(Photo by Dylan Todd)
When Ginger Minj won the 10th season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” July 18, she received a crown, a scepter, $200,000 and a coveted spot in the “Drag Race” Hall of Fame. She also capped a 10-year journey that turned Orlando’s drag darling into an international icon.
It began in 2015 during the reality competition’s 7th season, where she was named runner-up to Violet Chachki. She subsequently placed 8th on “All Stars” 2 before becoming Kylie Sonique Love’s runner-up on “All Stars” 6.
Paramount+ announced “All Stars” 10 in April, their 12-episode Tournament of All Stars. It featured the competition’s largest cast ever in a reimagined format, Minj among them.
A total of 18 queens were divided into three groups of six, competing in smaller brackets before advancing toward a Lip Sync Smackdown for the Crown. Minj made it all the way to the top — losing over 150 pounds between filming different segments — where she faced off against fellow fan favorite Jorgeous for her third finale.
“I came back to get my crown — and nothing is going to stop me from turning this out,” Minj shared on national TV. The two performed “It’s Raining Men” by The Weather Girls before she came out on top.
“Since we first met her, Ginger Minj has been the epitome of ‘Drag Race’ excellence. And now she has the crown to prove it!” RuPaul said in a statement afterwards. “May her star power continue to light up the world.”
Since multiple endings were filmed to protect the competition’s outcome — as is customary for the franchise — “Drag Race” also released a live reaction video of Minj and Jorgeous watching the results. In it, Minj comforts her drag sister before officially accepting the crown.
“For 10 years I’ve thought about what this moment would be like and it’s so different,” she said. “…I’m heartbroken for you and I’m really happy for me. It feels so weird. This is 10 years of my life … and to be able to put the ending to that chapter, to move onto the next, just feels so amazing.” View the reaction video below:
The entertainer subsequently celebrated at SAVOY in Orlando, speaking to Watermark Out News not long after. The All Star discussed her health journey, new reign and what fans can expect well beyond it.
WATERMARK OUT NEWS: Congratulations! How are you settling into the Hall of Fame?
Ginger Minj: It’s been such a whirlwind … I got crowned on a Friday night, and then Saturday and Sunday were such a blur. I didn’t really sleep until then, and when I woke up this morning, I looked over, I saw the crown and the scepter on the shelf, and I was like, “Oh my God. It actually happened. I won.” It was great in the moment and then me being me, I was like, “okay, 10 years done. What’s next?”
You immediately comforted Jorgeous after your win. What was going through your head?
I’ve been on the other side of this thing — well, three other times, but particularly twice as the runner-up — finding out thatyour dreams aren’t coming true right now, and I know that Jorgeous wanted this just as much as I did, and she worked just as hard as I did, and I know how crushing that can be. So I think my maternal instincts kind of kicked in before I could even think about it to just make sure she was okay. Because I don’t want to move on and have this wonderful, great experience if somebody is suffering next to me.
And to be completely honest with you, in all the seasons that I’ve lost, there hasn’t been anybody there to ask me if I was okay. And I’ve always said I can be happy for somebody and disappointed for myself all at the same time. So when we crowned Violet, or when we crowned Kylie, I was so thrilled for them, but so crushed for myself at the same time, and unless you are directly in that experience, you don’t really understand what it’s like. I think it’s a natural human reaction just to be like, “are you okay?” before we move on. You’re a human and I want to make sure that you’re okay.
What appealed to you about joining “All Stars” 10? Why was this the right time?
Because when I started it, I felt like I was on a downward spiral in my life. My health had never been worse. My weight had never been higher. I was pre-diabetic. I had horrible sleep apnea, so I wasn’t getting any kind of actual rest. My blood pressure was through the roof, I was in and out of the hospital, and I genuinely felt like if I didn’t do something to take my life back, I was going to lose it.
After I got out of the hospital the last time, a couple weeks later, I got the phone call to come back and I said, “I never expected this, and it’s coming at a time where I feel like this is the kick in the ass that I need to really kind of pull myself out of this. If I’m ever going to do it, it’s going to be now.” So I used “All Stars” 10 as the catalyst to do that, and what I think is really exciting … is seeing how my health, both physically and mentally, changed and got better and better and better until the crowning moment.
