Cock Destroyer Rebecca More on Slag Wars, sex work and Sophie Anderson’s legacy
Cock Destroyer Rebecca More is trying to define “big slag energy”.
After spending more than a decade in the professional adult film industry – she retired from studio work last year but still has an OnlyFans – no one who feels better equipped to explain it.
“Gosh,” she says, her south-east accent instantly recognisable to anyone who has had access to gay Twitter since 2018. “Big slag energy is just showing up, being your authentic self, whatever that may be.”
She’s calling on Zoom from her home studio, where she is often now found recording her podcast, Growth Fridays. The room is impressive: neon signage, jungle-print wallpaper, a gilded mirror. “I’ve had nothing but compliments about the background,” she says through rouge-painted lips, her cropped blonde hair slicked back.
We’re talking about Slag Wars, her sex-industry-based reality competition series on LGBTQ+ streaming service OUTflix, which has been – somewhat unexpectedly – green-lit for a second series. It’s a surprise for two reasons: one, it’s been four years since the first and reality TV often relies on frequency and consistency to survive.
The second reason is more tragic. Her co-host, and one half of the viral Cock Destroyers moniker, Sophie Anderson, died last November, aged just 36. More has a lot to say about her friend and why she rebooted the show.
Slag Wars is a simple premise. A cohort of queer performers from across the sex industry: porn actors, burlesque dancers, strippers, arrive at the “Slag House” where More sets them a series of kooky and kinky challenges. They earn points, and in episode seven, the finale, one is crowned the next viral queer legend.
This time around More is joined by gay porn star Matthew Camp and trans showgirl Fantasia Royale Gaga as co-hosts, while contestants range from an East London “alien bimbo” to a Los Angeles “gooning” specialist. It’s unlike any show before.
It’s a love letter of sorts to an industry that shaped the best part of More’s life. “I’m a sex-positive person through and through, I will be to the day I die. I will never turn my back on the sex industry. It always gets such a bad rap,” she says.
She’s fiercely protective of sex workers, and when she speaks of them, there’s pride in her voice.
More and Anderson made Slag Wars as a two-part mission. First off, it’s a riotously fun and silly time for viewers and contestants alike. “It’s all about enjoying your youth, doing what the hell you want, being crazy, destroying cocks. I think [it takes] the stigma and the seriousness out of this serious sex industry.”
But it is also about showing the human side of a group of workers whose time on the clock is so often spent being objectified. “We’re real people, we’re human beings,” More continues. “We are armed with a sense of humour, intelligence, running our own businesses. There’s so much to being a sex worker. Even if you’re a stripper, you’ve got to do your taxes.”
The sex industry is famously one of the most accepting and inclusive there is, while those outside it are often quick to judge and misinterpret it. Although More isn’t queer herself (Anderson identified as bisexual), her pull towards LGBTQ+ people is instinctive, because they too know what it’s like to be reviled and misunderstood.
Having a group of contestants who all identify as LGBTQ+ works a treat, and it’s clear when watching her interact with them that More is comfortable in their company. “I meet these contestants, and we’re kind of under the same umbrella straight away. We’ve got this common understanding,” she says. “We’re in this together.”
More describes herself as a motherly figure to those on the show. She wants them to feel safe and do well. “I’m old enough to be everyone’s mum now, that is the truth,” she points out. She turned 44 last month and knows being dubbed a “mother” by the LGBTQ+ community is a term of endearment.
“When I first got called [mother] I was like, I’m a bit young…” Her giggle erupts into full, joyous laughter. “I don’t mind it. It’s a big compliment, the ultimate compliment.”
It’s likely that she first got called mother in October 2018. More and Anderson were organising a gang bang, and needed a few more participants. How did they find them? Through a now-legendary video clip, opening with More drawling: “Hi guyyyyyys…”
The pair went on to proclaim themselves Cock Destroyers – “Cock f**king Destroyers” – who were gasping to “despunk them f**king balls”. It was camp, it was theatrical, it was Madonna and Lady Gaga… if Madonna and Lady Gaga were sex workers holed up together in a London hotel room.
