ICW: Ts Madison Ate That!

Ts Madison
Hi guys, this is Ts Madison. I just want to say I love all my UK fans. I love all my British fans. For my fans, all my fans that are over there in Europe, London, all the places that you know, I've only been once. And I'm just so glad for the love that I get worldwide all over the place!

Brianna (TBP)
You've only been over here once?

Ts Madison
Yes, I've actually been - I haven't been to London yet. But it's in the works. But I have been to Europe. I mean, I've been to Spain and Italy and France, but I haven't been to London.

Brianna (TBP)
But it's in the works. She said it, you heard it here first folks!

Ts Madison
In the works, in the works Yes.

Brianna (TBP)
So this show, where did the idea come from? Is this a TS Madison original? Did someone else have the idea and go "We want TS Madison on it"? How did this happen?

Ts Madison
This show is a WOW original, of course. You know, I mean the WOW, the World of Wonder family, from RuPaul's Drag Race, being a judge on RuPaul's Drag Race. And also from you know, World of Wonder created my television show The TS Madison experience, you know, which made me the first black transgender woman to actually have executive produce a show on national television, you know, and star in it. So I'm really deeply embedded into the World of Wonder family. And they watch me all the time. So I'm usually at home there. Who doesn't watch me. I'm always gonna go viral. And so they were watching me talk about these eggs, like these wonder eggs that I got. So everybody had been posting about them on social media. And so what I decided to do was to say, You know what, everybody's given these opinions. I wonder if they're paid to give these opinions. Let me order this and taste it myself. And if it's good, I'm gonna say it, if it's bad, I'm gonna say. So I ordered them, the eggs finally came and I was so excited because I was like, What is this, like, what is on my porch? I brought the box in, I opened it up, you know, I opened the box, I didn't know what was inside the box. And then when I opened that I was like “Ahh!!”, so I guess my reaction, they loved my reaction from it. Because it was a genuine reaction. And then we started eating them. Like I started eating the egg. And so my engineer that worked on, he works with me here at the house, he was here and he I said 'Mo You got to taste these eggs, you gotta, you got to taste them.' And so they - after we had did DragCon they were saying to me Madison, let's do this, let's do a show, I want to do a show called. They didn't we didn't know that they would call it 'she ate that.' But they said they want to do a show of me eating food because they found it to be exquisite. And they also wanted to try the eggs themselves. And so I just have that uncanny ability to make people want to try stuff, whether it's food or clothing or whatever, because when I get it it's pure because it was it was innocence that I receive it like it's not like coerced or something like that.

Brianna (TBP)
You're just a natural born influencer. That's what it is.

Ts Madison
Yes, it is because I'm a consumer. And so if I if I find, especially when it comes to food, girl I'm fat I like food.! Okay, so, so after I ate the eggs I gave, I gave it to my friends. And you know, for me I can sell air to a breathing machine, okay. My opinion about it is a natural thing

Brianna (TBP)
I think thats so real though because people especially in the age of social media, people respond to authenticity and they can see through anything that's like fake, disingenuous, and are like 'we're not buything that' so I think the fact that you can sell things so well is like testament to who you are as a person, like people see how real you are? For sure. So, you tried all that?

Ts Madison
And I'm fat and we usually trust a fat person when they're eating food. That's just what it is.

Brianna (TBP)
I mean, it's true. It's not - You're not wrong. You're not wrong. Is there anything that you tried on this that you just loved so much that it's now just a part of your like, day to day you're like, I got to have that in the house.

Ts Madison
There was a couple of things. I like those pickles. That pickle was everything to me like I really love a good pickle. I liked those M&M’s that I had eaten they were really good with the walnut? I don't know what was that in it? Like a pretzel or something was in the M&M. It was so good. The M&Ms I have to have them all the time. And the Pepsi that tastes like marshmallow.

Brianna (TBP)
Oh, yum.

Ts Madison
It was one of those Pepsi's that drink it was, I was like, oh my god, this is so good. I went and I found them like you can only get them in mini cans, you got to order them off of these special sites that get like the foreign foods, the foods that are like, you know, you can't get them in the States so they you have to have it shipped to you. I ordered them

Brianna (TBP)
Nice. I want to try that that sounds banging.

Ts Madison
Mom! Where’s them Pepsi's at that I got, those yellow Pepsi's? What? Oh, I gotta order some more in. I've got gotta…

Brianna (TBP)
Straight after this, getting on and ordering some more. You also have like incredible guest stars. So many fun people came on. Who would you have on if you could pick anyone to come on the show?

Ts Madison
Lizzo!

