The following interview contains major spoilers for RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars season 11.
The All Stars 11 queen opens up on her explosive exit, where she and her former allies stand, and what’s next for her.
In the final moments of this week’s episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, the part where the queens dance around the stage with “You Betta Vote” signs, a screaming match erupts backstage, loud enough for the judging panel to hear. Its participants? Season 15 castmates Aura Mayari and Salina EsTitties.
This iteration of All Stars sees the queens face off in tribes brackets to rack up points, with the top scorers advancing to the merge semifinals. Some of these points come from winning challenges, of course, but there’s also some pesky points handed out by the bottom scoring queens each week, lending a strategic component to the game.
Going into All Stars, Salina EsTitties had a lot to prove after a mixed reception on her original run, which showcased a rough-around-the-edges queen with a big personality and execution that didn’t quite measure up. This time around, she upped her drag game — her performances in the challenges were universally strong, and her runways showcased the classic All Stars glow-up. But, an eternal student of social games like Survivor and Big Brother, she was most excited to play the strategic game. Quickly forming tight alliances with Aura Mayari (dubbed the “Pekpek Alliance”) and a “Tres Leches” Latina alliance with season 6’s April Carrion and, to a lesser extent, Crystal Methyd, she seemed to be in the perfect game position.
Until she wasn’t.
After a final series of votes which saw her alliance members dole their points out elsewhere, leaving Salina just shy of a spot in the semifinals, PAPER sat down with the always-unfiltered queen to unpack her run and what led to all those betrayals in the eleventh hour. (She’s over it now. Unless she isn’t.)
How has it been being on TV this time around?
Night and day from my first time. I cannot believe the overwhelming amount of love I’m getting. People are actually seeing me for who I am and for my talents, which has been super cool. I got a lot of flack my first time around. I was messy; I was going through it! But this time I feel really seen and validated.
A lot of the fans have a mixed reaction to the brackets format, but on the contestant end, there’s a huge benefit for you. What about the format appeals most to you?
You spend so much money your first time around. I think the brackets allow us to really hone in on specifics: we only have to worry about three runways and three challenges until the semifinals. I was able to make a splash in three episodes and completely change my narrative in the eyes of the fandom and with World of Wonder and with RuPaul. In just three little episodes, as opposed to my thirteen from season 15.
Which is actually a great pivot to this week and the Makeover, where you got your well-deserved first win. I imagine you feel similarly, but I do think there was a case for you to be in the top all three weeks of the bracket. But how did it feel finally hearing your name?
I just giggled. I was overwhelmed with joy at the fact that it finally happened. This time around, I felt so confident with everything I was delivering that each time I didn't get a win I was like, goddamit! What’s happening here? Where’s the disconnect? So to finally get that validation from Ru and from production to be like, here's some money girl, good job. I'm like, wow. I lip-synced five times on my season, every time just so I wouldn’t go home, until I did. So this time around, to lip-sync for money…it was a different attitude.
Did you know during the lip-sync that Vivacious didn’t know a single word to “Super Bass?”
I didn't know what was happening. I remember looking over at one point and she was doing the robot or something. I felt like I was performing elderly abuse a little bit.
We didn't know all that we know about Nicki when you filmed, right?
Okay, we have to wake that up a little bit because we need to just enjoy the lip sync for what it is, because this was filmed at a time before Nicki became MAGA Minaj. And of course I do not condone her behaviors and what she says these days, but the song itself…y'all have to let me have this moment!
Okay, so after the lip sync.
Here we go. Okay, you may have to remind me.
You having not watched the episode, I want to know how you remember this all playing out. Because I imagine you're in a really bizarre headspace in this moment, right? You just had your first win, you just won the lip sync. But also this strategy stuff is now happening and it's entirely out of your hands. How do you remember that final vote reveal?
First of all, because I didn't win the first two episodes, I had to play a more strategic game because of how the cards had fallen, right? So I am not apologizing for the way I played. I was very excited to get to play alliance games within this game. All-Stars is on Paramount+, the same platform that hosts Big Brother, Survivor, all these iconic strategic gaming shows. So the fact that we're in that company, I was happy to bring that flavor to Drag Race. So now in this final vote, we get to see how that plays out, right? I finally have enough points. I'm actually in the running to go to the semi-finals all of a sudden. There's Silky and Crystal who are right there next to me. And I have a shot, which is unheard of; I had two points walking into this episode!