To say the gays of the internet loved it – however they initially found it – is an understatement. It’s the video that launched a thousand memes, a Drag Race band, a one-off Netflix sex education show, and, obviously, Slag Wars.
The duo continued with a stream of content geared towards their gay fans, with their quotes – “Let’s destroy them,” “A day of rest… but not for me,” and “F**k! It’s a Sunday,” – making their way into the queer lexicon. The last of those, from Anderson, still gets posted online weekly, prompting thousands of reactions.
“It’s a love like no other,” says More of her connection with the online queer community. “We were absolutely blown away by the love we felt. It’s a huge vibration and it continues.”
Before the Cock Destroyers were formed, their fans, if you can call them that, were just horny straight men. Queer people showered them with an appreciation they had never experienced before. “People were so proud of us, and we weren’t used to that. We’ll never forget that feeling.”
It’s poignant to hear More mention her former co-host as though she’s still here, and she announced Anderson’s death in an Instagram post in December. “This is so tragic but I know you are now at peace. I will always, always love you and hold a special place in my heart,” she wrote.
Although the pair had fallen out and the Destroyers disbanded in 2021, More had kept tabs on how Anderson’s life was unfolding. More recently, a reunion was in the works and Anderson was going to return as a co-host on Slag Wars.
It was “so close” to happening, More says, but during the week they were set to film, with cast and crew ready to go, Anderson’s life hit turbulence and she pulled out.
In season two’s first competitive episode, More opens up about intense feelings of self-doubt, and wondering whether she should be doing Slag Wars at all. Anderson dropping out had evidently unsettled her. “I didn’t know whether she was going to come or not,” she says. “It was very difficult. It still is very difficult to talk about. It was…” she trails off and starts to cry.
The circumstances surrounding Anderson’s death are harrowing, and it feels inappropriate to bring them up.
Anderson’s partner, fellow adult-film star Oliver Spedding, had died just two weeks before her, and an inquest into both of their deaths will reportedly take place in November.
At the time, there was an outpouring of grief from LGBTQ+ fans, and stars who had either been touched by Anderson in real-life, or who felt they knew her personally, such was her vibrant, live-and-let-live personality.
More takes a moment and collects herself. She wants to talk about her friend, and to remind fans that the new season of Slag Wars will dedicated to Anderson’s memory, as well as being a quiet statement about mental health.
“We have to talk about these things and know that there is help for people.” she says. “You can talk to somebody.
“I wish things had been different. I really wish we’d got the big reunion and I’d got to see my friend again but, sadly, that didn’t happen.”
There will be one big change in season two of the show. There will no eliminations, all the contestants will stay until the final episode. It’s a change that Anderson had called for during season one, kicking off at the prospect of having to send contestants home because she loved them all so much.
It wasn’t until More watched season two back that she realised Anderson had got her wish. “I know, I didn’t even bloody [realise],” she says. “As I watched it, I was going: ‘How the f**k did I not [realise]’. That’s all she ever wanted.”
More thinks her former co-host would’ve loved how season two has turned out. “I think she would be deeply proud,” she adds.
As the first anniversary of Anderson’s death draws close, More is keen to focus on the joy she brought to the world. “I look back at all of our old stuff, and that’s the Sophie I’ll always remember. She’s so funny. We had this great energy.”
But she has trouble picking one moment as her favourite. “There [are] so bloody many,” but, in the end, it’s that first video which can never be topped.
“I will never lose the feeling we had together on that day. It was a special moment between me and Sophie and we had the most incredible three years together, such a wonderful relationship. I will miss her very much. I still miss her. I love her dearly.”
The first episode of season two of Slag Wars will drop on OUTflix on Tuesday (17 September), with new episodes weekly after that.
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