Blu Hydrangea splashed onto the scene in RuPaul’s Drag Race.
Working in clubs in Belfast as a drag queen, their audience was mainly members of the LGBTQIA+ community.
But since Dancing with the Stars, they admit that their supporters have completely changed.
“I’ve been so overwhelmed by the amount of people who have reached out said they’re watching and voting. I met my partner in Newry and we were just having a wee dinner and this little old lady come up to said, ‘I recognise you as soon as you came in, I loved you doing Barbie, and I hope you win’.
“And I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, this is crazy’. I’m just one of those people who thinks my work speaks for itself but I don’t know if people will get behind me, but people are really appreciative, it’s so overwhelming I can’t believe it still sometimes.”
So it looks like Dancing with the Stars has really opened Blu to a brand new audience!
“I’m used to being in places that kind of serve to the LGBTQ+ community and Drag Race and in queer bars and stuff like that. That’s where I would be safe, like in this kind of queer bubble,” Blu explains.
“Since being on the show, the people who have stopped me and said ‘You’re doing great,’ are like people who are of an older generation, who I didn’t think that I really had in my audience before and I probably didn’t!
“It’s lovely, because that means that what I’m doing is, is working like me being on TV every week, visibly queer, is not offending these people or making them feel like I’m a menace to society. They’re seeing that I’m just a person living my life and, and drag is my creative outlet to do that and I think I think that that’s really, really nice and, and exactly why I’m doing the show and I just hope that that continues.”
Dancing with the Stars continues on RTÉ One on Sunday at 6:30pm
