By Christopher Rudolph
The bigger the hair the… harder the fall?
The queens were all treats and no tricks on this week’s episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race when they had to show off three frighteningly fierce looks at the Monster Ball.
Even though Ariel Versace is named for a Disney princess, the judges thought her mermaid runway look was more of a “meh-maid.” And after a dramatic fall during her lip sync, RuPaul asked the New Jersey-based queen to flip her fins, and sashay away.
We spoke with Ariel about watching her fall on national TV, whether being a social media queen is advantage on Drag Race, and why Little Mix needs to cut her a check.
MTV News: I saw you were at Roscoe’s last night for the viewing party. How was that?
Ariel Versace: It was good. I always love coming to Roscoe’s. It’s one of the most fun places, everyone is super welcoming. It’s always an honor to perform there.
MTV News: Were you nervous since you knew this was the episode where you went home?
Versace: I was nervous because obviously you are watching it in front of a crowd of people. But you just gotta keep it positive. Being on Drag Race was an amazing opportunity. Only one girl out of these 15 can win, so unfortunately it was just not my time, but that’s not going to stop me. I’m just going to keep on going. But the audience was super supportive last night, and I ended up having a really great time.
MTV News: You were critiqued by the judges for your signature silhouette and hair style, but a lot of queens have looks they are known for…
Versace: People fail to realize that I do run my own hair company with my partner. It’s RuPaul’s Drag Race, so obviously I brought the biggest hair that I have because that’s what you think of when you think of Ariel Versace. It’s a little upsetting to me because there are so many drag queens who have a style they’re known for… Even girls on my season had something that was signature to them, but I was always getting called out for mine. But I’m super proud of everything I brought and no one’s going to take that away from me.
MTV News: I have to ask about your fall. What was it like watching it? Were you dreading it?
Versace: I was dreading watching that lip sync. It felt like a nightmare because it happened so long ago, and then finally seeing it on TV, honestly, oddly enough, it felt like a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders. It wasn’t as bad as I remember it, so that was lovely. I’ve gotten a lot of feedback online, even people who aren’t “Team Ariel,” have said, “Girl, you still killed that lip sync. You got back up and you turned it out.” Any drag queen is lying if they say they haven’t fallen over in heels before. I’ve fallen over plenty of times, and this time just happened to be on national television.
MTV News: It seemed like you were made for that doll mini-challenge.
Versace: I was lowkey so pressed when I didn’t win that. I’m the life-size Bratz doll, how did I not take that challenge?
MTV News: Do you think it hurt you going into the competition known as a popular queen from social media?
Versace: It’s definitely the best and worst of both worlds because you go in having a little fanbase that’s rooting for you, but then you also have all these people asking, “Why’s she there? She’s just this girl from online who takes pictures of herself.” That’s the one thing that I wanted to shake, and I think that’s why I was so nervous going into the lip sync. I didn’t want to disappoint all of the people who were rooting for me. Social media is an amazing tool, but you’re always going to have the positive and negatives of having a big following because everyone wants to put their two cents in about everything.
MTV News: Of the remaining girls, who do you see going all the way to the finale?
Versace: Plastique’s my girl. She always looks gorgeous. I think the main challenge for her is she needs to show more of the personality that I know. She’s more on the shy side. Then on the opposite end of the spectrum is Yvie Oddly. Her drag is nothing like mine, but I think it’s something people have not seen a lot of on Drag Race. It’s something more fresh that people are being drawn towards because it’s cool and different. If Yvie keeps upping these runways she’s going to make it far.
MTV News: Any celebrity guest judges you’re dying to see?
Versace: They need to put Little Mix on Drag Race just because I want to meet them. I am obsessed with Little Mix. The U.S. is sleeping on them. They need to cut me a check for U.S. promotion for how much I’ve been talking about them.
RuPaul’s Drag Race airs Thursdays at 9/8c on VH1.
