Victoria Scone and Veronica Green break silence on their shock Drag Race UK exits

It was a sad week on season three of Drag Race UK on its third episode, as we learnt after last week’s cliffhanger that Victoria Scone would indeed be leaving the season due to the knee injury she found herself with after her lip sync in the premiere. It’s a huge blow to the competition having the first ever AFAB queen go like this, and Victoria had quickly established herself as a frontrunner and fan favourite already. Ru, of course, said she doesn’t think this will be the last we see of Victoria – clearly a hint that the queen might be back to slay another day on a future season. But Victoria Scone wasn’t the only huge Drag Race UK loss we endured – we also lost the one, the only Veronica Green.

After Covid halted her progress in the competition last season, everyone was overjoyed to have Veronica Green return for season three and dominate once again, but as she has stated in her statement on Twitter, filming two seasons in the space of a year is a daunting task. The price of Drag Race UK is expensive to serve on that runway what you need to serve. The Tab will be doing interviews on Friday afternoons with every eliminated queen this season, so make sure you check the website on Friday evenings to read what we get up to. Today I jumped on a Zoom with Veronica and Victoria to talk all about their sad departures and everything we never got to see:

Victoria Scone: ‘I’ve s-gone!’

I asked Victoria if today has been manic. “It’s been a lot of talking about me a lot, which I love doing!” I told Victoria how much of a shame it is that she had to leave. “I know, I’ve scone. Scone but not forgotten!” I asked Victoria Scone if her Drag Race UK experience lived up to her expectations: “No, but only because it was cut so short! But yes, in terms of the fabulousness of the set, the props, the challenges, the team behind it all. It’s quite the machine.”

Victoria Scone departing on such unfortunate terms so early on in the competition was devastating for fans, and I asked her how it felt the moment she got that news. “Completely heartbreaking. Earth shattering. World collapsing. Awful. I begged and begged and begged to stay, even though I knew I was far too injured to stay and compete to the best of my ability. Obviously health comes first, but you know at the time it felt like the end of the world. You don’t get these opportunities very often, especially not for cis women in drag. To have to withdraw because my own body had let me down was quite heartbreaking.”

I thought it was a huge shame we never got to see Victoria react to the news. “They literally carted me off. I didn’t get to say bye to anyone, not even off camera.”

‘The best thing is that people can now see themselves reflected in me’

As the first cis-female competitor, Victoria Scone broke Drag Race UK and franchise ground. “You have people who now feel seen, and it’s been the most lovely thing. It’s been such a long time coming. I didn’t think it was going to happen, I only applied because I was passing comment and not applying myself. It’s been so rewarding that people in the queer scene can now feel validated from that casting.” Does Victoria think casting will continue to get more diverse? “Oh absolutely, I might have been the first but I certainly won’t be the last. I beg people of all different genders to apply!”

I praised Victoria for having the agency to apply, because if she hadn’t broke that ground it might never have happened.

She was doing Danny bloody Dyer for Snatch Game

“He’s such a big character! And I thought it was important to do a bit of drag kinging as the first cis woman on the show.” Like the queens who The Tab has spoken with earlier, Victoria Scone and Veronica Green both said how close Drag Race UK season three queens are with each other. “We’re such a close cast, and honestly we’re not just saying that.”

Victoria was most sad about not getting to do Snatch Game and the girl group challenge. Will she get the chance to return after RuPaul said it hasn’t been the last we’ve seen of her? “You know as much as I do. I haven’t had an invitation. Season three is still on the telly but it depends if the fans want me!” Victoria Scone is about to embark on a Halloween tour with Klub Kids all round the UK, and dropped an exclusive to me as well: “I’ve got a solo tour in January, Victoria Scone Presents: Jam Packed! Featuring all kinds of juicy and diverse drag.”

Veronica Green talks the financial burden of Drag Race

It’s important to note that Veronica Green hasn’t had a big All Stars return when she was cast alongside Victoria Scone on Drag Race UK season three. “It’s a big financial burden, and pressure to succeed to do better than I did previously. Returning queens have to do well. And there’s an expectation from the fan base that you have this glow up transformation the second time around. A lot of people forget how fast the turn around was between season two and season three in the midst of a global pandemic.

“Already people are saying ‘she’s had a year to sort herself out, and she comes back looking like this’. Season two was only on the air SIX MONTHS AGO? I only had a few weeks. Trying to be on Drag Race UK ready with no money. I was on the verge of bankruptcy. Couldn’t put food on the table and my fiancé was supporting me financially. I had no resources.” I asked Veronica about the financial pressure these days put onto runway standards because of how huge Drag Race has become. “You don’t need money to do drag, drag is art and all art is valid.

“But to be on Drag Race UK? It’s a different kettle of fish, and the fanbase scrutinise the runway so much. My fashion is not my drag – but the fans make it so that I have to fit into a certain mould. Fashion queens should be celebrated for it because they’re amazing at what they do. I think sometimes the rest of us get left behind in the notion that you have to come out looking like a million dollars when some of us can’t even feed ourselves.”

‘So many queens get priced out of auditioning’

I have thought for a while about if Drag Race’s more more more approach to runway look standards is classist, and I asked Veronica as a working class queen if she felt that queens were being priced out of even auditioning because of that expectation. “So many queens do. I was an off the rack queen but taught myself to sew for season two, and I now make a lot of my own stuff. Each year they want Drag Race to top the last, and I think it’s losing that connection with the real people. It is becoming a parallel of itself in some ways.

“I think there needs to be a shake up in the way the fanbase view what drag is. All the drag performers in the UK have all started to going to the same three designers, the same three wig people. Are we showcasing designers or are we showcasing queens?” I wanted to know if Veronica Green knew if there was a chance she could have come back for season four instead. “I don’t know. I saw the opportunity for season three and took it.”

‘Being eliminated is not a failure to me’

“Drag Race can propel you to superstardom.” Veronica Green (and Victoria Scone with her sad departure) has taken her Drag Race UK elimination in her stride. “I’ve got a lot of things coming up, TV stuff, adverts, book deals, releasing music with Myleene Klass which is out to stream now! And then we’ve got the season tours. I’m so thankful to RuPaul and the show for giving me that career opportunity to show my drag on a global stage.”

Veronica had Kate Bush prepped for Snatch Game, and is so sad she never got to get there and do it. I asked her if she agreed with her critiques this week that landed her in the bottom. “Runways are subjective, but I agreed with the critiques. If you don’t like it, you don’t like it. My time management was poor, I had no time to fix it but I knew it wasn’t that great.”

Who would Veronica Green like to see win? “I’ve narrowed it down to three! River, great contender and so much heart, honesty, truth and personality. Kitty Scott-Claus – she’s freaking hilarious. And Charity Kase, her style of drag is something I could never do and I really admire and look up to that.”

Special thanks to Imogen Reid and Aoife Kilbane from the BBC. 

See all these Drag Race UK season three reactions in action now on BBC iPlayer. For all the latest Drag Race memes and Netflix news, drops and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.

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