🎙️ What’s This Episode About?
Skarlett Skandal is a Carrickfergus-born, Liverpool-made bearded drag queen and DJ, currently making her way back home to Northern Ireland after eight years of nights, stages and dance floors across Merseyside. She calls herself the Bearded Bratz Doll. She is not wrong.
Recorded backstage at Heaven prior to Big Gay Cabaret, Skarlett joins John for a conversation that covers a lot of ground at pace, which is exactly what you’d expect from someone who openly credits ADHD for how her brain works. She talks about coming from Carrickfergus, growing up in a mixed Catholic and Protestant household just a month after the Good Friday Agreement was signed, and how Liverpool felt like home from the moment she arrived for university, where she was, by the way, studying zoology.
They get into how Skarlett fell into drag during lockdown, built a reputation on the Liverpool scene as one of the few drag queen DJs working the circuit, and why having a niche matters more than ever when the nighttime economy is under pressure and the market is saturated. She talks about reading a room, building community with other queens, and the moment she very reluctantly agreed to become a drag mother to Pumpkin Skandal.
There’s also the next chapter: a Belfast debut she is equal parts excited and terrified about, a potential future as a literal zookeeper, and the kind of honest, chaotic, very funny chat that happens when two people are clearly just enjoying themselves.
It’s big energy, total chaos, and genuinely brilliant craic.
🗣️ Why Listen?
If you’re seeking genuine conversations that reflect the diverse experiences within the LGBTQ+ community, Proudly Said offers a platform for those narratives.
📣 Connect with Us – ProudlySaid.co.uk
Subscribe: Stay updated with new episodes.
Share: If this resonates with you, share it with others who might find it meaningful.
Feedback: We value your thoughts. Reach out with comments or suggestions.
Support: Join The Front Row for less than £3 a month, supporting a local queer creator, or buy us a bespoke coffee or three! 🙂