I Kissed a Girl: Dannii Minogue on “fresh” series and being “empowered” by the cast

The hit BBC Three dating series is back and this time, it’s the girls’ turn. Ahead of the new sapphic spin, we chatted to host Dannii Minogue about all things I Kissed A Girl.

Words by Hollie Wong
Photography by BBC

I Kissed A Girl is finally here and for sapphics everywhere, this is something to celebrate – the WLW community is being spotlighted like never before on Britain’s most iconic TV channel. And let’s just say, it makes for messy, authentic and downright obsessive viewing!

The queer female equivalent of last year’s I Kissed a Boy, which memorably made history as the UK’s first-ever same-sex dating series, the show premieres on BBC Three and BBC iPlayer from Sunday 5 May. In the same vein as its predecessor, the first episode of I Kissed a Girl introduces 10 contestants who will be matched up and, upon meeting each other for the first time, share a kiss.

Throughout the course of the series, the contestants will decide whether they want to stay with their current partner via a series of “kiss-offs” or match with someone new. Australian pop icon Dannii Minogue returns to her role as Cupid, while TikTok star and comedian Charley Marlowe replaces Layton Williams as the narrator.

This year’s 10 sapphics, as well as a short teaser trailer, were unveiled during Lesbian Visibility Week. To find out more about the series, we sat down with Dannii Minogue, hostess with the mostest, to discuss this sapphic new era in the dating genre and how she prepared for her new role in the WLW history books.

Dannii, we loved last year’s I Kissed A Boy. Was it always the plan to come back for year two with I Kissed A Girl?

We didn’t know straight away when we were making I Kissed a Boy, that it was gonna go on to the girls. But as soon as we found out we’re like, ‘Yes!’ This is really important, to go straight in with the girls and give them a chance to be seen. Even more important, there’s just not a lot of [queer female] representation, not as much as the guys get.

How excited were you to come back this year and do the series all over again with a bunch of queer women?

It felt fresh and new. I love the casting. They’re so different. The conversations that come up are just wild. It’s especially noticeable with the girls that are from smaller towns where they don’t have a queer community that they can really reach out to, very different from living in London and having access to bars and clubs and places. I love hearing the different accents. There’s different emotional reactions from the girls, in the same way from the boys like Gareth, from season one, and Cara, for the girls, from Northern Ireland. There’s definitely a different pull on their personality.

The cast is great representation for the entire sapphic community. There are lots of deep chats about identity and labels, were you always wanting to spotlight those conversations?

As I’m in and out of hosting but kind of on the sidelines, it was great not to feel stupid or like, ‘I don’t know what that is!’ when I saw the girls talking. I’m like, ‘Oh, they’re asking each other questions. This is great!’ Even little things like that, just to kind of open up the conversation. Because they’re so much younger than me, they’re way more open to everything. This is unscripted, so whatever is gonna happen is gonna happen. The main [hope] is, ‘I hope a real relationship comes from this. That’d be cool.’ We know so much comes through the friendships from the cast, from when the boys did it. When you’re in it, there’s only a small group of people who knows what that feels like. We wanted to open people’s minds. I was thinking more of the audience, but then when I watch it back I’m like, ‘These girls left in a completely different headspace than when they arrived.’

It’s a lot of fun, there are a lot of laughs to come from the girls!

Do any moments with the girls really stick out in your mind when you think back on filming?

I was just continually surprised about their confidence, being fearless and brave. I mean, I looked at [the show] and said, ‘I couldn’t do that.’ Firstly, I don’t even sit around the pool in my swimwear in front of my boyfriend. They’re in Italy by the pool, having private conversations that will end up in a TV show and it’s just wild to me. I felt very inspired and empowered from watching them. Just as a woman I felt like, ‘Oh man, these girls have got it,’ you know?

From The X Factor and Australia’s Got Talent, to now the I Kissed series, you’re a bastion of reality TV. How does this show compare to your previous experiences?

With The X Factor, the main thing for me was I loved mentoring. Of course, you’re trying to have your team win. You’ve got limited time where you try and impart some skills and strength to them so that when they leave, they can then go on and do stuff. With this, I don’t get to flex that mentoring muscle. But I do feel like what happens in the production meetings and how we wanted to make the show, that’s my way of mothering and looking after them. We have a care team, and we all have access to that – even me as the host, for the first time in my life. This is the first show that’s ever offered that to me. So it’s groundbreaking in all sorts of ways, just as someone working in the industry. This part that I do now, I’m just trying to let people know about it. The more eyeballs that we can get on it, the better. We just want to keep coming back. We want more girls to have the opportunity to do this.

Did you prepare differently for this season? For instance, did you watch The L Word?

I had a glossary of words given to me and I was like, ‘Yep, no, don’t know.’ There were lots of conversations. I listened to a podcast called the Lesbian Supper Club. I feel like I know them, they give you their life. So that was really, really cool. And I guess just walking back into it feeling like this is totally fresh and new, being more open-minded, more curious. I feel like the audience in general will be, too. If you’re not in the community you will be like, ‘What does the lesbian look like? And what are they going to be like?’ and you have all these questions. Also, if you are in the community, you’re asking the same questions, ‘Who are they going to cast? What do they look like? Do they look like me? What are they going to say? What am I going to be surprised about?’ I think we can all approach it with curiosity. And it’s a lot of fun, there are a lot of laughs to come from the girls.

This is a BBC Three show and their other biggest series is of course Drag Race UK. Can we expect to see you on the judging panel any time soon?

The weird thing is, when they film, I’m not here. And my friend who wrote the theme tune to our show, he does work on that as well, Ian Masterson. I would love for it to happen, I’m just very strict about my work in what drags me away from family.

The Minogue sisters really seem out for all out gay domination, what will your next big gay move be?

I don’t know! I wish someone could tell me, I don’t know. But I’m open and I’m excited!

We can leave it on a cliffhanger!

You can watch the trailer for I Kissed a Girl here or below. 

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