Celebrity Big Brother winner Courtney Act has said that drag is “the it girl right now”.
The performer, who appeared in the 21st series of the Channel 5 show, is making a bid to represent her native Australia in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.
Act, the alter ego of Shane Jenek, said drag’s mainstream popularity had become “undeniable”.
The drag artist, 36, is best known for appearing in US TV series RuPaul’s Drag Race, but rose to fame in the UK after appearing in Celebrity Big Brother.
She cited drag star Bianca Del Rio’s upcoming September show at the 12,500-capacity SSE Arena in Wembley – the largest UK drag show to date – as evidence of its success.
Speaking to the Press Association, she said: “The change is undeniable. The proliferation of drag in pop culture in general is undeniable. Bianca is at Wembley Arena, me on Celebrity Big Brother or different queens like Christina [Aguilera] at fashion week doing things with RuPaul.
“There’s so much going on – and drag is the it girl right now. It’s interesting because there are so many of us from Drag Race doing so many different facets of art and media now.
“You can even go and see [former Drag Race contestant] Violet [Chachki] performing with Dita Von Teese. It’s becoming part of the fabric of pop culture.”
Act is making her Eurovision bid with new single, Fight For Love – a celebration of the “modern queer liberation movement” inspired by the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.
“The idea was that they might drag us out in cuffs but if we are fighting for love it is important sometimes that we put ourselves in difficult situations,” she said.
Act will compete on Australia’s national selection TV show Eurovision – Australia Decides in February following a public campaign to have her selected.
She added: “Australians have always loved [Eurovision] but of course I never really thought it was possible to be in it.
“Then a few years ago when Australia started competing I was like: ‘Okay, I was made for this. This needs to happen.’”
Australia has been eligible to take part in Eurovision since 2015. The country was allowed to enter to mark the event’s 60th anniversary.
The grand final of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Tel Aviv, Israel, in May.