Courtney Act on Australian Idol, Drag Race and the truth about that Big Brother wardrobe malfunction
In front of a live TV audience of millions, Aussie drag icon Courtney Act suddenly had a thought: “I think I might be naked.”
It’s been 17 years since drag superstar Courtney Act burst onto screens, looking like Sophie Monk and singing like Britney Spears on the oh-so-innocent first season of Australian Idol.
Since then, she’s become an international reality TV veteran, with all the highs (winning the UK’s Celebrity Big Brother) and lows (having to endure 32 days in a house with homophobic politician Ann Widdecombe to claim the prize) that entails.
Back in Oz to perform her one-woman cabaret show Fluid and co-host this Saturday’s Mardi Gras parade, Act chatted to news.com.au about the ups and downs of her almost two decades in reality TV.
AUSTRALIAN IDOL (2003)
The show that started it all. Courtney auditioned as a boy for the first season of Australian Idol way back in 2003 – and was turned away. Returning in drag, she wowed the judges and became one of the season’s standout stars (even if she didn’t make it through to the final 12).
“I do remember thinking, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t go back the next day in drag. Maybe this is my big break at closeted pop stardom.’ Luckily there was only a brief moment of un-self-awareness. The strength lay in Courtney: There were lots of boys who sang better than me, but there was only one me.”
Courtney credits her success on the show to judge Ian ‘Dicko’ Dickson, who loved her so much he brought her back as a wildcard contestant.
“I loved Mark and Marcia, but Dicko was a real champion of mine. When he saw me, he saw something fun and entertaining and he really leaned into that. I think that allowed Australia to accept me as well.”
RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE (2014)
Courtney showcased her talents on season six of the cult hit series, placing joint runner-up behind perhaps the show’s biggest breakout star, Bianca Del Rio. It was an undeniably successful return to reality TV, but the sunny Aussie struggled with criticism from Ru and the judges who said she wasn’t showing enough personality and vulnerability.
“You do learn, after being on seven reality shows, that it’s a bit like being at a party. The party’s a bit boring, and it’s up to you to amp it up and make it exciting. (Reality TV producers) stopped writing scripts years ago and thought, ‘We’ll just put in loose cannons and see what happens.’ But I’m about the celebration; I’m not one to delve into deep emotional hardship on television,” she said.
“If I went back and did Drag Race again, I think I’d play it quite differently. It’s quite … interesting learning the art of reality television.”
CELEBRITY BIG BROTHER (2018)
Finally, a win: Act romped to victory after 32 days in the Celebrity Big Brother house, earning new fans across the UK. And she made quite the entrance, with a disastrous wardrobe malfunction live on TV as she entered the house. If nothing else, it showed a lot of people exactly what goes on under a drag queen’s skirt.
“It was an accident! I’d had this skirt made last-minute, but it was only held on with pop studs, so as I walked down the stairs it just … popped off. I remember at the time, not quite having a sense of what was going on, and then thinking: ‘Oh … I think I might be naked.’ I just grabbed my skirt and carried on walking.
“I watched the footage of it the other day and there I am frantically trying to put the skirt back on, in front of a sea of paparazzi and people.
And then when I got downstairs, meeting Ann Widdecombe for the first time, the 70-year-old conservative politician – it was probably not the best first impression.”
Courtney diplomatically calls her time with Widdecombe, who placed runner-up in the series, “interesting”.
“The first sit-down conversation we had was about marriage equality. Now, Ann had voted against every single piece of LGBT parliamentary legislature that had ever come before her in 23 years. We got to the end of the conversation, and we’d completely disagreed about everything. But I really found value in talking to Ann, because while I knew I wasn’t going to change her mind, I knew there would be people at home watching who might get to hear two sides of the story when they’d usually only hear two people yelling at each other.”
DANCING WITH THE STARS (2019)
A return to Oz, and Network Ten, 16 years after her star-making debut on Idol. Once more she was breaking new ground again – with partner Joshua O’Keefe, she was part of Australia’s first same-sex dance pairing on the show.
“That was magic. Josh and I still chat almost every day. More than anything, I loved the discipline – the opportunity to rehearse for 40 hours a week for a 90-second dance number. I never knew it was possible to work that hard,” she said.
“While two men dancing together on television to some people might sound horrible, when they watched it they’d see it’s quite lovely. Although I do remember one comment: ‘How do I explain this to my children?’ It’s like: ‘You don’t. You just let them watch it.’”
THE FUTURE
So 17 years on from her reality TV breakthrough, what’s left to tick off? Surely I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here has come knocking?
“I’ve seen the highlights and it doesn’t seem like a good time. It’s entertainment through humiliation. And everybody who does it says that it’s horrible. At least there’s a pay cheque at the end … but I think I’d rather invest my time in colourful, performance-based things I love doing, rather than wearing flats for a month in the jungle and getting crawled on by rats. There’s no glamour in that.”
Courtney Act co-hosts the live Mardi Gras parade broadcast on SBS from 7.30pm this Saturday.
Savage insult behind posh husband’s back
A MAFS husband who thinks he’s perfect has just had his posh reputation marred — with his ex revealing an unpleasant habit. James Weir recaps.
Hughes names worst A-lister: ‘Pain in the a**’
Dave Hughes didn’t hold back when he was asked by an I’m A Celeb campmate to name his worst celebrity encounter.
Groom begs Ch9 not to air scene. They do.
A MAFS groom launched crisis talks with producers to ensure you didn’t see an embarrassing scene in tonight’s episode. It aired anyway. James Weir recaps.