You don’t need to be armed with jokes to make drag queen Spankie Jackzon laugh. Instead, simply ask what she thinks her biggest challenge is on the new season of Celebrity Treasure Island.
“I don’t think I really have any,” cackles the 39-year-old star from Palmerston North. “I’m super-adaptive – I know that about myself. I’ve been poor, I’ve had money, I’ve been jobless, I’ve nearly been homeless… It’s all about adapting. I’ll be OK.”
Then, as if suddenly struck by the realisation that all of life’s creature comforts have been yanked away, she quickly adds, “My biggest challenge is the lack of air conditioning!”
Spankie has certainly earned her confidence. Not only due to triumphing over those aforementioned tribulations, but also because she’s already proved that she thrives in the ultra-competitive world of reality television.
In 2020, Spankie emerged victorious from the second season of local reality show House Of Drag, before shooting to international fame by winning RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under in 2022.
Spankie’s looking to make it a trifecta with a win on Celebrity Treasure Island too. But there’s a big difference in this competition in that Spankie’s drag-free alter ego Blair Macbeth will get most of the screentime.
Does she feel worried stripping off that armour plating of makeup, fake boobs and fabulous outfits will make her more vulnerable?
“F**k, no!” Spankie says emphatically. “When you’re a winner, you’re a winner! They’re exactly the same – Spankie is just Blair amplified, Blair through a megaphone.”
Growing up far from the limelight in Palmy wasn’t always easy for this outgoing personality. In a school of rugby and hockey players, Blair was a boy who preferred to dance.
“From the moment I started school, people always called me fairy or f****t and that followed me through to high school,” she shares. “I had people drive up on the footpath and try to run me over. I had fireworks thrown at me. People would invite me to parties where they’d give me the bash.
“I had hardly any friends. But that’s what prepared me to get to this point. All the adversity I’ve ever faced in my life is what’s got me here.”
It’s hard to think of anyone having to endure that, but before the mood gets too dour, Spankie grins and adds, “Hey, I grew up in the ’90s, so there was great music at least – 100% better than today!”
Since her two reality TV victories, Spankie’s run into some of those old bullies when visiting family back in her hometown.
“A few people came out of the woodwork, but they didn’t try to be friends,” she tells. “They came to apologise and to say how sorry they were. That meant the world to me.”
Another thing that means a lot to Spankie – and her reason for heading to the Coromandel to compete on CTI – is her chosen charity, Palmerston North’s Arohanui Hospice. That place is “super-important to me”, she says. It’s where doctors admitted her father 10 years ago after he fell ill.
“When Dad was sick, they looked after him,” says Spankie. “They were just super-lovely, warm, loving and kind to us. We don’t always get that in public healthcare, where we often become numbers.”
Hospice is crucially important, Spankie says, because when you come to the end of your life, they help make it as painless as they can for everybody involved.
“It’s super-important work and it affects us all,” she tells. “If we could make the end of somebody’s life just as good as the beginning, that’s all that really matters to me.”
Hospice workers aren’t miracle makers, but in Spankie’s case, they come pretty close.
“We honestly thought it was the end for Dad,” she says sombrely, before breaking into a grin. “But he’s not dead, babes! He was in hospice for four weeks and now, 10 years later, he’s f**king thriving!”
Life’s certainly proven to be a wild rollercoaster for Spankie.
“I thought it was over at 30, to be honest,” she smiles. “But the past 10 years have been the greatest years of my entire life – I’m super-excited about turning 40. You have to be grateful for what you have, not miserable about what you haven’t. If you can change your mindset around that, everything will be OK.”
Celebrity Treasure Island screens 7.30pm Monday to Wednesday on TVNZ 2 and streams on TVNZ+.
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