Victoria Elizabeth Black Pushed Past Her Limits To Win The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Titans

All hail Victoria Elizabeth Black, the first-ever winner of The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Titans. After nearly winning both Season 2 of The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula and The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Resurrection, Victoria finally snatched the crown this season with a truly unmatched package of looks embodying drag, filth, horror and glamor, all with a caliber of prosthetics and creature design comparable, as her fellow competitor Abhora put it, to Universal Studios.

In a statement to INTO, the Boulet Brothers praised her performance across the Boulet Brothers’ Dragula franchise. “We’re thrilled with Victoria’s performance not only on this Titans season, but during the two other seasons she competed on as well,” they said. “We feel she has proven to us, the fans, and her contemporaries that she is not only an unmatched force of drag to be reckoned with, but a genuine Dragula superstar in her own right.”

INTO sat down with Victoria to discuss her journey on Titans, how she and her fellow competitors fought like a family, and what advice she has for future Dragula monsters.

First of all, Victoria, congratulations on winning! How does it feel to be the first ever Titan of The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula, and what do you want to do with your reign?

Holy shit, it feels incredible. I’m just fully overwhelmed by the amount of love already that I’ve gotten with everything. So much to do, so little time, oh my god! The goals that I would love to finally pursue are working on some of the craziest shows I’ve ever always wanted to do and I couldn’t before, and creating haunted houses that could potentially even be club life. Those are just a couple little things, but there’s so much I would love to do with this. Even being in movies, and doing makeup or effects or anything really, just getting into this industry.

So do you see yourself moving more toward the production side of things?

Yes! I’ve always loved the behind-the-scenes, or pretty much anything of that sort. So that would just continue that journey that I’ve been on.

Amazing! Going into Titans, there was a lot of hype around your casting — some people even felt like you inspired the season, given the Boulet Brothers’ comments about you during Resurrection. Was it intimidating, knowing that everyone expected you to make it to the end of the season, if not win?

The pressure was real — but honestly, well needed, because it really got me to push myself to limits I really didn’t know I had. Because I was like, “Yeah, I can build a set and I can make some prosthetics,” but it was going beyond that. Like, my sci-fi challenge look: I didn’t know how to create a full creature suit. So I had to figure that out. The pressure really helped me push my boundaries.

Speaking of your looks, when you got the initial list of challenges, what was the one that you were immediately most excited for?

Sci-fi was definitely one of them. For horror icons, I almost immediately thought of the Crypt Keeper and just couldn’t wait to see that fully realized. I’m very happy with that one. Other than that, Halloween house party, just knowing that was one of the first, I was like, “Okay, we get to hit it right out of the gate with something really fun and maybe a little silly and campy.”

And which look of yours ended up being your favorite on the show?

Honestly, any of those three probably would be my top looks. But the sci-fi look was just so unreal to fully imagine. I’m very proud of how it came out, so that’s probably my favorite.

That The Thing look was just insane. I remember on that episode, they announced that HoSo won, and I was like, “Oh, okay. I mean … yeah, sure.” But then I was so glad when they announced your name too.

Same for me. I was a little shocked, and then they said my name too, and I was like, “Oh! Okay! Ree!” I was so happy. That was cool.

Character-wise, the Crypt Keeper look was my favorite, just because I have such a childhood love for that character and being able to do a monologue for him and everything was really cool.

You brought that idea of your inner child back with your finale floor show, too. What was the inspiration there?

Since I am quite a dark, morbid sort, I’ve always liked working with dead bodies and things in performances, so I figured this would be the perfect interpretation of me figuring out how I want to create the perfect Victoria out of those childhood roots. So all those videos you saw at the beginning of the floor show were videos of me as a kid that my parents had taken: me running around the house in heels, and riding my bike in the house in a witch hat and cape, and me singing with my skeleton bride. All those are things that were really close to me when I was only 4, 5, 6. You can see how much of it transcended from then to now, and being able to create what I see in my mind as the perfect Victoria was really just to show that you need that heart of the child that was you in the past to really elevate what you do in the future.