Brianna (TBP)
Lizzo! Ooh that'd be a good one.

Ts Madison
I'd love to. I'd love to do the season next season with we bring like some really big celebrities on. I'd love to have Lizzo on there eating with me.

Brianna (TBP)
That would be so fun.

Ts Madison
Yes, I'd love to sit there and we eat.

Brianna (TBP)
Your energies would work so well together as well, so well. What's your star sign?

Ts Madison
I am a Libra.

Brianna (TBP)
Omg, so she's a Taurus and I'm a Taurus and I love a Libra. That makes sense. Oh my god, it'd work. It would work. It'd be so good.

Ts Madison
Yeah, I'm a Libra Scorpio, like my birthday is October 22nd.

Brianna (TBP)
Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, right on the cusp.

Ts Madison
I would really love to eat with her. Because I know she can eat a good everything, anything.

Brianna (TBP)
I love her tiktoks where she's just eating, she's just tucking in. Yeah, doesn't even say anything. She's just tucking in Yes. I'd love it, it'd be so good. You’re a regular feature on the judging panel, you mentioned of RuPaul’s Drag Race. And in the last, how long has that been on now, 15 years or so, trans representation on that show has evolved in such a huge way. I'd love to know your thoughts on how it's improved and how you'd like to see it continue to grow.

Ts Madison
I do like the fact that Ru Paul and the producers have opened up the arena for the trans girls to compete. And I love the way that it has to become extremely inclusive, especially by adding me as a judge, they're like they have a trans judge, they have a bio woman and they have a gay, two gay men and a drag queen. So it's like, that's just the balance of it, right there and I love to see the girls come in and compete, you know, without any restrictions, and girls from all experiences, because drag is not an identity. This is where people have the misconception, drag is not an identity drag is an art. Yes. And so people can come there and they can be queer, they can be trans, they can be non binary, you know, and still be drag queens, you know, and because that is the biggest drag platform in the world to you know. So that is the biggest stage in the world. Like it's like RuPaul's Drag Race is an international phenomenon that has multiple spin offs and multiple shows like multiple. I mean, every country, you know, and so it's a place where the girls are able to display their talents. And what I enjoy most about being a judge on that show, I enjoy watching Queens come in being normal and leaving superstars!

Brianna (TBP)
Yeah, I mean it has created insane careers that show.

Ts Madison
That - it is immeasurable. How great of a phenomenon that is, how insane it is. Because I'm 46 years old, I'm headed to my 50s. I grew up in a time where we didn't see lots of representation of LGBTQIA people in media, or in us being stars. We see this all the time now. Yeah. Now, it's just being built where this is the thing is, it's normal. It's normal for us to go out in the world and have fans. Fans and people that support us and people that we entertain, and people who we grow with for the rest of our lives. Like I've amassed a fan base. I've been on the internet since Oh, my God, 2006, maybe six or seven, one of them in that area? And that's about 17 years. Yeah, you know. And so we're looking at, I have grown a fan base that has spanned over all those years, all those years. And being that they've spanned over all of those years, these people have grown with me, these people have bought cars with me. They bought homes with me, they cry with me, I've lost family members, I've gained family, I've grown as a person. And so these people have been with me throughout the course of my life. And one thing about being LGBTQIA is that you can go through a severe moment of aloneness, depression and stuff like that with no support. But now that you, now that this has amassed this audience, you'll never be alone. These people always grow with you. They always love you. They always feed into you, they always make sure that you have a roof over your head and that you're you know, they take care of you for the rest of your life. Yeah, because you you entertain them you make them laugh, you make them happy, they they love you. (isn't that so powerful) That's a big takeaway from me when I sit on the panel of RuPaul’s Drag Race to get to watch these girls because I know like you're going to go out into this world and you're going to be a superstar..all of you are stars all of you but there are some that come through there and its like 'Yeah. You're a superstar.'

Brianna (TBP)
I remember watching, it must have been Season Two of UK drag race and that's exactly what I felt when I watched Tayce, there was an episode where Tayce did the all red look with the blood splatter and I was like that's a superstar, like the career that is going to come from this....

Ts Madison
Listen Tayce is one of those because you know I also host 'Bring Back My Girls.’ so I did bring back my girls and I was, I had an opportunity to host the reunion for this, for Tayce's season. And when I met Tayce I was like she's a firecracker.

