RuPaul's Drag Race Bianca Del Rio: Blowing Like a Hurricane!

Author: Deborah Nelson

Only at home in New York for one day, Hurricane Bianca managed to field six interviews, do four loads of laundry and almost catch her breath. We were lucky enough to snag a few minutes of her time to hear about life during Drag Race and since she captured the crown at the Season 6 finale last month.

Dragaholic: You must be exhausted?

Bianca Del Rio: I never say exhausted or tired. I say I’m grateful. I’ve worked for a long time and to have this opportunity is pretty amazing. I’m not traveling the world curing cancer, I’m doing drag shows. So for me to complain about it would be very foolish.

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D: I saw on Instagram you just played Buffalo Pride to a huge crowd.

BDR: It was crazy – I didn’t know there were that many gay people in Buffalo! They were an amazingly fun, kind, and genuine crowd.

D: I noticed on July 4th you are playing in the glamorous town of Brownsville, TX.

BDR: I’ve been to some amazing places.  Canada. I’m going to London. I’m in DC this weekend for Pride. But amongst all of it you’re gonna have a Brownsville. And ain’t nothing wrong with it. I can’t complain. You give it all a chance.

D: I’m obsessed with the Bianca puppet. I know that wasn’t your creation but you’re the inspiration for it. Although you actually have the most beautiful teeth in the world, unlike your puppet. Do you find it offensive?

BDR: Listen, it’s the only time BenDeLa was funny, let’s be honest.  So if I was her muse, it’s fine.  Actually, we are very good friends and we laughed about it later. But I thought it was hysterical when I was there.  As I told her, I said, ‘That shit is funny!’ She totally deserved to win for that challenge, because it was genius. But, in the end, she got eliminated that episode, so you see what happens?

D: So you and Bendela get along?

BDR: She’s a brilliantly talented performer and makes me laugh hysterically but what’s funny is that we are kind of polar opposites when it comes to aesthetic, in that she’s very nice and it’s not my approach! So she was able to find her inner demons and release them, by portraying me and using the puppet as an excuse. I was not mad by any means, I thought it was brilliantly funny.

D: Every shot of you, you were really laughing.

BDR: Cackling! Funny is funny, even if it’s at my expense.

D: Right after you won the crown you must have been very excited. Somebody texted you congratulations and you posted the text on Instagram. The only problem was the picture showed the person’s phone number.

BDR: It was a friend of mine and I had like three hundred and something texts at that point and then later that night I had seven hundred and something texts. So a friend of mine called me up and was like ‘Gurl, can you please…”

D: You have my number – you can put my number out there! Hook me up!

BDR: Okay I will. I’ll work it out. (Note: Has not happened yet!)

D: Your fans love how responsive you are on social media.

BDR: I think it comes with the territory. It’s an opportunity to chat with people you wouldn’t normally get to speak to. I do an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening, always. And then throughout the day, if I’m in a cab or at the airport, I will jump on.

You respond because people don’t ask much of you, they just want to know something. And you have to be grateful for it. I didn’t have any of this prior to the show.

D: One of my favorite lines from the season was when you were doing the standup and the large man in the audience fell asleep and you said, ‘Horizontal stripes – not a good look in your third trimester, sir.’

BDR: I was not a fan of him and it was not a good look!

D: That was just one of the many times when you showed how quick you are.

BDR: It’s not so much strategically saying ‘I have something to say.’ It’s not calculated. There are long days of filming, 12 to 14 hour days, so when you’re in the mix of it, it’s a test of yourself. So, for me, I always make fun of whatever’s in front of me, whether it’s myself or the situation. Watching it is sometimes fun and sometimes cringeworthy.

D: Some Drag Race contestants have blamed the show’s editing for portraying them in a poor light.

BDR: Bottom line – editing is editing. You sign up for it. It’s a drag reality TV show. If you cry, they’re gonna use it. If you make jokes, they’re gonna use it. If you lose your mind, they’re gonna use it. So for me to hear oh ‘Editing, editing, editing.’ No, take responsibility for what you said and did. I think it’s unfortunate when people lose sight of the fact that this is what you signed up for. You never hear somebody say, ‘Oh my God, I’m so mad at them for making me seem fabulous.’

D: Have you had to deal with much hate on social media throughout the season and since it ended?

BDR: With all of the congratulations and ‘We were rooting for you’ there are a handful of people who are like ‘we never liked you.’ Who cares? It comes with the territory. But if you think for a minute that I’m concerned with what other people think of me, that would be foolish. I don’t revel in the madness when people don’t get it.

D: Are you friends with the Block button?

BDR: I don’t even go that far. If you’re gonna be so stupid as to post something like that on my wall, do it. I don’t give them the glory of blocking!

D: Eventually they did show a softer side of you on the show, after a few episodes, especially with Trinity. You could really see that under your tutelage, she did get find her confidence.

BDR: I really connected with Trinity. I adore her.  She’s a brilliant performer. What I appreciated from the show is they showed that drag queens are not just catty cunts and against one another.

D: It didn’t seem like you all were close at first.

BDR: In the beginning Trinity and I did not connect, until we got the opportunity to work together. But when you’re in a room and you realize that someone is brilliantly talented, and you realize that there is something going on… I knew there was something. I didn’t understand why she was feeling so defensive. And then once I found out, it all made sense. I knew they were going to show that story. And I walked away from the competition having a friend.

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Bianca said she would read us for filth if we did not mention her new project Hurricane Bianca. She already read us for not being able to find the T-shirts on her internet shop (which they do sell in addition to the tank tops, we stand corrected), so here’s the tee on Hurricane B:

Read all about Hurricane Bianca, or listen to the lady sing her own song in the video below: