“It’s such a shock,” admits Willow Pill in the aftermath of her huge life-changing “RuPaul’s Drag Race” win. For our recent webchat she adds, “You have a dream that you’ve dreamed of for years and years, and in my case like 14 years, and then it’s kind of hard to get out of that dream-state once it’s reality!” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
Over 16 sickeningly glamorous episodes Season 14 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” RuPaul Charles put 14 queens through their paces with comedy roasts, game shows, mini and maxi challenges, soap opera spoofs and lipsync smackdowns to find “America’s next drag superstar.” In the end, only five queens remained with a chance to snatch the coveted crown and scepter. And in the breathtaking climax of the dazzling grand finale episode, it was Willow Pill that triumphed over Angeria, Paris VanMichaels, Bosco, Daya Betty and runner-up Lady Camden, as she proved to mama Ru that she had the right mix of charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent.
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For the first time in three seasons, the “Drag Race” finale took place in front of a live audience; this time at the Flamingo Las Vegas, home of the “RuPaul’s Drag Race Live” show. Because this super-sized finale featured five finalists, Ru tasked each of the queens to prepare their own unique solo number to show off their personality and why they deserve the crown. Willow was last to grace the stage, performing her outrageous original song “I Hate People,” which featured her wearing an enormous beige floral head-piece that surrounded her face to reveal two more heads on her shoulder, closing out the extravaganza by lifting up her skirt to show a third head between her legs.
Now that “I Hate People” has been submitted for Emmy consideration in the Best Music and Lyrics category, Willow admits her desire to follow up her big win with some Emmy love, declaring, “That would be insane! I mean, there’s been a lot of firsts this year in my life and an Emmy would be a great way to kind of top off everything that’s happening this year.” It’s not as far-fetched as it initially seems, as the category often features humorous and subversive ditties, like the 2007 classic Justin Timberlake/Andy Samberg/Lonely Island “SNL” hit “Dick in a Box” and EGOT-winning songwriters Kristin Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez‘s “Agatha All Along” from “Wandavision” last year.
Fun fact: If the Emmys were to recognize “I Hate People,” that would make Willow Pill the first-ever current competition contestant to be nominated. Two years ago, another “Drag Race” legend, Raven, won the Emmy for Best Contemporary Makeup, but that was about a decade after she competed on the show.
After the final two (Camden and Willow) went head-to-head for the cash prize of 150,000 “doo-lahs” (i.e. $150,000 bucks) by lip-syncing to Cher‘s version of the ABBA classic “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight),” Ru finally announced that Willow was America’s next drag superstar. The triumphant queen tumbled to the floor in shock, gasping for air as she proudly accepted the crown and thanked her friends, her family, and in typical Willow Pill-style, fellow contestant (and Miss Congeniality winner) Kornbread‘s ankle, a tongue-in-cheek dig at the queen who withdrew from the show from an ankle injury in the fifth episode of the season. “It’s kind of a blackout moment that really happens,” Willow admits, adding that “by the end of it you’re kind of just in shock and awe.”
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