Ever-slaying trans personality Ts Madison got her shine on both the silver screen and the Billboard charts this year, but apparently that wasn’t enough! Now, she’s coming to the small screen as the host of Bring Back My Girls on WOW Presents Plus.
The series was filmed at this year’s DragCon LA as a series of panels reuniting different casts of Drag Race queens. Line-ups from seasons across the world sat down to chat (or fight) it out, with Ts Madison presiding over it all.
We sat down with the star to chat about her stellar year and to get her take on the ups and downs therein. Read on to see us talk Bros‘ future, get the Bring Back My Girls scoop, and do our best to make Ms. Madison break an NDA…
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QUEERTY: We’re so excited to chat about Bring Back My Girls!
How about we take this to the next level?
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MADISON: I’m so, so excited for Bring Back My Girls, you guys have no idea. I really want to see how it came together. There was so much going on, we had such a time. And to film something in front of a live studio audience not knowing what was going to happen was insane.
It premieres Tuesday, October 18th on WOW Presents Plus at 11am PT/2pm EST with new episodes airing every week.
[Laughs] Was that straight from your notes?
It was. I had to make sure I got that in there! Now, me being excited about it? Oh, baby, that wasn’t from the notes.
First of all, everyone knows that I’m a super fan of the show. And not only that, I’m World of Wonder family, and a guest judge. This felt like home for me. The girls came in all excited to film their reunions with me and I was like, “Okay, all right! I’m feeling kind of mother-ish right now.”
You’re a good friend to the show at this point. I’m wondering if we won’t see you on any other related programs? Is Secret Celebrity on the horizon?
Well, you’ve just got to keep your eyes peeled, darling. I really wish I could judge Secret Celebrity, and I really wish I could judge an All Stars or something too.
We’re manifesting it?
Yeah, I got my witch bones on the floor for that one.
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We don’t want to spoil anything, but are there any moments from this past DragCon that you’re really excited to see come to the screen?
I want to see how I got through the girls from the UK. Their accents are so… [Laughs] I was trying to figure out “Okay, now is this English? Is this Welsh? Like what is this?” Because I didn’t want to mess it up and get it wrong, you know? But I’m very excited for that.
I’m also excited for the Canada reunions, and Kimora [Amour].
How deep did you get into that whole situation? Do you know all the ins and outs?
Well, I didn’t know the ins and outs of the situation, however I was quickly brought up to speed! I just have to say (without giving anything away) that there’s real tension there, and I don’t know how they as girls are going to work through that. But I do know that someone hurt someone – I don’t know if it was emotionally or spiritually or what – but there’s some deep-rooted trauma in between those two girls.
I really want people to know that when girls do these competition shows and they have to compete against each other, the fans can sometimes fuel beefs in between the girls. There was a fan comment from the audience that really threw gasoline on the fire.
And in the moment, I was like, “Okay, wait, is this a healing moment? Or is this like a battle moment?” And for a second, I was like, “Okay, do I need to put on my track shoes and run up out of here? Because this is about to get real hand-to-hand combat.”
But you just gotta tune in. I want the people to see how it looks in edit, because I tried to defuse it as much as possible.
That specific tension and the optics at the root of it – do you think it speaks to a larger tension throughout the community?
There is a larger tension throughout the community. I think that we have these competition shows to break barriers for our community, and also to give the girls some hope for how their career can manifest into something great. They can rise as entertainers just as mother RuPaul did.
The fans should understand that this is not an evil thing. Like, this is not war between two people. This is a competition show that’s for the greater good of the community and to further advance people’s careers. We shouldn’t take it into a really serious space like that; we should enjoy the moment, have fun, and really cheer and root the girls on.
Don’t send hate to who you don’t like, but send love to those that you do.
Yeah! Because let me tell you, RuPaul’s Drag Race fans are so deeply invested into the show. It’s like a cult thing that is so deeply invested. And I saw it firsthand.
You can watch a show on television, but when you have the opportunity to sit in a room and see thousands of people who are there for these girls who pop up overnight and have this fan base, it’s such a good feeling. Because me, being a queer person growing up, I didn’t know that I had the opportunity to have a fan base and to be a star.
I became a star by just being myself. And a lot of these girls, they have talent, they can sing, they can dance, they can act, they can write, but a lot of the girls are just themselves and they have garnered people falling in love with their personalities. It’s an amazing thing to see that stuff in real time come to life like that.
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It’s great to see this platform for so many queer voices to become such big figures. And you would know about becoming a star, Ms. Top 40 Hit this summer!
That’s right, honey! “Cozy”, baby. I’ve foreseen a lot of things in my career, but a Beyoncé collab? I didn’t see that. And then it happened! And then I’m in the movie Bros that came out too, just so many iconic things that are happening in life.
To also be on RuPaul’s Drag Race and judging that and having this show Bring Back My Girls… If someone told me to complain to God about life, I’d be like, “Why? Life is fun and full of possibilities!”
Bros has gotten a great critical reception, though it’s performed differently than people thought it was going to. It feels like we’ve heard from the white cis men behind the film on social media, but we haven’t gotten to hear as much from the more diverse voices in the ensemble.
Well, here’s the way I feel about it. I personally think that we as a community still have lots of healing to do as far as internalized things. I did hear Billy [Eichner] say that the straights didn’t show up for it, but for me, the responsibility was not to lie on the backs of the straights to show up for the movie.
