Milk on Being Eliminated From ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 3,’ Not Holding Grudges, and Who She’d Have Done for Snatch Game

This Milk is dry or, at least, her sense of humor is.

The RuPaul’s Drag Race season six queen-turned-All Stars season three “villain” knows her jokes may not have come across as she thought they would. But she also knows she made for great television across her three episodes of All Stars. So it’s safe to say she has no regrets about being eliminated by Kennedy Davenport except that she didn’t get to play a particularly surprising Snatch Game character.

INTO talked with Milk about her All Stars experience, the changes in the Drag Race fan base since season six, and how her relationship with Kennedy is now.

INTO: You have enjoyed tremendous success off the show, particularly in the fashion world. But All Stars is known for being a more performance challenge-based show, and less design-based. Were you concerned about that aspect as you re-entered the workroom?

Milk (M): No. I think, from season six, I definitely progressed, learned, and really got more comfortable being able to be a personality. Before season six, I had only performed on-stage twice. And that was just a lip-sync; I never had to come up with any witty banter. The three years leading up to All Stars season three, being able to tour, it definitely taught me to be more off-the-cuff. I went in knowing I had the ability to do well.

Had you really only performed twice before season six?

M: Yeah, the lip sync for my life in season six was only the third time I had ever lip-synced on stage.

How Valentina of you!

M: [I] didn’t even have a mask! I knew the words!

You came off a much stronger character this season than you did in season six

M: Oh yeah. “Stronger.”

Well, yeah, you joked about coming off as the villain this time around. Was it a conscious choice on your part to play up the reads and the shade?

M: In season six, I didn’t really have much screen time. Because I wasn’t the one in my confessionals telling jokes and throwing shade and reading. I went in [All Stars] knowing all the girls from touring, so we know each other personally. All of these little reads aimed at the other queens it was fun! I think I have a very dry, matter-of-fact way of saying things that doesn’t come off as joking to most people. I can assure everybody that every read I made was very lighthearted. I think I laughed after most of them.

It did seem like most of the time, you were trying to be sarcastic, and it didn’t come across.

M: Totally, yeah. I am a sarcastic son-of-a-gun. Ask anybody. So I think my sarcasm may have been a little too much for a lot of people, and sort of confused them made them think I was this villainous diva. Which is fine! It’s entertainment. I put on a good show.

howdy #teammilk! let’s make a pact to end online nastiness and hate against queens on #AllStars3 and people in general, who’s with me? just because it may be your opinion that you are sharing doesn’t mean it’s any less hurtful. join me! raise your hand if you’re in! 🙋🏻‍♂️🙋🏻‍♂️🙋🏻‍♂️ #letsmakethisplaceabetterworld #raiseyourhand

A post shared by Milk (@bigandmilky) on Jan 26, 2018 at 12:31pm PST

You’ve spoken out on social media as the season’s gone on about the amount of hate directed at certain queens this season. Have the fan base’s reactions felt more dramatic to you than they did back in season six?

M: Drag Race has grown so much. Which is a positive! People in our tribe and our community can connect over being an outsider. I think that’s special. But with that comes a darker side, that makes people feel they have the right to openly hate, and openly be nasty, when I don’t think that should be a right for anybody. This year, we have 22 weeks of Drag Race on television, which is amazing, from All Stars to season 10. I’m not gonna be satisfied until it’s 52 weeks. But it’s 22 weeks of drag! Why not try to nip this online bullying thing in the bud, or at least be vocal about it, so people are more aware of what they’re saying and what they’re doing online?

You had a very dramatic reaction to being safe after the VH1 Divas Live challenge. Watching your performance back, do you have the same assessment of your work as you did then?

M: Those challenges are some of my favorite challenges on Drag Race, those live, onstage challenges. The Rusical in season six, for example. So for the Divas Live challenge, I was so excited, and throughout the rehearsal process, I was picking up choreography very well. I knew I was doing my best, and I knew I was working hard, so I was very pleased with that. I learned that even when I work hard and do my best, that doesn’t always mean that I’m going to do well. I was very emotional, which is fantastic television.

This episode, you really butted heads with Kennedy. Have y’all had a chance to patch things up since?

M: Of course. We toured together right after the show. I don’t have regrets, and I also don’t hold grudges. What’s the point of that? Why be mad at somebody when there are so many worse things to be mad at and be angry over? We’ve definitely toured, we’ve laughed, we’ve hung out. All is beautiful.

Finally, I have to ask: If you had gotten to Snatch Game next week, who would you have done?

M: On Snatch Game, you’re only allowed to do real people that have existed in life. I was going to do the Virgin Mary, because if you ask billions of people throughout the world, she is a real person!