The first time I met River Medway, we stood six feet apart from each other. The government was easing restrictions on the first lockdown at the time, and clubs were able to reopen as bars with social distancing measures in place.
River had been booked to host Glitterbomb, Canterbury’s LGBTQ+ event. Her charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent shone through as she made the whole table laugh with a solid Debby Ryan impersonation (a la Radio Rebel) before heading to the stage.
She then entertained the club with a lip-sync mashup of Miley Cyrus songs, including the eternal classic ‘The Best of Both Worlds’ performed by Miley’s Disney sitcom character, Hannah Montana.
Two years later, I finally understood why River chose to lip sync to the eponymous pop superstar. Like Hannah Montana, River really sees herself as having the best of both worlds.
Or, as River herself described her drag inspiration to me over Zoom: “The thing I love about Hannah Montana is that in the daytime, you’re one thing, and at night, you’re something completely different.”
River uses Hannah Montana as a way of telling her personal, out of drag story as Dexter Clift, one that includes a loving family, her rise to stardom and even tragedy.
River got her start in drag at an early age, playing with dresses, wigs and makeup with her older sister, but feeling that she was never actually allowed to enjoy it; that it was something she had to hide.
“I used to see my sister have all this stuff and think ‘I want that’ but I’m just not allowed it,” River reminisced, back in her childhood home in Medway. “I would never ask for it. Looking back, if I said to my parents when I was a kid that I wanted a dress for Christmas, they would’ve gotten me one.”
River’s secret fascination with her femininity led her to joining youth theatre at 14-years-old. There, she would play female characters in productions - wigs and all - but never really considered actually becoming a drag queen.
“I think there are a lot of people that say, ‘I’m going to start drag and become a drag queen’ but that never happened for me at all,” River said. “I guess the first time I did drag was during my youth productions. I would be onstage; I wouldn’t be doing it secretly in my room. And as I got older, I realised how much I enjoyed it.”
By 18-years-old, River was no longer walking the streets just as Dexter, but as her drag persona, too - and at 21, was booked for her first gig in Kent. It’s safe to say that the county is quite limiting for LGBTQ+ people; the scene is quite small, with only a handful of queer-friendly venues.
“There aren’t enough safe spaces for queer people,” River said. “I love that we are getting more places in Kent specifically where you can go see a drag show, but I can count on one hand the number of queer venues here.”
While this might be the case, River Medway and fellow Kent queen - and winner of Drag Race UK season three - Krystal Versace, have highlighted the LGBTQ+ scene in the South East thanks to their fantastic debut on the reality series. Though, for River, the lead up to the hit show was a “very strange” experience.
During a pivotal episode for River, she opened up in an emotional confessional about losing her mother to Covid. It was only a few days after her mum died, that she got the call to be on the show. From there, the next month was a “complete blur.”
“I don't think my mind really clicked what happened with my mother until probably after we finished filming the show,” River said. “It was a very strange feeling because a few weeks before, I had a phone call about my mother that changed my life. And then I had another phone call that changed my life again, but for a very different reason.”
In August 2021, the cast of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK season three was announced, and River Medway was known across the globe. While having your true identity revealed to the world was a worst-case scenario for her pop inspiration, Hannah, River could not be more elated.
“If I’m honest, I’ve wanted to be famous my whole entire life,” said River. “That’s all I ever wanted for myself.”
“But I was very nervous for the show to come out,” she continued. “From a drag perspective, I thought I hadn’t done well.”
Despite this, River made a name for herself in the competition from the first episode, paying homage to her hometown, Chatham, dressed as the Thomas Waghorn statue, complete with a traffic cone-shaped wig, and hilariously shifting across the runway, causing RuPaul (and the audience) to fall into hysterics.
“It wasn’t the most amazing outfit, but that wasn’t what was important to me,” River described the iconic moment. “I was really excited for people in Medway and Kent to see it because I knew that it was going to get a good reaction. But the amount of people that reached was ridiculous.”
River also turned heads with her gorgeous red and gold gown inspired by her East Asian heritage - which cost £200 on AliExpress, a far cry from some of the other expensive looks on the show which showed that you don’t always need money to compete on Drag Race.
“I’ve always been very working class,” explained River. “But that's a good representation of me as well. Like, I'm a cheap person. So, I should express that through my drag. I'm very proud of myself for being able to do what I did on such a limited budget.”
River’s Drag Race journey unfortunately came to an end midway through the season, after a botched Amy Childs impersonation in Snatch Game, and in a surprise twist, was double eliminated with another fan favourite, Choriza May, causing uproar in the fanbase.
“When Ru eliminated both of us, it just really hit me that this is a game show. It’s reality TV. I wasn’t mad or upset,” River said. “I was eliminated because it’s a gag to have a double elimination. Everyone was sad to see us go, but it was great publicity, and you have to leave everyone wanting more.”
So, where did River’s short lived Drag Race journey lead her to? Well, this March she gets to live out her dreams as a popstar, touring the UK along with fellow castmates Choriza, Ella Vaday, and Vanity Milan in their girl-group, Pick ‘N’ Mix. In June, River will be returning to Kent to headline Canterbury Pride.
River has no plans to return for All Stars any time soon, though: “It’s such a mental thing. I don’t think I’m there yet, and that’s completely fine. Drag Race is really hard to do, and I would just want to be the absolute best version of myself.”
In Hannah Montana: The Movie, the musician is finally able to find a balance between her life as a pop sensation and as an ordinary girl. For River, this was never an ultimatum; she knows she can take the world by storm as River Medway while living a more subdued life as Dexter in Chatham.
“I was proud that I showcased who I am as a person. My most talked-about runway was inspired by my hometown,” River said. “Medway is the place that made me. Everything about me is what Medway is.”
“As soon as I got on to the show, I knew I had to tell my Mum’s story,” she continued. “To be honest, even if I didn’t lose her, I still would’ve talked about her because she is a huge part of my life.”
River’s confessional scenes about her mother were handled incredibly well; the producers gave her the space necessary for her to comfortably talk about the recent loss and was an excellent and personal exploration into the effects of the pandemic.
“It’s difficult to watch, but I already felt that emotion you see on screen,” said River. “I knew how I was feeling then, and I know how I feel now. I’m really grateful for the response I got from it.”
Looking back on the past year, River said: “I am most proud of the fact that I have now become the person I was looking for when I was younger. That’s what drag is about for me. That’s what drag is at its heart.”
Before our interview, I saw River one more time at Glitterbomb. Drag Race had finished by that point; another Kent queen may have snatched the crown, but River - dressed in a purple bodysuit and blonde wig - was the winner in that room, as she sang her heart out to ‘The Best of Both Worlds.’
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