This article contains spoilers on who was eliminated from season six of Canada’s Drag Race, episode five.
This week’s episode of Canada’s Drag Race saw the remaining queens testing the waters of daytime television. Working in groups, they’d be hosting a daytime talk show with segments to spill the tea, have heart-to-hearts, and interview celebrity guest (and this week’s special guest judge) Kiesza.
While the interview group (PM, Velma, and Sami), and tea talk group (Eboni, Van, and Mya) deliver “made for tv segments,” The Realness segment (Dulce, Karamilk, and Saltina) derails fast and spirals into a really serious, and boring volley of opinions. Unsurprisingly the whole Realness group lands in the bottom with Sami Landri taking the top spot and the beaver into Untucked.
Backstage the bottom three plead their case, and there’s no clear frontrunner, but on the main stage Sami presents immunity to Saltina, meaning Karamilk and Dulce are both up for elimination. The two bottom queens lip sync to Kiesza’s “Dancing and Crying” and even hit a dip at the same time which everyone was gagging over. In the end it’s Karamilk who is given another chance, and Dulce is asked to shantay away.
Each week 29Secrets will be interviewing the eliminated queen. In an interview with Dulce, she opens up about how her military background helped her in the drag space, the trials and tribulations of being a plus size queen, and the regrets she has post-season.
In last night’s episode you revealed that you used to be in the military, and I wanna know what skills from that time in your life do you think make you a better drag queen?
Definitely getting ready quick, like I can get into drag like makeup in 45 minutes. I do it very quickly compared to other queens, definitely that I think also just having resilience. I was very openly queer when I was in the military as well, so I feel like having faced some judgment around that time. Also, I think going into the sequester for the show as well. I think other girls might have found it a little bit hard not being with their phones or whatever, but when I did my courses and stuff that were like two weeks or a month long, we did the exact same thing. So, I kind of already knew what was coming and it definitely helped me in that sense.
So, being in the military was like bootcamp for Drag Race?
Yeah! I was like, “I’m ready”.
You live in London.
Yes.
But you travel all over to perform. So, I want know what your, where your favourite place to perform is and why.
Toronto easily. I think I perform in Toronto way more than I perform in London. I perform in London maybe like once or twice a month. I live there. but I consider myself a Toronto working queen. I do all my shows here. I do the brunches here. I do the bars here. This is mainly where I work. Most of my friends live here. London’s, just where I live.
Looking back at your performance in challenges this season, was there something that you would’ve changed that you think could have maybe altered the fate of your place in the competition?
I think in the most recent episode, the one where I went home, I think I just misunderstood the challenge a little bit, to be honest. I think when they explained it to us, they said to just be yourself. Don’t be a character. Have fun. Don’t swear. You know, like, pretend you’re actually on a TV show. And I think for a moment I forgot that it is also Drag Race. I was just very much myself, like very much how I would be in an interview.
I would change it, now obviously, knowing what I know, but in that moment, I truly did think I was doing the best. I thought I was winning that week. Like, I thought I did well for how I understood the challenge. Looking back at it now, I can understand why. Maybe it wasn’t as entertaining as the other segments, but while we were filming, I really did think I was doing it the right way, honestly.
All of the lip syncs this season have been so good. What is your favorite trick to pull out when you’re performing?
I would say it’s a good split. I feel like oftentimes people don’t think that I can do a split, you know? The pre-judgment is always there. So, I think going into a split for an audience that people don’t know me, they’ll definitely always gag. It’s definitely like something they love.
You describe yourself as a “high energy plus size diva.” First off, from one plus size diva to another, thank you for the representation. Being a plus size queen, I want to know what are some things that you deal with that maybe straight size queens would be surprised to know?
Oh girl! We could go on for hours. How about this? I think, at least for me personally, finding outfits is a little bit hard sometimes. Even the outfit that I lip synced, the comedy challenge, those are the ones I made. I make most of my outfits to perform because that allows me to wear what I want. I feel like if I want something, I have to get it custom made. Because I can’t, you know, just get it.
Also, a lot of drag queens share their drag and stuff, but not that many are plus size. So even going into the show, a lot of people are like, “borrow some drag.” And I’m like, “borrow from who?” There’s not that many people that are my size or things like that.
I still think there’s a lot of fatphobia in drag. When I started drag, I felt like myself being treated differently than my other peers. I have seen and still sometimes see people who I’ve done competitions with several times and won, still get other opportunities that I don’t get. So, for the longest time I thought, okay, “well if I do these competitions, if I approve. That I can be the best, among the best, then they’ll accept me.” And that’s not the case.
I feel like sometimes even event producers will hire queens sometimes for what they look like out of drag even, which I think is not only shady, but it’s also a little inappropriate for them to book like that. And that’s no hate to the girls that are getting booked because girl, get that booking! I think fatphobia is very much present in the queer community, and I don’t feel like I’m always given the same respect that other people are.
If you could go back and give the pre-Drag Race version you a piece of advice, what would you tell her?
Oh God! I would say to have more fun with it. You know? Make more jokes, really live in the moment and just enjoy it as much as you can while you’re there. And make alliances. Make alliances with everyone! (laughs).
You got to do a lot of the iconic challenges, but I’m wondering if there was one that you were really looking forward to that you didn’t get to compete in?
The lip sync slayoffs! I wanted to do that so bad. And then of course, it’s the week right after I leave. I was really sad I didn’t get to do that one. I feel like the lip sync that I did show was really good.
With a season of Drag Race behind you, I wanna know, where do you want to see yourself in a year?
I wanna see myself booked! I wanna keep on working, I wanna keep on traveling. I want to perform in Mexico so bad! That’s one of my dreams. I was born there, I have citizenship, I have, you know, everything, so I’m good to legally work there. I want to work there so bad! I think one of my main goals is to get to Mexico.
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- Follow all of our weekly Canada’s Drag Race interviews for season six right here.
