RuPaul's Drag Race's fifth season is entering its homestretch, as Monday night's episode whittled down the survivor count from seven queens to six. Following a very clever challenge where the queens were forced to write and act in a perfume commercial, the gloriously deadpan Alaska Thunderf*ck found herself declared the winner (for the first time), while Alyssa Edwards and angular beauty queen Ivy Winters, a.k.a. 26-year-old Dustin Winters of New York, squared off in a final lip-sync. Ultimately, Alyssa's thrashy choreography earned her another week in the competition while Ivy Winters sashayed away.
We caught up with the friendly, down-to-earth Ms. Winters and discussed her circus talents, her underwhelming take on Marilyn Monroe during the "Snatch Game" episode, and Jinkx Monsoon's newly announced "crush" on her.
AfterElton: You were one of the most drama-free contestants. Did we miss any of your personal dramas while the cameras focused on the other queens' -- namely Coco's -- tantrums?
Ivy Winters: No, they were pretty much the ones who were getting into all the craziness. I just get a little drama. I focused on my challenges, really -- nothing really [distracted] me.
AE: Part of your act is fire-eating and stilt-walking. Is it frustrating having talents that you couldn't exhibit on the show?
IW: I juggle knives and I did bring those! But it was hard to trying to find a runway look that would go good with me juggling knives. To come out being all classy, you know? It was kind of a bummer not to be able to do that on the show. And the fire-eating, yeah -- they weren't having any fire-eating.
AE: You were the clear victor in the singing challenge. Were you surprised to be so far ahead of the competition that round?
IW: I actually didn't think about it. I didn't know if there would be a singing challenge, but I sort of assumed there'd be one. I was excited because I grew up singing in choir in high school and I did musical theater. Being there, I thought it would come down to Jinkx and myself because she was giving full-force with her face, and she's a good singer. I knew it was coming down to either one of us, and I was happy to win.
AE: RuPaul is obsessed with saying your name in that high-pitched whine. Were you ever sick of hearing your own name?
IW: [Laughs.] For the longest time, I thought, "Why does she say my name like that?" The others were like, "Girl!" and I mean, some of them were jealous! Because she just had a way of saying my name. But it's an homage to LaToya Jackson -- I guess Ru saw a video of LaToya announcing a singer by the name of Edgar Winter and pronounced it, "Edgaaaar Winterrrr!" So she just associated my name with his, and it stuck. And I'm happy she did -- it's an honor that she came up with it for me.
AE: Let's talk about the "Snatch Game." You impersonated Marilyn Monroe but didn't really explore her character, and the judges called you out on it. What happened?
IW: Going into Drag Race, I knew I didn't impersonate people in my act. It was my first time auditioning, so it was always in the back of my mind, "Who could I impersonate?" And I love Marilyn Monroe. But just because I love her doesn't mean I should've picked her. It was down to her and Julia Child, and I could've done the whole cooking thing. Looking back at it, I wish I would've done Julia Child because I could've made that funny. I just kind of forgot that Snatch Game is all about being funny. It was my first time doing Marilyn makeup there, and I made the costume in three hours -- that red dress. It was all very last minute.
AE: On last night's episode, Jinkx admitted she had feelings for you. Were you surprised to see her confess that to the cameras? And not to you?
IW: On the show, I never knew she had a crush on me. We were really good friends. Watching the episode last night was the first time I ever heard that she had that type of feeling. We do talk all the time, and we're really good friends. We're not dating. I talked to her this morning, and she was like, "Oh my God. Tumblr's gone crazy with this Ivy/Jinkx love thing going on!" I love Jinkx to death. She's a good person, genuine. But I was shocked to see that. I didn't expect that out of her.
AE: You won the awesome Andrew Christian mini-challenge at the top of last night's episode. Did that inflate you with confidence?
IW: Going into every final challenge, you have to expect to be in the bottom. You don't know how the other girls will do. Now, obviously it was really nice to get to chitchat with my mom, and soon as I was done chatting with her, I had a little moment, but then I was focused on the challenge. I really expected anything to happen. It was kind of a bummer to go home then.
AE: It sounds like you grew up with a very ideal family situation. This season, we've seen a lot of queens whose families weren't so supportive. Did you ever feel your background set you apart from them in a way?
IW: Yeah. I grew up with a gay brother and a gay sister -- all three of my parents' kids are gay. That worked out pretty well. It was a very supportive family. It was hard especially through the Untucked episodes because a lot of the girls have bad upbringings and kind of upsetting stories, and it was hard because I couldn't relate to them. I couldn't say anything. I wasn't going to be like, "My parents love me!" I wasn't going to say any of that. I definitely felt bad for them; no one should have to go through that. It was so sad.
AE: To my eyes, Aubrey O'Day was one of the worst judges the show has ever had. She didn't seem to understand that judging drag is different from judging America's Next Top Model. Did it suck to hear her rant at you guys?
IW: I hated it! Oh my God! Especially watching it back, I was like, "Oh, she wasn't just like that to me! She was like that to everyone!" She was very, very opinionated. It was very intimidating to be in front of her because you didn't know what was going to come out of her mouth. When I was filming the commercial, she kept saying, "Stop gritting your teeth! You look constipated!" I was like, "Oh my God." She was hard.
AE: Regarding last night's lip-sync -- which was one of my favorite songs they've ever chosen, Gwen Guthrie's "Ain't Nothin' Goin' On But the Rent" -- did you expect to go home?
IW: On the show, they give you barely any time to learn a song, so it's a big challenge. I love taking, like, a month to prepare to do a song with movements and everything. I love those types of songs where it's about the acting. I rehearsed and didn't sleep the night before, because I was up learning the lyrics. I thought, "I could definitely be in the bottom on this one." I planned on staying right in front of the judges and give them acting and give them my lip-sync, and when I watched it back, they focused a lot on Alyssa and you didn't see a lot of my lip-sync, which was kind of disappointing. But it was a fun song.
AE: Finally, who are you rooting for now? The stipulation is you can only pick one of your competitors.
IW: I am 100% going for Jinkx. Not just because I'm in the closest relationship with her, but because she's a warm-hearted and genuine person. She's so talented, and I think she'll go really far. I hope she wins. Definitely Jinkx.
