Drag Race icon Tia Kofi has cemented her status as a formidable quiz champion, securing three major BBC game show victories in quick succession and declaring her wins are "rattling" supporters of the right-wing Reform UK party.
From the Stage to the Spotlight: A Quiz Show Triumph
Over the recent festive period, the performer, whose real name is Lawrence John Bolton, added two more trophies to her collection. She triumphed on the teatime quiz The Finish Line and conquered the prestigious Celebrity Mastermind, having previously won RuPaul's Drag Race Versus The World.
"I've always loved a quiz show," Kofi told 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."
Her specialist subject on Celebrity Mastermind was Christopher Eccleston's single series as Doctor Who. "There weren't many episodes to revise," she said, noting she managed just one rewatch on trains to and from Manchester. Her preparation paid off, as she only answered one question incorrectly.
The Pressure of the Chair and Facing Backlash
Despite her success, Kofi described the intense atmosphere of the Mastermind studio as "really awkward," comparing it to sitting a GCSE exam. She found the process of walking in silence under the spotlight, with host Clive Myrie providing a dramatic voiceover, to be particularly daunting.
Surprisingly, she found the format of The Finish Line, hosted by Roman Kemp, "way more stressful." The pressure of answering simple visual questions under time pressure, she explained, felt more acutely embarrassing than not knowing a complex fact.
Following the broadcast of her The Finish Line episode just before Christmas, Kofi was subjected to a wave of online abuse simply for appearing in drag. She swiftly responded on social media, pointing out that her critics were so focused on her appearance they missed the fact she won £5,000 for Rainbow Migration, a charity supporting LGBTQ+ migrants.
A Mission for 2026: More Quizzes and LGBTQ+ Advocacy
Undeterred, Kofi plans to make 2026 a year of further quiz show conquests and fundraising. "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," she stated.
She has already raised funds for trans charity Not A Phase and Rainbow Migration. With characteristic wit, she summarised her festive season: "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."
Looking ahead, Kofi has set her sights on Celebrity The Apprentice, expressing a desire to face Lord Sugar "in full drag." But her ultimate ambition is even grander: hosting her own BBC quiz show. "BBC Three needs a quiz show – and who better to host it than me?" she proposed. "Who needs Alexander Armstrong when you've got me, a six-foot-five man in a wig?"
Both Celebrity Mastermind and The Finish Line are available to stream on BBC iPlayer now.