The responsibility is for us as a community to make sure that we band together and support stories and movies and television series – like Bring Back My Girls on WOW Presents Plus – because we have a space that is for us, by us, that can be seen by them. But in order for us to make something really successful, we have to show up for each other first.
When we show that we are strong in numbers, that makes everything else in Hollywood let the green light come on. Like, “Wow, they wanted a movie about love, about romance, they wanted a comedy with great, brilliant comedy creators like Judd Apatow and Nick Stoller.”
But we have to know that it is important that we show up for each other first. Our strength in numbers shows that this is something that we have been needing for a long period of time. How do you think that other things are going to get greenlit? It’s not going to get greenlit because we sit at home and say, “Well, that doesn’t represent me.”
And anyone who sits at home and says that that movie is not a representation of them must have not seen the movie, because there’s all pieces and facets of the community inside. There’s so much stuff in that movie that whether you’re white, black, top or bottom, it touches on every aspect.
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I think that it’s going to get its legs once it hits streaming and on demand. There are people that still don’t want to go to the movies. And let’s be real; if you were a straight questioning or curious guy, and there’s a movie that you’re going to buy a ticket for and it’s called Bros about a gay couple of falling in love? Wouldn’t you think that if you’re struggling with your identity or something like that, that you would go, “I want to see the movie, but I don’t want nobody seeing me buy a ticket for this”?
I cannot wait for it to continue to rise in theaters – because it did rise a few million more dollars in the following week – but I can’t wait to see it however long they keep it in theaters. And then when it comes on demand, I can’t wait to see how it performs.
We still have people who are hiding what they truly are, but still want to see a love story about themselves. So maybe when it hits the homes, it’s going to find its footing and it’s going to be one of those things that will be like, “Oh, why didn’t this do well in the first weekend? Because this is great!”
A cult classic in the making?
A cult classic in the making, exactly.
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One last question: Should we expect a certain somebody to be in a certain set of visuals?
[Laughs] Well, I mean if the queen calls, the doll will answer! I mean, I most definitely would love for that to happen. If the queen calls, I’ll drop everything that I’m doing honey. I most definitely will.
Whether it’s already happened or not is yet to be determined.
So I wanted people to know out there that are listening that Bring Back My Girls premieres October 18th on WOW Presents Plus at 11am Pacific, and 2pm Eastern. And you guys gotta know that each week there will be a new episode! The girls from Canada, Holland, UK, Down Under, RuPaul’s Drag Race vs. the World, and season 12.
Season 12 didn’t get an opportunity to have a reunion because of COVID, so now the season 12 girls get the opportunity to have their very own! They were reunited for the very first time, darling, and it is amazing. I cannot wait for you guys to watch Bring Back My Girls on WOW Presents Plus on October 18th. Hallelujah.
Spoken like the only professional.
You better know it.
sfhairy
Are we still talking about Bros? I agree with TS that it’s not for straight white men to go see that movie, that was never going to happen. I’m not sure what drugs Billy was doing when he thought they were gonna run to the theater to see him be a bitchy queen.
joseph_buscarino
Course they are, its still in theaters lol .. Also you’d be surprised what straight white men will go see, specially if their girlfriends and wives wanna see it. Look at queer as folk, which was insanely popular and very gay sex forward. Will they go out of their way to pay for a ticket to see it in a theater maybe not? but to be honest I dont go out of my way to go see a straight couple movie in the theater either. The fact that this type of movie is even playing in a national theater is an accomplishment of its own. Im sure once it goes to streaming it will be a hit, just like heartstoppers and a ton of others.
sfhairy
Yeah, they’re running right and seeing it. LOL. Not. Now, I do agree with you that it will do much better on streaming, but it won’t be straight men watching it except with their girlfriends. No straight “bro” is going to be like hey guys, lets watch Bros, it’s this gay Rom Com. If you think that’s gonna happen, then theirs a bridge in NY I’ve got for sale.
The film received positive reviews from critics but disappointed at the box office, and has grossed $10.8 million against a budget of $22 million.
DarkZephyr
You’re just not a very enjoyable or positive person.
balttymore
I love that there is never any talk of her porn career…Or in her early interviews she only changes sexs to get hotter guys…Because she was a fat fem.guy and her her trans friends were pulling hot trade
SUPREME
no one cares about that. why do you?
Peter
I have nothing critical to say about Ts Madison; I saw Bros and enjoyed it and her performance. However, the interviewers use of the word “star” to describe her is a stretch. Joan Crawford, Bette Davis and Elizabeth Taylor were stars. The word “star,” like “awesome,” no longer has meaning.
G R
I’m over the whining about ‘Bros’. This film was never going to get a straight audience to see it and the comment about some straight guy questioning his sexuality and being afraid he’d be spotted buying a tkt is laughable.
I saw it, it was cute but VERY one-note, just as SATC was criticized for having no people of color in the girls NYC-orbit, Bros had no straight people as friends in theirs. Billy on the Street is fun, but 90 minutes of that is a lot to take, Eichner would’ve have been much smarter if he’d cast Ryan Faucett in the lead over casting himself. His character was annoying, LOUD and not very appealing, it was tough believing that MacFarlane’s character would’ve stuck around for all that whiny angst.
cynthia_foxe
bros was ok, not horrible, i find ms madison boring tho….she a big doofus.