Who is Tina Burner? The RPDR season 13 queen who apparently used to date Graham Norton

She’s been doing drag since she was eight years old

3 years ago

Tina Burner, from the recent season of RuPaul’s Drag Race, seems to be the most talked-about queen of this series. Her look has been compared to season 12’s controversial Sherry Pie and she’s already labelled the one to beat as a funny, New York drag legend. Outside of the Drag Race world, there are also a few rumours floating around about an apparent past relationship between Tina and RPDR UK judge, Graham Norton.

Tina Burner has been on the drag scene for many years and started drag in her third grade at school. This is everything we know about the already iconic Drag Race contestant and a rundown of the Graham Norton rumours.

Who is Drag Race’s Tina Burner?

The stage name belongs to 39-year-old Kristian Seeber from New York. Her drag persona is, you guessed it, inspired by her love for Tina Turner. In an interview, Tina said the name is reflective of her camp drag style.

As we can already tell from the first few episodes and how excited everyone was to see Tina Burner (even Michelle) she’s very well known on the drag scene and according to the show’s Fandom page, she was the only season 13 queen to be verified on Instagram before the RuVeal. On her Instagram, she said she was the “Reigning National Miss Comedy Queen”, which is as expected and suggests we won’t be disappointed when The Snatch Game finally arrives.

Credit: Instagram

A particularly fun fact about Tina is that she used to be in a boy band as a teenager so she must be a good singer/songwriter too – the ultimate triple threat. She’s also been on TV before Drag Race, appearing on a YouTube series called Shade: The Queens of NYC where she talks about her drag style, past performances and her childhood spent on a horse farm. Her other TV appearances have been on the documentary Cherry’s In Season and on WGN Morning News.

On the Meet the Queens video for WOWPresents, she said she has been doing drag since the third grade and added: “In my drag career, I was raised on respect and putting the work in. Then you get these girls who come in wearing drag for a day and suddenly they are a star. I’m here to tell them no baby, sit down. It’s all about the performance for me – the fashion is great, do your makeup tutorials, live your life. But hey honey, it’s all about the performance.”

Did Tina Burner date Graham Norton?

According to Reddit, big Tina fans claim they’ve dug up proof that she not only dated Graham Norton but was in a long-term relationship with him for five years. According to reports, Graham Norton wrote about the relationship in his book. He apparently described the drag star as a “bad boyfriend” but added there’s no bad blood anymore. The relationship ended way back in 2006. Hopefully, they bring Graham on as a surprise guest judge and they can have a dramatic reunion.

Featured image credit: RuPaul’s Drag Race via Netflix (left), Instagram @thetinaburner (right)