Acid Betty talks 'RuPaul's Drag Race' and the reality of TV

Acid Betty wowed "Drag Race" fans with her avant-garde looks. Acid Betty wowed "Drag Race" fans with her avant-garde looks. Photo: ByJamin.comhausofacid.com Photo: ByJamin.comhausofacid.com Image 1 of / 23 Caption Close Acid Betty talks 'RuPaul's Drag Race' and the reality of TV 1 / 23 Back to Gallery

"RuPaul's Drag Race" fans pegged Acid Betty as a frontrunner the moment her glow-in-the-dark mug was unveiled. The New York-based "hybrid drag queen" already had a solid fanbase and quickly established herself as one of Season 8's biggest personalities.

But the fierce performer landed in the bottom two after a disastrous turn as Nancy Grace in the Snatch Game, which challenges the queens to impersonate celebrities and, most importantly, be funny. She lost a lip sync set to Madonna's "Causing a Commotion" to leggy diva Naomi Smalls.

I knew that I was going to be on the bottom. My mind was just, 'Have fun. Do your best. If they want you, they'll keep you. And if they don't, they'll get rid of you," Betty says.

Was Nancy Grace your first choice for Snatch Game?

Originally I was going to do Pepper from 'American Horror Story' or Lisa Lampanelli. I had a few other options. (Nancy Grace) was basically my only option. We weren't allowed to do fictional characters. There were certain rules and regulations that came into play.

Your Madonna look from the 'Bedtime Story' video was the strongest on the runway.

Madonna has so many iconic looks. I thought, 'Someone's gonna do pointy boobs. There's probably gonna be a wedding dress.' I knew someone was gonna do a kimono. I had all these ideas. I was like, 'What would be really fantasy and fabulous?' I always had that vision of her giving birth to doves. I thought that would be really out of the box and crazy and great for TV. That's something I can't take to a club.

I imagine all that costume made the lip sync challenging.

It was a little bit, yes. I couldn't see or feel my feet.

Was there a conversation backstage about how many girls chose Madonna's kimono look?

Thorgy was gonna make a new costume. But Britney Barry was very confident in herself, as she usually is.

Did you develop any close friendships on the show?

Chi Chi (Devayne). By week 2, we were, like, best friends. We did fight a little bit, but that's kinda what got us close together. Me and her were dancers and performers, and then it was the rest of the girls. It bonded us together (during the Bitch Perfect dragapella challenge). I was like, 'Girl, both of us have to lift this group together otherwise we're both gone. And I'm throwing you under that bus because you're the leader. Let's get this together. Don't quit on me, girl.'

Cynthia Lee Fontaine, who was eliminated earlier, had some nice things to say about you.

She's a sweetheart. Despite what people may say, think or know from the TV show, I'm very sensitive. I think I was the only one crying every week. I'm very sensitive to what's happening with other people. I grew up with my mother being ill, so it was very sensitive to me when (Cynthia) got ill. Also, things like she's allergic to glue, and I would see her gluing things to her ear. I would run across the room and smack it out of her hand.

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How did you deal with viewers making snap judgments based on a few hours of TV?

I know a lot of the girls that were on the show, and a lot of them got interesting – not edits, but their character was portrayed in a certain way. But in the end, that is a piece of them, and that is part of the story. If I were to tell my story, I'm often misunderstood. People think I'm intimidating and I'm cold-hearted. That is normal. I've had to tell people close to me who were upset about it, 'It's OK. It's part of the growth of learning Acid Betty.' Some people love me. Some people will be afraid and hate me. Then they'll learn that I have a heart of gold. Then they'll be hating that they love me. That's just how it is. I'm used to it. I understood one week that people were gonna scream and be angry with me and think I should die – for talking about someone's makeup or whatever. But I know that the next week I apologize, and I talk about it.

Who was the most difficult person to deal with on set?

That's dangerous. I'll be honest because I don't know how to be otherwise. I'm shocked to say this out loud, but it was Dax (Exclamationpoint) and Britney Barry. I'm not joking for a minute. Britney Barry would go off. She's a small, little girl. She works out all the time, even while she was there. We're all barely eating. We're all stressed out. She'd have one little drink and get really fierce with her mouth. Sometimes I would think that she was working for the show. I was like, 'You are a mole.' We could be pleasant as pie and just watching the Bob show. She would just turn and be like some demon.

What inspired you to dive into drag?

You know, the thing that started Acid Betty was when I moved to New York. I expected to see all these club freaks and all this energy and creativity. Things were dying down, and I was really let down with what I was experiencing. I thought there was a lull and something missing.

Is there a side of you TV viewers didn't get to see?

I think I showed both sides. I showed my red carpet beauty. I showed the fact that I can dance. I showed the fact that I can lip sync. I showed the fact that I'm a freak and I can stand out and glow in the dark. There were a few looks that I did pack that I wish I'd shown. But there's always the future. I'm not dead yet.

Thorgy Thor performs Saturday at South Beach nightclub. Keep up with weekly "Drag Race" recaps at the Tubular TV blog.