Slag Wars: The Next Destroyer

Last updated

Slag Wars: The Next Destroyer
SlagWarsPoster.jpg
Promotional poster
Genre Reality
Judges
Narrated by Chase Icon
Theme music composerAndrew Barret Cox
Opening theme"Slag Wars"
ComposerAndrew Barret Cox
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes11
Original release
Release27 November 2020 (2020-11-27) 
present

Slag Wars: The Next Destroyer is a British reality television competition series that premiered online on 27 November 2020. The show features Rebecca More and Matthew Camp on their hunt to discover the next LGBTQ+ icon. The first series, broadcast in 2020 on Men.com and SlagWars.com, lasted four episodes and was co-presented by Sophie Anderson, with whom More had become famous as two halves of The Cock Destroyers. The second series was delayed by Anderson and More splitting up and was not produced until 2023, with Fantasia Royale Gaga replacing Anderson due to health reasons. Anderson died in November 2023; the first episode of the second series, broadcast in September 2024, was dedicated to Anderson and aired alongside a documentary about the Cock Destroyers.

Contents

Production

Season one

The show was conceived several years before broadcast by Sophie Anderson and Rebecca More, who were better known as The Cock Destroyers, [1] and used the working title "Slag Wars: Finding the Next Cock Destroyer". [2] The show was produced after a friend of More offered her large countryside house for a shoot and was filmed in four days during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. The series was co-presented by Matthew Camp, [1] with whom More had commandeered the queer brand Daddy Couture in September 2019, [3] and was intended as a celebration of sex work and as a safe space for people to be themselves. [1] The series was produced by the queer production company DaddyTV. [4]

"ASMR sex chat. A slag eating a banana during a confessional in a way that one could only reasonably describe as 'menacingly erotic'. Bondage. Latex. Kinks. Fetishes. Two slags going at each other's necks like vampires. Someone getting lightly slapped while wearing a collar and being gagged by a Granny Smith. It really is fun for all the family." [ sic ]

Ben Charlie Smoke of Vice describing the show in November 2020 [1]

Contestants on the show comprised seven sex workers and OnlyFans creators [5] including Nicky Monet, a transgender woman from Los Angeles, Tyreece Nye, a Black non-binary person, [6] five contestants who used "he/him" pronouns, [7] and contestants from Scotland and Mexico. [8] They were described on the programme as Slags, [6] a term in British English equivalent to slut, [9] in order to reclaim the word as sex-positive. [6] Camp and the programme's non-UK Slags had to quarantine for two weeks before filming, [10] while Anderson was due to have buttock augmentation just before filming but delayed it as she felt it would interfere with wearing the lycra suits they had ordered for the show. [1]

Shot on a tight budget [11] and featuring specially composed tracks as a soundtrack, [7] the first series used many personal friends of the Cock Destroyers as guests including its narrator Chase Icon [12] and ran for four episodes. [13] Each episode features a foreplay and a passion challenge, each of which explores a facet of the sex industry; [10] one challenge featured contestants trying to steal payment card numbers during ASMR sex talk sessions and another featured rope bondage. [8] The series also featured conversations about tokenism, fetishism, racism, violence against transgender people, and sexual consent [14] and was marketed on its inclusivity, [15] with its confessionals annotated with both the Slags' names and pronouns. [8] The series was streamed on Men.com and SlagWars.com, the latter of which had been created for those wanting a safe for work experience, [13] and was won by Tyreece Nye. [11]

Season two

In May 2021, More announced that the pair had split up following her receipt of a "viscous email"[ sic ]; [16] the following month, DaddyTV announced Hot Haus , [15] a show judged by Camp and Monet [17] and won by Fantasia Royale Gaga. [18] More kept abreast of Anderson's life after the breakup and the pair later reconciled. [19] In late 2023, a second series of Slag Wars was produced and was due to be hosted by More, Anderson, and Camp, but Anderson dropped out after no-showing on the first day of production [20] as she was not well enough to film [21] and was replaced by Royale Gaga. [20] Cain, one of the Slags from the first series, returned as a producer and casting director, [22] and had previously worked with some of the Slags he cast including Mama Mamba and Cocoa Kink. [22]

Originally, the Slags were supposed to be in teams, with Anderson and More having four Slags each. Anderson's illness meant that this was aborted and replaced by a points-based system, with eliminations removed; [23] the first episode featured Royale Gaga giving a distracted More a pep talk. [24] In November 2023, [22] shortly after filming, Anderson died; [20] More announced her death in December 2023. [25] The second series aired on the LGBTQ streaming service Outflix and ran for seven episodes; its first episode featured a tribute to Anderson and was released alongside a documentary on how the Cock Destroyers became famous. This series featured the same theme song as the first series [25] and was won by Mama Mamba. [26]

