- [Producer] Alyssa interview, take one.
- I'm usually a one-take queen actually,
the only thing I had to do twice in my life was Drag Race.
(tongue click) (producers laugh)
- [Narrator] Long, long ago there
was a little gay boy from Texas.
- [Alyssa] Mesquite, Texas, darling.
Baby, hand me that script and let me tell the real story.
I packed a bag, hopped on a plane,
and RuPaul declared, "Alyssa Edwards?
"A star is born." (audience cheering)
- [Announcer] Live tonight, our kinda gal, Alyssa Edwards!
- [Alyssa] Oh we're doing the whole journey, okay.
Well a journey of a thousand miles
begins with a single step. So where we gonna start?
♪ Alright, I'm back back back back back again ♪
♪ Giving you a dose of what's happening ♪
♪ All these crowns I'm snatching them ♪
♪ Got more "Yes Gawds" than the Vatican ♪
♪ The name's Miss Edwards, I'm your champion ♪
(crowd cheering)
Alright here we go, let's start this shindig, happy DragCon!
Shangela was a backup dancer of mine
and I never knew DJ had any kind of plan, idea,
or motive to be cross-dressing.
And I flip on my television and there she is,
hallelu, the wig falling off and all this,
it was great and she says to me one day,
"Justin, you have to audition for Drag Race."
And I said, girl, what am I gonna
look like going on TV in drag?
The people over there at the studio at the dance school,
they don't know that I do all this.
I was living that very Miley Cyrus, Hannah Montana life.
And then I started watching it more
and I was like this is a pageant on TV.
Oh I'm doing this.
I didn't get casted that year, it was
for season four, I was an alternate though.
I'll never forget Alexis Mateo coming to Dallas.
And she said, "Justin, I'm gonna film you on my phone."
I said, "For what?"
And she said, "Because you got to get on this TV show."
So she flipped open her phone, I was
sitting in my dining room table
drinking a glass of wine, and I said,
"RuPaul, if you can find another cross-dresser
"in the United States of America that
"can slay me, I'll give you $100,000."
Well, I'm glad she didn't hold me to it.
(energetic music)
- [Drag Queens] Shut up!
- [Alyssa] My name is Alyssa Edwards,
and I am 32 years of age.
I'm known as the Vanessa Williams of drag
because after winning the title of Miss Gay America,
the crown was taken away from me.
Girl I am gagging.
Actually before I got on season five,
I had quit doing drag for a year.
And it was after that scandal of Miss America,
which people thought, what is really going on?
- Alyssa Edwards, Miss US-- oh wait.
(gasps) (laughter)
- I did drag because it made me
feel something as a performer.
I never knew it could be a career.
Especially where I lived there wasn't a lot of opportunity.
So when I won Miss America, the owners
felt that it wasn't my first priority,
and I was very honest with them, I was like,
"I love doing this, but I can't be sitting
"at the house just playing online
"and waiting for someone to call me."
I mean, I've got a jazz class to teach,
I've got four- and five- and six-, seven-,
all the way up to eighteen-year-olds that depend on me.
The youth of today and the future of tomorrow.
So it was that kinda like, am I
going to be able to balance this?
And then like I said, I auditioned then got on.
I remember getting the call saying,
"Alyssa, we would love to have you a part
"of the RuPaul's Drag Race season five cast."
And I said okay, well what does that mean?
What do I gotta do? Where do I gotta go?
What time? And what do I gotta bring?
Okay, I'm gonna be on TV now in drag,
oh (bleep), do I tell the dance moms?
Do I give them a heads up?
Just go with it.
- Alyssa, we know you got it.
Your characteristics are funny,
you're beautiful, you're the total package.
I'm just not sure if you know how to connect the pieces.
- Thank you.
Ru was like, "Alyssa, you are so funny."
And I just looked at him and was
so confused why he said that. No, I'm being serious.
Watching myself on TV, experiencing different
styles of drag, I always knew drag was an art
and art was subjective, but I was given a handbook.
This is the manual, if you wanna be
a professional female impersonator.
But I knew I wanted this large, over-the-top character
that was everything Justin couldn't or was too afraid to be.
Happy Sunday! (crowd cheering)
I was in the airport I think in Memphis, Tennessee.
The phone rang, "Alyssa we're inviting
"you to be on All Stars Two."
I started screaming so loud TSA came running over.
The airport thought something happened.
Alright! - [Drag Queens] Oh my God!
- My name is Alyssa Edwards, and
I need, I need, I need, I need,
I need to get up in this All Star gig.
Thank the Lord above, I'm back back back back back again.
(tongue click)
Sometimes in life, and what I teach my students,
you don't get a second chance.
And there were a lot of stones I left unturned
in season five, and I'm like, "I know you can do better."
This time around, you worry less,
you give them more, and don't forget to be gay.
And have a good old time, because that's what this is about.
I mean, look at me, how silly is this?
They said it was gonna be gloomy today in Los Angeles,
and I said that's fine, I'll be
the ray of sunshine. Bodak Yellow.
You know when I got eliminated on All Stars Two,
I don't care what nobody says,
that camera dress is so campy and so draggy,
it might not have been a two-in-one
or two-in-two or whatever.
I am over there giving my Academy Award winning speech
and that TV starts going off, ooh girl.
I walk over there and Ru's like,
"Okay listen, you're coming back."
And then I go behind the mirror,
that was entertaining television.
I'm back back back back back again!
- [Drag Queens] Oh my God.
- That was that moment where you're like,
well making Ru laugh in the Snatch Game,
check, okay no apologies this year.
Winning the comedy challenge,
check, check, and shut up and drive.
- The winner will earn the right
to return to the competition.
The time has come for you
to not only lip sync for your legacy,
but to lip sync for your life.
- My favorite moments of Drag Race
watching as a fan is the lip sync for your life.
Because you could see in someone's eyes
how much it truly means to that person.
And to be there, to remain in the competition,
you are really lip syncing for your life.
It's serious business now!
That was a fierce lip sync. You gotta admit.
- Alyssa Edwards, you are also a winner, baby.
(screaming)
- [Shangela] You are here to get drop dead what?
- [Crowd] Gorgeous!
- Now they're up, they're up, they're up.
- Okay, I think we're ready. (Shangela laughs)
I do not mind when someone says,
"Alyssa Edwards, you are a diva."
You are absolutely correct. A female version of a hustler.
Beyonce done told y'all and wrote a song about it.
I think there's two different types of divas though.
Don't be dark-sided. Keep the clouds away.
You gotta let them know you're a diva though, right?
Drag Race would be boring as hell,
you've got 14 flamboyant egos in one room.
It's like the Hunger Games of drag. Literally.
If people didn't kinda have moments
where they disagree and then found a resolution,
they built that bridge to get over it.
(dramatic opera music) The face crack of the century.
- Girl.
- Bitch, that was so three years ago.
I do believe, and I say this in
every interview I'm in, and I'm gonna keep saying it
because I hold true to the idea.
I believe in destiny, I believe in my future and my fate.
I believe my Book of Life it's already written,
it's just now being read out loud.
I think there's so much life yet for me to live
and to explore, and to learn and grow
and continue to teach and inspire and share.
Right now in this present time, I'm my happiest.
When I leave Los Angeles and I go home
and all this comes off, and I walk
into that classroom, it's another reminder
of how lucky and blessed I am.
It's like you have it all, everything
you've ever hoped for and imagined.
I'm truly the definition "Don't dream it, be it."
(light-hearted music)
Always and forever. (tongue click)
Edit it right. (producers laugh)