Kandy Ho’ left RuPaul’s Drag Race knowing two things: 1. That she kept her head in the game, always trying her best to do the challenge at hand and 2. That she has gained a large amount of experience, knowledge and 12 lifetime friends.
In my interview with Kandy, we discuss how she always means to be respectful and never shady. I was most surprised to see what a huge sense of humor Kandy has. She is willing to laugh right along with all the “beard” shade being thrown at her and has no problem making fun of herself for misusing words and phrases.
Kandy has a lot of heart and there is no denying she lip-syncs the house DOWN! Read an excerpt of our discussion below and for the full interview/podcast, listen above or download it on Soundcloud!
Alex: Hello Kandy! How are you?
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Kandy: I’m good! Here in Puerto Rico! It’s freakin’ hot, but I’m having a good time.
You are probably flying all over the place so it must be nice to be home.
Yes. Yes. I’m getting used to being home for two days and then getting on an airplane and coming back for one day and then another airplane. It’s my life right now.
That’s a good thing!
Yes! I’m enjoying every minute of it.
I’m Cuban-American and have always had a soft spot for the Puerto Rican queens because we are hermanas Caribeñas, you know, Caribbean sisters!
Claro que si! (yes, of course!)
I feel like when I first watched the show in previous seasons that it felt like the queens didn’t take the Puerto Rican queens seriously, but I feel like now that stigma is in the past. Do you agree with that?
Yes. I totally agree with it. Watching previous seasons it looked like the Puerto Rican Queens always felt the other queens looking over their shoulder at them or that maybe their accent was a huge barrier. Me, coming into this competition, I went in trying to be as humble as possible but also having my fists up just in case I had to swing. I was born in Connecticut so I don’t have the language barrier, but I’ve been in Puerto Rico so long that some things I don’t understand right away. I had to catch up a little bit, but I think that I had respect from a lot of people and hopefully the next Puerto Rican girl on the show, people will respect her and see that there is no difference. We are good competitors and that’s what I want people to know.
I feel like you’ve had a great sense of humor throughout the entire experience. I love in the second episode in an interview when you made fun of yourself by recalling “on” your own alley which is something you accidentally said on the first episode.
Yeah! It’s like, well, I’m sorry I made a mistake, but, what the hell. I feel like those little mistakes, people will remember them so in a way it’s like, yay! People were talking about it for a while, even my painted on beard! People are still talking about it so, I’m still in people’s mouths!
You’ve talked about the comment about Tempest DuJour’s age and how it was a misunderstanding. Can you talk about that a little bit?
As soon as someone comes in you want to get to know them and see where they are coming from and if you’ll click with that person or not. Everyone was throwing questions and, not out of a mean place, I asked, “How old are you?”, but it wasn’t like I wanted to throw shade at her. It soon became an, “Ooooo” around the table and I just wanted to know her age. Hopefully when I’m 50 and 60 I’m still doing drag and trying to work the stage. I admire that very much about Tempest.
You’ve mentioned that you have a great relationship with Tempest now.
Yes! We had an amazing time during all of the premieres and I got to speak with her kids on FaceTime. We’re good friends. We speak, we text each other. We are like normal sisters.
On Untucked during your elimination you mentioned learning a lot from all of the girls.
I think in being an artist, you have to want to learn from other people and be able to grow. Being around girls from all over, you get a sense of so many different places. It made me see that we are all different, but we all want the same thing.
So, you made sisters for life?
Yes! Every time I see them I’m like, “I don’t want you to go!” I get so attached!
I know you have a special relationship with April Carriõn. She’s shown support for you as well, even wearing one of your t-shirts last season.
Yes. April and I have been sisters for about 6 years now and she’s amazing. She’s our youngest little drag sister in the group and to see her be on the show was very inspiring. I said, “Ok, lets do this!”, and she had that sister support for me. She sat me down and told me to be myself and do what I do, to not try to over act it. She’s been very supportive!
Vincenttylerbeauty on Instagram wants to know how you came up with your drag name?
I wish I had a fun, freaky way that I came up with it. The way I came up with it is so boring. I needed a drag name before a competition, so I got together with a bunch of friends and started throwing names out. One friend suggested, Candy and I liked it but wanted to spell it with a K. Then my ex said Kandy is cute but you need something to spice it up. He said, “How about Ho with an apostrophe so people can know that it’s from whore.” I said lets do it!
Sooo…if you were a candy bar or a type of candy, what would you be?
Oh my god! Ayayay! Probably a lollipop, I don’t know…maybe a nice, big blow pop!
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Kandy Ho’ was a pleasure to chat with! To find out what type of candy her season 7 drag sisters would be and other fun tidbits listen to the entire podcast above!
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