Lolita Banana: "The lipsync against Bertha was absolutely cathartic"

“Showtime!

“, she had warned when arriving in

.

Lolita Banana kept her promise.

Party at the end of the seventh episode, at the foot of the podium, the drag queen born in Mexico will have indeed made the show throughout the competition.

She will have moved, too.

By talking about her HIV status with great simplicity, but above all by splitting the fierce competitor armor that she had forged for herself, until this dramatic lipsync in episode 6 against La Big Bertha, which will remain THE most shocking this season.

You arrived in the competition in "I'm going to put banana peels on my competitors" mode, but that's not what happened at all!

Were you surprised by the toughness of the competition?

Yes.

I didn't expect it to be so physical, intense, and also psychologically gripping.

It was tough and I wasn't ready.

Tell us about your lipsync against the Big Bertha.

How did you experience it?

I had a feeling of failure and defeat after what had happened with my colleagues.

When Nicky Doll asked who should go and everyone gave my first name, I realized that nobody wanted me to stay in the competition.

I felt isolated and unwelcome.

I thought to myself that there was a possibility that I would leave at the end of the episode and if that was the case, I wanted to do something never seen in the history of

.

Plus the song we had to do [

, by Yseult], it was the only song I couldn't dance to.

But everyone knows that I am a dancer.

I wanted to show that I could do something in simplicity and I told myself that I absolutely had to connect with the feelings of sadness and loneliness that I had at that time, then let the emotions speak. .

It was absolutely cathartic for me.

How does it feel to see him on TV?

I didn't manage to see it the first two times.

The first was at my

.

I couldn't open my eyes.

Each time we watch an episode, we relive the emotions and sensations we experienced that day.

Although it was filmed about six months ago, seeing the episode transported me to the exact same place of loneliness.

And even though I was surrounded by friends and fans, I was once again connected with this feeling of sadness and abandonment.

The second time was at Kam Hugh's party and the same, I couldn't see him.

On the other hand, three days later, I was alone in my living room, I saw that everyone was talking about it on the Internet and I started.

It was much easier being alone.

When I'm in front of everyone, I have the impression that everyone is watching my reactions and that makes me uncomfortable.

I saw what people were talking about.

I lived it but I had not seen what it returned to the camera.

The first thing I did after watching it was write La Big Bertha and I said “thank you for coming to pick me up from the ground.

The feeling I felt at that moment was that of someone drowning and you came to save me.

And from that moment, I created a super intense and super sincere connection with Bertha, and I will thank her all my life for doing that.

Why did the answers to Nicky's question hurt you so much?

However, it is an obligatory passage of Drag Race…

Of course, we know it's going to happen, but we're not ready to take it all in the face.

Especially when everyone, in unison, says your name.

Afterwards, I went to see Paloma and told her “I thought you weren't going to say my first name, out of humanity”.

I think if one of them hadn't mentioned me, it would have let me breathe.

The fact that everyone said it really made me feel like they didn't want me anymore.

And besides, it was not objective.

Because if we were talking about the competition, I was doing a very good competition.

Even my ad was very good.

But it must be said that at that time, we had not seen the pubs.

We had just seen the beginning.

And my Haute Couture runway was no laughing matter, even if it was iconic to arrive on stilts!

On several occasions La Big Bertha or Soa de Muse had rather harsh words for you in the confessional.

How did you react when you saw it?

On the show, it feels like these comments can be xenophobic or racist, but in truth it's just drag, sarcasm, fun.

Above all, it should not be taken at face value.

I admit that it surprised me what they said, because I was not warned.

But the reaction that people had in relation to Bertha and Soa, it was not justified.

Violence is never justified.

We are a very talented, close-knit drag queen troupe.

There was a lot of love and benevolence between us and with the production.

Yes, it takes a bit of drama, it takes a bit of shade, but the truth is that Bertha and Soa really like who I am and what I do.

And it's reciprocal.

Has being Mexican penalized you in this competition?

No.

Not the fact of being Mexican, but the fact of not having all the references.

That's for sure penalized me.

Afterwards, it's my fault, you don't go on a popular culture show without having a minimum of popular culture.

