Tayce, ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race UK’ Icon, Makes History With ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ Christmas Special Winner

Strictly Come Dancing, the long-running British reality competition that inspired the U.S. hit Dancing with the Stars, crowned RuPaul’s Drag Race UK alumna Tayce as the winner of its Christmas special. According to Metro, it marked the first time a drag queen has taken home the glitterball trophy.

The festive episode pairs six celebrities with professional dancers to perform Christmas-themed routines for a star-shaped trophy. Tayce, partnered with Kai Widdrington, competed against actor Tamzin Outhwaite (with Nikita Kuzmin), comedian Josh Widdicombe (with Karen Hauer), podcaster Vogue Williams (with Gorka Márquez), racing driver Billy Monger (with Nadiya Bychkova), and Olympian Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, better known as “Nitro” (with Nancy Xu), The Guardian reported.

Tayce and Widdrington’s cha-cha to Kylie and Dannii Minogue’s “100 Degrees” earned them the trophy, Metro shared.

In an interview with the BBC prior to the special airing, Tayce described the public response to her casting as “overwhelmingly positive,” with only minor negativity from trolls.

“It’s such an honor to be part of this amazing and highly popular show, pushing the envelope and breaking boundaries as the first drag queen to appear on it,” she said. “Some people may not agree and think drag is overtly sexual and not something that should be on prime-time television, but there’s nothing sexualised about it. Drag has been around for centuries whether people like it or not, so I think this may open people’s eyes a bit and give them a different view.”

The 30-year-old who has a famous father in former Wham! bass player Roger Radix, also praised her dance partner.

“Kai is amazing and such an attentive teacher,” she said, as reported by Yahoo! Entertainment UK. “We get on extremely well, which is a bonus and adds to such a great connection when dancing together.”

Tayce, is one of the most popular and notable alumni from RuPaul’s Drag Race UK and is one of the most-followed queens from the franchise on social media. She was a runner-up on the second season of the show and has gone on to have a plethora of modeling and on-screen commercial and presenting gigs.