LDT. ‘Lip-Sync Survivor’: Kenya Michaels Fires Back After Brutal Roast on RuPaul’s Drag Race

“Having those pressures in my head after getting critiqued by the judges, it gives me performance anxiety,” she tells Gold Derby.

This week on RuPaul’s Drag Race, Kenya Pleaser lip-synced for the fourth time this season, but she’ll leave the “lip-sync assassin” title for Juicy Love Dion, the queen who ultimately sent her packing.

“Honey, I’m not a lip sync assassin, I’m a lip-sync survivor,” she tells Gold Derby in her exit interview.

After Kenya stumbled in the comedy roast challenge, both RuPaul and the roast’s subject, former contestant Alyssa Edwards, extolled Kenya for her raw talent, while calling out her inner saboteur. Having cried during both the runway critiques and Untucked, Kenya returned to the main stage emotional. Add in the fact that the lip sync song was Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” and giant fans from the episode’s runway were still blowing at full power during the battle, and Kenya nearly had a breakdown.

“Having those pressures in my head after getting critiqued by the judges, it gives me performance anxiety,” she says. “I just get so nervous. Having the fans on stage, it literally takes your breath away. All the air rushing into you added such gravitas and dramatics to the moment. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I am about to have a panic attack. I feel so overwhelmed right now.’”

It didn’t help that she was facing off against Juicy, who had already won three lip syncs. “You look over, and Juicy Love Dion and the f–king 70-foot parachute are eating my ass alive,” Kenya laughs. “I was like, ‘Well, girls, it’s been nice.’”

Following her windy elimination, Kenya sat down with Gold Derby to discuss her hilarious confessionals, her dream to act on Abbott Elementary, and whether or not she actually can sew.

Read on for our full exit interview with Kenya Pleaser:

Gold Derby: Hi Kenya, I’m so excited to be talking to the confessional queen of the season.

Kenya Pleaser: Honey, Kenya “The Narrator” Pleaser clocking in for duty.

What was it like filming the confessionals? You look like you’re having a ball.

A ball! I always make the joke that girl, I may be doing bad at the challenges, and I may be doing bad on the runway, but, bitch, I’m showing up to work in the confessionals. It was my favorite part of the show, clearly. I think that comes across on TV. One thing I love to do more than anything is run my f–king mouth, and, bitch, come on. That’s what we had to do.

Were you surprised at all by just how many of your confessionals made the show?

Can I be honest with you? Girl, no. I’m not even joking. I hate to sound cocky, but when I was there, I was like, “Yeah, they’re definitely using that sound bite.” When I said, “Athena is plucked like a fresh feather off a chicken’s ass,” I was like, “That’s making the edit.” Certain things you can just tell. I knew it was going to be a lot, but I did not know it was going to be this much. Every five seconds, you look up, and I’m on the TV running my mouth in that black shirt and glasses.

I don’t know how they’re going to fill the rest of these episodes without you.

No shade, honey. The girls got to clock in overtime. I just want to see what happens for the other three episodes that I’m not in. Who’s going to say, “It’s a brand new day in the Werk Room?”

This week, during the critiques, you have a moment where Ru tells you that you have everything you need. You just need to let your light shine. What was it like hearing that?

When we had that moment, it felt like she was cutting the bullsh-t of “I’m RuPaul.” She was talking to me as a person. She was talking to the little black boy in me, because I suffer a lot from impostor syndrome, especially being in the top seven of that competition. I felt like I wasn’t appearing to the girls in a certain way, aesthetically and drag-wise. I felt so out of place. I know I’m a star inside. I truly know that, but it’s all of those years of self-doubt and self-hatred. That’s hard to keep down when you’re in the pressure cooker of Drag Race. You have to show up and be yourself 115 percent of the time. Doing that, some emotions from your past come back up, some unhealed traumas. It can be cathartic in a way to get some of those feelings out, but it was so scary.

You also had a beautiful moment with Alyssa Edwards in Untucked, where she recognizes your raw charisma and the similarity between you two. What was it like having her there?

I was feeling so down on myself, dressed as a f–king fairy, mind you. Her taking the time to have that intimate moment with me, I was just getting therap-ized the whole episode. I honestly still think about the moment to this day. When she was like, “I know that you have it, because I see myself in you,” I was like, “Oh my God, Alyssa Edwards is not telling me this right now.” I actually thanked her at the premiere for that moment again because I don’t think she understands that stuck with me for a lifetime because it didn’t feel like it was for the cameras. This episode really shows a more vulnerable side of me.

In last week’s design challenge, there was talk about sabotaging the other queens with what was put in your suitcases. What were your thoughts on the suitcases going into the season, and what was in your suitcase that no one got?

On “Vs. the World,” they did something similar. I was like, “OK, we’re probably going to swap suitcases.” I honestly thought it was going to be the first challenge. But I put in five yards of neon pink and black cheetah-print fabric, some black mesh, some stones, just in case I had to use my own stuff. I’m a big girl. I needed a lot of fabric. The thing with Ciara? I was like, “Oh my god, this is crazy.” I love my sister Ciara down, but putting holey and cut-up fabric? That’s insane. Imagine if I would have got that? I would have quit on the spot, no shade. I would have had to leave. “Girl, I’m not f-cking doing this. It’s crazy.” That was just so funny to see in person, but of course, she’s Jane Don’t, and she doesn’t f–k up. Of course, she won the challenge. Of course!

You did so well during this design challenge, but so badly in the first one, what was the difference?

I want people to understand that in that first design challenge, I grabbed no f–king fabric that I could sew, and then I walked out there like that. What is so hard for people to understand? I had no fabric to put on my body. I had nothing to use to construct. Then we got to the second design challenge, and then they’re going to act like I didn’t f–king sew a whole corset, gloves, a gown? Then we get to the last one, and it was like, “Who helped you sew this?” And I was like, “Bitch, I literally can sew. I sewed a lot of my stuff in my package.” That’s why I had no qualms literally remaking my entrance look. I didn’t care. Just show them you know how to sew something very clean to get by.

You redeemed yourself.

I redeemed myself in the Rusical and in the sewing challenge. After that, I literally was like, “Bitch, I can go home now. I’m fine.” And look what happened? Whomp whomp.

Lastly, now that you’re a Ru Girl, what’s one thing on your bucket list you want to achieve after the show?

I would love to be on scripted and syndicated television. Abbott Elementary. That show is made for me to be on. I would love to be the gay theater teacher that Jacob gets into an argument with or become best friends with, either one.