Ginger Minj is riding high after winning the chaotic and dramatic RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 10. When asked if she has realized the depth of her win, she told Blavity’s Shadow and Act shortly after her win, “I don’t think that I have yet, to be honest with you.”
“I mean, this whole weekend has been such a blur since I won. It wasn’t until like I finally slept last night, and I woke up this morning, and I look[ed] over at the crown and the scepter on the shel,f and I went, ‘Oh wow.’ Like, it really happened,” she said.
Minj has been a staple in the Drag Race franchise for 10 years, participating in several seasons to vie for the crown. She previously told us how her pageant background helped her have the stamina to keep trying until she finally earned the top spot. Now that she’s actually won, she said her win represents the power of perseverance.
Competing over a decade shaped her win
“To be honest with you, I think it’s perseverance. It’s like the message of it, because. I have been doing this for 10 years. And I think more than any other drag queen in any franchise, I have grown up literally in front of the world for a decade,” she said. “I have bared every change in my life, good, bad, or indifferent, to the entire world. And it felt like that message really came through loud and clear when I did win. Like, anybody can achieve anything they want as long as they don’t give up.”
She also talked about how this season helped her step into her best self, both as a drag performer and as a person.
“ I feel great. I feel like I’ve never been a better version of myself than I am now. And that happened throughout the season because I did start the season at my heaviest weight, my worst health overall, and the worst, probably, mental space that I possibly could have been in. And by the end of it, I felt like I had fully grown into who I am and who I’m supposed to be. And I really understand myself for the first time in my adult life,” she said.
She continued, “That’s the thing that was so shocking to me as a person, like experiencing it was [the lesson that] it really is never too late to get yourself together because I’m 40, I’m about to be 41, and I felt like my best years are behind me now. Like, if it’s downhill from here, how much further down can I go from how I feel? And now I feel better than I did when I was 20. I feel amazing. I feel like [I’m] settled into me. I feel like I’m healthier than I’ve ever been. And if I had won any of my three previous tries, I don’t think I would’ve appreciated it as much as I do now.”
Facing tension with Mistress Isabelle Brooks
While she was experiencing her best self, she also faced her foil in Mistress Isabelle Brooks, who faced off with on-screen. Minj said that if she were the person she used to be in previous seasons, she might have reacted differently.
”When I saw it play back, even though I had felt her poking the bear a few times in person, I didn’t realize how much I had gotten under her skin in that moment, especially since, you know, off the show, we’re very friendly. Like, we talk, we have a good time. We cut up even when we were done filming for the day and we’d go back and have dinner or whatever,” she said.
Going head-to-head with Jorgeous in the final lip sync
The last hurdle toward winning the crown—facing Jorgeous in the final lip sync—was something Minj said she actually wanted to happen at the very end, which affected how she voted in the Rate-A-Queen segment.
”I voted her No. 1 as the lip sync assassin in the Rate-A-Queen because I know she’s so good at what she does, and I didn’t particularly want to go up against her. I mean, I did because I assumed that she would make it to the end because she’s so good at that. But I wanted to make sure it was at the end and not at the beginning because she’s so fierce,” she said.
She added that the lip sync itself came down to style: Jorgeous’ tricks versus Minj’s humor and acting.
“To be honest with you, every time I lip sync or do any kind of performance, the whole world blacks out around me, and all I can see is through the spotlight is Ru and the judges. So I just try to capture them like I would any audience and perform for them,” she said. “And a lot of people, especially the younger generation, they don’t really understand the approach that I take with a lip sync because I approach it from an acting standpoint and not necessarily from, you know, let’s do kicks and flips and death drops and all that. That’s not who I am as a performer. It’s not who I am as a queen or a person or anything. I just try to create a character and create this world that’s inviting for everybody to come in and enjoy.”
What’s next: Broadway, film and touring
After Drag Race, Minj is headed to Broadway and will also tour with fan-favorite drag performers in a show that’s bound to appeal to everyone.
”Well, we’ve got a couple of Broadway offers that we’re working on, which I’m really excited about ’cause that’s always been the ultimate dream,” she said. “I just signed on to star in a new movie for Universal Pictures. And Jujubee, Sapphira Cristál, Landon Cider and myself are hitting the road with our Hocus Pocus live tour. There are so many great things coming, and I can’t wait to get out there on the road and share this win with all of those people that have been cheering me on for 10 years.”
The full season of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 10 is now streaming on Paramount+.
