Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Season 9 of RuPaul’s Drag Race kicked off on a new network (VH1) and a new night (Fridays!), and with the biggest twist of all: Lady Gaga herself was on hand for the first episode and judges the queens in their very first runway challenge. The season premiere saw the queens stomp the runway twice, once in a look inspired by their hometown and once in a Lady Gaga tribute look. No queens were eliminated, though, and after Cynthia Lee Fontaine was named the surprise 14th queen, the queens had a proper elimination challenge. After learning and performing cheer routines in teams, then walking the runway in their best white-party looks, Valentina took the win, while Jaymes Mansfield was sent sashaying away.
It was a whirlwind first two episodes, and Decider got a chance to two of the surviving queens about it: Sasha Velour and Aja. Sasha and Aja are both Brooklyn queens, though they never properly met until they did a drag show together in Austin. They’re two of a whopping four New York queens on the show this season (along with Peppermint and Alexis Michelle). They talked about what a whirlwind the Lady Gaga challenge was, how surprised they were by the winner of the cheerleader challenge, and which queen taught them to speed up their painting skills.
RuPaul’s Drag Race airs Friday nights at 8pm on VH1.
Decider.com: Is it more important to be a versatile queen who can do a little bit of everything — comedy, performance, dance, face, sewing — or to be superior at one specific genre of drag? And is that different in the real world versus on RuPaul’s Drag Race?
Aja: I think it’s different. I think in real life, it’s better to be versatile and be good at everything. But I think on Drag Race, especially, you can be versatile, but you have to have at least one thing you’re really good at, because that one thing might make or break you. There have just been so many great characters on drag race, like Thorgy, who was a jack of all trades, but she wasn’t really a master of one. She got cut because of that.
Decider.com: You can get so far, but maybe not to the end.
Aja: You have to master one thing in the end. Even the beauty! Beauty on Drag Race takes you a long way.
Sasha: It does. And I feel like the challenge is to always stick out, which is difficult when you’re in a lineup of queens. And you can do it by being really versatile and skilled at a lot of different things, or you can do it by being weird at a lot of things. Or being a ham or awkward or something. I think it’s all about making an impression that’s unforgettable.
Decider.com: What are some things that happened in the first two challenges that didn’t make it into the episodes but you were hoping we’d see?
Sasha: Oh! [both laugh] What about the first challenge? I barely remember it because it was all filmed in one day, from us entering, which was stressful, to us meeting Lady Gaga.
Aja: I remember everything!
Sasha: Okay, girl!
Aja: I was really sick the first day, but I remember Nina [Bo’Nina Brown] freaking out so bad.
Decider.com: Over Lady Gaga?
Aja: No! Because we had twenty minutes to change! I think all of us were like, “You’re fine, nobody’s going home, relax.” [The viewers] didn’t really get to see how much she freaked out. Actually, everyone was freaking out.
Sasha: Everyone was freaking out. I didn’t even see it, because I was too busy constructing my garment. Because we had to unpack and then finish whatever details we had left on our home state look in about 20 minutes. I think it might’ve been like 40 minutes, but …
Aja: … it felt like five.
Sasha: Beginning with all our suitcases in a pile.
Aja: And racing to them.
Sasha: And racing to them.
Decider.com: What’s one comment or piece of advice from a judge or even a fellow queen that’s stuck with you?
Sasha: I have one, which is that Trinity Taylor was one of the fastest people at literally everything but especially at painting. Like, the perfect beat. And she challenged us to race ourselves when it comes to painting. To go home and practice and try to paint a full face in 20 minutes. Try to paint it in 15 minutes. Try to beat your friends for painting. At the time I was like, “No! This is my precious ritual where I become this magical being.” But actually, I’ve done some of my best paints trying to race myself. Because you’re not precious about it, which is important, because we shouldn’t be precious about it.
Aja: Oh, Valentina couldn’t be the least bit bothered.
Sasha: Oh, I know, Valentina will never try that.
Aja: Valentina took the longest while Trinity took the shortest. So that challenge was initially [for] Valentina, ’cause she was always the last one ready.
MOST LIKELY TO…
Decider.com: Which of this season’s queens is most likely to cry at the drop of a hat?
Aja: Farrah.
Sasha: Or Eureka.
Aja: Farrah or Eureka.
Sasha: Farrah is just like a sensitive little woodland creature. She couldn’t hold anything in. If she was feeling frustrated she had to let it out, if she had to pee, she could not hold it. She’s very delicate.
Decider.com: Most likely to sing Beyoncé in the workroom like Tyra Sanchez?
Sasha: Which would be badly and off tune, right? [laughs]
Aja: I don’t think any of us really were Beyoncé fans.
Sasha: We were really mindful of music rights. It’s a good way to communicate in code, just sing it to a Beyoncé song.
Aja: We did ask a couple times, like, ‘Can we sing?’ And they’re like, “No.”
Decider.com: That was a 30 Rock one time, where Liz and Tracy are in a fight, and they’re doing it with copyrighted songs.
Sasha: Yes!
Aja: Yes!
Decider.com: Who was the most likely to talk back to a judge on the runway?
Sasha: [laughs]
Aja: I don’t want to say it’s me.
Sasha: I don’t think it was you, you’re very respectful.
Aja: Charlie!
Sasha: It probably was Charlie. But you know, it was Peppermint backstage who would always talk back. Peppermint knows how things should happen. Because she’s been in the business and she’s made up her mind, and she also hadn’t watched that much of the show? So she always had a very honest take on things.
Decider.com: Did Peppermint take over when it was “Untucked” time?
Sasha: Not too much, it was more …
Aja: … it was me. I was always really obnoxious on “Untucked.” Not ’cause I tried to, but [it’s] just my personality. [laughs]
Decider.com: Who is the most likely to get voted head cheerleader after that cheer challenge?
Aja: Valentina.
Sasha: Valentina I guess, yeah. But maybe … Shea, too.
Aja: Shea.
Sasha: Shea had the best moves.
Decider.com: Shea killed that challenge.
Aja: Yeah, we unanimously were all kind of weirded out that Shea didn’t win.
Decider.com: Well, you see that in the “Untucked,” where everybody was like, “Shea won this thing, right?”
Aja: But Valentina was beautiful.
Sasha: Well, it’s ’cause Valentina was serving that campy smile the whole time, which we couldn’t see.
Aja: It’s funny, ’cause it’s a beautiful smile, but if you hold it too long, it becomes murderous. [laughs]
Sasha: Valentina’s definitely between a supermodel and a serial killer. [laughs]
Aja: That’s actually very accurate.
Sasha: I don’t think she’d even object to that.
Aja: She’d say … she’d have something to say.
Decider.com: How often would it be that you would think you knew what the judges were going to come back with, and then you’d go back out there and it’d be completely different.
Sasha: Often. Just you wait. [laughs] There were several times that we were shocked by what the judges said. And we made it known.
Aja: Episode three is going to be perfect proof of that, in many ways.
Sasha: A lot of people were surprised.
Aja: We were all very surprised at the outcome. We were all very shocked. We were in “Untucked” having a few moments.
