8 Months from Stardom: How the Queens of ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 15 Prepared for Their TV Debut

For a drag queen, earning a place in a cast of RuPaul’s Drag Race is the biggest gig possible. The Emmy-winning phenomenon turns everyone who walks through the Werk Room entrance into an international icon and social media sensation — and that goes for every single girl, from the final four to the first out the door. There’s no bigger platform for a queen to stunt on, and it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to hit RuPaul’s runway.

But what about the work that happens after the cameras stop rolling and the cast returns home? There’s a gap between filming the season and when the cast is announced, roughly six to eight months where the queens exist in a liminal space between anonymity and superstardom. They can’t admit that they just filmed the biggest reality competition show in America — but why else would your local queen disappear from the bar and from social for a month? And as fans of the show know, queens have to be marketing geniuses if they really want to make the most of their Drag Race run. That means turning every runway lewk into an editorial photoshoot, every catchphrase into a T-shirt, and every social media post into a moment. How does that work get done?

A Little Bit of Love: ‘Drag Race’s’ Season 15 Queens on What They Love Most About Each Other

That’s what we wanted to know when we got the chance to kiki with the queens of Drag Race Season 15. What happens in this nebulous period of anticipation? Let’s shine a light on all of the unseen and under-appreciated work that these queens put in before they step into the spotlight.

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Malaysia Babydoll Foxx: A lot of people think [the period between filming and the season premiere is] a relaxing time and will be like, “Oh, enjoy being normal,” but you are not normal once you leave this set, regardless of what you may think, because there’s still so much work to be done… It’s a life changing experience. It’s new to you, so you don’t know a lot of things, so you want to also make the best decisions for yourself and for the long run. It takes a lot of preparation.

Luxx Noir London: When I first left set, I was like, “Oh my god, this is about to happen, like so soon.” It really is a lot of time.

Jax: We just went through this experience and then we have solidly eight months in between filming and now.

Luxx: I think that taking your time [after filming] and not really rushing into being so stressed about getting these things done [is important], because they will happen in time. I think it’s very important to take a second and realize what just happened and go through those emotions.

Anetra: I think it’s so important for future girls to really do that [after filming], to take a moment, have a beat, reassess, and also create a plan for yourself for the future because, bitch, as soon as you are off the show is when the start the race really starts.

While preparing for their Drag Race debut, the queens have to keep their involvement in the show a secret — well, as best they can. 

Mistress Isabelle Brooks: You disappear for a few weeks, sometimes like a month or two, and everyone in your home bar knows when you’re gone [and they’re whispering], “Oh my god, so-and-so’s filming Drag Race.”

Spice: It’s crazy because it’s a secret but some people know about it, but you can’t really talk about it and you have to do everything [to prepare for the premiere] under wraps. It’s just very hectic and chaotic.

Aura Mayari: [We have] that consistent lie that we have to tell people and keep going with it. I’ve told two [different] lies [to the same people] and people are like, “I’m not gonna think two things together here.”

Spice: I just told everybody I was filming the new Life-Size movie with Tyra, but they didn’t believe it.

Robin Fierce: We know [the premiere is] coming, but then some of us don’t do the work until the last half-minute, so we’re all rushing to get stuff done. And also we have to do all these things, but we don’t got RuGirl money yet, so —

Princess Poppy: Exactly. But [collaborators are] still charging us RuGirl prices.

Robin Fierce: Because they know [we just filmed Drag Race]. They can’t say it, but they know.

Amethyst: I think [the time] flies by so fast because we have to keep ourselves busy, and I think that helps a lot. In that time you just work on your craft. I put out an album, so that kept me super busy. We work on our photo shoots and getting everything ready for that big day [when the cast is announced].

It’s become tradition for the queens to turn every look that they wear on the show into a full editorial photoshoot — and that even goes for the eliminated queens, who post photos of what they would have worn for that challenge.

