See exclusive photos of Jinkx Monsoon's RuPaul's Drag Race reunion with season 5 crush Ivy Winters
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Here's an adorable RuPaul's Drag Race reunion that'll hit you square in the "poison rosebud."
After season 5 sisters Jinkx Monsoon and Ivy Winters reunited on July 12 backstage at the Detroit stop of the former's Everything at Stake tour, EW can reveal exclusive photos of the pair's reunion 10 years after competing together (and forming a deep emotional bond) on the set of the Emmy-winning drag queen competition series.
"Ivy is one of the most talented people I know. When Ivy Winters decides she wants something, she doesn't buy it, she builds it. When she wants to do something new, she teaches herself," Jinkx exclusively tells EW in a statement about her reunion with Ivy. "Honestly, one of the kindest, silliest, dorkiest, loveliest people that drag and Drag Race has brought into my life."
Courtesy of Jinkx Monsoon; Paramount+ Jinkx Monsoon and Ivy Winters hold 'Drag Race' season 5 reunion
The pair quickly bonded on the set of season 5 at an important time for Jinkx, as her oddball approach to the art form was often misunderstood by several of her other castmates. Jinkx even admitted to developing a crush on Ivy in a confessional during filming.
"There's one person who always gets what I am and what I'm doing, and that's Ivy," Jinkx said on the season, which premiered on Jan. 28, 2013, and later burst into tears when Ivy was first eliminated. "I don't know how to describe in words how much Ivy means to me. I almost think that this cold be the beginning of a relationship, and I'm really excited about that."
Jinkx went on to be crowned the season's victor, while Ivy won the title of Miss Congeniality.
Courtesy of Jinkx Monsoon Jinkx Monsoon and Ivy Winters hold 'Drag Race' season 5 reunion
In a prior interview with EW, Jinkx elaborated on her time with Ivy back in 2013.
"It was absolutely a real crush," Jinkx confirmed to EW's BINGE podcast in 2020. "Ivy and I never had any kind of romance, it was a symptom of captivity, you know? It was Stockholm Syndrome. But, immediately after the show, I visited her in New York with my best friend. Ivy and I have been really close friends ever since we finished filming, and almost immediately met her boyfriend, who is now her husband, Keith, right after Drag Race. She now lives on a farm with her husband, she's got 26 or 28 chickens, she makes hot air balloons for a living, she makes stained-glass art, Ivy is one of the craftiest people I've ever met."
Since the show, Ivy has largely stepped back from drag, while Jinkx has become one of the most successful alums in the show's history, having acted as Mama Morton in Chicago on Broadway, landed roles in Clea DuVall's lesbian rom-com Happiest Season and the upcoming season of Doctor Who, as well as becoming the only queen to win Drag Race twice when she triumphed over the all-winners All Stars 7 edition of the show in 2022.
See EW's exclusive photos of Jinkx and Ivy's Drag Race season 5 reunion above.
Subscribe to EW's Quick Drag podcast for recaps of RuPaul's Drag Race, including reactions with the cast, special guests, and more.
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