Reception

The show became a minor cult hit. [15] Writing between broadcast of the first and second episode, Emma Kelly of i-D described the show as "one of the most genuine representations of sex workers and queer, trans and non-binary people ever seen on TV". [8] Reviewing the first series, Tim Forster of Vulture described the show as "good, dirty fun, with a healthy dose of camp" and complimented the show for its queer representation, though wrote that Daddy Couture was "heavily product-placed" and that having five contestants out of seven who identified as "he/him" demonstrated an "imperfect approach to diversity". [7] Barry Pierce of Dazed wrote that the series was "a truly glorious celebration of the self with positivity and inclusivity as its central tenets" and stated that one scene, in which Anderson unsuccessfully tried to storm off set in high heels following an inability to send anybody home and ended up crawling off set, was a contender for his "television moment of the year". [5] Writing in September 2024, Joel Medina of Collider described the show as "a raucous display of LGBTQ+ joy like viewers have never seen". [27]

Cast

Series 1 (2020)

Contestants

Contestants of Slag Wars
ContestantPronounsAgeHometownOutcome
Tyreece NyeThey/Them/She/Her20 London, EnglandWinner
CainHe/Him25 London, EnglandRunners-up
Cameron SmithHe/Him26 Manchester, England
Nicky Monet She/Her Los Angeles, California
Gustavo Ernesto EscobedoHe/Him30 Mexico 5th place
Kevin ScottHe/Him25 Aberdeen, Scotland6th Place
Levi Jed MurphyHe/Him24 Manchester, England7th Place

Contestant progress

Contestant1234
TyreeceBTM2SAFEWINWinner
CainWINBTM2SAFERunner-up
CameronSAFESAFEELIMRunner-up
NickySAFEWINSAFERunner-up
GustavoWINWINELIM
KevinSAFEELIM
LeviBTM2QUIT
  The contestant won Slag Wars.
  The contestant was a runner-up.
  The contestant left the competition voluntarily.
  The contestant won the challenge.
  The contestant was declared safe.
  The contestant was in the bottom two.
  The contestant was eliminated.

Episodes

Slag Wars Season 1 Episodes
No.TitleOriginal Air DateGuests
1Slag On Arrival27 November 2020Matt Lambert and Chris Crocker
2Safe Word Slag4 December 2020Sam Morris, Busty Cookie and Emily Balfour
3Show Biz Slags11 December 2020 Baga Chipz
4Last Slag Standing18 December 2020

Series 2 (2024)

Contestants

Contestants of Slag Wars 2
ContestantPronounsHometownOutcome
Mama MambaShe/Her Birmingham, UK Winner
Cocoa KinkShe/Her London, EnglandRunners-up
Freyja PhoriaShe/They East London
Damien LenoreHe/Him Miami, Florida4th place
Braxton CruzHe/Him Australia 5th place
JV MarxHe/Him Los Angeles, California
Oscar (Hotboiyo)He/Him London, UK
Sabrina JadeShe/They Brighton, UK

Contestant progress

Contestant234567
MamaWINSAFEWINSAFESAFEADVWinner
CocoaSAFESAFESAFESAFEWINADVRunner-up
FreyjaSAFEWINSAFESAFESAFEADVRunner-up
DamienSAFEWINSAFESAFESAFEADVQUIT
BraxtonSAFESAFESAFESAFESAFEELIMGuest
JVWINSAFEWINSAFESAFEELIMGuest
OscarSAFESAFESAFEWINSAFEELIMGuest
SabrinaSAFESAFEWINWINSAFEELIMGuest
  The contestant won Slag Wars.
  The contestant was a runner-up.
  The contestant advanced to the final four.
  The contestant won the passion project challenge.
  The contestant won the foreplay challenge.
  The contestant was declared safe.
  The contestant was in the bottom two.
  The contestant was eliminated.
  The contestant left the competition voluntarily.
  The contestant returned as a guest.

Points Tally Board

Contestant234567Total
Mama602224+5184023192
Cocoa501920184811166.5
Freyja502525174110168
Damien5020+5232337.536194.5
Sabrina501722+525-119
Oscar50162024+5-115
JV551225.517-109.5
Braxton50181523-106

Episodes

Slag Wars Season 2 Episodes
No.TitleOriginal Air DateGuests
1Despunking The World: The Slag Wars Story17 September 2024Joey Mills, Ricky Cornish, Lillian Stone, Jan Sport, Cara Cunningham and Nicky Monet
2Revenge of the Slags
3Seasonal Slags24 September 2024
4Gold Medal Slag1 October 2024Cain (Runner-up of Series 1)
5Spotlight Slags8 October 2024Joey Mills
6Scruff Slags15 October 2024Johnny Scruff
7Finale Slags22 October 2024

See also

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