Blackpool comedy drag performers to be spotlighted in new series of TV's Bargain Loving Brits by the Sea

Rio and River Slaney-Sanchez will be shown in an episode of the popular reality show, Bargain Loving Brits by the Sea, which is to be screened in just a few weeks’ time.

The pair will be seen shopping for wigs and extra costume items as they prepare for a show for a guest’s 40th birthday at the Mardi Gras Hotel on Lord Street, North Shore, where they stage a show on Saturday nights

The programme also includes clips from their lively and colourful stage routine, with its tongue-in-cheek and often risqué humour.

But tragically, a third member of the act, Phil Royle, who is featured in the programme, will not have the chance to see it after he fell ill and died from cancer on April 27, aged just 52.

Rio and River say the episode will be a fitting tribe to Phil and his life as an entertainer.

Bargain Loving Brits by the Sea is one of the most popular shows on Channel 5 and features the ups and downs of people making a living in the tourist industry in holiday resorts like Blackpool.

Decades in comedy drag act

Rio, 47, who is originally from Rotherham in South Yorkshire, has performed in drag cabaret for 24 years.

A former professional ice skater, he divides his time between making feather costumes for the entertainment industry and his comedy act with husband River, 52, who is also a graphic designer who originally came from Withernsea in East Yorkshire.

Rio said: “We got in touch with the producers to see if they thought we’d be a good subject for the show and they thought it would make a really good story.

"They really got involved and followed us as we prepared for a special show at the end of the week.

"All three of us had been in front of the cameras before so we were all quite natural and it was really good fun.

"It also shows us putting on our make-up and costumes as we prepare for the show, and tells how me and River first met.”

For several years all three had performed variations of the comedy routine in which Rio, as the character Delia in brilliantly vivid drag attire, would bicker comically with Phil’s equally flamboyant alter ego Phylis.

Audiences loved the drag queens’ ridiculously over-the-top falling outs.

River was the straight man trying to break up their arguments, while performing as a puppeteer and DJ, putting music to the backdrop video images on screen.

Phil didn’t realise how ill he was

Rio said: “On the last day of filming, in September, Phil felt really ill and later he ended up having to go to hospital.

"He’d felt off colour for a while but he had no idea anything was wrong with him, he didn’t realise how ill he was.

"So when they told him he had bladder cancer we were all shocked, it was horrendous.

"At first it seemed like he a good chance of recovering and he believed he could live for 10 or 15 years but it turned out to be worse than they thought and the next thing was, he was given just six months to live.

"It turned out he only had four months.

"This programme is a tribute to him and all the years he worked as an entertainer.”

Despite being devastated by his death, Rio and River have kept going with the routine, with straight man River playing off Rio’s larger-than-life comedy persona.

Rio and River, who have been together for 24 years but married for four, have been told the TV episode could be broadcast at the end of the month but they have not been given an exact date yet.

The pair will not be performing at the Mardi Gras this Saturday (May 13) because of the Eurovision Song Contest, but will be back next weekend – Saturday May 20- from 8.45pm.

Rio added: “River and me moved to Blackpool 16 years ago and it was definitely the right decision.

"The town’s shopping centre has declined, to be honest, but I’m optimistic about the regeneration. Blackpool is a unique place in the UK.”