So we go down the line, and Crystal goes first.
Yeah, see, this was the shadiest vote of all. Crystal wasn't even necessarily aligned with me. She was always playing her own game and she would not give in, so the fact that she gave her point to Silky was shocking to me because she could have thrown her point away to April, Vivacious or Aura if she really didn't want me to go through.
But it was a very specific move for her to give it to Silky. We had a moment that didn't air where we went around and said our biggest competition and everyone said Crystal, but Crystal said me. So I feel like Crystal was very threatened by me and I knew if I fucking made it to the semi-finals, I would have kicked her ass hardcore. And I say that with my full chest! Love her to death, but I would have devoured her. Not giving her point to Silky, it would have tied Crystal and Silky with me already moving on. Right?
I think so? The math gets crazy. How do you do that in the room?
Oh, my god, trying to add it in the moment when I was so close… I was like, ok, so each girl that went down the line: Crystal picks Silky, okay, that’s weird, I guess Silky is now moving forward. So I have three opportunities to get a point and move forward. I’m still at the top, I was tied with Crystal? I think?
Silky goes next, and she gives her point to April.
See, Silky’s playing her game, and she’s doing the throwaway. Silky’s saying, bitch, no one’s getting a point. We’re seeing how it’s going to play out as-is. That was sickening. Did they show April being excited for it? I was like, what you clapping at, girl? This point don’t mean nothin’.
So then we go to my alliance member, Ms. Pinky Promise, PekPek, Aura Mayari. Did they show me whispering “pekpek” to her? I don’t know what Silky was telling her back there during the lip sync. I was like, girl, don’t forget the pekpek. Don’t forget the pekpek promise. And…she gives her point to Silky. I was gagged. But also I’m in front of RuPaul in this moment. I don’t want to be shady or bitter in front of Ru. So I am just breathing my pussy off. I'm just like, whatever's supposed to happen is gonna happen. And I have hope that April, my Tres Leches girl, given me a point every episode…there is a possibility I could still get a point from April. I wasn't even upset at Aura. I was like, this bitch is dumb. This is a dumb girl. She's dumb. She doesn't understand how alliances work. But also I played in her face severely all season, so I completely understand.
So we get to April, and April gives her point to Crystal, and if I'm being completely honest, at the bottom of my heart, I think that was the right decision. I feel like it would have been horrible if I moved ahead. The fandom is very passionate, and they're very opinionated, and to be on their bad side… I feel like April and everyone just wants Crystal to move forward, and I feel like it would have been worse for me to move forward instead of her in the eyes of the fans. I would rather not deal with that backlash, even though I could have taken the whole thing.
Was the thought of fandom backlash in your mind at the time or is that more something you’ve reflected on and accepted?
I reflected and accepted. That was the best move for everyone in that moment. But in the moment, I was like, of course Crystal's going through. She's been the one that it feels like this is her season to lose, basically. She is so talented and she's so beloved as well. I think she’d be a great person to win the season for us. If I would have lost to any other queen, I probably would have been a little more upset, but it was Crystal. Did you watch Untucked?
I did!
Okay, I don’t know what they show, but what I remember was April tried to come talk to me, and I just said, I can’t talk to you right now. I popped off on Aura, only because she provoked me. I was like I can’t talk right now, I have too many feelings, and I don’t know what they are. And she kept wanting to talk to me, so I blew up at her.
It is what it is, Crystal had to move forward, it’s written in the stars. The all-stars. But it was the Silky votes that really perturbed me.
Vivacious, completely innocent in all this.
Correct. Mutha.
What have your conversations been like with the rest of the divas post filming?
April hasn't talked to me since filming. She was actually really shady with me at the promo shoot and did not say a word to me during press week. And I don't know why. I think she thought I yelled at her when I yelled at Aura. I don't know what's going on there. Me and Silky had a conversation, we're cool. Me and Aura texted right after, and honestly, she's just not the sharpest tool in the shed. I was like, you know what, it's all good, Aura. It's over with, it's fine. And then Vivacious and I had conversations afterwards too. She's mother. Crystal tried to reach out really early on, and I didn't know what to say to her. But me and Crystal are so cool. We spent press week together, we did a gig together. I love her so much, and I hope she wins the whole thing.
