Culture

Carson Kressley tells “great showbiz story” of how he got cast as a Drag Race judge

By Conor Clark

7th February 2022

Photos: CBS

Carson Kressley revealed how he got cast as a regular judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race on season seven back in 2015.

The 52-year-old is currently competing on the third season of Celebrity Big Brother US, where he was one of the first people nominated on day five.

He managed to win the Power of Veto, giving him the power to remove himself from the block and avoid being up for elimination on eviction night.

During a conversion that was caught by eagle-eyed viewers on the live feeds, Carson told Olympic figure skater Mirai Nagasu and comedian Chris Kattan the story of how he made it to the Drag Race judging panel.

“Well this is a great showbiz story,” he told the two on 6 February before Mirai appeared star-struck over him knowing RuPaul personally.

“The mantra is to say ‘yes’ to some things, even if you think, like, people say you shouldn’t do it, or it’s not like a, whatever,” he continued.

Carson then explained that his time on the hit series began with “another show” about body painting, Skin Wars.

RuPaul judged the show, which was presented by Rebecca Romijn.

“I’ve seen that on Netflix,” Mirai told the reality TV star.

Carson then stated that he was sceptical of appearing as a guest judge on the series, as he was unsure of what he could contribute as he didn’t know much about body painting.

He further explained: “But I was like, ‘I don’t know, I like to work’ [and] I had the time.

“I went, I loved Rebecca because I worked with her on something else, I always wanted to meet Ru – so I was just like, ‘Oh, I’ll go do this’ and on that set, he said, ‘Why aren’t you doing my show?’ and I was like ‘ I don’t know, did you guys ask, huh?’ and I was like, ‘I would love to’ and then he called me on my cell phone and I still have the message and that was eight years ago.

“I still have it saved in my voicemail, I have like five messages on there that I, hopefully I can have forever.”

Carson is currently one of 11 houseguests competing on season three of Celebrity Big Brother US.

He is living in the house alongside fellow Drag Race alum Todrick Hall, former NBA star Lamar Odom and model Shanna Moakler, among others.

Although no queens have ever appeared on Celebrity Big Brother US, judge Ross Matthews did finish as the runner up on the US edition’s first-ever season and Courtney Act won the UK’s version in 2018.