Drag Race UK icon Tia Kofi on making herstory with third BBC win: 'Never underestimate a drag queen!'
"Take that, Reform!”
Tia Kofi has made herstory, cementing her status as a BBC competition powerhouse after winning her third series!
The queen, who memorably rose to fame on the second season of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK before going on to win UK vs the World season two, has since conquered The Festive Finish Line and Celebrity Mastermind, becoming the first-ever drag queen to win three BBC shows.
“It’s so camp that this is what we’re talking about,” Tia tells GAY TIMES. “But here we are. Yeah, gaggy! Here’s the thing: I’m very good at quiz shows. I’ve won every BBC quiz show I’ve been on apart from The Weakest Link, when I was voted off too early by Cheryl Baker from Buck’s Fizz!”
Tia competed on The Festive Finish Line on 16 December against comedian and presenter Tim Vine, singer and actress Kéllé Bryan, Big Brother co-host Will Best and Cheryl Baker (again!). The final came down to Kofi and Best, with the former taking the win in what has been described as “one of the greatest comebacks in the show’s history.”
“It was very much like me and Will Best being very demure like, ‘Me? Competitive? Never! I’m just happy to be here!’ And then it was us in the final two, and we really locked in,” Tia says. “You could tell he played rugby or something at school. I was like, ‘You’re focused. You are really trying to do this… but never underestimate a drag queen!’”
After defeating Best, the drag icon went on to play solo, ultimately winning prize money for Rainbow Migration, a charity that provides practical and emotional support for LGBTQI+ people seeking asylum. Kofi has previously collaborated with the organisation alongside fellow POC drag artists including Vanity Milan, Asttina Mandella, Kiki Snatch, Sum Ting Wong and Don One.
“[I appeared] in a wig and makeup too, just to annoy everyone as much as possible!” Tia jokes of her win. “My favourite thing about The Finish Line is when Roman’s like, ‘What charity have you won £5,000 for?’ Me, a brown child of an immigrant in full drag, giving it to Rainbow Migration, which helps queer people internationally settle in the UK. Take that, Reform!”
On Kofi’s episode of Celebrity Mastermind, which aired on 31 December, she faced off against Everybody’s Talking About Jamie actor Lauren Patel, stand-up comedian Josh Jones and Antiques Road Trip presenter Izzie Balmer. (No Baker this time!)
Unsurprisingly, the self-proclaimed Doctor Who fanatic and host of the sci-fi podcast The Final FronTia chose the iconic series as her specialist subject, focusing specifically on Christopher Eccleston’s tenure as the Time Lord in 2005.
In the first round, she answered eight questions correctly, tying with Patel for the highest score, before finishing on 17 points after the general knowledge round, once again level with Patel. However, with no passes, Kofi ultimately emerged victorious.
Once again, Kofi played for an LGBTQIA+ organisation. This time, Not A Phase, a trans-led charity committed to uplifting and improving the lives of trans+ adults across the UK. As she puts it: “Because if you’re not raising money for groups that are facing attacks left, right and centre at the moment, then you are not doing drag!”
With Kofi’s current winning streak, it felt inevitable to ask whether she’d be keen to appear on a future season of The Celebrity Traitors. Given that the first season featured a strong lineup of LGBTQIA+ talent — including Tom Daley, Clare Balding, Stephen Fry, Cat Burns and winner Alan Carr — a crossover with another BBC mainstay, RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, feels like a natural next step, no?
“I think a drag queen needs to be on Celebrity Traitors,” she says. “The fact they didn’t have one in the first series… I get it. You don’t want reality stars on there.”
However, she adds: “I do think if I’ve proven anything, it’s that a drag queen can deliver the highbrow, investigative and competitive behaviour you need for a series of Celebrity Traitors. And it’s a very different vibe from the American one. I feel like they get these very powerful drag personas over there, but why not have a little Miss Marple–energy drag queen like me on there?”
The Festive Finish Line and Celebrity Mastermind are available to stream now on BBC iPlayer.
