

On TV, Gia Gunn is being Gia, and Violet is cracking up at Gia’s shade. “That’s going to be me. When I’m on, I’ll be the Gia Gunn of my cast.”

I shoot a glare at Gia through the television, then turn to Violet, sidelong. “Please don’t do that.”

“What? I love Gia!”

It was in that moment, with Gia on the bar TV screen and Violet smirking back at me, that I thought, you can’t win Drag Race if you’re coming across like Gia. As a rule, to win this show, RuPaul has to see that you’re smart.

But in the couple of years between Dragnique 2012 and RPDR season seven, Violet grew, pushed by her sisters and with all of us watching, into a world-class drag queen. Then she was off to Ecuador, and yes, we were all rooting so hard for her. Still, I came to The Other Show to watch Edie and Evah while Violet was gone, and I’ll admit now that I worried that summer, Violet couldn’t beat Edie or Evah at Dragnique. How’s she going to win RuPaul’s Drag Race?

But she did. RuPaul saw a brilliant young mind at work, and Violet won a bigger prize than Atlanta could offer her. It’s of particular note that she’s only the third queen in the show’s history to win without having ever lip synced for her life. Bob didn’t accomplish that, Jinkx didn’t, Sharon didn’t. Violet did.

The Other Show prepared her to achieve that.

