Canada’s Drag Race icon Pythia’s return to the Drag Race franchise came with one of its most unusual track records.
After winning the first challenge of Canada’s Drag Race: All Stars, the Canada’s Drag Race Season 2 finalist was eliminated the following week when the Golden Beaver twist put her fate in the hands of her fellow queens.
In an exit interview with BLKCinema.com, Pythia opened up about her rare “WIN-ELIM” run, whether the other queens targeted her as a major threat, landing in the bottom with Tiffany Ann Co. and Makayla Couture and what could be next for her beyond the show.
Pythia calls her ‘WIN-ELIM’ track record ‘iconic’
“Honestly, it’s so funny,” Pythia said when talking about her track record. “And honestly, my boyfriend was talking to me about this too. The moment I came back, obviously I told him everything, and he was like, ‘I think you’re the only queen in the franchise that has had a WIN-ELIM. And then we did some research and, like you said, Tatianna is another one, but I think she comes back and is like a high or a low and then win or elim again. So me, I’m literally the only WIN-ELIM in the entire franchise. So I was like, ‘This is so iconic.’ So literally, we named the diss track after that on Instagram.”
She believes the Golden Beaver turned the competition into a social game
Pythia said she was caught off guard by the Golden Beaver twist, particularly because many of the other queens entered the competition with existing friendships.
“I will be honest, it really, really shocked me because I was not expecting the Beaver twist, right?” she said. “Because that’s kind of sort of what turned the game on its head for me. Usually in the past, like obviously Season 2 of Canada’s Drag Race and Global All Stars, it’s up to the judges, but this time around it sort of became a social game, right? You had to either be really good friends with these girls, and I was in a hard position because a lot of these girls know each other from Toronto. They perform a lot. They have really close friendships, and they have history together, and I don’t really know them too well.”
She also believes her reputation as a strong competitor made her an obvious target.
“And the other thing is—and I have earned my keep to say this, and I need to give myself a pat on the back—I am big competition. I’m a big threat,” Pythia explained. “And the very first chance that you get to get out your big competition, you will take, right? So they did. And that’s just what happened, and they played the game.”
Pythia says she did not expect to have to campaign for safety
Tiffany Ann Co. and Nearah Nuff suggested Pythia should have fought harder during her plea to the other queens, but she said she had not anticipated that kind of social strategy.
“I didn’t even think about the competition in that way,” she said. “I thought that it was going to be up to the judges again, right? I completely forgot about the Golden Beaver twist, and the fact that it was the sisters voting for you to stay added a whole new element that I was not expecting at all. To me, I was like, ‘I’m going back to All Stars. It’s going to be like a point system. It’s going to be non-elimination.’ I was like, ‘I got this in the bag. And then they were like, ‘Your sisters get to vote if you are safe or not.’ I was like, ‘Let me pray that I am never in the bottom, because these girls are going to take me off the first chance they get,’ and they did.”
Pythia questioned whether eliminating the strongest competitors is the kind of victory she would want for herself.
“It is very strange because then, I don’t know, do you want your crowd to merit that you’re the least talented person in the cast and you won by taking out the strongest competitors?” she asked. “Or do you want to go head-to-head with the best and win and own that crown, right? To me, that’s the game I would want to play.
She continued, “And I don’t know, even bringing back Global All Stars, for example, it was one queen from each franchise, one queen from each country, the best of the best of each country, and we went head-to-head with titans, and it felt so cool and powerful. It was like, wow, we are literally the best of the best of each country, and we bring something so different, and it’s completely up to the judges and production, right? So this time around, it felt a little bit s***ty to be like, wow, all the hard work and all the things that you present—even the win on the first episode—doesn’t count suddenly because somebody wants to take you out.”
And speaking of Global All Stars, when talking about how she follows Drag Race France’s Soa de Muse as the second Global All Stars queen to return to an All Stars in their home country and be first out, she said, “I’m telling you, we need to do an exorcism [of Global All Stars]; we have a curse or something [laughs].”
Pythia says neither Tiffany nor Makayla deserved to be in the bottom
Pythia disagreed with the judges’ decision to place her alongside Tiffany and Makayla.
“To me, neither Tiffany nor Makayla were bottom-worthy. That’s all I’m going to say,” she said. “I think they were amazing. Even watching Tiffany perform when I was on the sidelines, I was just gagged. I was just looking at Tiffany, if I’m being honest with you, and I was like, ‘Wow.’ She has so much charisma. She’s so talented. The way she was whipping her ponytail, doing her little nail sharpening, I was just enchanted. And suddenly she’s in the bottom, and I’m like, ‘What the f**k?’”
Pythia also expected Makayla to place near the top of the challenge.
“And Makayla was like, ‘Oh, Makayla, my baby, she’s going to be in the top. I’m so proud of her.’ She led the dance, she led the choreography,” she added. “Her verse was so fun, and it’s still stuck in my head, like, ‘I’m a Black star beauty.’ It’s so good. I was gagged. I was like, ‘I don’t know what little game is being played and what strings are being pulled and by whomst,’ because I was like, ‘I don’t understand this at all.’”
As for her own performance, Pythia felt her strengths outweighed a missed move near the end.
“It was cunty, it was cute,” she said. “OK, so what? I missed a little twirl at the end, big whomp. I had a really good verse. It matched the timing of the songs perfectly. I looked cute. I nailed my intro dance. I had a really good look that was actually camp.”
She saw the writing on the wall after landing in the bottom three
Once the tops and bottoms were announced, Pythia believed the other queens had already decided how the vote would go.
“I feel like these girls had already made up their minds,” she said. “I feel like there was already some alliances happening. I feel like they had sort of an idea of who they wanted out and when. So I honestly do not think there was any universe or any reality where I could have pleaded my case and it would’ve kept me. There’s no way. And, I mean, if you really think about it mathematically too, they have the most numbers, right? They’re girl-grouped. They’re not going to vote their own to go home when they did so well. So nonetheless, that leaves me and my drag niece to battle against each other. I’ll let you do the math.”
Pythia said she knew she would likely be eliminated before the lip-sync even began.
“Literally, the moment they announced the tops and bottoms, I was like, ‘OK, I’m getting the chop. There’s no way. There’s literally no way I can out-lip-sync either of these girls and there’s no way anybody’s going to give me the Beaver.’ So yeah, it’s not that I had accepted defeat. I was just kind of like, I see what’s happening. It’s the name of the game, these girls play the game, and it’s fine.”
Still, she decided to enjoy her final performance.
“But I don’t know, it was fun. I had so much fun,” Pythia recalled. “Literally, I couldn’t even change into something fun to lip-sync in. Literally, I was green. I was like, ‘Why don’t you put this rainbow wig on and this little tentacle moment and just have fun and twirl?’”
Pythia on being judged by Jimbo and Priyanka
Pythia said it felt unusual to be judged by queens she had known and performed with for years.
“Yeah, it’s so funny you mention that because it’s true, like we are peers, right?” she said. “I’ve been performing with these girls for years and years before the show. And I mean, literally the summer prior, I was touring with Jimbo in Australia. So it’s like we’re really good friends and I know all these girls, and honestly, even Brooke Lynn, right?”
At the same time, she felt their experience as competitors made them uniquely qualified to sit on the panel.
“But at the same time, it felt special because at least these girls have done the competition and it’s a full drag panel,” Pythia explained. “And at the end of the day, they know what we’ve been through. They have been literally in our shoes before, and I think there’s nobody else more fit than them to judge a competition. So no matter what, it felt special, you know? But yeah, I agree, I should have been a judge this season [laughs].”
Pythia is expanding her artistry beyond drag
Asked whether she has more Drag Race or television in her future, Pythia pointed to the creative studio she started with her boyfriend.
“I would say that I have just so much going on in my life beyond just drag, right?” she said. “Me and my boyfriend have started a creative studio this year. It’s called Ioniqo. And we’re working with so many multidisciplinary spaces in the world of art, like technology, fashion. We’re creating entire campaigns for fashion brands right now. We are actually working on our own fashion line as well. We’re doing exhibitions, we’re doing presentations, we’re traveling around the world and shooting models and artists and creative directing campaigns, and it’s just so special to me to have a creative partner like that.”
The studio was also one of the biggest reasons she wanted to return to the show.
“And actually, this is the biggest reason that I came back to the show, is to create all the content that you see online, like Instagram and everything,” she said. “I documented making all of my looks this time around, right?”
Pythia said her next chapter will be focused on expanding her identity as an artist while continuing to carry drag into everything she creates.
“So I think, yeah, that’s what’s next for me, just really focusing on expanding myself as an artist beyond just drag, right?” she said. “I feel like drag has been a launching pad for me and it’s sort of going to be in everything that I do always. And it’s just super special to know that every time I come back on the show, I get this sort of boost to just show my art to everybody and connect with a wider audience and just showcase myself and my evolution each time, you know? It’s very, very special for me as an artist to experience. So yeah, I would say that. And yeah, I don’t regret anything.”
As for another television competition, Pythia already has one in mind.
“And who knows? Maybe for the future—you said TV—maybe I would do Project Runway,” she said. “I don’t have to dance there, I don’t have to do a roast there. I can just make costumes and look pretty.”
Featured image photo credit: Photo: World of Wonder
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