The Playlist: First of all, congratulations on amazing runs for all of you for the season.
Sam Star: Thank You.
The Playlist: Did anyone give you advice before you went to film? And did it happen to be good advice?
Sam Star: Trinity gave me no advice. She said, “Good luck out there, kid.” [Laughs.] No, I mean, I got so much advice, probably too much. Maybe I was overanalyzing things maybe more than I should have. But then I also remember that one of the pieces of advice was “Don’t overthink things.” So, it was just a battle of trying to navigate because I think everyone’s journey is different. Someone could try to prepare you all that they can, but who’s to say that they’re going to react to you the same way or whatever the case.
Suzie Toot: I didn’t have a connection to any Ru girl prior, but I just remember my family, my circle, my people. “Just do what you do, do what you’ve been doing, what’s already worked for you.” And I held onto that the entire time I was there.
The Playlist: What about you, Onya?
Onya Nurve: I think my dad told me before I got on the show was to not allow people, places, and things to affect who you are as a person. Which was probably the hardest thing to do on the show, but it stuck with me because I had to constantly remind myself of that. So, that’s probably the one thing that I took with me on the show.
The Playlist: I asked your sisters, no matter where they landed on the show, how soon they started working on their finale gown when they got home from filming. What was that thought process for you three?
Suzie Toot: For me, that was like four years ago. [Laughs.] I am such a crazy planner and as soon as I finish one thing, I’m like, “What’s after that?” I have to know what I’m doing after that.
Onya Nurve: No, no real. I’m the type of person that kind of deals with things as they come my way, and obviously, now we’re all getting ready for the finale, but no, by no means did I start thinking about the finale after we filmed. Do you know what I did think about sleep and food?
Sam Star: Yes.
The Playlist: I want to come back to that, but what about you Sam?
Sam Star: I was going to say I’m with Anya of kind of go-with-the-flow type of energy, and when I got done filming, the last thing I wanted to think about was making another outfit to be judged on national television. So, I definitely took my time thinking of things, but luckily I’m surrounded by people who could get my shit together really quick. I mean, getting ready for the show was so wild. So I’m like, “Oh, a finale should be easy.”
The Playlist: When you got home how exhausted were you?
Onya Nurve: I did a combination of sleeping and eating really hard and also partying. I was at the bar because we were just so sequestered for so long. I wanted to sleep and rest, but I also wanted to be around people, family, and everything that I didn’t get to do while on the show I was so eager to do.
Suzie Toot: When I go home I did just about the closest thing a human can do to hibernation. My brain was half off for at least half a month. It was so gorgeous.
Sam Star: I also hibernated, I’m a homebody. Secretly, I’m a homebody and I just love to be home and not be bothered by the outside world. So, I was just thrilled to be able to know I had to do anything for a while.
The Playlist: You’re all musical theater queens, right? I was like, did they pair them all together?
All: Yes, yes!
Suzie Toot: That’s hilarious.
The Playlist: Did you think there would be more opportunities to sing or dance than there ended up being on the show? Or is it sort of what you expected?
Suzie Toot: I was relieved that there was more because the Rusical in recent years has not been a singing experience.
Sam Star: True.
Suzie Toot: So I was so glad we got to do that. We got to do “Bitch, I’m a drag queen.” I was really happy with the amount that we got to do real BFA shit.
Onya Nurve: Yeah, same. I was too. I would’ve been happy with trading one of those sewing challenges for one more.
Suzie Toot: Or all three of ’em.
Onya Nurve: Or all three of ’em, a girl group, another acting challenge, or anything besides a sewing challenge I would’ve been happy with.
The Playlist: Were you shocked there were three design challenges when it came around the third time where you like, “Wait, what”?
Suzie Toot: I was under the impression that they did three on season 16 because they had Nymphia Wind and it’s like, “Sure.” And then they’ll go back to two and everything will be fine. Nope. That surprised me for sure.
Sam Star: I wanted more. [Laughs.]
Suzie Toot: Yeah. Yeah, sure you did.
