Gia: What's up, I'm Gia Metric and you're watching Xtra
Gia: Magazine's After the Sashay.
Russ: Hey squirrel friends, it's Xtra contributor Russ Martin,
Russ: and this is Xtra Magazine's After the Sashay, our
Russ: weekly kiki with the most recently eliminated contestant
Russ: from Canada's Drag Race.
Russ: Let's go. Before we get going, I do know that you are
Russ: prone to some long speeches, so I want to let you know that
Russ: we only have 15 minutes.
Gia: Noted, noted I'm taking notes.
Russ: Tell me, what was the bigger gag, the surprise reunion
Russ: or the lip sync off?
Gia: Oh, the lip sync up off, babes.
Gia: Yes, absolutely. I was like, I am going to the finale.
Gia: I've made it.
Gia: I talked about my aha moment, and then bam!
Gia: There we were, lip syncing for our lives.
Gia: And now that time has passed and after rewatching it,
Gia: I truly am so proud of what I did, and I've
Gia: given myself my own Oscar speech.
Gia: Sorry, my own Oscar.
Russ: I saw that on your Instagram.
Russ: That was so cool. It's such a cool shoot.
Russ: And you know, however, it did turn out, those were
Russ: fantastic lip sync. So as an audience member, I want to say
Russ: thank you because I was so entertained.
Gia: Thanks so much. You know what, it's one thing being a part
Gia: of it and then actually getting to rewatch it.
Gia: I was like...it was nice to
Gia: see that it came across that I I was
Gia: fighting for my life and we made some great television.
Russ: How did you feel when you realized
Russ: that you had to lip sync against your sister, Kendall?
Gia: Yeah, you know what? It's an interesting thing
Gia: to think about because, you know, obviously you go into the
Gia: competition being an individual and then having your
Gia: sisters walk through that work room, you're like,
Gia: what? Oh my gosh!
Gia: And it was really nice to have that security blanket and
Gia: to have people who understand and that support system.
Gia: And by the time we got to episode nine,
Gia: it was the love that we had for each other
Gia: was very strong, but it was almost easier to
Gia: look at Kendall as just a competitor, and
Gia: we looked at each other, we talked to each other and it was
Gia: just like, you know, we're both here for the same reason.
Gia: And like, Let's battle girl, let's battle.
Russ: This came up at the reunion, but we sort of laughed off.
Russ: Do you think it really was annoying for those other girls
Russ: to be competing with all of these members of the Brat Pack?
Gia: No, I think that the girls just want to talk shit.
Gia: They just want something to
Gia: blab about and we're all respectful.
Gia: We all, like I said, we all built so many connections with
Gia: so many other queens.
Gia: And I think, unfortunately, the queen who
Gia: sashayed away a little bit earlier in the competition, they
Gia: just didn't get to see that development,
Gia: not only with our character, but with our relationships.
Gia: And it's like at the end of the day, if
Gia: it did bother you, then like, I'm sorry, but
Gia: you know, not our intention and you know, it
Gia: was good for us.
Russ: Now you did mention that you had developed so many other
Russ: connections during the course of the show.
Russ: Who were you really close to outside of the core of the
Russ: Brat Pack girls?
Gia: Yeah, I would say like, my main girl would
Gia: be like Adriana.
Gia: And we kind of had that moment on episode five
Gia: where she was picked last to be a part of the girl
Gia: group. And after working with her and then hearing
Gia: her, you know, express that she felt
Gia: a certain way about that, or she felt that she was
Gia: underestimated. It really just brought us closer to build
Gia: that bond and for me to, like, be like, Girl, you know,
Gia: like, I see you as a competitor, like, I see you as an
Gia: artist. You are phenomenal.
Gia: And like, we text every single day, which is like, so
Gia: amazing.
Russ: I need to know. Did you ever get around to following
Russ: Eve 6000 again?
Gia: She made me. Yeah, she actually, she took
Gia: my phone and followed herself, and I just decided not
Gia: to unfollow her again.
Gia: No, you know what? I've known Eve for so long, and
Gia: I truly just wasn't an
Gia: active user of social media.
Gia: And by that, I mean, like, I wasn't I wasn't going out of
Gia: my way to follow people.
Gia: And she just didn't happen to, just
Gia: to make the cut. Didn't make the cut, babes.
Gia: Yeah.
Russ: You had posted about some jokes between you and Kimora and
Russ: how they were weaponized by the fans who hurled negativity
Russ: at her. I'm wondering what you think can be done to curb
Russ: the toxic portions of the Drag Race fandom?
