RuPaul’s Drag Race has a special place in many of our hearts, and I’m no exception. I grew up watching it with my twin brother, who is also my best friend, and together we never missed an episode. I’ve always been protective over him, and it’s been a joy seeing him bloom into such a confident, amazing person thanks to the influence of this show. I feel so lucky and excited to have had the opportunity to interview Sally TM, who is part of a series that has given so many of us a space to see ourselves reflected and celebrated on screen. She is helping to bring greater queer visibility not only to the region I’m proud to call home, but across the UK.
The North East’s creative industry is truly unique. It is filled with so much talent and originality, even if it doesn’t always get the exposure or funding it deserves. This ingenuity is evident in Sally’s art: “My aesthetic within drag is really bright, acidic colours, tapping into Saturday morning cartoons meets early 2000s video games.” It’s easy to see the impact of these inspirations on her drag; her colourful and cartoonish energy is a perfect reflection of her imagination. “While superheroes were fierce, I always looked forward to SpongeBob, Totally Spies – really queer-coded cartoon media.”
She also tells me that her drag has always been “a love letter to women” she grew up watching. “I was obsessed with Eartha Kitt as Yzma from The Emperor’s New Groove. She came across as so demure, sensual, but also quite eclectic… I was obsessed with the girl from Trapped too, the one with the lips who says, ‘Do not react. You are the saboteur!’” Through drag, Sally has found a way to turn her childhood imagination into something living, breathing, and her own. “I’m obsessed with The Sims,” she grins. “Being able to create something from nothing, to make these storylines with people who don’t exist, is so fierce. Drag has allowed me to tap into that, to make a character who isn’t real, but she is real, because I’m the artist who brought her to life.”
Now, nearly a decade into doing drag, Sally performs in Newcastle and all across the UK, but her journey started quietly behind a screen. “I was fascinated by it, but I was scared to go out and do it. I really wanted to, but in a secure place, and also, I didn’t want to look like shit.” For years, she competed in online competitions and digital performances, building her confidence and perfecting her look. “I started going out around 2021 or 2022, when my incredible drag sister Choriza May started doing viewing parties for Drag Race, and then she got on the show! Ever since then, I’ve been performing in Newcastle and around the gorgeous UK.”
Newcastle’s creative and queer scene is vibrant and full of character; impossible to replicate anywhere else. “I could tell you for free, Newcastle has some of the best drag that this country has to offer. [Its] drag is a melting pot of creative, alternative, and commercial drag. There’s something for everyone.” She tells me about her drag sister, Choriza May, who was the first queen from Newcastle to be casted on RuPaul’s Drag Race. “Choriza’s drag, to me, defined what Newcastle drag is. It’s a bit of commercial, a bit of alternative, rooted in creativity and genuinity.”
She explains that “the people I’ve surrounded myself with are very eclectic. You go to an art gallery and see Caravaggio, Monet, Mondrian, Van Gogh; they don’t correlate, but they work together because it’s art. Newcastle drag is the same – very different, very unique, very diverse – but everyone’s striving for the same thing, to express their story and their art to whoever’s watching.”
It is quite dingy, it’s quite dull, but at the same time, it’s quite beautiful because it’s home.
Sally TM’s drag and art is the personification of the North East, with it shaping the way she performs and holds herself, from the humour and the little quirks of home that she carries with her. “My drag has a little bit of stink to it. It has a little bit of a radge nature to it […] referring to the sort of chavvy bits of South Shields.” She shares that “a lot of my [photo] shoots for this season of Drag Race pays homage to the spaces that I enjoy and the spaces that I feel comfortable in, the spaces that I love. I did a photoshoot in my entrance look at the club that I ran my first queer night at, and another one I did in the Tyne Pedestrian Tunnel. It is quite dingy, it’s quite dull, but at the same time, it’s quite beautiful because it’s home. It’s something that’s close to my heart, and I always try to refer back to my hometown, because it’s what made me who I am.”
Working in the creative industry in the North East comes with challenges due to the ‘London-centric’ nature of the industry. Opportunities and exposure can be minimal, so creatives often have to work twice as hard to get noticed. “It’s just that we’re so unsung. Because funding for shows is so low, and interest can be limited, a lot of the queens have to put on their own nights, split ticket fees, split door fees, just to make it happen,” she explains. Many performers have to go further afield to build their visibility: “the way that we have to make our names is to travel outside of Newcastle […] It blurs the line a little bit, because you want to be able to represent your hometown, but if you’re not getting gigs there, you’ve kind of got to move out of it to be able to thrive.” For Sally, part of the reason she joined RuPaul’s Drag Race was to help put the North East on the map. “For me, that was my goal with being on Drag Race – to be able to be like, ‘Look, we have fierce drag in the North.’ I’m in a tiny little town on the coast, and I was able to kind of like convince the producers there that I was worth taking the risk.”
