The Only Naomy on why she initially turned down Drag Race UK vs the World

She’s been Hitler’s imaginary brother, Donatella Versace’s sibling Gianni, a white-turned-black swan and a literal baby. Now, she’s a lovely fourth alternate. The Only Naomy has sashayed away from Drag Race UK vs The World season three.

It’s bittersweet. After exiting her original series, Drag Race Germany season one, pretty much immediately, she came back to the contest and slayed pretty much every challenge. Sure, she didn’t get a RuPeter Badge, but did she need one? Is the fact of doing so well, and gaining so many more fans, enough?

PinkNews spoke to The Only Naomy hours after her elimination following this week’s ‘Olympian Makeover’ challenge about her friction with her cast mates, whether her exit was justified, and why she almost nearly wasn’t on this season at all.

Hi Naomy! How are you feeling?

I don’t quite know how I feel to be honest. It’s a very bittersweet moment because for me right now two things are true at the same time: I am incredibly grateful for getting the opportunity to come back and to show what I showed and to make it as far as I did [but at] the same time [I was] so close to the finale and I did so consistently good that I really wanted to go there. It is a very sad moment in a way but on the other hand, I’m in all episodes. At least I got that!

It’s a tale of two halves. Your storyline was that you didn’t win a badge, but you were consistently in the top. How do you think you’ll feel overall about this season in time?

I do feel very proud of myself. To be fair, I did not think I had that in me. When I got the first call [to be on Drag Race UK vs The World], I initially said no. They had to talk to me for an hour [to] make me feel better until I said yes. Going from that to now being in the top five? I feel incredible. I’ve shown my personality, the way I am, all facets. I have been very nice. I’ve been a little bit c***y. I’ve been very happy. I’ve been sour. I managed to show a very well-rounded human being.

Why did you say no initially?

When they called me, I was wholeheartedly saying to myself, even the year before, let me take some more time, work on my craft, work on the things that I realised during Drag Race Germany that I’m not great at yet. When I’ve managed those, I want to go back. In a weird way, it was really a situation where they knew I was ready before I knew I was ready.

There were so many challenges you didn’t get to do on Drag Race Germany. Getting to show sides of yourself that no one had seen must feel special.

On Drag Race Germany I did not majorly enjoy the whole experience because I [knew] it was over so soon. Going to Drag Race in the right mindset is definitely key and for that alone I am very proud of myself. But then all of these challenges…  I thought I would be so intimidated by them but then week by week, I was like let’s just take it for what it is. Except for a design challenge, I never did anything of what I did this season before. It was so much fun and I want to do it again. I’m ready to do it again!

Canada’s Drag Race vs The World, give her a call.

Down Under Vs The World! Global All Stars! Latina Royale, put me in!

Your storyline was that you hadn’t won a badge. This episode, you were given a badge – by Kate Butch – that said you were the queen on the thinnest ice. Was the writing on the wall for you this week?

To be very honest, I thought there was two chances: either I win this week or I go home this week. I was pretty sure there would be nothing between that just because we know Drag Race. Someone would have had to really really f*** up for a non-badged queen to be in the finale. As soon as they paired me with Kate for the bottom two lip-sync, I was like, ‘[She] is the only UK queen left. I will give it my all, but I’m not going to expect to win this lip-sync for two reasons: Number one, I don’t have a badge; number two, she’s the last UK queen on UK vs the World.

Sometimes you have to put two and two together.

At the same time, I’m very happy that the person that sent me home was Kate because Kate and me had the closest relationship during the whole thing. I was pleased that if I have to leave, she gets to go on. She’s my favorite girl.

One of the highlights of this week’s episode was you meeting and bonding with your Olympian makeover subject, BMXer Shanaze Reade. Have you stayed in touch post the show?

I have not spoken to her to be very fair. I think that’s a very disappointing thing. I haven’t found her online. I was kind of hoping they would tag her somewhere, but Drag Race hasn’t tagged her yet. I really want to talk to her again. She has been a really lovely presence and very much a breath of fresh air at that moment in the competition.

We need to find Shanaze on socials!

Find her and send her my way!

You had some testier relationships with others in the cast, including Sminty Drop and Zahirah Zapanta. Why do you think you were in the middle of the friction, and how are those relationships now?

First of all, I’m great with basically everyone in the cast. There’s no grudges because we were very clear on set about a lot of things, where here is TV and then comes the line and the rest is private. I love Zahirah. She has been one of the ones that checked in with me the most. She’s an angel. Even though she was a little firestarter on the show, there is a whole other side to her that’s incredibly loving and supporting. After Kate, she definitely has to be my closest one. I don’t [know] why all of these moments happened during the season. I don’t think that in most of the situations I was the trigger point. I just feel like some of them had a lot of opinions and they wanted to voice them and I was like, ‘OK girl, go off! Now let’s move on.’

Even though in last week’s episode a thing was made of you saying that you didn’t care about making the finale, at certain points it seemed like you wanted to be in the finale the most.

It was a huge thing for me. This literally meant the world. In episode two, when I had to lip-sync for my life and I plead my case in the Werk Room – they once again have to cut it down, but I said the same thing I’m going to say now – I was from the least known franchise. This was a huge opportunity for me. I realised that a queen like me doesn’t usually get a call for a huge franchise like that. So I spent every last Euro I had to make this thing happen and pulled all of my friends together. Over 35 people worked to get me to that point. It was a really huge team. I wanted to make them proud, but at the same time I wanted to see how far I can go. That’s why I said I don’t care about the finale. I thought from the beginning that my chances of winning are realistically pretty f****** small, and I’m not mad about that because on Drag Race, it’s not about winning. It’s about what you show of yourself.

Speaking of that painful lip-sync, where you tried a back bend… how is your head?!

Oh my God, so many complaints. Even Michelle asked if I was fine. I didn’t fully realise how painful it looked cos I didn’t really feel anything!

Lastly, online, you have been branded the robbed queen of the season. Especially this week, everyone seems to think your Versace siblings look was nowhere near a bottom two look. Was it fair for you to be in the bottom?

To be fair to the judges, all of these queens on that stage are f****** incredible. The level of drag is so high that [they had to] fall back to either tiny details or things [they] personally did not enjoy as much. I am very happy that I got to show that look because to be fair, I thought I was the smartest. They said family resemblance and here is [a] literal family. How much more family resemblance can you show? I don’t feel like I fully got my flowers for that. I would have loved for them to have a moment of giving me a little bit of plot armour, forgetting about everything they didn’t like and be like ‘Naomy, you won the challenge,’ like being edged until the very end [and at] the very last possibility to get a badge and move to the final. That would have been my fantasy. That was not RuPaul’s fantasy!

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs The World continues on BBC iPlayer and WOW Presents Plus on Tuesdays.

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