DIVA caught up with this Welsh icon about her summer of love in the Masseria
BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGE BY BBC / TWO FOUR / JAMES STACK
I Kissed A Girl (IKAG) is all about exploring new things, learning about yourself and finding connections you may never look for in the outside world. That’s exactly what our Welsh self-professed nerd Elisha learnt very quickly in the Masseria.
Paired up with Nikita initially, Elisha went into the Masseria looking for a femme-for-femme princess she could fall in love with. This fairytale romance was potentially complicated when she found her head being turned for Elise. And, well, the rest is queerstory.
We caught up with Elisha to find out more about her time in the Masseria.
Why did you want to go on the show?
I applied last year because I haven’t really got any queer friends in my life. I thought it would be so lovely to be in an environment with so many queer people. I also wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone and tell myself that I can do it. [To show myself] you can have anxiety and have things you struggle with, but you can also go ahead with opportunities that you know will help you meet so many people.
What did you learn about yourself on the show?
Obviously, I went in saying that I was femme-for-femme. Whenever I had met girls in the past, it had been through dating apps or TikTok. I always said I was femme-for-femme because the girls I ended up speaking to were femme. I’ve never been in an environment where I’ve built connections with so many different types of queer people. And an environment where everyone is just so themselves and so free. It’s such a safe space, and it made me realise that your “type” can be fluid. Another thing I’ve taken away, [as someone with anxiety], is that your mind can be such a scary place. You have to go and just do it. You can be yourself – you can be the quiet, shy one – and people will still love you for you.
Why is representation so important?
You can’t be what you can’t see. I’ve had so many messages from younger queers, which makes me so emotional. People have said, “You’re such a girly girl. Watching you on there makes me hope that I can come out one day.” When I was younger, and I realised I liked girls, my first thought was that it was wrong. I didn’t see any [representation] anywhere else. To have a show that you can watch full of queer people shows how magical and amazing it is to be queer. Being queer is one of the best things about myself.
What’s it been like to see the response online to the first episodes?
When I watched the first episode, I was like, “What the hell? That’s me!” When I was there, I was so away with the fairies, so I’m watching it like a viewer. I forget that I’m actually on there. When I went to a watch party, and an episode ended on a cliffhanger, I was like, “Oh god, this is juicy!”
You can watch the first six episodes of IKAG on BBC iPlayer now.
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