the chop shop

‘Drag Race’ star Sugar spills about her “nightmare” debut and how she first came out of the cabinet

Drag Race Spice in her pink promo look for 'Rupaul's Drag Race'.

In the words of Rupaul’s Drag Race winner Symone, “Is your blood sugar low?”

If your sweet tooth is getting a little too strong, we’ve got just the queen to satisfy. Even though she had to sashay away after a Paytas-Approved™ Trisha Paytas Snatch Game performance, Sugar is ready for the stardom to come. With her trusty twin queen Spice at her side, the pair are prepped to take on the world.

We knew the Sugar x Spice lipsync was destined to happen from the moment they were cast on the show together, and they did not disappoint. The pair put on a show complete with choreo, bits, and entirely too much fun — a perfect encapsulation of Sugar’s run on this season.

We caught up with Sugar to talk her drag origins, her recent adoption by Mistress Isabelle Brooks, and that dire first performance the twins mentioned in their intro.

 

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QUEERTY: So Kornbread recently went on a Twitter spree saying that you and Spice should’ve done everything from Zack & Cody to the C*ck Destroyers to Mary Kate & Ashley for the Snatch Game. Did you consider any joint snatches?

SUGAR: We thought of that, but originally we were like, “Oh, Snatch Game’s later on in the competition.” And just like how we knew they were gonna make us lip sync, we also sensed the “you guys are too similar, we want to see who you are as individual queens.” So that was a very intentional choice for us to be like, “No, let’s do our own thing.” Because we came here, yes, to represent the Sugar and Spice world and fantasy, but we are our own individual people. So maybe let’s not be related in that sense for this challenge.

 

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If I have my lineage right, you two are direct drag descendants of Kelexis Davenport now?

Yeah, I guess so! I mean, I love the porn star name: Sugar Davenport-Brooks. I’m going to be making a lot of money now as Sugar the porn star.

Can we expect you in the pageants anytime soon?

Once I can get over not wearing an eight inch heel, then I think the pageants will be in my near future. I get drag dysphoria if I don’t have a really tall heel on. Once I can muster up that courage, then the pageants, yes, full swing.

 

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When did you two prepare your lipsync together?

You kind of blackout those days. I mean, I was falling, I was throwing a shoe, lord knows what happened. We had about 10 minutes – or like five minutes, it felt like – in Untucked to prepare something. We were like, “I don’t know these words, I don’t know this song, I was not expecting to lip sync, so we got to come up with something real quick.” We were too busy crying our eyes out in Untucked. If we had more time, it would have been probably even more in synch.

After my critiques, when I heard what Michelle said, I was like, “Yeah, I’m done.” Like, I knew I was going regardless. So we were like, we gotta go out with a bang.

 

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What’s the worst gig you’ve ever had?

Oh my God, me and Spice’s first performance… I mean, it was a nightmare. It was right when COVID was done; that’s when we really came into our own and established our platform on TikTok. Other queens can kind of fly under the radar for their first performance, but for us, all the pressure was on. Like, it needed to be amazing.

We ended up doing this like hole-in-the-wall in Brooklyn. We promoted it to all of our followers, and there was a huge line. It was a mess because we still kind of had the COVID restrictions, but the manager was like, “Oh no, baby. We’re making all of our money back from COVID. Let everyone into this bar!”

I was sweatier than a whore in church. We were trying to do comedy on the mic but the mic wasn’t working. The light on us wasn’t working. The drunk gays were like, “I want to see you split!” and I was like, “[Laughs sarcastically] Maybe not!”

It ended up being fine. Aquaria was there to help us, and she was like, “Girl, I’m gonna get the lighting good for you.” And the second performance was great.

Also, security was called because there was like a bar fight because there were too many people. They called the cops. Meanwhile we’re upstairs and I’m like, “Oh my God, my lash is coming off from the humidity!” So yeah, it was very chaotic.

What was the number?

We had this whole comedy bit, but the mics weren’t working. We did Hannah Montana – it’s actually on YouTube if you want to watch, we’ve documented everything. It ended up being really fun.

We’re not really performers in that sense, we’re more artists. We think of ourselves as dolls. We just love creating that look and that fantasy and creating online content. So when it comes to performing live, it’s just a fun thing. You have to think of Sugar and Spice performing as your little brothers that are putting on a talent show for the family party. Like, it’s not really gonna be good, but you’re gonna laugh and probably cringe and maybe start sweating. But you’re gonna live regardless, you know?

 

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Before you were Sugar and Spice, you started uploading as the Coyle Twins. How long had y’all had Sugar and Spice in the cabinet?

They were sitting there baking. We always thought if we ever did drag, they’d be off the actual dolls we had growing up. We always had that idea, but we kept on putting it off because I thought I wasn’t allowed to. In high school and college I was fully not accepting myself. I always had that mentality of, “Oh, you’re not allowed to wear makeup, you’re not allowed to do this.” I was the kid in the toy section pretending “Oh, I’m just getting this from my sister.” Feeling all that shame and all that embarrassment.

I kept putting it off, like, “One day when I get to LA, I’ll do it out of this house.” Until I was like, “No, I’m done waiting. I’m done wasting my life away.” So that’s when Sugar and Spice got the courage and were like, “I need to be set free.”

 

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Lastly, what’s one article of clothing you wouldn’t be caught dead in in drag?

Definitely a flat heel. My line in my little Sugar rap is “I ain’t a size queen but I am about that height/I’ll have eight inches please, it’s nice and tight/ Ew, you perv, I’m talkin’ about the heels/Eliminated third making 100k deals.” Bam.

I shaved your mom’s? Absolutely not. No, we would never.

Never a kitten heel. Always an eight-incher. During the lipsync I had to do a six-inch and I was devastated. That’s also probably why I fell and took a nosedive. But you know what? You can’t have it all. You can’t be sickening AND wear a flat heel. It’s a trade off.

 

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