I really don’t feel like if I had won any of my three previous seasons that I would’ve been ready. I don’t feel like I would have appreciated it as much as I do right now.
It was an incredible 10-year arc.
Yeah, and I always say that I don’t have the biggest fan base, but I probably have the most loyal, because they’re people who have spent a decade of their life with me. I have always tried to be as open as possible with my ups and downs. I try to share what’s going wrong in my life or how I’m trying to make it better. That’s because I’ve seen firsthand how that affects and changes other people as well.
So I think the people who are really hardcore Ginger Minj fans and have been for a decade appreciate the fact that they see themselves in me. I felt like when I went back and when I won, it was not just for me, it was for all of us who have been on this journey together for 10 years.
Your health journey was also a big part of this season. What kind of feedback have you gotten?
Every kind of feedback you could imagine. Of course, there are the people who are mad because they love me as a big girl and as plus-size representation. But even if I’m no longer as big as I was, I’m still a size 16. I’m still plus size, and I love being a plus-size girl, and I love representing for our community; but I couldn’t represent for anybody if I couldn’t even get myself out of a hospital bed.
I’ve had the people that go, “oh, she’s skinny now, but she took Ozempic. Come on, Ozempic queen!” First of all, no, it was Zepbound, it wasn’t Ozempic. And second, it’s not the “gotcha moment” that you think it is. I talked to a doctor, I am prescribed this and I’ve been on this journey taking the shot once a week for the last nine months … It’s the one tool that I’ve had in my entire life that has helped me to become a healthier person — and while it may not be for everybody, I want people to know that if this is the one tool that can help them, they should go for it. They should try to take every opportunity they can to make themselves healthier and better.
I’ve also had tons of people that have thanked me for being so open about it because they were ashamed to start it, and now they are and they’re feeling better about themselves.
How did you prepare for “All Stars” 10 compared to previous seasons?
I didn’t, which was the big difference. I’m the type of person that likes to overthink things … and I think that’s why I lost three times, because I was so worried about what was next that I wasn’t focused on what was happening in the moment. A lot of times it comes across as very rehearsed, but that’s because I was so concerned about being misunderstood or falling on my face, that I didn’t want to take those chances, and I was too concerned about what other girls were doing.
This time, I made myself a promise to trust my instincts. You have to just step in, be present in the moment, do your best and let everything shake out how it’s supposed to. And lo and behold, it’s the one time that I won almost everything, including the title.
It was exciting to watch.
I was excited watching it too — because a lot of the chatter since the cast was announced was, “it’s not fair. Ginger Minj has an unfair advantage coming back into this competition for a fourth time,” and it’s weird because in my head, I was at a complete disadvantage coming back.
Why is that?
I had already done very well in the competition two times before, and I felt like I had to not only meet what I had done but exceed it. It was no longer climbing the mountain, it was climbing it backwards in heels, or I was going to go home with egg on my face and be embarrassed. I felt like I had more to lose than anybody else walking into it simply because there were so many eyes on me.
What did you learn about yourself this time?
To trust myself. It sounds so cliche or simple or reductive, but it’s completely true. I’ve spent 10 years not believing in myself, because it’s one of those things where, if people tell you something enough times, even if it’s not true, you allow yourself to start believing it. I doubted myself for 10 years because of the way that other people treated me, and this time, going back in, I made myself promise that you have nothing and everything to lose, so just finally trust yourself.
I thought if you’ve made it this far thinking you didn’t deserve it, then maybe this time you just kind of bite the bullet and say, “no, you are good and you are talented, and you are enough, and then just kind of live in that. You’ll probably surpass what you’ve done before.” And I did.
What was it like working with this cast and format?
This was a weird one for me, because it’s the biggest cast ever, it’s 18 girls, but I didn’t even really get to work with six of them. I’m still probably closest to the “All Stars” 6 cast, which we filmed at the height of the pandemic; we were all just so happy to be out of our houses doing drag and being creative that it felt very happy and joyful and collaborative the whole time.
