‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’: Spice Felt Like A ‘Little Producer’ With Her On-Screen Antics

The category is … 200 episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race eleganza!

Last week’s installation of the hit reality show (aired Friday, Feb. 24) marked the series’ 200th episode! To celebrate such a milestone, Drag Race decided to throw a good, old-fashioned ball, tasking the remaining queens to showcase three distinct looks — a racing suit, an outfit inspired by one of the past ball challenges, and a crystallized look they had to make in the work room — in the first-ever Crystal Ball.

The front-runners of the season managed to stun the judges yet again, with Sasha Colby earning her second challenge win, while Anetra and Mistress Isabelle Brooks achieved high marks. Meanwhile, the judges remained unimpressed with the looks turned by Salina EsTitties and Spice, locking the pair into a Lip Sync For Your Life to Lil Nas X’s “That’s What I Want.” Salina managed to wow with her emotional performance, meaning Spice was sent packing to reunite with her sister, Sugar.

Billboard caught up with Spice following her elimination to talk about performing as a solo act for the first time on the show, how she approached the competition as a “producer,” and why she “never really cared” about Michelle Visage’s critiques regarding her iconic runway trot.

Congrats on making it this far into the season! How are you feeling about your time on the show?

I’m loving it, and I’m cringing, and I’m crying, and I’m laughing — it’s a full rollercoaster, for sure. I’m sure it’s not as weird for me as some of the other girls, because I’m just so used to watching myself back on camera and editing videos and all of that. But, of course TV’s different because you’re not in control of all of that, so it’s more like, “Oh, what are they gonna use?” I feel like me and Sugar gave them truly so much material, that there’s so many moments that ended up getting cut that made us go, “No, that moment was amazing!” But, it’s not the Sugar & Spice Show. 

With this being a massive milestone as the show’s 200th episode, what was the vibe like on set? Were there any big celebrations or anything?

Yeah, it was really fun! Before we all did the runway, they came out with this cake and we all got to take a picture. It was giving birthday bash extravaganza realness. I don’t think I even got to have a piece of the cake, but it looked cute! 

Let’s rewind for a little bit and go back to the moment that Sugar got sent home — while you were competing against one another, you two clearly had plans for the rest of the season together. What was the biggest challenge for you with Sugar not being there?

It was truly just feeling bad that she wasn’t there — we’d be doing the girl group challenge, and I was like, “Oh my god, Sugar would be slaying right now.” Or we’d be doing the design challenge, and she sews, and I was like, “She would be eating these girls up right now.” It was a lot of FOMO for her end. When she went home, of course I was sad that she left, but I was mostly the angry upset fan for her; I’m her biggest fan, so I was like that mad fan on Twitter riding for their fave. 

There was a lot that went down after she went home that no one needs to know — I had a little bit of a breakdown. Now, there were rumors that I shut down the set for three days, and I was like, “Babes, that’s hilarious, no one on cast has the power to do that.” But I did have a little breakdown, for sure, but we had a three-day weekend, I got refreshed, and we picked it back up. 

Last episode also saw the iconic moment where Anetra spared you in the final Lalaparuza lip sync, saying she didn’t think it was fair to lip sync against you. How’d you feel when you saw that?

Oh, I was absolutely living for it. I told Anetra and I told all of the girls, “I am not offended if you want to lip sync against me — this is what y’all do, this is not my wheelhouse.” Like, all of those girls were going to beat me in a lip sync. If they didn’t, that would be very embarrassing for them — and I’m not gonna lie, I actually came kind of close to winning some of those, so that’s … that’s saying a lot. [laughs] That’s when you know. But we all have different areas of expertise, and I love and respect what the girls do. 

When Anetra saved me, I was so gagged. And her saying that it was unfair to lip sync against me? I completely agree! Look at what she can do — I can’t even bend down and touch my toes! I feel like she was like, “We are giving her one more life.” Sugar said in her song “A bimbo never dies,” and she was right, I guess … well, eventually she died … wait, no, I didn’t die!! 

In the last design challenge, you mentioned that Sugar was the seamstress amongst the two of you, and you had planned on designing the looks while Sugar would actually construct them. How did you imagine that strategy working?

That was 100% our plan from the beginning. We were being little producers, Ms. Sugar and Spice — we were saying, “Oh, that would be hilarious, let’s lean into it; I’ll design, you’ll make it, and it will get all of the other girls mad that we’re working as a team.” We wanted to kind of start a little drama by doing all of that, and I feel like that would have been so fun. God, there were so many moments that could have happened with Sugar being there more.

Well, in the great tradition of the ball challenge, there are occasionally some seamstress queens who like to help out with those who might be struggling — did anyone come to your aid during this challenge?

Oh yeah, for sure. Especially for that first design challenge, I was kind of doing it all by myself, but Luxx finished quick — my “barely there” skirt I had, she helped me sew those pieces together. So, if you’re reading, thank you Luxx. 

When it comes to the runway, did you ever find yourself getting annoyed at Michelle’s fixation on your little trot? 

Honestly? No shade to her, but I never really cared what she said about the trotting. It just went in one ear and out the other, I was like, “This is just fodder, she’s getting her soundbite for TV.” I fully planned to trot off the stage regardless of what happened. I was like, “Baby, don’t give me more material, because I am definitely going to do it now.” 

If you had the chance to go back into season 15 and do it all over again, is there anything you feel like you’d want to do differently?

No, I wouldn’t change a thing  — it was meant to be how it was meant to be, it was already done, it was already in the cards. Especially on something like reality TV, you’re not in control, so you just sort of have to roll with the punches. I feel like I made the best out of every situation. I was … very aware of what time it was on this episode, if that makes sense. I easily understood my role, if you will. So, I leaned into that, and had the absolute most fun with it.

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