The Roast of Ross Matthews put the queens through the ringer on the latest episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race. The challenge led to an intense three-way lip sync for your life between DeJa Skye, Jorgeous and Daya Betty. In the end, Daya Betty ended up staying, with Jorgeous and Skye leaving the series.
Shadow and Act recently talked to Jorgeous and Skye about their departures. Jorgeous talked about what it was like to be part of a double elimination.
“It was honestly so hard going through it because nobody wants to get double eliminated, but at the same time, it was like, okay, well there’s seven of us. It needs to be a top five and a top four,” she said. “There’s no way that they’re going to send seven people to the top and we only have so [few] episodes left to film…so I was like, ‘Okay girl, if I have to be the one, I have to be the one.”
Both Skye and Jorgeous had their issues in the challenge. Jorgeous explained more about why she immediately felt so defeated.
“Doing the roast, I wasn’t…confident when I spoke. I always felt like, ‘Oh, maybe this sounds stupid.’ Or I would slur my words, because I do slur my words a lot. I just didn’t want to sound stupid,” she said. “I didn’t want to embarrass myself in front of anybody and writing jokes…it was really difficult. Going into it was scary, and I just wanted to get it over and done with…But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. Like, I did try my best.”
Skye, on the other hand, talked about wanting to be herself, win or lose. This desire came up particularly with the rehearsal notes from Michelle Visage and Dulce Sloan. Skye went around their advice by including jokes they told her to cut out of her set.
“I’m a comedic person, but I am not a comedy writer. I’m an improv. In the moment reading, you know, just talking crap with your sister, but I’ve never written jokes and I’ve also never done a roast. So I think going into it, I was pretty much like, ‘I hope I’ll do okay.’ Especially because we have Willow, [Lady] Camden and Bosco who were amazing joke writers,” said Skye. “I was like, ‘There’s no way I’m going to come close to that. But at least let me try to at least do decent.’ And I really believed in my material and…my whole thing was I don’t want to be able to blame anyone else for my downfall. So, I think that’s maybe where Michelle [Visage] maybe got offended because I didn’t listen to everything she had to say, but it was more or less like I believe in my material. So I have to do that because of my integrity. You know, like if I go out, I at least went out being proud of what I did and only having myself to blame.”
Even though RuPaul’s fangirling for Jorgeous couldn’t save her from sashaying, she is still thankful for RuPaul’s support, calling RuPaul’s compliment that she was born for drag one of her biggest moments of the season.
“Honestly, it was amazing,” she said, adding that there were other moments that didn’t make it into the show in which she made RuPaul laugh. “It was great getting those moments and knowing that I had her support and whenever I got in my head, she would always be the one to try to bring me out of my head. It was just amazing knowing she had my back kind of, in a way. And knowing that she really looked out for me. I really appreciate Ru so much…Like, when he told me [I was born to do drag], it was just so special. It was like the stamp of approval that I know I’m doing something right.”
Some of Skye’s biggest moments included getting to know the impressive cast of queens and working with Visage, who she says was like a mother to her. But her biggest story arc came from her Snatch Game win as Lil Jon. The win came after taking all of the critiques she’d gotten each week and applying them, as well as crushing it in the DragCon panel challenge, only to lose to Bosco. Skye tearfully said in her confessional how she wondered what it would take for her to be noticed.
“I think what it was is that I ate every single category. That episode, I felt like I smashed that many times. I was great as a moderator and I had the best runway. So I was like, it just made perfect sense, you know?” she said about that moment. “I just think that when it came down to it, of course, congratulations to Bosco. She did amazing as well, but it was just like, what else can I actually do? If, if I aced every single category. What what’s above that. What else is there above that? So it was very much like a defeat to my psyche.”
“I think it was the one time that I really broke down and because I was very calm and collected. I mean, I’m not afraid of emotions ever, but I was very common collective. I was very much, um, kind of go with the flow, but I think that that moment, I really felt like I deserved the win and to not get it,” she continued. “It’s heartbreaking. I mean, I will never discredit anyone’s win, ’cause I’m not that person. But it was just more or less like I aced every single category as opposed to some of the others. So I was just like, ‘Oh my God, what am I going to do?’ So when, when Snatch Game came around, I kind of had the attitude of, well, if I didn’t win that, I don’t know what I’m going to win. So I think I kind of went into it with more or less nothing to prove. And so I think that helped me. I kind of went into it with a very nonchalant attitude. I’m kind of like, if I get a laugh, I’ll get a laugh. And then once I got that first laugh, I was like, ‘Oh baby, we’re keeping going. We are going to keep this momentum going.'”
Skye also loves the fan reaction she’s received from her time on the show.
“That goes by that I don’t get some sort of like an inspirational message or a DM that’s very like, you know, ‘You inspired me.’ I think that my goal was very much to be myself obviously,” she said, referencing her stance on body positivity. “And I think that, you know, not even in like the body positivity world, but I think just in general, I think maybe I resonate with people. I think also the fact that I was a cheer and dance coach. So I think like the younger generation relate to me in a topic, but getting the response that I have [gotten has] been amazing. I always say my followers are quality. You know, they very much will defend me till the end.”
“…[T]here there are haters out there, there are trolls out there and, you know, being on TV, you open yourself up to every single person and their mom and a monkey and a freaking panda to have an opinion about you,” she continued. “So, I think that even they say that I’m an inspiration to them, but they’re just as big as an inspiration to me, you know, when I’m feeling down and I’m feeling like crap. Just getting a message or a fan art or a comment just makes me feel just like what I’m doing is worthwhile…I’m completely humbled and I’m completely grateful and I will forever be grateful.”
Both hope to do bigger things beyond Drag Race, with Skye saying, she wanted to say yes to everything.
“I really want to tour the world. I want to reap the rewards of being on Drag Race. I want to meet people. I want to create more and more fans. I want to definitely do different things and in many different [areas]. I would even love to maybe release music one day. There’s no goal besides I want to try everything,” she said. “I think that’s my mindset of like, if there’s an opportunity that comes my way, let’s do it. Let’s try it out. You know? Cause that’s what really Drag Race kind of taught me was you’re capable of so much more. So let’s now capitalize on it and let’s not be afraid to try something new. And so I think that’s definitely where my goals are.”
Jorgeous said she’s ready to take on the runways and the world.
“I definitely want to get into more modeling because watching myself do that runway, I was like, ‘B***h, okay! Baby, I’m setting fire to that runway,” she said. “I want to do a whole…tour, I want to see the world. I want to perform everywhere…I’m so happy that Drag Race gave me this platform to do be able to do all the stuff that I’ve always wanted to do.”
RuPaul’s Drag Race airs Fridays at 8/7c on VH1.