But yeah, April's the only one I really don't talk to. Which is crazy because she like backstabbed me.
Maybe she's insecure about her singing.
You know what? I would be too. I would hurt.
Was there anyone from the other two brackets that you were like, oh, damn, I really wish I had gotten to scheme with them?
Dawn. I mean, we’ve only seen the first bracket. Dawn was the only one who had the inkling of [strategizing], but then she didn’t really see it through since she won everything. What’s interesting about the bracket system is it really relies on the girls who are losing. Hence why I schemed so hard. I didn’t win the first two episodes, so I had to play hard, and that was really fun for me. But thinking of the other girls, I don’t really see them as game players. These girls aren’t privy to social deduction games for the most part.
Also, the Werkroom is so small. Aura saw every conversation I was having with every single girl. There’s no Spy Shack for me. There’s no water well to go to. Everything’s out in the open.
Using the Survivor analogy, what types of games and players did you go into the Werkroom wanting to emulate?
I think what's so interesting about Big Brother or Survivor is that the season is dependent upon its players and how they interact with each other. You can have a Boston Rob with a Cirie with a Parvati, and having them together in a season is gonna be a completely different season than if you had just Boston Rob with a bunch of other players, you know? I wanted to go in and play as hard as I could with the relationships I already had. Me and Aura had a friendship beforehand. A friend who lives in LA told me that April had my back going into the bracket, because they were friends with her, so I had that in the back of my mind too, like, oh, April's got me because my friend said so. I'm not friends with that person anymore, by the way.
Aura was kind of gagged when I was crying in her face. She was like, wait sister, are you okay? She didn't know that I was playing the game in that moment. I did feel a little bad because Aura is a sweet person. You know, these girls are drag queens. They're kind of dumb, okay? We lip sync for dollar bills for a living, bitch. So a lot of them aren't playing 3D chess the way that I was playing. So I had to also take that into account. I'm playing with dum-dums.
It worked great for Boston Rob on Redemption Island.
That's what I'm saying! It depends on the cast, right? So even if I was in one of the other brackets, my game would have to change depending on who those girls are and my relationships with them prior as well.
As I look back, it’s an opportunity for me to look back and see, where did I fall short in my game? I felt like I could have won every episode, but I felt really good about the makeover. And I think in my confidence, I let go of the alliance gameplay. I didn't check in with Aura, I didn't check in with April, I didn't check in with Crystal, because I was like, oh, I’m gonna win, fabulous. Looking back, I should have went and caressed and nurtured those relationships. I got a little cocky. It was really weird in the werkroom as we were getting ready. The girls didn't really talk to me. I was like, hey, do you guys need help? Do you guys want me to help sew something? Do you need a rhinestone? And they were like…oh, we're good. So that should have been my first clue that something was going on and I should have leaned in harder to make sure they were good with me. I was very focused on my game and solely my game. Honestly, I didn't see it for Aura and I didn't see it for April moving forward to the semifinals at any point in the whole game. So that's why I had them in my back pocket. Aura could have had a shot to win, too. I think she did great in the makeover challenge. She won the first challenge. She could have gotten enough points to move forward as well. But in my mind, in that moment, I was like, she's not moving forward. Girl, just shut up and give me your point.
Do you have any other regrets or anything you would change about your time on All-Stars?
In regards to how I presented myself, my relationship with the judges, and my drag, I am so proud of myself in a way that I never could have imagined from season 15 to now. To be able to showcase that much of me in three episodes and for the fandom to kind of get on board with what I'm all about, um that I think was the greatest gift of all. In regards to my gameplay, I think there was a lot to learn. I played really hard. I'm very happy to have brought that level of strategy to the game that I don't think we've necessarily seen play out so hard before. We've only had two seasons of the brackets so far and I don't know what bracket three looks like yet, but I'm happy that people are clocking that I am a game player. This is what I love to do. Outside of drag, I'm so much more than just a stupid drag queen, know?
Anything exciting on the horizon for you?
Maybe you'll see me again soon, who knows? But I also have a lot of Little Chalupa merch available, from my how-to video. I have a collaboration with Lil Poundcake and we are raising money for the Trans Latina Coalition in Los Angeles. I just got a call from Broadway. So perhaps Broadway's on the horizon.
This is not the last you’re gonna see of Salina EsTitties.
Images courtesy of Paramount+
