Juice Boxx returned to the Drag Race franchise determined to show viewers more than the “Porkchop” queen from Season 1 of Canada’s Drag Race.
The first-ever eliminated queen of the franchise exited Canada’s Drag Race: All Stars Season 1 after landing in the bottom alongside two of her Kitty Katz group members, and lip-syncing against Tiffany Ann Co.
In an exit interview with BLKCinema.com, Juice Boxx opened up about finally competing in a girl group challenge, making memorable television with the cast, accepting that she could be eliminated and building a career beyond Drag Race.
Juice Boxx is proud fans got to see more of her personality
Asked what she was most proud to showcase during her return, Juice Boxx pointed to both her personality and a meaningful runway dedicated to her mother.
“I mean, there’s two things,” she said. “I was happy that people could just kind of see my personality a little bit more. They could see that I’m not just this frail, meek, little scared thing. They could see that I’m funny and goofy and I like to joke around and I like to be a big, dumb bro sometimes. That I was really excited about, because I feel like for a really long time, people just thought I was just this scared little thing. And then also the tuxedo runway that I got to do to dedicate to my mom, that was a big one that I really wanted to be able to show. So I was happy that I got to show that.”
Competing in the girl group challenge was a major milestone
She was especially excited to participate in the girl group challenge after missing out on the opportunity during Season 1.
“I mean, when it comes to the girl group challenge, I was so upset I couldn’t do the girl group challenge on Season 1 because I come from girl groups,” she said. “I was in a girl group called The Spice Queens with Priyanka and a bunch of other local girls. We were a Spice Girls girl group and we were traveling all over Ontario doing these—it was like a two-hour full production show. It was fully choreographed, [had] quick changes..we had impersonations. It was this full production that we would put on, and we had to work together as a group. So I love girl groups. I love to be in a girl group. So I was so sad I couldn’t do it on Season 1.”
Be able to do the challenge gave Juice Boxx the chance to fulfill a goal she had carried since her original season.
“So to be able to come back and do it on All Stars, that was a huge milestone for me because I was like, ‘I want to be in a girl group and I want to make it so good,’” she said. “And now I’ve got ‘split, split, dip, hair flip.’ Come on, iconic.”
The cast knew they were making memorable television
The season has already delivered several heated and chaotic Untucked moments, and Juice Boxx said the queens were fully aware of what they were creating.
“We would cut cameras and be like, ‘We ate that,’” she said. “It’s one of those things where it’s like we all went in being like, ‘We’re going to make TV.’ This is All Stars. We’re not trying to go in and think this is just going to be like, ‘We’re all sisters. We love each other so much. We’re all so happy to be here.’ We’re like, ‘Let’s make TV. Let’s make people entertained and make this a season that people are going to want to rewatch and show to their friends.’ Because it’s not just another season of Canada’s Drag Race. This is another level of Canada’s Drag Race. This is All Stars. This is the best of the best coming in. So we want to give you the best of the best TV.”
Juice Boxx was prepared to go home
When three of the four Kitty Katz landed in the bottom, Juice Boxx realized her time in the competition could be coming to an end.
“Can I be really honest?” she asked. “I was very ready to go home. It’s so much work. It’s so much work. Drag Race, it’s so much work. So I literally was just like, while I would love to ride the Golden Beaver to the end, while I would’ve loved her, when Nearah [Nuff] was just like, ‘Give these girls a chance to da-da-da,’ I was like, ‘She ate me up, and that’s cool. Let’s lip-sync. I’m good. If I go home, I get a few days off. That’s OK. So I was ready to go home. I was happy with what I got to show and I was happy with everything. So I had this moment of acceptance where it’s like, if this is my end, this is my end, and that’s OK.”
She still would have ridden the Golden Beaver to the finale
Although Juice Boxx had accepted the possibility of leaving, she made it clear she would have happily continued to accept the beaver.
She explained, “If I could have ridden that Beaver to the finale and everyone was like, ‘She got that Roxxxy Andrews edit. She just kept getting saved,’ cool. I got airtime. I got six episodes where you got to see my big bald head. Let’s go. So I don’t mind that Beaver. I don’t mind because it’s like if I stayed and I stayed and I was just exhausted, but I had a moment of, ‘It’s OK. If this is my end, this is my end. I’m OK with it.’ But if I stayed, then I would’ve been fine with it too. I was there to just make good TV and have fun. I didn’t want to put too much stakes into it because that’s what I did the first time and it was too stressful. So I was like, I just want to enjoy myself this time.”
Juice Boxx wants to keep growing beyond ‘Drag Race’
Despite being an early out Juice Boxx remained prominent and visible within the Drag Race community since her season, but she said advice from Willam helped her understand the importance of developing an identity outside of the franchise.
“This time, I think it was something that Willam had said that really resonated with me, is you have to find who you are outside of Drag Race,” she said. “So it’s just like you can’t tie yourself to Drag Race as a brand and be like, ‘This is my whole personality.’ So I found Twitch streaming, I found my podcast, and I’m in the fitness space as well. So I think what I’m doing right now is I’m still being very vocal about the things that I do outside of Drag Race.”
One of those projects is Pridefit LIVE, an at-home fitness platform centered on increasing access for queer people.
“I’m like, I’m very happy that you’re supporting me on my All Stars journey, but I still am part of Pridefit LIVE, which is a live fitness service, so you can come in and it gives access to fitness for queer people through at-home workouts,” she said. “So I’m still doing stuff like that.”
Juice Boxx is also continuing her video game podcast, It’s Dangerous to Go Alone.
“I’m still doing my podcast, It’s Dangerous to Go Alone, where we talk about video games and we make it accessible to barely gamers, so you don’t have to know all the cool stuff,” she said. “You can just be a casual gamer and still get to enjoy gaming news and stuff about gaming that we talk about. That’s on iHeartRadio, and we’re also on Crave, so you can watch it as well. So I like to be able to still be able to grow my brand outside of Drag Race and just keep going from there. And I like to bring my sisters in and they can have fun with me in that aspect, and that keeps me in that kind of Drag Race bubble. But overall, it’s just like, this is who I am outside of the show, and I’m a pretty cool cat, so come and hang out with me.”
Featured image photo credit: Photo: World of Wonder
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