the chop shop

Salina EsTitties on fearing the edit, her Loosey beef, and why she’s ready for ‘Survivor’ next

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Salina Estitties poses in a blonde wig with a pic dress, top, and matching nails, against a black backdrop for the 2023 Queerties.
Salina Estitties | Image Credit: Queerties 2023

She might’ve come into the competition a “local girl,” but Salina EsTitties left Drag Race a star.

Yes, the L.A. queen put up quite a fight in Season 15, tying the franchise-wide record for Lip Sync wins and giving us some memorable television along the way, ultimately landing in sixth place.

And though she’ll be the first to admit it wasn’t always easy, Miss EsTitties kept her heart in it the whole way through, making her community proud.

After her sashay, we had the pleasure of calling up Salina for the latest installment of The Chop Shop. The warm and chatty queen was down dish on it all, giving us the tea on a dramatic Untucked, and sharing which RuGirl gave her a shoulder to cry on post-elimination.

Plus, you’ll never believe where she performed her wildest drag show—read on below to find out!

As your run on the show comes to an end, what’s been the hardest and the most rewarding part of watching your Drag Race journey back on TV?

*takes a deep breath* Being there, I couldn’t see beyond being there, right? I couldn’t see the future of what was going to happen. I was just in my bubble of trauma and insecurities and doubt for being in the bottom so many times.

It was just not the fantasy I went in there with so it was very disheartening to learn, “Oh, okay, Michelle is not on my side? Got it.” Oh, my fashion sucked? Okay, got it.” To not feel like my Latin heritage was being celebrated there was really disheartening.

So now, as I’ve watched the season, I’m getting so many people reaching out to me saying that I’m representing so well, and, you know, making California proud—it just means so much to me. Hearing people recognize and seeing me for what I was bringing? It means the world to me. So that’s the biggest takeaway for me.

And the hardest part was just not living in my head and living in the past of what I experienced there. Since that already happened, it’s already done. It was hard for me to watch the season, scared of each episode, and then realizing, “Oh, I’m fine! My edit’s cute.”

That’s so true—you really are competing in a vacuum, of sorts. So it’s got to be cathartic to watch it back and hear the broader response from the viewers.

Oh baby, and when I got eliminated? I was like, “Oh, I can breathe!” And I was completely unhinged at that point. Like, in Untucked, I feel like I was so crazy as I was packing up to leave.

Speaking of Untucked, can I also just say, I feel like, “Say their names!” is a contender for the audio intro of next season, don’t you think?

Oh my god, I could feel the tension on stage, too. Because usually, in front of the judges, I’m very professional, I take my notes. I say, “thank you, I’m not gonna fight with you—I hear you even though I don’t agree with you, b*tch!” But, at that point, I had a feeling it was gonna be my last episode. So I was like, “Oh, we’re gonna fight; we’re gonna put on a show this evening!”

And, on that note, it was amazing to see you speak up for yourself in Untucked because we know Loosey naming you had you feeling a certain type of way. But that never really seems to reach a resolution in the episode—have you and Loosey spoken since? Have you made up?

I was so irritated that Loosey didn’t want to fight with me. I was like, “Loosey, give me this final battle! Give me good K.O.” And then when Anetra chimed in, I was like, “Shut up, b*tch! I’m not even fighting with you. I’m fighting with Loosey.” [Laughs.] And I was so irritated.

But, you know, I wrote a letter to Loosey on my way out, and I told her, like, “Girl, we’re fine.” Especially after the fact that I was eliminated, I could breathe again. It’s done. Like, “I’m not mad at you; it is what it is. Everything happens for a reason, and just know I love you. And, like, I only met half of the things I said on that stage.” [Laughs.]

You are good at TV, that’s for sure! And we should say that you’ve now joined a rarefied group of queens that have won four Lip Syncs For Your Life—only a few cans ay that! Lip Sync Assassin much?

Yeah, it’s crazy. And, you know, it’s just so funny because people say that, but then there’s Anetra, who’s an obvious assassin, you know what I mean? So, I feel like I can’t compare, but, what I will say is, I’m very proud of the diversity and versatility I showed with my lip syncs. So I will take that!

