For Briar Blush, her “RuPaul’s Drag Race” Season 18 run was filled with backstage battles and a mug that simply does not quit (along with one of the most dramatic runway moments to ever occur on “RuPaul’s Drag Race”). I sat down to chat with Briar about her drag inspirations, her on-screen run-ins with her fellow competitors, and what it was like coming up in the Boston drag scene.
It was certainly a shocking final runway for you this season on RuPaul’s Drag Race, but you definitely kept everyone talking from the moment you stepped in the door!
I didn’t realize that I was that boisterous (laughs)!
Did you plan to come in and instantly put your hands on the table and not greet your fellow competitors individually?
To be honest, I just did that; I didn’t think about it. I didn’t think about my entrance line, I didn’t think about “meh”, I didn't think about anything. I just acted organically.
How do you feel right now post-Drag Race?
It’s a hard feeling getting eliminated because you really want to persevere and succeed. At the same time, if you’re going to leave, do it iconically.
Your talent definitely was able to shine through, despite having some pricklier moments with some of your fellow queens. Is it just your nature to be forthright and direct?
I feel like I lack something in my brain that tells me not to say something, I don’t know (laughs). I feel like now, especially since I’m friends with all the girls post filming and we’re all quite close, even people like Mia (Starr) and Athena (Dion) who i really fought with on the show, they have come to see that my personality is really honest and I am just saying how i really feel. I mean what I say, so when I say that I love them, that is coming from a real place.
Was it hard having those interactions and knowing that this would be seen by the world and you could end up being seen as “the villain” of the season”?
I was, at no point filming, felt like I was putting on anything. Even in the moment where I was having that fight with Mia and Athena. Actually during that very moment, the reason that I was not fighting back was really because I didn’t want to actually hurt anyone’s feelings and I didn’t really understand what was going on in the moment; I was just confused. I was not trying to “make TV”, I was just being honest because they are real people. Regardless of what happens there, I am not trying to create a situation where I hurt someone's feelings and they carry that with themselves.
What do you think your rose and thorn are of your Drag Race journey?
(Laughs) My rose is all of the lovely friendships that I have made! My thorn…getting sick I guess? (Laughs)!
You are a Boston queen and places like Club Cafe and Machine have conspired for some wild nights for myself personally.
You know, Machine is where I started drag actually. I snuck into Machine and saw queens performing, I saw Violencia Exclamation Point performing and I knew that I wanted to do drag. Two years later when I was 18, I started doing drag and started doing open stages at Machine.
When did you see drag as not just a passion, but what you would follow as a career?
When I started drag at 18, I was really in it. I wanted this to be “the thing”, I knew that. I lived in Orlando for two years and that was mid 2018 and I came back right before COVID, I feel like I went to college for drag!. When I was in Orlando, I was trying to make it, when I came back I was trying to make it, and then I made it.
How do you think Orlando has informed your drag?
They got me together girl, they will get you right. From your makeup, to your outfits to your performance, they will tear you up but to build you up.
What is one challenge that you wished you gotten to participate in on this season of "Drag Race" that you didn’t get to take part in?
Snatch Game! I was going to do Jerry Lewis! I was so upset that I wasn’t able to do that. Pretty early on I said that I was pretty vintage inspired. I feel like not being there I feel like we missed out on some of those notes about me.
Who are some of your bigger vintage inspirations?
Priscilla Presley, I think that is very clear in my look the eyeliner heavy look. Jane Shrimpton, Sophia Loren is a big inspo for me.
What’s next for you post-Drag Race?
I would say what is next for me is that I will be doing lots of traveling dates this year. One thing that people fail to realize is that with a lot of drag queens, art will always prevail. I used to do my own theater show back when I lived in Boston. I used to write scripts, create set pieces, produce the whole thing, and that is something that I would love to bring on the road at some point and do a traveling version of that in my future. That is something that I am very passionate about. I am also focused on providing content to all of my lovely Blushie fans out there, because 13-year-old girls? They love me!
You are a theater kid, so what is one role that you would manifest yourself stepping into?
I wouldn’t say that I am a theater kid as much as I am a theatrical! I don’t really have a theater background, like that, but I think my dream would be to be on some random sitcom, think very “good place” a random bit part. I would love to be bit part. I wish MadTV was still on!
You could always audition for Saturday Night Live and be the first Drag Race queen in herstory to be cast on that legendary show!
Oh my gosh, I can’t be in the bottom for RDR Live! & then audition for Saturday Night Live, you’re setting me up (laughs)! Imagine I am the first Ru girl on SNL?
Follow Briar Blush on Instagram @briarblush