The Boulets also commented that you built that whole set within two days. Is that true?

I did. I got into the soundstage — with permission, of course — and I was able to build those designs that I literally sketched the day before in the boudoir.

Wow. It’s crazy how quickly that all came together.

Yeah, I work fast, I will say! Definitely working in the industry at Halloween Horror Nights and everything, I always work super, super quick. So that definitely worked to my benefit for this.

Absolutely. The finale format switch-up this year has been slightly controversial with the fan base. How did you feel about the change from the traditional three-look finale format to this single production number?

It was actually really exciting, just to be able to create something new and different. Going into it, I had the feeling we were doing three separate looks, and then when they told us we were doing only the one, I was really excited. Because you could finally put all those into one number and create a full production that you maybe would see at Halloween Horror Nights, or something like that. That was really cool. I was really into it, so no complaints there. But people will have their opinions, so. Let them have their opinions! I think it was amazing.

And I mean, there’s no denying that what all three of you finalists did was spectacular. People should just be happy that we get to enjoy your art!

Everyone’s going to feel like they can judge stuff, but they’re just patrons at this point. [laughs]

I wanted to talk a little bit about your fellow competitors. When you got there, who were you excited to see back? Who are you surprised to see back? And who were your closest friends on the cast?

Honestly, I was really excited to see everyone back, whether they were Season 2 sisters or Season 1 gals that I had never met before. Like, I’ve met Melissa in passing, but I never got to know her and become friendly with her. So being all together finally, it was really fucking cool. But I will say my good judies for sure were Evah Destruction — Koco and I were besties the whole show, even though they didn’t show it too much, but we usually got partnered up just by chance, so that was really fun when we got to. Kendra, we had a little spat in the beginning, but we got really close. 

Everyone, we all got along. But you know how relatives can be when you’re around them for too long. You get a little snippy.

Just a little snippy! No major blow-ups or anything.

No major blow-ups. Not intentionally, at least.

And what was your favorite look of another competitor’s throughout the season?

Ooh! I still can’t stop thinking about Evah’s sea monster look. Her presentation and all of it was just so cool. There were so many cool looks, though, in the show. Everyone did really awesome. It’s hard to pick and choose, but that one, I will say, just lives rent free in my mind. 

It’s really cool to see some of the competitors that went home too, some of the looks like they were going to do. Like Abhora, she’s been killing it. It’s sad we didn’t get to see it on the show, but it’s such amazing stuff.

I know! It is sad to think about what looks the audience missed out on just because of the challenge order and when people went home.

Totally. You never know how it’s going to roll out in your favor.

What advice do you have for anyone who’s interested in auditioning for The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula?

Watch some Fear Factor! No, I’m just kidding. Definitely just go all in with your looks. Don’t listen to anyone else’s opinions of what you can and cannot do. Use those big ideas to create some crazy stuff, and it’ll be good for you in the end. Being on the show is incredible, and just realize the fan base that you’re getting into is unlike any other. There’s so much love and just creative, cool people. You’ll love being in the family if you want to be in the show.

And do you have any messages for your fans?

I just want to thank each and every one of my fans for the love and support y’all have shown over the years. From Season 2, and even before I was on the show, y’all have stuck around and been there for me, and I couldn’t be more thankful. Y’all are awesome. I can’t wait to show you what’s in store for the next few years and everything after.

Lastly, the Boulets said a lot of times in this finale that they see Titans as the end of the first chapter of Dragula. Personally, what would you like to see for chapter two of Dragula, and how do you think the show could develop moving forward?

It could go crazy places from here, but I just want to see more art. We can have some drama in there; it’s always entertaining. But if we continue along this route of just art and showcasing queer artists from around the world, of every ethnicity and every single kind of person, I think that would be just fabulous. We’re already on that route. It’s just getting giant from here. There’s no telling what it’s going to become.

All episodes of The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Titans are now streaming on Shudder, and tickets for “The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Titans” World Tour are now on sale.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.