‘DRUK’s Ginger Johnson On Nipples, Nerves, Her Next Big Dream & Winning It All

It’s been a season full of drama and light shade, but thanks in no small part to Ginger herself, sisterhood, friendship, and queer solidarity. Her season has been marked by the connections she made with her fellow competitors along the way, whether it be finding her comedy soulmate, Kate Butch; taking up for queens who she could see were feeling piled on; the way the top three formed a unique bond borne of their shared Northern backgrounds; and the physical and psychological rigors of surviving an entire season of Drag Race, aka the Olympics of drag.

The season was topped off with an especially emotional finale that saw the queens being, yes, fierce, fabulous, and hilarious as cat burglars in a music video, but also opening up to RuPaul and Michelle during their interviews. Ginger’s story was particularly profound, as she opened up about the impact of finding drag and her queer community had on her life — and how it kept her alive at times.

It all led to a crowning that, while every winning moment is special, felt especially emotionally resonant. Like Ginger herself, it was bittersweet to watch it all come to an end. While season five may be over, it’s truly just the beginning for Ginger, whose reign has now officially begun.

PRIDE sat down with the UK’s Next Drag Superstar to talk about the season, the moment she realized she won, and what’s next for her on the horizon. Oh, and all those thirsty fans out there on the internet, you know who you are.

PRIDE: Oh my god girl, you did it! I am so happy for you! First things first, tell me about this morning. How long did it take when you woke up to remember that you are the UK’s Next Drag Superstar?

GINGER JOHNSON: It’s still not sinking in! I haven’t stopped for a minute since it happened. I was at the screening, and I did all the pictures, and I said goodbye to everybody. Then I went and did a show. I don’t know why I thought that was a good idea. Well, because I didn’t think I was gonna win. I was like, ‘Might as well do a gig, whatever.’ I had a little party in my dressing room after the show, which was so nice with some of my really close friends. That was really lovely. I had about three hours of sleep. Then I got back into drag, and here I am. So I don’t think it has quite settled in yet. But it’s starting to creep in and it feels really good.

I watched the crowning reaction video, tell me about the moment leading up to and when Ru said Ginger Johnson on the screen. What were you thinking and feeling?

I had really fully convinced myself that it was Michael who was gonna win. Partly because, as a fan of the show, watching the show, I’ve really fallen in love with Michael and Michael’s drag. In real life spending time with them, I’ve really fallen in love with them as a person. We’re so close, or you know this, you’ve seen us together, you’ve seen what we’re like together.

Yeah, absolutely.

So, in my heart. I was like, ‘He’s gonna win and that’s great because I’ll be so proud of him.’ And then when she actually said my name, I think you can see in the video of me, I’m like, ‘What? What?’ It’s wild, I’m still expecting someone to come and turn up at my house and try and take this off me, but they’re never getting it back.

It’s an interesting setup. You film the show, then you go away, and then later you find out who wins. Tell me about the time in between. How did you deal with the nerves?

When I came back and had no work, because you don’t have any contact with the outside world, there’s no way to book any work while you’re there. So I had nothing to do when I got back, which was kind of a good thing because I literally slept for about a month. Partly that was because I was exhausted. Partly I think I was a bit depressed. Just just from it coming to an end. The thing that really set me off yesterday was when I was saying [on the show] that I felt sad about the last runway because it meant I wasn’t going to get to do it again. And it took me right back to that moment. I was fighting back tears on the runway because I just thought, ‘Wow, this whole thing is coming to its close and it had been so amazing.

But yeah, so I slept for a month and put it out of my head. You just got to absolutely forget that it’s gonna happen because then we waited nine months to begin. It wasn’t until we got to like the makeover challenge as the show was airing. That night I remember watching it and thinking, ‘Oh, one of us is going to win at the end of this. This is it!’ I still can’t quite believe it’s over to be honest.

I think you also deserve the title of the UK’s Best Compartmentalizer. That is impressive!

I’ve got a very good therapist. [Laughs]

Let’s talk about the finale episode. I love your challenge outfit. You came out in the harness and I was like, wow very sexy Ginger! Then you turn around and it has a little muppet tail! It’s just so perfectly you. Tell me about the inspiration.

The harness had six nipples down the front of it as well.

I missed the nipples!

The nipples were made out of the top of a baby’s bottle. So, there’s like nipples down the front. Listen, the brief said cat burglar, and I thought, ‘I’ll be a cat.’

I love it so much. As a cat lady, I feel very represented.

I’m a cat lady too, so that’s where it came from. I actually had a different wig to wear that had cat ears that matched on it. But we did the choreography, and the wig was not suitable for the choreography. So the wig I’m wearing is actually Tomara’s week one runway wig, she lent it to me for the challenge because the other thing wasn’t going to work. The eagle-eyed viewers out there will have noticed. We swapped around stuff between all of the cast quite a lot. Because there’s only so much you can bring with you. One of Banksie’s wigs got further in the competition than she did.

There was something you said on stage during the Q&A in the finale that really struck me. It’s that by fulfilling this dream, you now have to go out there and find a new dream. I’m curious, do you know what your new dream is?

Oh, I think I need to have a sit-down and think about that for a while. I’m not gonna let this Drag Race dream end just yet, I’ve got a year of carrying this shiny stick around. So I’m gonna milk that for all it’s worth. Then over the next year, I’m going to figure out what the next big adventure is. But honestly, I don’t think there’s anything that can stop me now.

You are such a purposeful person, so with that in mind, what do you want to do with your reign? Do you have any idea of how you want to approach it?

I love seeing queer people thriving, whether that is in life, or on stage, or in art, or in sport, or in whatever they’re doing. That’s the thing that drives me constantly. So the thing I really want to do with my reign is get out there, meet and work with lots of different people because getting that kind of inspiration in my life is truly what has kept me alive until this point. I touched a little bit on that in the show that there was a point where, you know, I didn’t see much of a future for myself at all. And it wasn’t until I really connected back to the queer community, and started to invest in the people around me that offered me support. I saw that I could do the same for them. That turned my life around. Now I’m in it for the long haul. Absolutely. So if I can be a part of that in any way for literally anybody. That is what this is for.

PRIDE Interviews Drag Race UK Winner Ginger Johnson

I love that so much! OK, I have one last question for you. When I interviewed Cara Melle, I asked who the trade of the season was. So, did you know that her answer was you, and do you have a response?

[Laughs] That has been one of the funniest things that has come out of this show for me that I’ve always sort of kept Donald and Ginger very separate. For years, after a gig, I could get out of drag, go into the bar, and have a drink and nobody knew who I was. And I used to love that because I looked so different out of drag. That’s gone now and there are all sorts of people on the internet making all sorts of suggestions about me. [Laughs] I’m not quite used to that yet. It’s gonna take me a while to unpack that one. But yeah, Cara took a shine to me on the first day. I think the first time she saw that I had a hairy chest I think there was something inside that just was like [makes a wide-eye expression and laughs].

I love it! Congratulations again on winning the crown, I am genuinely so happy for you. You absolutely earned it!