Katya talks 'RuPaul's Drag Race' elimination

Kennedy Davenport, Dallas, TX. April 25 at South Beach nightclub. Kennedy Davenport, Dallas, TX. April 25 at South Beach nightclub. Photo: Mathu Andersen Photo: Mathu Andersen Image 1 of / 107 Caption Close Katya talks 'RuPaul's Drag Race' elimination 1 / 107 Back to Gallery

Katya has left "RuPaul's Drag Race." And the TV competition world is a sadder, duller, less sweaty place.

The blonde Russian character created by Brian McCook was a bright spot in an underwhelming season, a true star who seemed destined for the finale. Alas, RuPaul eliminated Katya during the Hello Kitty challenge.

But Katya is already angling for the Miss Congeniality award.

"Can I just say, this is the third interview, and I feel like I'm on a press junket. I feel like Julia Roberts," she says with a gleeful cackle.

That laugh was a frequent occurence during our chat, further proof that Katya is this season's true queen.

If we were doing this in person, you could say things like, 'Don't look directly into my eyes.'

Exactly. I'm gonna speak into this mirror, and it's your responsibility to catch my reflection.

You were recently in Houston at South Beach nightclub. Did you love it?

That was fun. It was a little weird because there was this stage with a bunch of speakers, and I thought I was gonna die. The people are so nice. I had a blast at that meet-and-greet. I'd been at F Bar a few weeks before that and had a blast. That place is absolutely gorgeous. I can't believe the response I've gotten in Texas. It's so wonderful.

Trixie actually ...

She fell off! Of course she did, the dumb bitch. I wouldn't expect anything less from Tracy Martel.

Trixie says becoming friends with you was one of her 'trophies' from the show.

The feeling is so not mutual. I'm so embarrassed that she said that. No, no! I feel so embarrassed to call her my friend, but I'm actually privately very happy about it. She's amazing. We're going to Australia in a week. I'm not saying we're gonna have sex, but I'm definitely thinking about the possibility.

One of the questions I pulled from social media was, 'What was Ru smoking?'

OK, I can answer this and be real about it. This is one of my biggest regrets of the show, and this is my fault. What drew people to me on the show is not necessarily what Ru saw. I left the show, it's hysterical, knowing that I made a really great impression with everybody except her: the production assistants, the audio guys, the crew, the girls, the producers, the interviewers. It's my fault. I'm not gonna be naïve and say that I thought we were gonna be friends. But I was looking forward to meeting Ru because I know that I have an off-kilter but intelligent sense of humor that I thought she would really get. And I know that she had liked previous audition tapes of mine because they had called me in for previous seasons. I clammed up every single time we talked in the workroom. There was a lot of unaired footage between me and her that is very awkward. We just never really had a connection. And she tried to get me to be more myself, and I just really choked a lot. So it's not that Ru was smoking something. It's that I was smoking something.

Was that part of the confidence issue you brought up during the competition?

I had literally zero. I didn't struggle with confidence. I had none. It was so bad. I learned right off the bat, 'Oh my God, wow, OK, I don't like competitions. I'm not even competitive at all. Why am I even here?' Looking through the lens of all those emotions I was going through, making the top 5 is actually a huge success. I left the show very, very proud of myself.

You were very honest about your struggles with drugs and alcohol.

I was only, like, a year sober. It's not a good thing to do, to go six months in isolation in a competition away from your support system. It could have been very bad. I hated that it was all I could think about when I was there, which is a bummer. It's so much better now.

Not to get all Oprah on you, but what did being on the show teach you as a person?

Oh, let's get Oprah. Let's get deep. I never really expected to learn anything about myself from being on the show, but I did. It was the confidence thing. I have really, really high expectations and standards for myself that I didn't live up to. Every challenge I'd be like, 'That was awful. That was terrible. I know I can do so much better.' That's really bad. Being able to see people's reactions (to me on the show) has been really good for my confidence and my self-esteem. Mostly that people are interested in what I have to say. One of the things that held me back when I was on the show was thinking, 'I'm so weird. I don't think people are gonna really like me or my sense of humor.' I tried to make things a little more mainstream sometimes. I so regret that. I think my real personality came across in the confessionals. I had a blast in that interview room. Count on me to shine where it doesn't count.

I have to ask about the jacket you wore during those interviews.

I love that jacket. I don't care what anybody says. I love my little Fruity Pebbles blazer. It's really loud and tacky, but I think it's great. I got it for $2 at Goodwill.

Talk to me about your tagline: 'The sweatiest woman in showbusiness.'

I have a certificate. I can email it to you. Before I met Latrice (Royale), I was the sweatiest person I know. It's comical. It's so gross. That's my claim to fame.

When did you know that drag was something you really could, and should, do?

I think it was the first time I did it as Katya. I was in art school, and I hosted my senior video show as the character. The makeup and the costume were absolutely terrible, but the character was fully formed and there. It got such a great reception. I was gonna try to go to grad school to teach foreign language. A philosophy teacher of mine was at the show, and she's like, 'No, you've gotta do this. This is really cool.' She's like this Yugoslavian, intelligentsia, freedom-fighting philosophy woman. And for her to say, 'You should do drag?' I think she would be so happy for me now. If not for that, I'd probably be dead, in jail or a French teacher in Sudbury, Mass.