Each week on “Whatcha Packin’,” Michelle Visage interviews the recently eliminated queen and shows us some of the runway looks they didn’t get the chance to use on the show. Following her episode 7 elimination, Aura Mayari shares with Michelle the many ways that Filipino culture and her own family have inspired her drag career. Watch the full episode above via the official RuPaul’s Drag Race channel on YouTube.
In her interview with Michelle, Aura explained how her culture inspired the name “Aura,” which in the Filipino gay scene describes someone who is over-the-top and flirty, and “Mayari” is a moon goddess, which explains her often use of gray and platinum wigs. After being born in The Philippines, Aura moved to Chicago and started drag there before relocating to Nashville. She tells Michelle how her mother surrounded herself with trans women throughout her youth so her entrance into the community was supportive and inclusive from the very start. She also tells the heartbreaking story of her dad taking his own life and how missing his support and guidance has been such a huge loss for her.
Michelle does not shy away from addressing Aura’s confusing performance as Bretman Rock in Snatch Game which made way for Aura to acknowledge that she gets insecure during comedy and improv challenges, like in “The Daytona Wind,” because she gets hung up on whether or not she’s speaking correctly. On the other hand, Aura always felt like the girl group challenge would be her strength and so we wasn’t surprised when she was that week’s winner.
Check out the full episode on the official channel. In case you missed them, you can see what Robin Fierce, Amethyst, Sugar, Princess Poppy and Irene Dubois had to say in their post-elimination interviews as well.
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