Lawrence Chaney reveals celebrity admirers after ‘mind-blowing’ Drag Race win

Dawn French and John Barrowman have reached out to congratulate Lawrence Chaney following her “mind-blowing” win on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK.

The 24-year-old drag queen, from Glasgow triumphed in Thursday’s series two final to become the first Scottish champion on the BBC Three show.

TV star Barrowman, who was born in Glasgow but grew up in the US, sent Chaney a congratulatory voice note in his native Scottish accent.

Vicar Of Dibley star French sent Chaney a message saying she was “lovely jubbly”, after appearing as a guest judge earlier in the series.

Speaking following her win, Chaney said: “It has been really weird. I still don’t know how to process it. You know those days where you get straight A exam results or really bad exam results. I am just really mind-blown by it all. It will probably settle it – it will never settle in. So it is very bizarre.

“I have had loads of people contact me. Dawn French reached out to me and said I was ‘lovely jubbly’, John Barrowman reached out to me, loads of the Ru girls from America, Michelle. Just a lot of people, a lot of people from my community in Scotland, the queer scene up there. I am really blown away.

“I did not expect it in the slightest but that’s a nice surprise. To get a voice note from John Barrowman of him with a Scottish accent, that makes your day.”

The four finalists on the show, which pre-records multiple endings to prevent the winner from discovering the result prematurely, found out their fates at a socially distant private screening.

Chaney said she had expected runner-up Bimini Bon Boulash to claim the crown.

“When I won I just did what I did in episodes one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine and 10 – I just broke down and cried,” she said.

“It was a really full circle amazing moment.”

Her prizes included a crown and sceptre plus a trip to Hollywood to create a digital series with the show’s producers.

Chaney said she had plans to interview famous faces from Los Angeles’ drag scene and nightlife world.

She said: “I have had ideas and I definitely want to move into more of my hosting side of things, what with me being the next coming of Lorraine Kelly.”

Chaney said she was interested in more reality TV but would turn down both Dancing On Ice and I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!

She said: “Can you imagine? If Gemma Collins fell face first on the ice then imagine what would happen to me. That would be rough.

“Also probably not I’m A Celeb because I would be scared of eating things I don’t want to eat. If it was a McDonald’s every day fine, but crickets and stuff like that, I don’t know.”

BBC Three series RuPaul’s Drag Race UK is streaming now on BBC iPlayer.