What’s a fun fact you can share about one of your season 15 sisters that might surprise the fans?

Me and Mistress [Isabelle Brooks] were a lot closer than we ever saw in the Werk Room. You know, that’s why I chose her for the comedy challenge at the end of the day; I love her. She’s like my annoying little sister. I love her.

And, I will say, I was very impressed with how Luxx [Noir London] and Mistress played the game. They were so good at doing what they do—which was causing chaos—but then almost seeming like [unbothered] by it, you know? So it was very amazing to watch them play like that; it was a nice masterclass in “how to do Drag Race” because it worked in their favor, you know?

Right, we’re at this point in the show’s run where—well, it’s like Survivor, where you have people coming into the competition who have clearly studied the show for years and almost know how to play it on another level.

Yeah, and I’m big Survivor fan! You know, I love alliances, I love gameplay, the social games. I went in there playing a social game, and I kind of got in trouble for it. I think that’s why I was in the bottom that first time, for the sewing challenge. So I realized, “Oh, it’s a certain way you play this game—you can’t play your game; you have to play their game!”

And, now that I’m in the Viacom family, I like totally plan on being on Survivor one day.

Oh my god, the campaign starts now! Let’s get you on that island!

Oh, I’m ready.

Who’s a previous season RuGirl that you think is underrated and why?

Well, when I got back [from filming,] I called Monét X Change, and I was crying to her. I was like, “B*tch, I didn’t win anything. They hated my runaways. I had to lip sync so many times. I went home sixth! And she goes, “Girl, that’s the exact trajectory I had.” In [Season 10,] she went home sixth, she had no win, she lip synced so many times.

So I was like, “Wait, if Monét had that trajectory, look at her now! There’s hope for Titties!” So, Monét was one of them—now, of course, she’s superstar and she always was, and I felt that way about her back in the day.

And, you know, I give props to my Latina queens. I feel like we get a bad rap on the show. Vanessa Vanjie Mateo, Alexis Mateo, Valentina—who is a crazy superstar already. But, being there on the show, I feel like we have it so rough. Oh, and Alyssa Hunter is f*cking gorgeous. I feel like, if there’s anyone who needs an honorable mention, it’s Alyssa Hunter at the end of the day.

Right, she’s one of those queens who, after she got eliminated, she kept showing off those incredible looks, week after week.

Oh my god, gagging! Yes! It’s what Irene [Dubois] thought she was doing. [Laughs.]

Oop!

Just kidding!

Related:

Here are all the looks you didn’t see on the ‘Drag Race’ runway (so far)

Some of the best looks from ‘Drag Race’ season 15 didn’t even make it to the main stage!

So, shifting gears, we always like to ask: What’s the worst—or strangest—gig you’ve ever done?

Well, you know, when you’re a baby queen starting out, you’re taking any gig that you can, so there’s definitely a lot.

So, this is interesting, and it wasn’t a dumpster fire. I was asked to perform at this guy’s funeral by his family, who were this group of Cholos and Cholas from Long Beach. And it was very straight, but they had this gay son who died in a car accident, and they were like, “He would have wanted a drag queen to perform at his funeral!” So I was like popping my p*ssy and everyone’s crying. [Laughs.] The grandma was like, “He would’ve wanted this,” and I’m just like, “I’m sorry! Cack-a-tah cack cack cack!” It was insane, but it was beautiful at the same time.”

And, lastly, did you mop anything good from the Werk Room? Any good keepsakes?

Well, they have this wall of accessories for us of, like spirit glue and bobby pins—I grabbed as much of that as I could, baby, I grabbed so much of that.

I do know that the girls—well, I don’t know who, and I don’t know if anyone’s listening, but they cut a piece of the wall out, like a square of Werk Room wall, the pink brick. [Laughs.] I won’t say who, but someone cut a full-on square from behind one of those the workstations.

Can I say, I have a very educated guess as to who that might’ve been.

Well, the one that you think it might have been? She was the one who was making other girls do it for her—I’ll say that!

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