and also thank you on behalf of other people as well.
That means a lot. It's been a really nice experience. Well, it wasn't a nice experience, but the response has been very nice. We've got our damages hearing next week, so we'll be finding out soon how that's all going to wrap up, hopefully [Editor's note: This interview took place on March 14, 2024].
Similarly to your podcast, The Things That Made Me Queer, we often ask interviewees about their formative queer experiences in relation to media, so would you mind sharing a film or any piece of media that really spoke to you as a young queer person?
The earliest thing I can think of is probably people like Madonna and David Bowie. Neither of them are queer, Bowie questionably, but they were definitely playing with ideas of gender, respectability, sexuality, and going against the grain.
One of the earliest things I can remember seeing that really, like, blew my brain open was Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Such a queer movie. It has so much to say about drag and punk and self-love and acceptance. It's one of my faves.
Looking back at your whole career up to this point, what are you most proud of?
I think I'm just still constantly amazed that I'm able to even have a career doing what I do. I didn't get into drag to make it something that I did with my life. I did it because I liked it. I had fun doing it. I thought it would be a fun hobby.
It's been nearly 10 years now that I've been doing this, and it's been my main income for most of that time. That's what I'm really proud of, to be honest with you. That I've managed to make a living and a career for myself in a really creative field. It's not something I ever thought would be possible for me.
I always thought when I was a kid that I would end up in some really boring office job that I would hate. It's crazy to me that this is where my life has led. But I guess more recently, I'm really proud that I was able to take a stand against Laurence Fox and win the victory as well.
It's not always easy to find a creative role that speaks to you but can also support you day-to-day.
Yeah, it is difficult and also, it's not all sunshine and roses. It's like the expression, "Find a job you love and you'll work forever everyday for the rest of your life." You're never off. You never stop. You're always stressed. There are trade-offs, but yeah, it is something I'm really thankful for.
Sew Fierce season 2 will premiere on Froot.tv in the UK on April 9.
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After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival.
In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.
David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.
Beyond that, David has interviewed all your faves, including Henry Cavill, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Colman, Patrick Stewart, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Dornan, Regina King, and more — not to mention countless Drag Race legends.
As a freelance entertainment journalist, David has bylines across a range of publications including Empire Online, Radio Times, INTO, Highsnobiety, Den of Geek, The Digital Fix and Sight & Sound.
