![]() Manila Luzon was on season 3, All Stars 1 and All Stars 4 and is originally from Cottage Grove. Utica is not the first Minnesota-based drag queen to compete on Drag Race. BeBe Zahara Benet is the original winner of the show and currently lives in Minneapolis. Perhaps “Syracuse, Schenectady, Utica” was more elegant than “Gaylord, Nimrod, Utica”. UQ: Stay tuned for more art and always remember to be yourself, even if you’re a little weird! Photo credit Trevor Beaty uncertain why RuPaul used New York State names to introduce the Minnesota-native Utica. UQ: I’d like to send some love to my wonderful LGBT community that has supported me throughout this whole journey and to those who have given me so much encouragement and strength to be the best version of myself I could possibly imagine! Anyone or any place you’d like to send some love to? MM: Minnesota’s LBGT community is reading. They’re so proud and I couldn’t be happier representing my tiny farm town. UQ: I have heard from individuals from my tiny farm hometown. MM: What do the folks back in Utica, Minnesota think of you putting their little town on the map? Do you hear from them? ![]() UQ: If I wasn’t performing drag, I’d be creating costumes and fashion looks and be building installation pieces. Photo by Trevor Beaty What would you do if you weren’t performing drag? UQ: I actually wouldn’t know, quarantine and COVID restrictions prevent most of the boy throwing. Do you get more guys throwing themselves at you because of Drag Race? MM: And maybe related…but someone wanted me to ask you. UQ: Let’s just say that Olivia Lux gives the best hugs! MM: And I hear there was a date with Olivia Lux. UQ: Now that the season is over I’m planning to create the best work that I can here, there and everywhere! Whether it be in Minneapolis or not I want to keep making art anywhere I can. MM: Now that the season is over, what’s next? Are you planning to stay in Minneapolis? ‘Another Day, Another Slay’: A conversation with BeBe Zahara Benet Photo by Alvan Washington. MM: Because you never really answered on the show, I have to ask. UQ: I would love to do Drag Race again and All Stars would be incredible! I feel like the world has not seen enough of Utica and I would love to be a part of an amazing cast again! MM: Would you do it again? What if Ru calls you for All Stars…would you go? UQ: I would’ve definitely have learned how to cook because that roast was burnt! MM: What would you have done differently in the competition? I know you posted an apology on Twitter after the comedy roast…. From there I honed my new skills while being inspired by artists such as Kandinsky and Erté! UQ: Some very kind words, thank you! I learned how to sew throughout my work-study in the Hamline University costume shop. Who taught you how to sew? And who inspires your aesthetic? You even helped the other queens during that challenge. MM: Your sleeping bag runway will go down as one of the best looks in Drag Race history. That is something truly inspiring and it was a special one of a kind experience. Thirteen amazing artists were put in quarantine to create magic during the height of the global pandemic. Utica Queen (UQ): If I was going to choose a word that describes my Drag Race experience it would be inspiring. I created Utica Queen as my own version of that.Photo by Trevor Beaty Marcotte (MM): Utica Queen! If you had to choose one word to describe your experience on Drag Race, what would it be, and why? These pioneering women created little vignettes of humor and joy, and were quintessentially themselves. “I’ve always been inspired by old-style variety shows, and women of comedy like Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett. “I love to be out of the box, but as high-fashion as it can get,” Utica Queen tells Vogue. The 25-year-old is no doubt a true comedian who leans toward the theatrical and absurd (at times, the judges have critiqued that she's almost too oddball, such as when she wore a strawberry atop her head). Utica Queen, now based in Minneapolis, is kookier and campier than all of her competitors this season. However, among all the top-tier queens is one particular underdog who’s emerged as the unexpected breakout star-hailing from the small town of Utica, Minnesota. The cast is not here to play with their fashion choices, and the runway challenges have been mind-blowing to watch thus far. There’s Symone, the “ebony enchantress” who has slayed the runway with a miles-long do-rag, among other stellar looks. There’s Gottmik, the series’s first-ever trans man to compete, who comes armed with a serious fashion eye. We’re now six episodes in, and season 13 has already served up some clear front-runners in the competition. The cast of RuPaul’s Drag Race is one of the show’s strongest yet.
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