Sally sees drag as a way to put the North East firmly on the map, just as reality TV has done for other northern talent. “Reality TV shows, especially like X Factor, really introduced people to these quite iconic characters within the North East,” she explains. “I’m hopefully hoping that the exposure kind of continues for the North. The excitement comes from the characters from the North East.”
Sally TM’s first runway look on Drag Race immediately became iconic and widely talked about due to it being such an unapologetically regional nod to her home. Designed by Misty Couture, the look transformed the new Fleet Metros into high fashion. “I’ve had that Metro look saved in my head for four years, because Drag Race is formulaic,” she explains. “It comes across as like, ‘Oh, okay. RuPaul wants the hometown look. She wants to see what your hometown is reflective of you and indicative of what you do […] I always think of that runway as your sort of gateway to understanding the culture of that locale.” She revealed to me that “it was either going to be the Great North Run or the Metro […] but for me, it was kind of a no-brainer. I really wanted to link my hometown nature to where I actually work. My drag is based in Newcastle, but I’m from South Shields.”
The timing was perfect: “I really wanted to do the Great North Run, but the concept in my head was a bit muddled, and I was like, ‘Actually, with these new Fleet trains… I think it’d be perfect to kind of modernise the sketch that I had for four years in my book.’” “Some people have been like, ‘What the fuck is this? She looks like a taxi cab driver. ’ And it’s like, ‘You don’t understand because you’re not in this locale.’ The people who do understand, who are from that place, will get it immediately and understand. And that’s what I wanted. I wanted to represent my locale, which was South Shields and Newcastle.”
I don’t want to be victimised by my illness, but I do want to be honest about it.
Sally TM isn’t just a performer, but also a long-time Diabetes UK celebrity ambassador, using her platform to raise awareness and share her story. “I’ve worked with them for a very long time,” she says. For Sally, being open about her experiences was non-negotiable. “It was imperative that I told my story, because I’ve had diabetes for 16, 17 years now, and for me, it has been an integral part of my life. It impacts a lot of things that I need for being a performer and an artist – my hands, my eyes, my feet, circulatory issues.” Growing up, she didn’t always see stories that reflected her own reality. “When I was younger, I heard so many things about, like, ‘Oh, these stories were so successful, and people saying, ‘I’m perfect and amazing’. And I was like, I’m not being horrible here, but my journey with diabetes has not been that. It’s been quite a hard journey. It’s been quite a tumultuous journey.”
She’s open about the ongoing challenges of living with a hidden disability: “I know a lot of teenagers, especially young diabetics, go through the same struggle, because I’ve had those conversations with them before. So for me, to be an ambassador that’s struggled, and I’ll honestly say is still struggling, is really important. I don’t want to be victimised by my illness, but I do want to be honest about it. It’s something that’s hidden, a silent battle that a lot of diabetics deal with.” For Sally, Drag Race has given her a bigger platform to keep that conversation going. “To be able to have this platform and talk about it, to bring awareness to it, is very… it’s nice,” she says, smiling. “It’s something that means a lot to me, to be able to share stories with people like that.”
Reflecting on her journey, Sally offers advice she wishes she could have given her younger self. “Try to be a bit more confident in who you are, and don’t expect everyone to fall for you immediately. Not everyone’s going to like you, and that’s fine. Just give people the benefit of the doubt, let your walls be broken down a little,” she reflects. “My big one is just attack everything you can get your hands on. Do the things that you’re scared to do. Do it scared.” It is this fearless approach that has revealed things she never thought she was capable of. “It’s shown me anything is possible, and I’m so happy and fascinated that I was able to do Drag Race and prove myself wrong by sheer skill. […] Not everything will be monumental, but as long as you take the little wins, that’s perfect.”
While making it to Drag Race is a remarkable achievement, it is only the beginning for Sally TM. She is an artist who is actively putting the North East on the map and showing the peak of the talent we have to offer. When talking to her, I saw someone who is unapologetic of her roots, representing her heritage, art and identity in front of an international audience. Everyone in Newcastle has their own story, and we shouldn’t be scared of showing it off. Long after Sally’s journey on Drag Race has concluded, South Shields, Newcastle and the entirety of the North East will always be team Sally TM.
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