Gia: I truly think the only thing that we can do is when
Gia: we do notice that and when we do see it online, it is to
Gia: speak up. And it's not about
Gia: cancel culture. It's not about throwing anyone under
Gia: the bus. It's simply just, you know, educating
Gia: and creating and conversation around how
Gia: that's not how it has to be.
Gia: And if you are doing this, then truly,
Gia: you're not a fan of me or a fan of Drag Race
Gia: because, you know, Drag Race is supposed to be
Gia: guided by love.
Russ: Got a funl question for you, I want to know about the most
Russ: famous person who has slid into your DMs since you were
Russ: cast on the show and tell me a little bit about your
Russ: interaction with them.
Gia: Oh my gosh.
Gia: I have had some amazing Drag Race royalty
Gia: slide into my DMs.
Gia: Very supportively.
Gia: I would say from the UK, Blu Hydrangea messaged
Gia: me when promo dropped, and I chat
Gia: here and there with Heidi N Closet, whom I love.
Gia: We're trying to bring her to Canada.
Gia: So, yeah, now those are kind of like the fun ones that I've
Gia: had.
Russ: We only got to hear a little bit about your identity as a
Russ: non-binary person. I'm wondering what you can tell me about
Russ: how you see the art of drag being gender performance as
Russ: somebody who is non-binary?
Gia: Yeah, I think I like to call myself a
Gia: tie-dye of gender, and even from
Gia: the very beginning of my drag career, I've always
Gia: explored with being androgynous
Gia: and really not trying to fit a mold of any
Gia: gender. And I think for me, especially being,
Gia: you know, within the queer world, I always
Gia: felt like being feminine outside
Gia: of drag was looked down upon, and
Gia: I felt like for so many years I would hide it or I would
Gia: just bring it out in my drag.
Gia: And now I don't
Gia: know what changed. I guess I grew up, I, you know, maybe
Gia: we're all being educated a little bit more so it is a
Gia: little bit across the board, but I finally feel comfortable
Gia: in you know, being who I am, being who I want to be
Gia: and not being trapped by
Gia: these gender definitions where, you know, one
Gia: day I want to be this, one day I want to be that, and some
Gia: days I want to be both.
Russ: I know that you are an advocate for mental health
Russ: awareness. Did anything about the process of being on the
Russ: show take a toll on your personal mental health?
Gia: You know what? This is probably one of the things
Gia: that I was most surprised about.
Gia: I was a mess getting ready for the show.
Gia: I was like, anxiety.
Gia: I was stressed. I was literally crying like three times a
Gia: day just because of the pressure that I was putting on
Gia: myself, and I was actually worried about, you know,
Gia: what state am I going to be in when I get into this
Gia: pressure cooker? You know, it is a competition.
Gia: It is going to be tough.
Gia: And I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to
Gia: let go of my fears, let go of my anxieties, and
Gia: really just be present and be focused.
Gia: The only time in the competition that I felt
Gia: a little unbalanced. I keep describing it as like a pen
Gia: leak.
Gia: I feel like a pen leaked in my brain and I couldn't stop
Gia: it. It was week seven, I really got in my head about
Gia: that roast, but the beautiful thing about it is
Gia: that I was able to come out on the other side and just have
Gia: this realization of, you can
Gia: you can do a challenge. You don't have to be perfect at
Gia: every challenge and it is not life or death, and I'm
Gia: only human, so I'm allowed to make mistakes.
Russ: When you sashayed away on the show.
Russ: You said that you were going to go text someone.
Russ: Who got that first text?
Gia: My mom!
Gia: Right away, I was like, Hello, mom.
Gia: And it was like the first time that we had talked in almost
Gia: two months. So it was quite a special moment.
Gia: Yeah, I love my mom.
Russ: I heard that you're really good at animal noises.
Russ: Can you give me a taste?
Gia: Yes, I can't wait.
Gia: OK.
Gia: (Chicken noises) Pretty good.
Russ: That's very good. It'll make sense later, as they say.
Gia: It's like a really deep hidden
Gia: talent that's like slowly coming to the surface
Gia: and it just makes people laugh and I'm just like, There we
Gia: go, there's my shtick.
Gia: I found it. Thanks for watching Xtra's After the
Gia: Sashay. You can catch me on Instagram @gia.metric,
Gia: or on Twitter @gia_metric.
Gia: I'd give you my phone number, but you're going to have to
Gia: slide into my DMs for that.