This time felt a little more cutthroat, but it’s strange because it’s also my favorite format that I’ve competed in — simply because I’m an old pageant girl and in the national pageants, you’ve got to qualify at a prelim before you get to the big final pageant. That’s what this felt like for me. It felt like the brackets were preliminary pageants where you had to qualify for the big one.
But also, as a huge super fan, it was so interesting to watch the first six weeks of the competition that I wasn’t a part of, finding out with the rest of the world what happened, because each bracket was super protective over what happened. They wouldn’t even tell us … I thought that was really exciting to watch, because there were four segments that were so vastly different from each other.
What message do you have for your supporters and detractors?
Someone asked me earlier, “how do you deal with [negative feedback] and I said, “well, first of all, I’ve been dealing with it for a decade,” and not just me personally. I see that no matter who wins a challenge, a lip sync or a season, there’s always discourse with people who love it and people who hate it.
You can’t ever say that the “Drag Race” fan base isn’t passionate, and that’s something that I do really appreciate, because we are creating art, and art is so subjective. I’m just glad that what I do evokes such a strong reaction, and I kind of handle it the same way that I handled [“All Star” competitor] Mistress in the semifinals. Apparently, we had this huge feud, but it was one sided … as soon as the cameras cut, we were having dinner, we were on a break or whatever, we were sisters, and we were fine. It was all about her and how she was feeling, it really had nothing to do with me.
I kind of feel the same way about the reaction. The love is so good and it’s overwhelming, and there’s so much of it, and for every hateful comment, there’s a dozen defending me. But either way, that has nothing to do with me. It’s all what those people are experiencing in that moment, and they’re working through their own things, in their own time, in their own way. So let them. Let them.
What was it like to celebrate at SAVOY?
It was cathartic in such a way. Orlando is my family, it’s my home. I’ve been here since I started drag 25 years ago, and they’ve seen me lose this competition three times. We’ve all been together in these rooms, here in Orlando, and they’ve picked me up whenever I’ve fallen down. So to be able to finally share the success and the victory with all of these people in my community, it was just the most beautiful experience. It was almost better than the experience of the crown going on my head. It felt like we all did this together.\
You’re launching “Hokus Pokus Live” with Jujubee and Sapphira Cristal in Orlando. What do you want to tease about it?
I have never laughed harder than I have in these rehearsals for this show. These girls are so incredible. Landon Cider is one of my favorite drag performers in the entire world, and the things that he is able to do to make me laugh — with his mouth sewn shut [as “Hocus Pocus” zombie Billy Butcherson] — is just a testament to how incredibly ferocious he is as an entertainer.
Jujubee is the whole reason I was ever on “Drag Race” in the first place, so it feels incredible to share this victory lap with her, and Sapphira is so supremely talented that I’m in awe … it’s so fun to sit back and just watch her work. We’re all so different, but somehow it all blends together in such a gorgeous, hysterically funny way. Orlando is also almost sold out, so get tickets, but I will tease that we have worked in maybe possibly doing a second performance if it does. But we won’t know until the first one does.
What other magic are you working on?
Well, I just signed on to star in a brand-new movie musical for Universal Pictures, directed by Adam Shankman. I can’t say much more about it, but it’s going to be spectacular. I also am fielding a couple of Broadway offers right now … so we’re trying to figure out what the best step is, but that should be happening very soon. And of course, we’ve got the tour. My book is out … I’ve got new music coming up.
There’s everything. I’ve got a new Broadway album coming out called “The Broad’s Way” and we released the first single, which is “Defying Gravity,” the day after that I won. So yeah, there’s so much to talk about and so many things — it’s “Reigning Minj” this year and I’m excited. I hope everyone brought their umbrellas!
What else do you want people to know?
I’m just so happy that I could bring the crown here to Orlando, because we’ve needed it for so long. Especially with all the things that we deal with in the country and in Florida, day in and day out, as minorities, as queer people. It’s nice to have a symbol that we can all celebrate together, something that’s hopeful.
For more information about Ginger Minj’s reign and what comes next, visit GingerMinj.com.