I didn't absorb French culture as I should have.

I know a lot of things about France, but the reality is that I never watch television.

All TV culture, contemporary, popular, I know very little.

I didn't know who Marianne James was.

And it's a matter of taste, French TV, I don't really like it.

There were several very moving sequences with you, which, if we are to believe social networks, greatly moved the spectators.

What did all this positive feedback mean to you?

It's fun.

I'm not too much on Twitter but the feedback I get is on my Instagram and in the street.

In the street, I get stopped every day by people who want a picture or who want to give me a hug.

In my evenings too, at the brunch that I organize.

Beyond all this love and positive reactions, what really touches me are the people who are in the same situation as me, either immigrants, or people who feel alone or who are HIV positive.

I have received wonderful messages, from people who tell me their story, who talk about their HIV status or who feel like me having lived for ten years in Germany, or in Australia.

I see I'm not the only one feeling this.

Did you plan to talk about your HIV status before the show?

Yes.

It came when I was preparing the show and in particular the outfit for the Mylène Farmer runway.

I started to find out what she had done in the fight against HIV.

I told myself that if I ever got to that episode, it would be an opportunity to talk about myself.

It was a personal challenge.

And I made it to this episode!

I really wanted to convey a message of positivism about being HIV-positive and undetectable and try to convey that in the least dramatic, objective and optimistic way possible.

Because I consider that I am someone who has a healthy lifestyle, I am athletic.

Anything that seems the opposite of being sick.

I wanted to say that we live very very well now, that we can be happy, that we can love, be loved,

You're not the first to talk about HIV in Drag Race.

There was Ongina, Trinity K. Bonet.

Did they inspire you?

Yes of course.

Ongina wrote to me.

It's been 14 years since she came out HIV-positive [in the very first season of

] and the drugs have come a long way and the situation for HIV-positive people is not at all the same as there was. 15 or 10 years old.

So the way to approach the situation is very different.

14 years ago, when Ongina spoke about her HIV status, it was still very dramatic, there were still a lot of taboos and stigma around us.

Now we are starting to talk about it in a more tolerant way, with less serophobia.

And I wanted to talk about the evolution, not only of treatments, but also of the way people who are HIV-positive are looked at.

What challenges have you enjoyed the most?

The talent show is my favorite.

But

The girl's band, obviously, I loved it.

I was like a fish in water.

The makeover, with my friend Antonio.

It's a real pleasure to have done it.

Even the technicians confused us.

Again,

(Laughs) I really enjoyed making the perfume.

And the acting, I loved it.

You liked everything.

No, not the Snatch Game!

I suffered a lot doing this.

And the ball was a nightmare.

In yesterday's episode, you had to lipsync to figure out who would make it to the finals.

You have lost your two lipsyncs.

Again, is it a lack of reference that caused you harm?

No.

I did a very good lipsync.

At one point I jumped off the podium and landed in a split – it didn't show, then I walked across the stage doing a series of splits.

But it was very hard to learn the songs.

I had never heard Ophélie Winter's song, I didn't know

, even though my name is Banana.

The only one I knew was

.

But that's not what penalized me.

It's the jury's choice.

Do you have a favorite for the final?

Paloma, absolutely.

I really like The Great Lady.

I really admire what she does.

The elegance of his drag, but also his ability to surpass himself and become extremely funny.

He's one of the funniest people I've met in my life.

His Snatch Game was hilarious.

But seeing the final cut, we see that Paloma's drag is very intelligent.

If there's anything I love in life, it's smart, thoughtful drag with references.

It's the same feeling I have with Jinkx Monsoon, Bianca Del Rio, Ben DelaCrème.

These are not drag queens who do improvisation.

Paloma, that's it.

I have a lot of admiration and love for her and I am very proud to consider her a friend.

She inspires me a lot.

Where can we see Lolita Banana?

The brunch that I host resumes the first weekend of September.

Otherwise, I will be next week at my party, the Bananight for the final and afterwards at the Bboat every Thursday that remains until September.

Then I'll be in Nice and then we go on tour with

.

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