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Drag Race's Detox reveals why she'd never return to the show again

She came fourth on season five and was the runner-up on All Stars 2, but Detox has no desire to return to RuPaul’s Drag Race anytime soon for a third attempt at the crown.

Chatting with Yahoo Lifestyle ahead of her appearance at Drag Expo in Melbourne this weekend, the legendary performer spoke openly about her time on the reality show and revealed why fans will never see her compete in another season.

Detox on RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 2.
Detox came fourth on season five of RuPaul’s Drag Race and was the runner-up on All Stars 2. Photo: World of Wonder

“I’ve done Drag Race twice now, I don’t need to do it again,” she says. “I would like to see them use some of the other entertainers on all the other different platforms that they’re doing.

“I mean, I love Jujubee so much but I don’t need to see Jujubee on everything that’s a spinoff. There are almost 200 queens at this point from just the American franchise alone that are all really deserving to have a little bit of recognition and spotlight, and I think they could maybe switch the barrel up a little bit.”

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Detox went on to say that although she might not participate in Drag Race again, she’d be keen to sign up for a different style of reality TV competition.

“I’d be interested in something that was a little more like Big Brother or The Real World/Road Rules Challenge,” she details.

“Something that is some kind of a different format rather than just acting challenge, runway challenge, blah blah blah. We've seen all that before. Give us something different, make it a little fresher and then maybe we’ll talk.”

Detox.
‘If you're easy to work with and you’re kind and you work really well with the promoters or whoever is hiring you, you will work forever.’ Photo:

‘It’s a little overwhelming at times’

Despite being one of the biggest stars to come out of the franchise, the Florida-born performer admits she finds it tough keeping up with the growing number of international editions.

“It's a lot to take on. And for me, drag is my life so I'm constantly in it and a lot of times I step back and I'm like, ‘Maybe I’ll watch some true crime instead of watching Drag Race’,” she laughs.

“I’m a bad queen. I need to be better at keeping up with the Joneses but there’s just so much, we’re so oversaturated and it’s a little overwhelming at times. But I try to stay on top of it as much as I can.”

While she might not watch every episode of the show, however, she has plenty of advice for recent contestants - including the cast of Drag Race Down Under season two.

“If you're easy to work with and you’re kind and you work really well with the promoters or whoever is hiring you, you will work forever,” she shares.

“I attribute a lot of my success and my longevity to being someone who is a lot of fun to work with and really easy and shows up and does my job and does it well, and I think that's why I continue to travel around the world even though I haven’t been on TV in six or seven years.

“So that's my biggest bit of advice: Work your ass off and be easy to work. Especially in the States, it's so oversaturated now, but you have that one year of opportunity to hit the ground running and do as much as you can, so do it with integrity and do it with a little humility and I think that you will last forever.”

Drag Expo

Speaking about her upcoming appearance at Drag Expo, Australia's very first drag, kitsch and pop culture expo, Detox says she’s “super excited” to meet both the Australian fans and the Drag Race Down Under queens.

“Every time I’m here the Australian audiences are always so passionate and such lovers of drag, and American drag for some reason, even though I feel like Australia, in general, has such great drag,” she remarks.

“It’s really exciting to meet all of the new girls from the new franchise. I’ve been coming here for about 10 or 11 years now and I can’t even remember how many times I’ve been here, so it’s always good to see queens that I’ve worked with in the past at the local bars now having the platform that we had in the States.”

Detox will be appearing at Drag Expo in Melbourne at the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre from 5-7th August alongside Olivia Lux, Scarlet Envy, Art Simone and Vander Von Odd. Check out more info and book tickets here.

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