The latest queen has sashayed away from Season 15 of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Robin Fierce, one of the immediate fan favorites, lost her lip sync against Jax after both of them landed in the bottom as a result of the Golden Gals rap performance challenge. Another challenge Fierce came up against was the undercover villain of nearly every Drag Race season–the battle of honoring introversion.
During the main episode and RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked, Fierce talked about the stigma being introverted seems to get on the show, particularly since she was told by the judges that she seemed like she was fading away. Fierce told Shadow and Act’s News Editor Monique Jones that she feels like everyone doesn’t have to be extroverted to do drag.
“I like to say that I am an introverted extrovert because you have to be some kind of an extrovert to do drag in general, I feel. But not every drag queen at every single moment, at every single waking time that they are conscious, is doing the most, is doing the works,” she said. “Like, I’m generally a calm person and this is usually just how I am. I like to say that I don’t have to suck the air out of the room to take your breath away.”
“I think an amazing example of that is Janelle Monáe, like literally as she was sitting there in our Untucked, she talks in a cool, calm level that you literally have to listen to her to really understand,” she continued. “And she’s a phenomenal artist and there are people like that [who] are extroverted that want to do these things like drag or perform or something that takes a lot of work and courage to do. Not everybody is going to be the loudest in the room, and you don’t need to be the loudest in the room…I’m glad that through me, other people similar to me get to have their voices heard and their experiences shown as well and it’s also like I’m not intimidated by bigger voices, and I don’t think a bigger voice dims my light. In that moment they might have just wanted a bigger voice and that’s something that I can do if I wanted to as well. That’s just not my go-to, and that’s not everybody’s go-to.”
Fierce’s time on the show has been monumental to her in her career–she said that finally being a part of the Drag Race family has been something she’s still getting used to.
“It was really surreal to be able to walk into the workroom and now say, Hey, I’m a Ru Girl, which is something that I’m getting used to, and as I travel and people introduce me as Robin Fierce from season 15 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, [that] is something that I am getting used to the more it happens,” she said. “But who would’ve thought this little gay boy from born in Brooklyn and grew up in Connecticut would be now at MTV Diva? But yeah, it’s definitely something that I’m thankful for and I can’t wait for all the things to come after.”
Fierce was one of several Connecticut queens who slayed the competition this season. Even though the amount of Connecticut queens made for much conversation with fans, Fierce said she wasn’t surprised to see so many of her sisters there.
“It wasn’t like a super shocker to me. Of course, I didn’t know that they were gonna be on, but like nobody says anything when it’s 17 New York girls on a season. So why this is different, it’s not,” she said. “They just happen to see a bunch of queens from this place that they wanted, especially the fact that we haven’t had any Connecticut representation on the show before.”
“I mean, technically we have Ben DeLaCreme [who] is from Connecticut, Kandy Ho, although [she’s] from Puerto Rico, [she] still lived in Connecticut at some point,” Fierce continued. “But this is the first time people are actively representing Connecticut. Even Carmen Carrera, [who] is not from Connecticut, but Carmen Carrera has performed in Connecticut a long time ago. But it’s still something that has happened and does exist. So drag, I think people are shocked that there’s drag in Connecticut, but there’s drag everywhere.”
Speaking of her sisters, Fierce said that while we’ve been seeing competitive camaraderie between the queens during the show, the real sisterhood happens after the show.
“That’s just drag–what’s shown on the show and also on the show we’re getting to know each other,” she said regarding the competitiveness and funny shade. “And I feel like most of the sisterhood comes after the show because, you’re not competing with each other anymore, so you can really like, take the time to chat. And also after the show, if we all can’t talk about the show because we want everything to be a surprise and new to people when they see it, so if we do wanna talk about stuff, we are the only people that we can talk to about it. So that’s really where even more of that sisterhood gets built.”
Fierce said that what fans can expect from her next is to see her continuing to grow in her art.
“My takeaway is that I am still growing and still learning,” she said. “There’s even parts of myself that I don’t know yet that I’m getting to learn and that’s only gonna make me and my artistry better and [as for what’s] coming next? I’m leaving the door open. I am excited to be out in the world performing for everybody and getting everybody to actually know and see me.”
RuPaul’s Drag Race airs Fridays at 8/7c on MTV.