Interview: RuPaul’s Drag Race – Robbie Turner
4 min read
This week’s challenge was one that Drag Race fans always anticipate with bated breath: the makeover! Following on from the recurring reading mini-challenge, the main task saw the queens paired with the cast of Little Women: LA in a Wizard of Oz-themed runway and interpretive dance number that saw them dressing themselves and their partner in outfits inspired by the book’s iconic characters, from Dorothy to the citizens of Oz. It was a week that saw queens’ tempers fly sky high (especially in the direction of the divisive Bob the Drag Queen) as the queens faced one of their hardest challenges of the season.
Unfortunately, this week it was Robbie Turner that faced the chopping block. Working with Christy McGinity on a Cowardly Lion-inspired piece, the judges’ unfavourable opinion of her outfit construction landed her in the bottom two against famed Britney Spears impersonator Derrick Barry, duking it out to Icona Pop’s I Love It. Though Robbie may not have lasted as long as fans wanted, she’s definitely proven that she’s capable of working with Seattle’s finest queens, and as one of its staple nightlife personalities. We had the chance to ask her about her time on the show and in this challenge.
Michael Smith: How was your time on RuPaul’s Drag Race? Are you happy with how you were presented on the show?
Robbie Turner: My time on Drag Race was great, I met a lot of great people. It was much more difficult than people expect and it is truly a race against time. I’m happy that they showed me to a be a kind person, truly, because that was my biggest fear.
MS: How were you feeling about the impending makeover challenge before it happened? How did you feel about the Wizard of Oz theme?
RT: I love the theme! It’s such a great book and great film, and I knew I could paint my face on someone else… But I wasn’t excited about the Lion, my least favorite character. But I would rather have had a challenge than a typical one for me like Glinda or Dorothy… Well no, then I would have been saved! Haha, nevermind!
MS: Had you been able to choose a different character from the Wizard of Oz, rather than the Cowardly Lion, who would you have picked?
RT: Probably Dorothy, the star of the show!
MS: How did you find working with Christy to be during the challenge?
RT: Christy is great! I just tweeted her. I hope when I’m down there again I can meet up with her, because she was very sweet. I have never seen the show but I’m told she’s the tough one; with me, she was a sugar pie. I like to have deep conversations so I like that they showed how deep we got rather quickly.
MS: Is there anything special you had brought with you that we didn’t get to see on the show?
RT: Well, for the New York premiere I wore this Barbra Streisand re-creation, and that was really exciting. It was a golden turban, very east meets west. I was excited to wear it on the show, but it never came up!
MS: Was there any particular style of challenge you were looking forward to, or that you had been preparing for?
RT: I was looking most forward to the makeover challenge, oddly… Isn’t that funny! I just like the idea of someone new coming in for a moment, making a new friend and getting through a challenge together… Didn’t go the way I expected it to, but maybe next time.
MS: How did you feel going into this lip sync? Was it any more daunting than usual considering your opponent and the song you were given?
RT: Not at all, because I knew I could kill it. I wasn’t worried, at the end of the day you know one of you is going home, and in this lip sync who knew? I know I was competition for Derrick in that song and I know we had to work equally, and he got to stay. I can’t be mad at that.
MS: What song would you have preferred to lip sync to, if you had the choice?
RT: Oh, give me some Liza with a Z or something I know no one else could do! And I’d be like haha, just go home now!
Tune into RuPaul’s Drag Race next Monday at 9/8c on Logo!