Salina EsTitties: Past seasons when a girl wouldn’t post a photograph [of their runway look to Instagram], I would be like, “Where’s her picture?!” But baby, now I understand it is a privilege to get photos from the girls because it is expensive. It is work. It is time consuming. With everything else going on, trying to fit in a photoshoot is insane. So props to any girl who gets anything done at all.

Marcia Marcia Marcia: It’s a lot of material to shoot. There is such a long time since the show [filmed], I feel like I’ve grown a lot since I’ve been on the show. So it’s a lot of looking at what those [looks] were for me at that time and remaining true to that, but also incorporating the growth, my new perspective, and things like that. It’s a lot of trying to reel back and remember what I was thinking at that moment, what did I want to bring to the table, and how do I convey that through a more elevated environment.

Sugar: Every season you see the girls, they post her photoshoots, their content, all that stuff — but that’s gonna be so hard because once we’re announced [as cast members], and we’re doing these viewing parties, we’re not really going to have the time to be shooting our looks. Now we have this whole new audience to feed with content of us looking pretty, so that’s a lot of hard work prepping for that stuff: getting your merchandise, getting everything, managing it — for the first time for a lot of girls.

Catchphrases are a big deal in the world of Drag Race. Literally from the first moment they’re on screen, everything a queen says could become a meme and therefore merchandisable. But how do the queens know which phrases to engrave on enamel pins and print on clack fans? 

Princess Poppy: I just kept repeating the same phrase and hoping it caught on. I just kept saying the same thing in confessionals, like anytime they’d ask me something, just, “Catchphrase.”

Robin Fierce: And if you say it enough, they have to put it in.

Many queens keep journals during filming, not only to keep up with the moments that they think could pop on TV eight months later, but also as a form of therapy.

Sasha Colby: I actually kept a journal every day, just so I could remember for myself in real time what was going on. There’s such a break between filming and when we get to watch the actual show that you forget the little things or the things that really made that episode. Also what we think is probably going to be funny, we don’t even know if it’s gonna make the edit. So it’s really kind of waiting to see how it’s aired, and then we’ll be like, “Okay, I can use that as a fun merch idea.”

Irene DuBois: [I] wrote down everything that happened every day so that if something didn’t make it onto camera, I have evidence that it happened.

Aura Mayari: It was also very therapeutic at the same time. After taping and going back to the hotel, there’s just so much emotion and we didn’t have any of our friends or loved ones to call. My boyfriend at that time was my journal.

Social media is a major part of a drag queen’s career. Social media can help get the queens on the show, like Season 15’s TikTok twins Sugar and Spice, and queens can use it to keep a high profile long after their season is over. There is, of course, a downside to social media.

Irene: I think the past six months I’ve been setting up my social media and online presence with the knowledge that at some point, a bunch of people are going to see me for the first time and whatever I have up, that’s going to be their first impression of me. [I’ve been] curating this version of myself that I want people to perceive me as,

Jax: A lot can change in eight months. I feel like I’m an entirely different person, so I’m just mentally preparing myself for when this all airs and just thinking about, you know, I don’t think I know that girl anymore.

Irene: I was very fortunate to have a very close friend of mine on Season 14, Bosco, and she sort of gave me a rundown, lay of the land. Even when her season was airing, I got to watch her go through everything and see her doom scroll on Twitter after every episode aired. [I would] sort of be like, “Hmm, maybe I won’t be doing that.”

Spice: If I look for positive comments, basically I’m kind of looking for negative. Like, your brain is always gonna — [negative comments are] gonna stand out to you, so I’m not even gonna look.

If anyone knows about living in the spotlight, it’s series star RuPaul. Mama Ru herself gave the queens some advice to help them navigate their impending superstardom. 

Sasha: I think Ru told us actually while filming, she said the two best pieces of advice to give us was, “Remember, don’t read the comments and pay your taxes.” So, if Mama said it —

Princess: And I’m only doing one of those things,

Sasha: Right! How are those comments?

These interviews have been combined and edited for clarity and cohesion. RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 15 premieres on MTV on Friday, January 6 at 8 p.m. ET.