Brianna (TBP)
Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

Ts Madison
Tayce was a firecracker honey, I said oh my god, this girl - y'all have no idea of the firecracker that's been put out on in the world. You know, she was full of high energy and she was full of alcohol you know. She was like, “hold on a moment Madison, hold on” you know my accent is not the best, she was like “hold on a minute Madison I've got to pee”, and she left the stage. It was so funny. I almost - that type of rawness and stuff like that is what make people love you because you're raw. And you're really, you're in your element. And you're not being anybody but your true authentic self.

Brianna (TBP)
Yeah. And I think with this community, that's what people want to see. Because so often it kind of feels like, you can't be, that you have to hide, for whoever, whatever reason. So to then see people just being completely, honestly, truthfully themselves. It's like, that's empowering. That's so empowering. Speaking of empowering, you mentioned earlier, you became the first black trans woman to have an executive producing credit on your own TV show that you then starred in, reality TV show. When you do something as the first you kind of almost have to build the door that you are then opening for others to walk through. How was that process for you? How did that feel? Talk me through like start to finish of that.

Ts Madison
It was very - here's the thing when you know that you're the first of your thing to do it? You know, it comes with a bit of pressure, but it comes with more pressure of I can't fuck this up for nobody else. You know what I'm saying? It comes with that pressure like, yeah, I want to excel, and yes, in a space of me wanting to be great in it, but it's still it's the gloom and loom of the cloud over your head saying, you can't fuck this up for nobody else Madison. You gotta go in here, you gotta, you gotta put your shoulder to the glass and you got to bust in here. You can't , you can't bust in here and then close it up behind you, you know what I'm saying, you have to bust in there and open the space so then more can come through. Because when you say something like, I'm the first black transgender woman to executive produce and star in her own reality television show. I'm 46. This happened to me when I was 40! 40 or 43. One of them, I don't know. Somewhere in those areas, this happened. And I said, why? You start asking the question, Why am I the first like I have all these years? And all these other girls, all these people? Like, why am I the first? Why? You feel honoured a bit, but then you also start questioning the system like, Well, why is this? Why couldn't there not be more? Why didn't they? Why didn't anybody else lean, lean their shoulder and bust through so that you can open up? You know, why does it have to happen every so often, like every so often it happens? And I haven't seen it since me happened.

Brianna (TBP)
I was gonna say, is there anyone else? We say the first but I think it was also the only.

Ts Madison
Correct and it's like, Bro, that's not fair. I want to be honest in this interview and say, that I think that all networks should continue to put people like me in prominent production roles. I'm not even in that mental space that I was, at that time, I’m ready to do other shows and projects, but I want to see the next generation come through and be in a powerful position. But I see that they did do Brat and Judy, which was a lesbian couple. I'm trans, I'm not a lesbian but I still did bust that door open so that they could come on through. But I did bust the door open, darling, it is completely different thing. But I still did busted door open. So that could come on through. I give myself a little tap on the back for that.

Brianna (TBP)
Because up until that point, it was very heavily, like gay male dominated, like that was -

Ts Madison
Gay male dominated or just strictly urban, just straight. Straight, straight straight.

Brianna (TBP)
Yeah, for sure. The landscape has definitely changed. And I think, you know, pat yourself on the back, because that is hugely down to you. But not even like a little bit like I'm sitting here, you're 46, I'm 26. I can even think back to being 16. And thinking, like, I would watch TV, and all you would see that they would call diversity was gay men. That was it. You didn't see trans people. You didn't see lesbians. You didn't even see bisexual people. It was just gay men. I think that was it. So not even just a little tap, tap the difference in the landscape now I think thanks to people like you, definitely thanks to Ru, we have a lot to say thank you, to you guys for because you've changed it for so many people.

Ts Madison
Yes, thank you.

Brianna (TBP)
And you just mentioned now and I'd seen a quote from you, that you said you love that you get to evolve as a person in front of your audience and that you have this incredible audience. And you mentioned a little bit there about pressure. And I kind of wanted to know, how do you deal with that? How do you decompress and kind of take that on your shoulders?

Ts Madison

Um, you know, sometimes I fall in, you know, fall into myself or I enclose myself into myself. You know, like, either when I'm home, I'm in my room or I'm watching TV or I'm sleeping or just like taking a break. Either with my Mum, you know, majority of the time. I'm with my mum all the time, who's constantly in my ear telling me you know, to ignore a lot of the noise but I'm still human and I’ll be like “fuck it, I'm going in there with my axe, my battle axe, knife, my machete, I'm going to tear it down”, but you know, it's - I'm still human. And I think at the beginning, middle and end of the day people forget that no matter how elevated you are in any capacity, you're still a human being. And like you're not invincible to things, there are some things that may penetrate, there's some things that'll make you tick, you know. And at times, my - I'm a Libra, so my scale may go off, we may go all the way left, or we may go all the way right you know, and you don't want to leave a scale like that. That dark Libra is what it is. And I got Scorpio in me too. You know,

