After arriving (and departing) on RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 9 in fairly quick succession, Jaymes Mansfield returned to RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 8 determined to have what she calls “the authentic ‘Drag Race’ experience”. After a strong All Stars showing, Mansfield departs this competition with a brand new fanbase, a brand new home (Sin City) and a continued perspective on the importance of queer history, now more than ever. I sat down with this stunning life-size doll to chat about her All Stars experience, the connection she had with one fellow queen in particular, and the possible future of a drag detective character?
Michael Cook: What were your rose and thorn of your entire RuPaul’s All Stars 8 experience?
Jaymes Mansfield: I was just excited that I got to show so much more. I don’t know if you know this, but the last time I was on Drag Race, I went home first. So to be able to be there and stay for so long and show so much, it was a dream come true. They talk about “reinvention” and that is really what I felt like I got to do. Honestly, to have an authentic Drag Race experience for the first time.
MC: It was so refreshing that you got to return to Drag Race, as your own perspective and talents are so distinct. You are definitely a bit of a 70’s style variety show throwback, packaged all into one dynamic performer.
JM: Thank you, I take that as a compliment! I get so much inspiration from people like Varla Jean Merman and all of those great 90’s drag queens too!
MC: Do you think that you were able to represent yourself and your style of drag within the confines of Drag Race and stay true to yourself?
JM: I made a promise to myself when I came back that no matter what, I was going to authentically always going to be me. Carry myself and show off my character in the way that I wanted it to be shown. Sometimes to my own detriment…They will expect you to bend or change a little bit, but I stood my ground and I am very happy with that.
Sometimes some judges and I did not see eye to eye, but that just comes with the territory. Critiques aren’t always going to measure up; certain judges are just a Venn diagram where it just never intersected and it’s just two circles.
MC: Coming from Milwaukee,Wisconsin, you drag is not as represented as some of the other larger cities on Drag Race throughout the years. How do you describe the scene in Milwaukee for those that have never been there?
JM: Oh we have a fantastic drag scene and we have a fantastic track record as far as Drag Race goes. Trixie Mattel, Jaida Essence Hall, we have some bomb drag! It’s still a very competitive pageant town, there’s a great arts scene, a great alternative scene, camp queens, we’ve got it all. You’d think that for such a small city you wouldn’t have a lot of variety, but the queens there are hungry and they are so talented.
MC: One thing that might have slipped by a number of people is that you mentioned the hankie code in the workroom during a moment in the workroom. As a rich part of our own queer history, it is so crucial for aspects like that to be mentioned and remembered. Was it intentional that you mentioned it or was it totally off the cuff?
JM: I could say it’s a mixture of both, because it is television after all. I love to educate and I love queer history. The hankie code has such a rich presence in gay history. It’s sort of forgotten and I think its kind of cool that we’ve developed our own language, we have a history of doing that; like with Polari or with anything else. We find ways to communicate when you can’t and cut through the bullshit.
MC: You wore a harness in the workroom and spoke about the hankie code; have you always been the type of performer who was able to dance on the line of being provocative while delivering a phenomenal show?
JM: I like to say yes. When I would do my one-woman shows that I used to do, I would do jokes here and there, “if you know you know” kind of thing. For the most part, I like the dichotomy of being that hyper femme walking Barbie doll kind of thing and then in my real life, completely opposite of that. As far away from that as possible (laughs)!
MC: The thing about RuPaul’s Drag Race and All Stars specifically, is that you never know who is going to come through the doors of that werkroom. Is there anyone that now looking back, you are truly thankful to have gone through the All Stars experience with?
JM: Believe it or not, she’s my Vegas sister since I recently moved there. Kahanna Montrese, I only met her in passing at Coco Montrese’s birthday party and I had a very small understanding of who she was or what she did. I’d seen her on the show so I knew what she was capable of and I was more or less excited. We didn’t see a whole lot of her during her first season and to see her come back and flourish and be such a goddess on stage and people were finally getting to see it…I was excited as an audience member watching along just seeing it all unfold and come to life.
MC: What made you want to make the move to Las Vegas?
JM: I came to the conclusion that if i stayed in Wisconsin, then I would just kind of stay there and nothing would happen for me. Nothing changes, people love their schedule there. I wanted to do more acting and I wanted to do more projects that involved being around like minded people that constantly want to create content and create things and just dream a little bigger. So that’s why I had to make the move and it’s honestly the best decision I ever made. My life changed the second I moved there, things just started happening. It’s a matter of being in the right place and being close.
MC: Dreaming a little bigger is such a profound and important notion. I think it is crucial for us all to be dreaming as big as we can don’t you think?
JM: Absolutely; and don’t be afraid to take a huge leap. For a long time, I stayed in Wisconsin five years longer than I should have. You move to Vegas and the very next year you get on All Stars. That is crazy to me!
MC: I loved that in your tag line you worked in The Bitch Who Stole Christmas, the VH1 film you were a part of. Have you officially been bit by the acting bug?
JM: Doing that movie was such a crazy fun experience and I enjoyed every second of it. It’s not every day that you wake up and you’re able to say “I’m going to be on a movie set. I’m going to be on the Disney ranch where they filmed WandaVision”, like that’s fucjing cool! I amn going to be that person that talks about it until the end of their life. It’s like Al Bundy from Married With Children, that one game that he ran the home run on, you always hear about it (laughs)!
MC: Let’s do some manifesting, if you could so some more screen acting, what would be your ideal type of role on the big screen?
JM: I would love do any type of buddy drag movie, something that really hasn’t;t been tapped into yet. Drag queens solving problems, or a drag queen detective. ‘Drag Miss Marple’, anything that involves my character and that I could sink my teeth into and be so campy and so fun. ‘SheLock Holmes’… (laughs)!
MC: What’s next for Jaymes Mansfield?
JM: I’ll be at Las Vegas Pride in October, and I’ll be doing Mexico City Pride this month. More to come honestly, things keep popping up honestly. I am trying to buy a house so I’ll say yes to anything (laughs)!
MC: During Pride month, so many of us look back and think how far we have come individually and as a community. When you see the current rhetoric coming towards our community, how do we push back on it as a community?
JM: The crazy thing is, if you look at what is happening now and you look at queer history, it all repeats itself. The same bigots stay bigoted and they just create new bigots with different buzz words for the same problem. The way we combat that is the way that we always have done it.
What these people are afraid of most is community and that we have such a strong community. As long as we stick together and stay by each others side and we dont infitght, we ll be able to combat this the way that we have in the past. They outlaw things, they make it legal again, its all going to happen. As long as we stay consistent with our fight, things will be fine. When were together we can really make some things happen.
Like with our history, drag being underground and now we’ve brought it above ground. We used to do this in basements and bingo halls. The fact that we are on national television is such a great leap.
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