Introducing Amin Falah. Aka Amiri The Villain, aka ROMEO’s Content Creator… aka the star on the latest season of the Dutch reality show, “De Verraders.” Now that’s a resumé. Amin wears many hats—and wigs—and there’s nothing not to love about his story! This is his life, narrated in his own words.
Hey everyone!
My name is Amin; I am 24 years old. I recently moved to the Amsterdam area, but I was born and raised in Rotterdam. I have always been interested in films, fashion, make-up, and basically all things creative since I was very young. The same goes for social media; when Instagram started in 2013, I was immediately active on the platform.
Queen of memorable moments
There are a lot of memorable ROMEO moments I can think of. The one that stays with me is when I almost missed the Pride boat last year during the Amsterdam Canal Parade. I helped organize our boat for months.
At that time, I still lived in Rotterdam, 80 km from the meeting point. I’d gotten ready in drag very early in the morning and made it a few seconds before the boat set sail. With my big drag suitcase and everything. It was a miracle!
Another memorable moment is the “Oversharing” reel I filmed with my colleague last year, which went completely viral. 2.4 million views on Instagram. 🤯 It’s crazy because, during the recording, we just mostly improvised. I didn’t expect we would reach so many people, but here we are!
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Amiri: she’s a Villain
Drag ‘officially’ started for me two years ago when I bought a wig and started doing drag makeup seriously. That’s when Amiri The Villain was born. But the truth is, it goes even further back than that.
I was always obsessed with female artists. Toni Braxton, Lil’ Kim, Christina Aguilera. I always knew I wanted to perform as a woman, but I didn’t want to be a woman. When I was 8, I went to a theater school and starred in various productions. I didn’t really like the theater vibe, but I just love performing so much.
When I was twelve, I started experimenting with special effects makeup and, later, beauty makeup. This helped me take my first steps into drag. I love entertaining people and making them gag.
The future of my drag career is really quite open. I want to continue performing and hosting events that I like. I also want to become more active in creating online content in drag.
Homophobia is real
I have been dealing with homophobia since I was young. I was a flamboyant child, which meant that everyone assumed I was gay before I even knew what that meant. I never saw it as something negative, so I never understood the problem.
As I got older, I increasingly had to deal with violence on the streets. Because I was active on social media at such an early age, many people felt free to tell me what they thought about me. In some cases, I’ve even had to defend myself on the street.
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I am really immune to people’s reactions. I don’t care what anyone thinks about me. I don’t expect respect from anyone—because I respect myself. I don’t need someone else’s validation to be who I want to be.
This also works the other way around. For example, it is always nice to receive a compliment from someone. But if that is really what makes you feel validated, then you need to reevaluate your self-esteem. It’s the same with negative comments.
Of course, that doesn’t change the fact that homophobia just sucks. And no one likes to feel unsafe in public.
Participating in “De Verraders”
I’ve recently been cast in the Dutch TV program “De Verraders,” or “The Traitors,” which is out now! The show’s about a group of candidates, divided into the traitors and the faithfuls, competing for a stack of silver bars. The traitors have the option to ‘kill’ other participants at night, forcing them to leave the program immediately.”
It was such a special experience. Traveling to the south of France with 21 participants whom I don’t know, to sleep in a castle and play a game of lies and deception? Yes, please.
The production process was pretty intense. But I found having no phone to be surprisingly nice. I’m normally glued to my phone, but during production, you’re kept busy by the long days.
I did bring a book and an MP3 player along. I also brought a porn magazine with me, you know, ‘just in case’ (hahah!) The truth is, though, I had no libido while filming. But, of course, there were some cute crew members. If I had to choose, I’d maybe pick one of the sound engineers?
The group of contestants was very diverse. I was curious to see how I would fit in with everyone. I often appear as quite theatrical to others or perhaps as someone who pretends to be that way. I made sure to be reserved initially because everyone still has to get to know you, and you don’t want the group to throw you out based on your personality.
You’ll have to see how this turns out in the end! 😜
We’re rooting for our Amin on “De Verraders,” and if you want to see more of him, you can always check out his content on our Instagram.