Drag Race legend Tia Kofi has been quietly winning game show after game show with little fanfare. Over the Christmas period, she added two more victories under her belt, winning The Finish Line and the crème de la crème of quiz shows, Celebrity Mastermind.
‘I’ve always loved a quiz show,’ she tells Metro. ‘It’s the one time that I get really competitive. Ask me to run a 100-metre sprint and I’ll casually stroll, but if you ask me to do a quiz show, I will do everything in my power to try and win.’
Clearly, general knowledge is something she takes great pride in.
‘I used to run the pub quiz at The Two Brewers for good reason,’ she laughs, referring to the LGBTQ+ institution in Clapham, London.
‘I think I’m probably the least smart one in my family, and that’s where my competitive edge comes from.’
We’re talking because, in very close succession between Christmas and New Year, Tia Kofi – Lawrence John Bolton – proved herself an unbeatable quizzer on the BBC. On Celebrity Mastermind, she beat four other celebrities with her specialist subject: Christopher Eccleston’s one and only series of Doctor Who.
‘There weren’t many episodes to revise, and I just fancied a bit of nostalgia,’ she says. ‘I only had time for one rewatch, sitting on trains to and from Manchester, watching aliens – but luckily the questions weren’t too taxing. I only got one wrong.’
But only so much revision can prepare you for coming face-to-face with host Clive Myrie, sitting in the black leather chair in front of a studio audience when the lights go down and the spotlight glares.
‘It’s really awkward,’ admits Tia. ‘They play the actual music as the lights come up. Clive’s there doing his dramatic voiceover, introducing you, and it’s silent – so you can hear your shoes as you walk from chair to chair.
‘It’s awful. No one claps or applauds when you’ve finished. It’s a little bit like sitting an exam: Clive is the invigilator, and he’s not giving you any extra paper. You’ve just got to deal with it on your own. I felt like I was 15, doing a GCSE.’
According to Tia, though, Roman Kemp’s teatime favourite The Finish Line is ‘way more stressful’.
Tia was in a particularly camp line-up against Big Brother host Will Best, Eternal singer Kéllé Bryan, Bucks Fizz’s Cheryl Baker and comedian Tim Vine in the show, where contestants race on podiums powered by correct answers to win £5,000 for their chosen charity.
The questions can be as simple as ‘Name this animal’, when looking at a picture of a squirrel.
‘At least on Mastermind, I don’t feel that bad if I don’t know who the fifth UN Secretary-General was. But if I can’t tell that that’s a cup in a picture, that’s really embarrassing. I think Rachel Riley was on an episode and she got a maths question wrong. Silly, Rachel.’
When Tia’s episode aired before Christmas on the BBC, somewhat predictably, she was hit with vile abuse for playing the game in drag. A drag queen in drag? Imagine.
She instantly fought back on X, posting: ‘Gosh, the right-wingers are really mad that I was in drag on BBC’s The Finish Line… so annoyed that they haven’t even noticed I won the £5k prize money for @RainbowMigration, a charity that supports LGBTQ+ migrants coming to the UK.’
The right-wingers might need to buckle up, as Tia plans to spend 2026 winning more quiz shows and raising money for LGBTQ+ causes.
‘I love doing these quiz shows, especially because there’s such a good opportunity to raise awareness and money for charities that I work with, which is wonderful. I successfully raised money for Not A Phase, which is a trans charity, and also Rainbow Migration, which helps LGBTQ+ people migrate and settle legally and safely in the United Kingdom.
‘Basically, this whole festive season is me going on quiz shows and trying to annoy Reform voters – which I could already do just by being brown and in drag.’
After winning Drag Race Versus The World, The Finish Line and Celebrity Mastermind, is there another BBC show she plans to conquer?
‘They’re doing Celebrity Apprentice, and if there is one show that I’ve been locked into since day one, it is The Apprentice. I love my Essex diva, Lord Sugar.
‘I want to go on that in full drag – pencil skirt, high ponytail – in that boardroom.’
But Tia is setting her sights higher than just winning another game show.
She suggests: ‘BBC Three needs a quiz show – and who better to host it than me, Celebrity Mastermind’s Tia Kofi? Who needs Alexander Armstrong when you’ve got me, a six-foot-five man in a wig, hosting a quiz show?’
Celebrity Mastermind and The Finish Line are both available to stream on BBC iPlayer now.
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