Olympic swimming champion Tom Daley has left fans doing a double take after revealing his first-ever drag transformation, which made him almost completely unrecognisable. The 32-year-old five-time Olympic medallist swapped the diving board for the makeup chair, with RuPaul's Drag Race star Plastique Tiara applying the dramatic look.
A First-Time Drag Debut
At the start of the video, Tom revealed that getting into drag was something he had 'always wanted' to try. 'This is genuinely my first time,' the former Celebrity Traitors star admitted before Plastique got to work.
Plastique, who has previously transformed Drag Race favourites including Bianca Del Rio, Katya and Kim Chi, turned her attention to the diver for the first time. Tom also made his own outfit for the occasion, with the keen knitter and crocheter creating the look especially for his drag debut.
Racing Against the Clock
'The amount of time I had to do this, there was no way I thought I was going to be able to make it,' he said. Plastique joked that the process had essentially become a 'mini sewing challenge on Drag Race'.
Tom came prepared with his drag name: Lady Go-diver. Upon seeing the finished transformation, he looked every bit as stunned as viewers at home. 'What on earth – that is crazy!' he exclaimed. 'I'm, like, looking in the mirror and that looks nothing like me.'
Fans React to the Transformation
Tom admitted he had no idea what to expect from his first venture into drag, but the finished product wasn't what he had pictured. 'I don't know what I was expecting to look like… but it was not this!' he said, before deciding he could see a touch of Swedish pop star Zara Larsson in his new alter ego. 'I actually can't believe it.'
Neither, apparently, could Instagram. One viewer declared: 'I'm blown AWAY!' while another branded it the 'best one yet', adding: 'I thought that was a girl HAHAH.' Someone else confessed: 'I saw the Tom Daley tag and was wondering where he was.' Another wrote: 'NAH, I was getting ready to google who this was, then I saw the tag, HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA THIS IS INSANE.'
One particularly shocked viewer admitted: 'I just shouted “f**k off” at my phone in utter disbelief that this is Tom Daley!' Another added: 'I am legitimately shocked 🤯 now that's talent.'
Considering Tom spent years making impossibly complicated dives look effortless, it takes quite a lot to leave people wondering what they've just witnessed. Lady Go-diver, though, might have managed it.
