Thursday night’s (March 1) episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars was one of the most shocking in the franchise’s herstory.
While we knew a twist was coming in the form of a Handmaid’s Tale parody, no one was prepared for the episode’s final twist — not even RuPaul, according to competitor Trixie Mattel. After winning the night’s challenge, the show’s clear frontrunner BenDeLaCreme opted to send herself home rather than eliminate one of her drag sisters from the competition.
In an exclusive interview with Billboard Pride, Trixie Mattel, the drag star recounted what went down behind the scenes — and also talked about her mortifying encounter with guest judge Adam Lambert (“I haven’t been that humiliated by a guy in eyeliner since I was at the MAC counter.”).
Hey, Trixie.
Did you watch Drag Race last night? Are you shook AF? Are you shook AF.org/gov? .GIF .EDU.
I’m so shook! But first, why does Adam Lambert hate you?
That is so funny because I just turned to my boyfriend and I said, “Can I ask you a question? Why does Adam Lambert deliberately try to come and snatch my wig and my edges?” I’m sorry, when a drag queen looks you square in the eyes and makes a joke about gender roles, it’s a f—ing joke, Linda. I haven’t been that humiliated by a guy in eyeliner since I was at the MAC counter.
The other problem is if he did think I was stand-offish, he’s also stunning. So if anything I was probably just paralyzed by how sexual he is in real life, he’s so hot. I didn’t think he was hot when he was like, you know, his American Idol days or whatever, but when I saw him in real life I was like, “Oh my god, you’re like a sex machine.”
But I’m bummed, because I feel like I could have possibly come out topping that challenge if I wouldn’t have gotten that negative critique but you know what? He’s out to end me and everything I stand for and that’s his prerogative.
Ha! So I’m curious, was there any tension on set after DeLa was eliminated?
Well, it wasn’t tension as much as it was just… I was dumbfounded. When somebody’s that resolute about what they want, you can’t really be sad about it. You’re like, “Alright girl, this is what you want.” Also, she’s my friend, but I’m trying to win. It was like Seabiscuit stopped running the race, and I’m the one legged mule on the back like, “Yes, yes, yes.” You know? If you want to leave, leave. I’m over here trying to get my life together, you know.
So it sort of gave you hope that you could win this thing?
Yeah, there’s a lot of hope. I mean, it was kinda awkward because you could tell RuPaul and nobody there knew it was coming. And that she really caught them off guard.
Wait, so they kept it from Ru?
I think they did.
Oh.
I didn’t know. I had no idea. I remember talking to her after the fact she was like, “You couldn’t tell? I was like teletyping with my eyelids telling you that I was leaving. “And I was like, “Bitch, I couldn’t tell at all.”
That’s amazing. So you weren’t the one that gave her the white out then?
No. Thorgy gave her the white out. Thorgy painted her nails with white out because she’s a homeless, dumpster person. And then, Ben was like, “Can I use that white out?” That’s literally what happened.
Trixie Mattel’s new album, One Stone, is out March 16 and available for preorder now.
