Copyright manchestereveningnews
Drag queen Baga Chipz has been branded "iconic" by fans after revealing this year's "epic" Halloween costume. Baga Chipz, also known as Leo Loren or Mark Botfield, shot to fame when they competed in the first UK version of RuPaul's Drag Race in 2019, and later appeared on spin-off show RuPaul's Drag Race UK vs. the World. The 35-year-old took to Instagram on Wednesday, October 29, to share her Halloween costume, which will be instantly recognisable by Mancs everywhere. She posted: "Halloween look 1. I didn’t know what to go as so I just went as that girl who went on the rob in the Arndale centre, pulled some girls hair then went down the escalator unbothered." Back in summer this year, a series of videos went viral on social media at the weekend supposedly showing a young girl causing ‘chaos’ at the Arndale shopping centre in Manchester. In multiple videos, a young girl was seen climbing on top of an escalator, being escorted by security guards, and allegedly pulling the hair of another shopper whilst inside the Manchester shopping centre. Baga Chipz has shared a picture of herself on an escalator, carrying a Kurt Geiger bag, wearing a pink coat and a golden-coloured wig. People flooded to the comments to hail the move "iconic" as Layton Williams commented: "This is epic hahahah", and Rebecca Crow said: "Iconic." One fan commented: "THIS IS TOO GOOD", and another person said: "brilliant, the Arndale Centre beats the Trafford centre every day of the week", pitting two Manchester shopping centres against each other. The clips that surfaced earlier this year were thought to begin with a young girl in a pink coat and her family arguing with a group of security staff outside a shop, alongside another group of shoppers. It is not clear what is being said but it has been alleged online that the girl and her family were being accused of shoplifting and security can be seen separating the two groups of shoppers away from each other. As the clip continues, the girl and her family walk away, before another young girl throws an unknown item in the direction towards where the security guards and the other group of shoppers are standing. The series of videos garnered mixed attention with people both hailing the young girl as a ‘diva’ and others criticising her actions. One person commented on the video: “the pink jacket girl CLIMBING OVER the escalator, going back down it, & then going back up just gag her is frying me like WHO IS THIS DIVA LMFAOOO.” Although the videos resurfaced this year, Manchester Evening News was able to verify that the original videos were first posted on TikTok in March 2022 by @dreams_dreams24. The same user has recently reposted the videos, which has garnered more attention to the clips with 'pink coat girl' now becoming a viral topic on TikTok. A spokesperson for Manchester Arndale told the Manchester Evening News: “We’re aware of a video that has been recently circulated on social media, which shows an altercation that took place in Manchester Arndale and was attended by members of our Security team. "Following a review of the footage, we can confirm that this is a historic incident that occurred several years ago.”
