Loosey LaDuca talks 'devastating' RuPaul's Drag Race elimination: 'I earned a spot in the finale'
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Now that she's free from RuPaul's Drag Race, squabbles with her sisters, and challenge victory math that isn't mathing, get ready for the Great Let Loosening™ of 2023 as Loosey LaDuca — a.k.a. the Queen of the Thunder — takes the world by storm.
Following her emotional season 15 elimination at the end of the fan-favorite makeover challenge, the Connecticut queen tells EW she "did kind of feel robbed" after landing in the bottom for her work transforming a teacher into a glamazon on the Main Stage, and that she thinks she rightfully earned a spot in the upcoming Drag Race finale alongside Luxx Noir London, Mistress Isabelle Brooks, Anetra, and Sasha Colby.
Read on to get Loosey's full thoughts on her Drag Race elimination, how she feels about her drag being called "generic" and the state of her relationship with Luxx after they regularly clashed in recent episodes. RuPaul's Drag Race continues Fridays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on MTV.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Let's start with the most important topic: Your brother, who we saw in a video message in Untucked. I feel like his aesthetic will resonate with the Drag Race fanbase. Did you prepare him for the fact that twinks will be in his DMs?
LOOSEY LADUCA: No! I mean, my brother is absolutely wonderful and he's supportive. He's come to many of my shows, and every time he comes to one of my shows, it's the discussion in the dressing room. It's like, "Oh my God, who is that hot man?" and I'm like, "He's married, he's my brother, let's move on." [Laughs]
MTV/World of Wonder Loosey LaDuca on 'RuPaul's Drag Race' season 15.
On this episode, there was — again — a clash over queens calling you "generic" on the runway when RuPaul asked who should go home and why. Had you ever heard that criticism before going to the show, and how has hearing that impacted how you approach drag after the show?
I've never heard that criticism before. I consider myself someone who doesn't put myself in a box. I'm open to doing different genres of drag and I'm not afraid to try anything new or different. I'd never heard that criticism, haven't heard it since, and I hope to never hear it again. Has it changed the way I look at my own drag? Absolutely not. I'm happy with the way that I do drag. It's one person's opinion. That's fine. You're not going to satisfy everybody, and you'll go crazy trying to do that.
How do you explain or feel about Luxx working well with you in the comedy challenge, and then what appeared to be a shift in energy when she's no longer your partner?
I was surprised by that. At the end of the day, I was hurt by it. I'm admittedly a sensitive person, and there's no shame in that. There's power in being sensitive. We worked so well together in the comedy challenge, and I helped her a lot. Comedy is my strength. I had so much fun working with her and so much fun being able to perform comedy with her. I was hurt to then be told that she finds me generic, when I feel like I was a big part of that second challenge win.
I didn't sense any tension between you two in our press week interviews. Last week, you told me you had a "complicated" relationship with Mistress. How are things with Luxx?
Luxx and I are fine. Our relationship before the Rusical episode was a little bit better. We don't talk every day, but I'm always happy to hear from her. We still make each other laugh. It'll be hard to forget that she doesn't necessarily respect my drag, but I hope that she likes me as a person and doesn't think I'm a generic human being.
I thought this mini challenge was fun, where you all voted on superlatives. Luxx voted you as the hairiest. What are you not telling us?
I asked her that, too! Like, "Luxx, out of all those categories, why did you vote me for hairiest?" And she went, "Well, you always wear short-shorts, and you have really hairy legs, so that's why I chose you as hairiest." I thought it was funny, [but] you've got Mistress over here with Rapunzel hair!
When RuPaul asked you all which queen is going home next, you all held up the card with your face on it. Was that strategy for the challenge, or did you have a feeling you were leaving?
It was 100 percent me just wanting to win the mini challenge. I stand by what I said in the first episode when I said my goal is to win as many challenges as possible. I knew that was going to be the majority answer, because I knew that Mistress and Luxx would pick me, and Sasha and Anetra are smart people, they knew Mistress and Luxx were almost half of the people. I knew I was going to be the majority answer, and, I won the mini challenge! It's another check, it doesn't count as much as a main, I've learned that, America, but it still counts toward my record.
We transitioned to the makeover challenge, and you assigned pairs. Luxx was annoyed that you didn't pair her with the only other Black person in the room. Was that a strategic move?
The way I looked at it was a matter of priority. I'm not going to prioritize a person who just called me generic. That's what it is. I'm going to put a beautiful plus-sized woman with the drag queen who is a champion for the plus-sized community. I wanted that woman to have a great experience. The woman I put with Sasha Colby looks like a Colby. Sasha was my closest friend there, and Anetra is also such a lovely, incredible, kind person. I felt like the teacher I paired her with had nice, fun, young energy. Luxx got the person I couldn't quite pair perfectly with anybody, and her comments about me certainly were a factor in that. I'm not going to help her out when she insulted me in front of the judges.
MTV/World of Wonder Loosey LaDuca and Luxx Noir London prepare to lip-sync on 'RuPaul's Drag Race' season 15.
In the end, it fittingly came down to you and Luxx in the bottom two. Luxx stretched her limbs like she was about to run a marathon. There's a shot of you looking over at her while she did that. Was that intimidating to you, and what was your headspace heading into that lip-sync?
Going into the lip-sync, I remember thinking the healthiest mindset I could be in was that there was absolutely no way I'm going to go home. My intention was to not pay any attention to what Luxx was going to do. That's kind of the kiss of death, when you see someone during a lip-sync look over and go, What are they doing? I imagined that I'm at home, at my home bar, trying to entertain a crowd. I thought there was no way they're going to send me home.
I believe Robin Fierce told me there's a moment of calm after the lip-sync, and a pause between the end of the lip-sync and RuPaul revealing her decision. What were you thinking in that moment?
Um, not calm! I was devastated. I really was. I worked so hard, and I wanted so badly to do my absolute best in every single challenge. I never was afraid of anything, I never second-guessed anything, and I believe — and people can call me delusional — that I earned a spot in the finale. I was consistent enough and I succeeded in enough challenges that I rightfully should have made it to the finale. It was devastating. Filming for a very long time, you don't have your friends, family, or phone, so you're under this crazy amount of stress, and once you hear, "sashay away," this floodgate of emotion that's culminated in the many weeks of challenges hit me all at once. I remember crying from the moment she said my name until I left that Werk Room. It was devastating at the time, and it felt like I was so, so close. It wasn't a fun feeling.
When I spoke with Miz Cracker about her elimination on season 10, she told me that she "scream-cried for an hour" in the hotel. What was that night like for you?
It felt surreal, like all my friends were going on a field trip and I was left back at the school by myself, because I knew there was still another challenge left and I wanted so badly to do that challenge. I did feel kind of robbed. I felt that way at the time. It was tough.
You said in Untucked that you didn't have an exit line prepared. How did you come up with your line?
I didn't prepare an exit line because I'm like, I'm not exiting! It's not going to happen. My natural inclination is to always go to comedy, it's the other language that I speak, so, I thought of this incredibly iconic line from Elvira's feature film, Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, which is, "Tell 'em that I wasn't just a great set of boobs, I was also an incredible set of legs" — with tears in my eyes.
What do you want your Drag Race legacy to be?
I hope that my legacy on Drag Race is that it's okay to want the most, and it's okay to be confident, and it's powerful to be emotionally vulnerable. As a society, being emotional is frowned upon, and it took me years to get comfortable with showing my emotions. It's incredibly powerful, and it should be applauded instead of frowned upon.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
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