Drag Race winner slams co-star’s claim her victory was due to ‘favouritism’
This Drag Race star wasn’t about to take the ‘favouritism’ claim on the chin. (BBC)
Priyanka, the winner of the inaugural series of Canada’s Drag Race, has responded to a co-star suggesting that she only won the show because of the judges’ “favouritism”.
Speaking to YouTuber Matthew Shepherd last week, JuiceBoxx, Canada’s first “pork-chop” queen – the first to be sent home in a franchise – suggested that Priyanka won the because the judges loved her.
“She works very hard and deserved the win, but I guess they really did love Priyanka. We’ve talked about that,” JuiceBoxx told Shepherd and Canada’s Drag Race season-two star, Synthia Kiss.
“She’s good TV and she worked. I’m not trying to take away from everything she worked hard for but they loved her.”
Referring to Priyanka’s silver look during the design challenge in episode four, JuiceBoxx said: “Remember that umbrella metal thing she wore? It was dog sh*t and they were like: ‘This is fashion’. I was like, ‘Babe, it’s garbage’. We look like garbage because you gave us garbage.”
She tried to temper her criticism by adding: “But she works very hard and she deserves her win, but yeah there was a little bit of favouritism there.”
Priyanka wasn’t going to take the criticism lying down, and branded her co-star’s comments “back-handed”.
Responding with a video on Instagram, she said: “This is actually crazy to hear. I mean first of all, JuiceBoxx…” then mimicked holding her lips closed with her fingers.
“When I got home from Drag Race, I remember saying to my mum that I for sure think Rita Baga is gonna win and I was so traumatised that I don’t think I’ll ever do it again,” she continued, referring to the season-one finalist.
“It’s wild to me to hear someone else’s perspective that I was favoured. That’s definitely not how it went down.
“I fought for my life on that show. I feel I was fairly judged. The design challenge was rogue but I modelled it really well and I served even though it looked like dog sh*t.”
Priyanka won two challenges, the girl group and makeover, but landed in the bottom two twice: during the snatch game and improvisation.
“Saying someone was favoured but they worked hard, so it’s fine, is a little bit back-handed. However, she did get sent home on a design challenge and she’s not booked, so I guess [it] would make sense that she would say that.”
Share your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below, and remember to keep the conversation respectful.
How did this story make you feel?
