Yahoo Lifestyle 'Drag Race' Star Lydia B. Kollins Breaks Down Her Lip Sync Kiss with Kori King (Exclusive)
Bringing scissors to a lip sync on RuPaul's Drag Race is risky. While performing in a cumbersome gown may seem like the kiss of death, managing to saw your way through all that fabric as the song plays can be a waste of time. We saw Scarlet Envy be sent home back in Season 11 when she chopped through her dress, and this week Season 17's Lydia B. Kollins met the same fate.
"In person, it felt like years," Lydia says regarding how long it actually took her to wriggle out of her dress after slicing a giant hole in the front. "It was really just Kim Petras' verse of the song ["Unholy" by Sam Smith] that it took to cut it off, but in my mind, I could have been standing on stage for the entire lip sync just trying to get that dress off of me."
All that time cutting away opened the door for her competitor Lana Ja'Rae to swipe the win. The two found themselves in the bottom after an acting challenge parody of Feud: Capote vs. The Swans.
"I think if I just dropped it and let it go, maybe things would have been okay," Lydia tells Parade exclusively after her elimination, "But it is what it is."
Read Parade's full interview with Lydia below.
Let's start by chatting about the scissors in the lip sync. Why did you decide to cut your dress and what was going through your mind leading up to the lip sync?
I sort of had a feeling that I would be in the bottom two this week. I don't know what it was. Just a feeling. [Laughs.] So I had put the scissors in before, and they had just been sizzling in my chest. I couldn't really move in the dress too well. It was a difficult outfit to move in. So I just thought for the lip sync, I have to cut it off. I don't think I did it in a graceful or pleasing way, unfortunately. But you know what? I did it.
Do you think you could have beaten Lana Ja'Rae if you had just stayed in the dress?
I was feeling pretty fierce at the beginning, and I was like, "You know what? Maybe I might have it." But Lana is insanely, insanely sickening, so I feel like she might have pulled through regardless.
You won the roast last week, and this was another comedy challenge. Why do you think you struggled this season in the acting challenges when you are such a funny person?
Thank you. I appreciate that. I feel like it's difficult to feel out the vibe of a script. I think that's a talent in itself to be able to pick correct character for yourself, so I really commend people like Suzie and Onya and Jewels for getting that down. It's just so hard to be funny in a vacuum when put to the test. It's easier to just let go and be able to do what you want. I don't think I'm able to translate a script in a comedic way to do it justice.
Were you looking forward to the roast? Did you think that was something you'd excel at?
I had no idea. I thought that was my last day on Drag Race, but I was excited for it. It was more freeing than the acting challenges, but it was still absolutely horrifying nonetheless.
Sitting there watching it, did you know that Arrietty was stealing Jewels' jokes? Or did you not know until later?
She might have mentioned it to me once or twice, but I kept it under wraps. I was not trying to spill anyone's business. I was just as excited to see it play out as everyone else was, which sounds horribly shady, but in the moment it was funny.
At the beginning of this episode, Arrietty's goodbye message to Onya made her cry. Was Arrietty trying to be funny or did she not know about Onya's medical condition? What was going on there?
I have no idea. I'm not sure. I don't even know if I knew about that. I think she just has a very sick sense of humor, and getting eliminated from Drag Race is a very emotional and heightened experience. So in the moment she might have just been not thinking about anything, but her elimination. I think the girlies have made up, and there's no hard feelings.
You lip synced against Kori a couple of weeks ago. I feel like every time there's sort of a showmance on the show, they end up in the bottom against each other. Did you sense that the two of you would be lip syncing against each other at some point?
I don't know. It was a gamble, because you could lip sync against anyone on Drag Race. It was like a 50/50 chance. After the Rusical and us working together and not being in the bottom together, I was like, "Work. That's sickening. We're in the clear." But I don't know. I think that I wasn't thinking about that. I was just having a good time and being present on Drag Race.
Did you guys plan the kiss ahead of time or was that spontaneous?
That was spontaneous. We hadn't kissed before that. It was very competition-focused, besides the little Untucked moments. But no, we did not plan it. It just was sort of an organic thing. I mean, the song is called "Kiss Me Deadly." So I think that if Onya ended up in the bottom, they would have ended up making out one way or another.
Related: Who Will Win 'RuPaul's Drag Race' Season 17? Ranking the Queens After Episode 10
You had so many incredible looks this season. What was your favorite?
I really love the nail look with the super long nails, and the final one. I loved the black and white runway. It was such a cool theme. I think everyone knocked it out of the park.
What was the most difficult look of yours to put together?
I mean all of my looks are kind of like Saw traps. I think the most difficult one was probably the sausage muscle shorts, the short shorts look. It was hand stitched. Each little individual plush piece was hand sewn and tacked onto it.
Looking back on the competition as a whole, is there anything that you would have done differently or changed if you could go back?
I would just go in with more confidence overall. I think I wasn't sure what exactly they were looking for, and I was sort of learning a lot on Drag Race. Now, if I were to rewind the clock and do it again, I think I would just go in with more confidence.
