RuPaul’s Drag Race is back! But this time, the popular reality drag show competition is airing Friday nights on VH1.

The show made sure to make its return in a grand way because, for the first time in Drag Race HERstory, Lady Gaga took on guest judge duties. As such, Ru had the queens introduce themselves with a look inspired by her hometown, followed by a second look dedicated to Lady Gaga for their first challenge — the winner of which was Nina Bonina Brown, who blew the judges away with her “strange but beautiful” interpretation of a Georgia peach and her spirited “black Lady Gaga." And in atypical fashion, RuPaul opted not to send anyone home this week. But in the episode’s final seconds, she revealed that a past queen would be returning.

This week, we spoke to Season 8 winner Bob the Drag Queen about what this episode of Drag Race can reveal to us about the intricacies of drag culture — namely how the show has created a “pageant queen” vs. “club queen” division that doesn’t exist outside the show, whether or not it’s important to “pay your dues” in order to command respect in the drag arena, and how the show exaggerates the idea that drag queens need to be talented at multiple things at once.

Teen Vogue: For this week’s challenge, RuPaul invited the contestants to compete in the “Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve and Talent Pageant,” and in the opening scene, there is Trinity Taylor already trying to figure out who’s "a pageant queen". Throughout the seasons of Drag Race, we’ve seen this tension built between the “pageant” queens (those who rose through the drag pageant competition circuit) and “downtown” queens (those who rose through the club and nightlife circuit). Where does that tension come from?*

Bob the Drag Queen: I don’t think there’s an issue between pageant girls and “downtown queens.” It was never really a thing until Drag Race made a separation between the two. So Drag Race has mended that divide, but Drag Race sort of created it too. It’s the nature of a competitive show to pair everything against it each other. For example, let’s take La La Land and Moonlight. You would never feel the need to compare those movies until they were up for the same award. So now, folks can’t like La La Land and Moonlight — they have to like either or.

Teen Vogue: Even if the divide didn’t exist before, there still seemed to be a distinct difference in each side’s approach to drag. Did you ever notice a difference in the opinions of how competitors from either side would describe “good” drag?

BtDQ: Well, of course a lot of people have their opinions on what makes good drag and what makes bad drag. The only real concern is if the audience you’re serving to is receiving your product.

Teen Vogue: While the queens were introducing themselves in the workroom, it came out that Valentina had only been doing drag for ten months. There seemed to be a collective response from everyone in the workroom that suggested ten months doing drag wasn’t enough time to really deserve to compete. Is drag an arena where it’s necessary to “pay your dues” or are those critiques misdirected and undeserved?

BtDQ: Do I think only queens that have been doing drag for a long time deserve respect? That’s a hard no. But what is most certainly true is that you don’t know as much now as you’ll know next year—and that’s clear and obvious. That’s just factual. But there’s also something, for example, where you might think you’re the cream of the crop, but the truth is that you actually don’t know anything. So that’s what I would think the other queens are saying. I don’t have any problem with young queens. I haven’t been doing drag for a million years like some other people have, but I’m also not necessarily a newbie either.