Sam Star: But going back to the musical theater thing, I think it was what I expected, the singing and dancing amount. But I also think people underestimate how much of those skills are used in every type of drag. It’s not just the singing, dancing, acting, it’s the stage experience, it’s the rehearsals, it’s all those things that we don’t think about that we sort of had been through boot camp our whole lives for. So I’m grateful.
The Playlist: We just saw the Roast episode. You guys were all great in it. The other queens mentioned they had not prepped you that Mistress, Plain, or Kandy were going to be there. Did that throw you off at all when they told you or were you confident you had material that could work?
Suzie Toot: The day before they sprung it up. There was still the surprise of like, “Oh shit, they’re going to be, we’re gonna meet them.” I had not met any of them.
Sam Star: But luckily all three of them were easy to read. [Laughs.] We were thrilled.
Onya Nurve: I was going to say the same thing.
Suzie Toot: No. If we had three really pretty and talented queens to read, that would’ve been much harder. [Laughs.]
Sam Star: Yeah, that would’ve been really hard.
The Playlist: Was that a challenge you were looking forward to? I know some queens will often say they were scared of a potential roast the most.
Sam Star: As the theater Queens? We knew we were going to slay.
Onya Nurve: Yeah, as theater queens, getting up in front of people and doing anything is what we live for.
Sam Star: Yeah, that’s easy.
Onya Nurve: It was happy nerves, but that was probably the peak of my life.
Suzie Toot: It was definitely a learning curve in, that I had never done a formal roast before. I know some drag clubs will do that. I’ve never been a part of that. So doing it, there was a lot. It was different than just going up and reading lines.
Sam Star: That’s not true. You roast the girls every night. I was nervous, of course. But you can’t really get nervous, I think when you’re delivering comedy. If you’re not feeling it, they’re definitely not going to feel it. So it is sort of convincing yourself that you are the next Joan Rivers. At least that’s what I was doing.
The Playlist: Onya you have been so great in these sorts of host roles on the show so far and fans have speculated that maybe someday you should host “Drag Race Live” when Asia decides to retire down the road. But is that something you were doing in Cleveland beforehand?
Onya Nurve: Yeah. When I first started in drag, I hosted an open stage for I believe six months. And then after that, I did a “Broadway Live” every Sunday for about 10 months in my drag career. Hosting is probably what I do the most at home. I just love being on the mic and talking to people. There’s a fun balance between being funny and genuine and people really enjoy that.
The Playlist: What do you all love the most about performing?
Onya Nurve: Ooh.
Suzie Toot: Oh, that’s so good.
Sam Star: Attention. I’ve always been an attention whore since I was a little kid and I was like, “One day I’m going to figure out a way to get paid to just get on a stage and do what I want.” The original dream was musical theater, of course, but then it wasn’t quite gay enough for me, so I fell in drag. [Laughs.] The only thing Gayer Yeah, would be drag.
Suzie Toot: My favorite thing about performing is the exchange of energy. When you’re in it, when you’re doing a number that f**king kills and you can feel that everybody in the room is paying attention and is in a moment together. I feel like with social media, with phones, with technology, everybody’s so separate, even when they’re in the same room.
Onya Nurve: Yeah.
Suzie Toot: The only thing that can put everybody in the same moment at the same time is a live performance.
The Playlist: I also co-host a podcast that covers the international drag race seasons because they don’t get as much love here in the States. Do you watch any of them? And if you have one, is there a favorite?
Suzie Toot: Because there’s so many. I will tune in if it is getting traction on Twitter. If I start seeing memes about it, I’m like, okay, let me tune in. And Melinda Verga on Canada, was that five or four? No, no, it was five. It was my favorite thing in the entire world when that season was airing. She’s everything to me.
Sam Star: I love it so much. I watch it all the time. I love ’em all. [Laughs.] I haven’t seen all of them to be honest, but it is incredible to see how drag is different all around the world. The ones that I can understand what they’re saying because I’m not good at reading. I’m from Alabama, so I love Canada, UK, and “Down Under.”
Suzie Toot: And getting to meet all of them at DragCon UK.
Sam Star: Yeah, they were all so lovely. Yeah, so nice.
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 17 is airing every Friday at 8 PM on MTV.
