Raja reveals 'petrified' 11-year-old Tic Tac she kept from Drag Race season 3 lunch with RuPaul
RuPaul's Drag Race winner Raja took home a crown, a $75,000 check, and an orange Tic Tac on season 3 of the Emmy-winning reality competition series — and she's showing off the mummified remains of the latter candy she keeps inside a very special container 11 years after she snatched it from set.
"In my hand I hold a Jonathan Adler ceramic container that says 'DOLLS' on it. On my season of RuPaul's Drag Race, what most people don't realize is there was about three weeks to a month that we had to take time off and go back home, and when we returned, in thanks for us being so patient, Ru and the crew had given us these beautiful little jars," Raja exclusively tells EW in a video interview for our cover story on the show's upcoming All Stars 7 edition starring eight franchise winners. "I have used this, and I keep this at an altar in my home, inside of it — first of all, it's signed underneath, it says 'To Raja, from RuPaul,' I had RuPaul sign it. And inside I have my Tic Tac from my Tic Tac lunch."
World of Wonder/Paramount+ Raja kept her Tic Tac from lunch with RuPaul on 'Drag Race' season 3.
Raja then holds the jar up to the camera to reveal it's "petrified" contents: A "little black dot" that once was orange when she and RuPaul first dined on it during a one-on-one discussion during the season 3 finale.
"That's what an 11-year-old Tic Tac looks like. It's beyond sentimental to me," Raja continues. "I think about how lucky I am to have been a part of this process, and how my career was able to develop and change, and that's what it reminds me of. It reminds me that not everybody is allowed the moment, not everybody gets to be a part of this process, and that's a constant reminder of that for me and how lucky I am to be in the place that I am, and how thankful I am to be where I'm at now."
The former makeup artist and America's Next Top Model personality previously teased during a 2020 EW's BINGE podcast interview that the Tic Tac wasn't the only thing she kept from the season 3 set: She and fellow contestant Carmen Carrera also used to smuggle vodka from the Untucked lounge into their purses.
Vijat M for EW Raja for EW
Raja will compete for a second Drag Race victory in the weeks ahead, when she goes crown-to-crown with Jinkx Monsoon (season 5), Yvie Oddly (season 11), Monét X Change (All Stars 4), Trinity The Tuck (All Stars 4), The Vivienne (UK season 1), Jaida Essence Hall (season 12), and Shea Couleé (All Stars 5) across the series' first all-winners season.
RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 7 debuts May 20 on Paramount+. Watch Raja's solo interview above, and read the full all-winners cover story here.
Subscribe to EW's BINGE podcast for full recaps of RuPaul's Drag Race, including weekly season 14 recaps with the cast.
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