In an honest and, at times, heartbreaking new interview with Gay Star News, RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Laganja Estranja is spilling major tea on the show that helped propel her into stardom. And we can’t say we entirely blame her.
Asked whether she would ever consider returning to All Stars, Laganja says producers approach her every season and she always turns them down. Except last season, when she said yes, but then had trouble passing the psych evaluation.
“There was one year I did say yes,” she recalls. “I did go for the psych evaluation. I’m trying to be creative with how I say this… Long story short, I didn’t get approved that year.”
“I refused to give them the ‘more information’ they required, because it was legally my right to do so. So, I didn’t end up going on that season. Obviously.”
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“The fact they’re psych-evaluating contestants explains everything to you.”
Laganja describes her experience on Drag Race as traumatic, though she can’t say exactly why.
“It’s hard to pinpoint,” she says. “I guess it was the fame … Losing friends. Being so busy. Being so drunk. Everything I did being scrutinized. It was an intense time.”
“I thought people were going to love me, that I was hilarious. That was the feedback I’d gotten from the producers. When I realized my hilarity had been turned into a mockery, it was hard.”
But, she says, she’s not looking for any apologies. Especially from the producers who misled her. After all, she says, they were just doing their jobs.
“They’re there to make television. They have children to feed. While it’s not a job I would ever choose to do myself, I have extreme respect for those who can separate work from real life. It can’t be easy to make someone cry, feel horrible. But it’s their job. I’ve come to terms with that.”
Still, the experience has clearly left a lingering bad taste in her mouth because Laganja says she’s still in a “weird place” when it comes to her feelings about the show.
“I don’t know. I’ve mixed emotions,” she says. “It’s a gift to be on that show, the platform we gain. [But] I feel right now, in this moment in time, when you ask me this question, if I were to go back, it would be because of financial struggle.”
“My rate’s been what it’s been for the last couple of years. It hasn’t improved. Even though I’ve worked with Miley Cyrus, been on other TV shows. I’m currently on TV right now, on So You Think You Can Dance? Even though I’ve done amazing things, in our community, unless you go on that show, you’re not really coming up. Unless you do something that breaks through.”
That said, she says she feels “an extreme amount of pressure” to return to the show and retell her story.
“I’m more open to the opportunity than I once was,” she says. “I’d love to show people the mature young adult I’ve become. The non-binary, proud being that I am. I wouldn’t even have considered myself non-binary when I started the show. I’ve grown. Who doesn’t want to show that?”
Brian
Aren’t psych evaluations pretty standard in the reality show world?
MapQuest27
Yes. I’ve been a reality producer for years (though never for World of Wonder) and i can tell you pysch evals are 100% required for any show for legal reasons. Producers need to be able to prove that we’re not putting any of the contestants in danger, meaning we have to show in court, should it come to that, we made efforts to ensure that we’re not locking people up with unstable strangers. And we have to make sure people can handle the trauma that may come from national attention. I’ve seen many people get bumped off rosters because they pose a suicide risk or present signs of violence. That’s all the evals are used for. The interactions with psychiatrists are confidential. We just know the end results, whether a person is red lighted or green light, sometimes it’s a green light with a general warning (ie. possible signs of violence but not enough to be a concern)
Also I can’t speak to World of Wonder. I’ve never worked for them, but reality stars almost never have any sense of self-awareness and cast producers as these Machiavellian villains. We don’t cast normal people and manipulate and edit them to look like assholes. We just cast assholes. It’s really that simple. There are plenty of assholes in the world and most want to be on TV. 80% of my life is spent putting out fires and trying to get overdramatic people to act civil towards each other because the ‘high drama’ these people think we want is almost always boring, repetitive, unrelatable chaos that we spend more time cutting around than creating.
smartguyd
Yes but WOW are notorious for digging into queens personal business to turn into tv drama and holding grudges when they don’t get what they want. On Hey Qween, Latrice just spilled lots of tea on the Christmas special and All Stars 2. Apparently on the Christmas special Shangela left everyone waiting during filming causing Jasmine Masters to leave set early but what was really going on is production had run long and the crew was getting overtime pay and Shangela was refusing to come to set until production agreed to pay all the queens more for the extra filming time. Also on All Stars they didn’t provide large enough undergarments, shoes, or enough of a single fabric for Latrice’s partner on the makeover challenge (everyone else had proper fitting things provided). The inadequate clothing caused a wardrobe malfunction during the musical performance (making them cut large portions from the show) and greatly disadvantaged Latrice during the whole challenge.
Brian
That’s what I thought. Once a drama queen, always a drama queen.
indizone
After all these years, she’s still feeling very attacked. I don’t buy it. Some people can never take responsibility for their actions.
mlo88
I agree with you ?%. You can’t blame the show for your behavior and lack of talent…Taking personal responsibility is the most important thing anyone can do. Sadly she hasn’t.
drumstick
The fact that WoW has a psych eval is a good thing. Laganga herself says that the show was intense and that she’s struggling as a result of it. The producers don’t want to put anyone in a difficult situation where they may hurt themselves or others. It’s standard CYA, but it’s a good thing and doesn’t reflect poorly on the producers or the show. That Laganga doesn’t see that speaks volumes…
Catholicslutbox
um..no.
the producers and ru are ALWAYS trying to force drama, storylines, and to get queens to breakdown on camera.
They’re far less subtle about it now compared to how they were before.
Ru is also constantly goading the girls in the workroom, asking them about how they feel about x, what they don’t like about x, why they think x is the weakest, and then goes up to x and tells them what y said about them..
The queens that don’t react to this end up getting less camera time and then get booted- even if they perform better in the lip-sync.
I could go on………
Brian
Drag Race is the most producer manipulated competition reality show on the air. Especially the All Stars seasons.