Brianna (TBP)
We need to keep you well-balanced

Ts Madison
Yeah, balance. And I'm often faced with that, like, I'm often faced with half my scales being tipped, because, you know, some mediocre b*tch comes forth and you know, wants to clout chase off of me or, you know, wants to minimise my presence and stuff like that. And they haven't accomplished even a mere millisecond of the things that I've done. But they want to minimise it to oh, that's nothing and then start attacking me online and all this stuff. So because I'm online - this is what I tell people. People are like, “Oh, great, just ignore that. Just don't pay that stuff no attention.” Because I'm online because my empire was built online. Because my presence was built online. There's no way I can miss it. Because I'm online.

Brianna (TBP)
And you have to be because if you step away from online, that's, that's your bread and butter, so that you don't have a choice.

Ts Madison
I'm online. So I'm going to not miss it. It would be a different thing if I grew up on TV, and I grew up on you know, Entertainment Weekly and Access Hollywood and all this stuff. I could cut the TV off. I grew up in the age of social media, like my star grew doing social media. So I'm connected to the social stuff, I see that. People say be more like Beyonce. I'm like Beyonce was a superstar singing in her home. Beyonce got introduced to media and what she did was she detached herself, we don't see interviews from Beyonce, we don't see her intermingling and stuff with the media and things like that. That's how she detached because she can do that and work on her craft. My craft is the internet. So I can't miss it.

Brianna (TBP)
And people don't understand that. I think that despite the fact that we really are in the media age, or the internet age, people still don't really understand that once you've built that brand, it's not like you can walk away and that brand will still be there. You have to be there and you have to be putting in the time. Which means you have to see it because there isn't enough, you know, stuff in place on these networks to minimise what you can see. Right? If you could change anything, what would you like to see in place to make that kind of a little easier for those people that have to be online, that don't have the choice to walk away?

Ts Madison
I would like for systems to be put in place for people like that are online, that when people cyber attack you- because I get a lot of cyber attacks. Like people will Dox me, they'll post my address, they'll post my dead name, they'll post my information like they'll do stuff like that. Just to rile people up. That I experienced a lot. I'm experiencing Doxxing a whole lot.

Brianna (TBP)
That is so scary.

Ts Madison
It is very - it gets irritating, you know? So I experienced that a lot more times than anybody would even know. Like my phone number gets posted you know. It's just that easy to right-click, left-click, post. Search, find, post. And because I live in an online area, I live in the metaverse. I can't skip that.

Brianna (TBP)
Yeah, that's that's really scary.

Ts Madison
So I wish that there was systems that we're deeply more - because I don't feel protected in that space. I feel like a person can post your shit and you got to report it and then you gotta wait for a robot to come review it and say, “Oh no, this is just a number.” No, this is my personal.. my address. That's my name. That's my, this is my stuff. Like, how was this able to sit up here?

Brianna (TBP)
Yeah. Yeah, that needs something that's so unsafe. Yeah, that is so scary. I'm sorry you have to deal with that. That's horrendous.

Ts Madison
I deal with that a lot. I'm actually dealing with that. Now, to be honest with you, like I'm actually dealing with that type of stuff now.

Brianna (TBP)
I would love to know what does being Black mean to you?

Ts Madison
Being Black to me means everything. If I had to go back and redo it all again, I'd come back as black! Because guess what? I'm dark brown, dark skin, light skin, beige, Fluorescent beige. Bitch, I'm Black! That statement within itself, it just means everything to me. And I want to lean into Beyonce using that on the Renaissance album. For me, who is proud - who's proud of being Black, who's proud of being Black and trans at the same time? It just is the anthem, I don't think that there's nothing else. And this is not me being anti anybody else. But I think that there's sort of a magic in being Black, and coming from a place of rising from being oppressed. It just gives you more of a fuel to succeed. It gives you more of an energy to accomplish, it gives you more of a drive to conquer things that you know that were not open to you. I'm so proud. I wouldn't have it any other way. I love - I'm comfortable in my skin. I love being who I am. And I want people of any race to be proud of who they are. But I also really want to speak to my Black people. My Black and brown people. You have to - there's a, it's just a thing. I can't put it into words. There’s just a thing about being black that's just magic to me.

Brianna (TBP)
I love that. Thank you so much for that answer.

Ts Madison
Thank you. Thank you, Brianna. Thank you.

Ts Madison Ate That has new episodes every Monday on WOW Presents Plus.