TheGrio caught up with the latest stars of the popular reality competition show at the premiere in New York City.
Get ready to start your engines, because “RuPaul’s Drag Race” is back. Season 16 of the Emmy Award-winning reality competition series premieres Jan. 5 on MTV, and theGrio caught up with brand new queens on the red carpet at the New York City premiere.
During a “Premiere Extravaganza” kickoff at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on Jan. 4, attendees got a first look at the season 16 premiere episode before watching a fashion show featuring the competing queens. Before the events of the night, the contestants walked the red carpet, their first time taking center stage as the latest group of queens competing for the title of “America’s Next Drag Superstar.”
Xunami Muse, a contestant representing New York City, spoke to us about what surprised her the most about filming the series. Referring to the competition’s fast pace, Muse quipped, “The emphasis on ‘race’ is not a joke! We are like horses in there. It really is, ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race.’ Because of how fast things go as soon as you get in there, you really have to be emotionally and mentally prepared. You can’t second guess yourself.”
For Hershii LiqCour-Jeté of Los Angeles, the biggest surprise was “how small” the stage is. “I stepped out on the runway for the first time and was like, ‘Oh, this is not a lot of room!’” She added, “I’m like stomping down the runway about to fall off!” Miami’s Mhi’ya Iman Le’Paige spoke to the joy she had during the process, calling it, “so much fun.”
“You have to come into it with a mindset of winning and having fun and just being yourself,” she added. “In this season, the challenges are very intense. That is what separates us from other seasons.”
For Philadelphia’s Sapphira Cristál, she said what shocked her is how much “actually happens.” She explained, “You think, ‘Oh they edited it to look like that,’ but no, that s–t happened! That’s wild!”
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When describing the season in three words, the queen’s answers varied as they tried to summarize their life-changing experience. “Electric, passionate and shady,” Muse told us with a smile, while Le’Paige, perhaps had the most concise, cheeky answer of them all: “Gag after gag.”
The two-part “RuPaul’s Drag Race” premiere airs Friday, Jan. 5, at 8 p.m. on MTV.
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