Ra’Jah O’Hara says her Canada’s Drag Race: Canada vs the World win feels “correct”.
The subject of Prince’s classic 1984 anthem Purple Rain Reign made her third franchise appearance last year on the aforementioned series, which marked the second series of Drag Race to include contestants from various corners of the franchise after UK vs the World.
After six weeks, Ra’Jah – who originally placed ninth on season 11 and joint runner-up on All Stars 6 – emerged supreme over stars such as Victoria Scone, Silky Nutmeg Ganache and Rita Baga, winning $100,000 and the title of ‘Queen of the Mother-Pucking World’.
Although Ra’Jah knew she was a “bad bitch” on her first season, where she cemented her status as one of the series’ fiercest lip-sync assassins (Living in America is top tier), she tells GAY TIMES that she “didn’t quite have the tools” to take home the crown, which ultimately went to Yvie Oddly.
“I was doubting myself, so that’s where I needed to grow. I needed to do the work on myself and tell myself, ‘Girl, you still bad! It doesn’t matter when you went home, how you went home, you made great TV so if they call you back, you do it another time,’ and you know what they did? They called me back,” she says.
“And you know what I did? I went all the way to the top and did what I was supposed to do. That’s what I did, I kept growing, kept moving forward and kept pushing. I really felt like All Stars 6 was my time, but it wasn’t because it was given to somebody else.
“I had to wait for it to be my time, and now that I am the Queen of the Mother-Pucking World, it feels right. It feels correct. It feels like this is the place where I should’ve been back when I started my journey.”
With her win, Ra’Jah made herstory as the first Drag Race queen to do so on their third attempt. Past contestants such as Shangela, Manila Luzon, Latrice Royale, Pandora Boxx, Jujubee, and Alexis Mateo all slayed their respective third seasons, but were never able to snatch the crown.
Ra’Jah wants queens who didn’t conquer their first (or second) season to “never limit themselves, because that’s what I did.”
“A lot of times, we get into situations where I was like, ‘I didn’t do well the first time, I didn’t do well the second time, they don’t want me back,’ so we start getting in our heads and doubting ourselves,” she explains.
“I feel like me winning shows that we should never limit ourselves and continue to push towards our dreams, regardless of how many times it takes you to get there. Your dream is your dream and you can make your dream a reality by putting in that hard work.”
As Queen of the Mother-Pucking World, Ra’Jah says she will “continue being the baddest in the game and being a queen that is respected”.
“I really want queens to know that they can also be Queen of the World, because although I’m the queen, we can all be queens. There is enough room for all of us and all it takes is hard work and determination.”
You can read our full interview with Ra’Jah O’Hara in the new issue of GAY TIMES. The new issue, which you can read via our app, Apple News+, Readly, and Flipster, also includes Måneskin, Joyland director Saim Sadiq, a 2023 queer astrological guide and Bad Education’s Layton Williams and Bianca Del Rio.
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