<img src="https://img.lemde.fr/2023/09/19/0/0/1000/1500/664/0/75/0/3fdb44b_301784-3339108.jpg" srcset=" https://img.lemde.fr/2023/09/19/0/0/1000/1500/556/0/75/0/3fdb44b_301784-3339108.jpg 556w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/09/19/0/0/1000/1500/600/0/75/0/3fdb44b_301784-3339108.jpg 600w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/09/19/0/0/1000/1500/664/0/75/0/3fdb44b_301784-3339108.jpg 664w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/09/19/0/0/1000/1500/700/0/75/0/3fdb44b_301784-3339108.jpg 700w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/09/19/0/0/1000/1500/800/0/75/0/3fdb44b_301784-3339108.jpg 800w" sizes="(min-width: 1024px) 556px, 100vw" alt="In early September, Sammy Mahdi won the " make="" up="" your="" mind"="" competition."="" width="100%" height="auto">
On the evening of September 8, he was Cindy Envy. And, on the set of the private Flemish channel VTM, he caused a sensation, dressed as a drag queen on the show Make Up Your Mind, imported from the Netherlands. He even won the contest. But what really stunned the two juries – one made up of professional drag queens, the other of Flemish celebrities – was that behind this drag queen in an orange dress was actually Sammy Mahdi, president of the Christian-Democrat and Flemish party (CD&V). This center-right formation – whose elected representatives in Strasbourg are members of the European People's Party (EPP), alongside the French Les Républicains (LR, right-wing) and the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU, center right) – has a conservative electorate.
If appearances on a drag race show by LR's Brice Hortefeux or the EPP's François-Xavier Bellamy and Manfred Weber seem unlikely, the appearance of the president of the CD&V which, since the 1970s, has produced seven Belgian prime ministers, apparently didn't shake viewers too much. Attacks by a member of the far-right Vlaams Belang party (Flanders' most popular party at the moment, according to opinion polls) even before the program aired did not prevent it from becoming a success.
No less than 700,000 people tuned into the show, ignoring the criticism of those who see Make Up Your Mind as a threat to traditional values. "It's a feel-good program for the whole family, with the message that everyone should be able to be who they want to be," explained VTM's on-air director, without confirming whether the show would be renewed despite its high ratings.
Mahdi took a few risks, lining up in drag alongside a former football player-turned-consultant, a news anchor, and a singer. Some of the audience may have struggled to understand the point of his performance, others may have wondered whether it was really the role of an MP and party leader to be there, and still others may have recalled that, when he held the post of Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration between 2020 and 2022, he didn't show any particular leniency towards LGBTQ+ asylum seekers.
Mahdi explained afterwards why he wanted to support the show's "societal message." "Drag shows are banned in Tennessee, and in Italy, they're banned on TV," he explained. "Many of our acquired rights are sometimes called into question. Today, it's drag shows, tomorrow, maybe it'll be gay marriage. We have to keep fighting this battle, and if I can do it in 20-centimeter heels, it's a pleasure."
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