When I was a kid I used to get called Alan Carr. I was camp and had glasses and a geeky look. I was one of those kids who was called gay before I even knew what gay was. Now I’m older, I sort of grew into myself and embraced everything that made that child version of me such a “pleasure to teach” in school – aka, code for teachers to say you’re gay and they love you. Alan Carr has been a mainstay on TV my whole life, and whilst my parents were never particularly fond of him he was one of those ridiculously flamboyant camp personas on TV that was always warmly embraced by the mainstream. He stood alongside the likes of Paul O’Grady before him as someone pre Drag Race and pre marriage equality who was clearly gay but no one majorly cared. Alan Carr was always loved, and for those of us who grew up with him as a mainstream safe space was a British institution. But with his win on The Celebrity Traitors, Alan Carr has finally ascended to national treasure status in the mainstream – and this moved me beyond measure.
Alan Carr is easy to love and to laugh at – and with
Alan Carr is self deprecating, and he’s often the first to make himself the butt of the joke. He can’t take himself seriously, and we saw this from day one with The Celebrity Traitors. He has never ever compromised who he was, and who he is is obviously extremely funny but also a true camp old queen. He’s on everything from game shows to judging Drag Race, but it’s taken The Celebrity Traitors to remind the world why we fell in love with him in the first place.
As the show was starting, I said to my friends that I hoped Alan Carr would be a Traitor cause not only would it be hilarious but I genuinely thought he’d do well. His nature is great at deflection. When the first episode brought with it all its hilarity, I stood by that his selection was going to be perfect TV but I like the rest of the nation thought he was going to be an utter disaster. How wrong we all were.
Credit: BBC
Alan just rose to the occasion. He never compromised what made him Alan, and the traits that have led him to never being taken as seriously as he should be. He made those character quirks his ultimate weapon, and when he won he not only played a hilarious game but he played a blinder.
If you watch Alan Carr interview any celebrity, you will see how his nature and his warmth makes even the coldest a-lister at home. Even someone like Mariah Carey, famously a tough and insecure interview, chats with him like they go way back. He is disarming and he’s nurturing. Devious but in a way that he could joke about being a Traitor and not a soul would bat an eyelid.
You don’t have to look very far to see nothing but adoration for Alan Carr right now – and this made me weep so hard when he wept last night after clinching his victory. I cried because it’s just incredible to see someone like Alan Carr become the peak of his power as a public figure. In a time where we’re seeing Pride events fail, things get unbearable for the trans community and a general rise of conservatism and public disdain towards LGBTQ people – here is someone so hugely flamboyant embraced by the nation.
I’ve seen rumours of big things coming for Alan Carr after his turn on The Celebrity Traitors (Chatty Man return, anyone) and it’s exactly what we as a community need right now. You’d be hard pressed to find anyone with a bad thing to say about him – a truly wonderful person and a great entertainer. I’m thrilled for him and I’m thrilled the nation embraced such a character when we really needed them to.
Just a glimmer of hope when things have consistently felty immeasurably bleak in recent days. Turns out a great season of The Celebrity Traitors headlined by Alan Carr is the best medicine.
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