Season 17 of RuPaul’s Drag Race 17 was packed with talent from all over the nation, gag-worthy runway looks, and of course, plentiful helpings of both drama and heart. When the smoke cleared, Cleveland, OH’s Onya Nurve was the winner of Season 17 and the title of “America’s Next Drag Superstar”. Post-crowning, we sat down for a chat to discuss her entire Drag Race experience, the Cleveland song that gave her her start, & the plans she has post-Season 17!
Michael Cook: Condragulations on winning RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 17! Your live reaction that we all saw was one of the most real and raw we have seen from a Drag Race winner in quite some time. How does it feel now that a bit of the dust has settled?
Onya Nurve: You know, the world feels really quiet now. I feel like there is a lot of less noise going on in my brain. There is a weight that has been lifted off of my shoulders. That was something that i was carrying for a very, very, long time, waiting to hear if I’d won the crown. When RuPaul said my name, that weight was officially lifted and it was like a band-aid being ripped off; that was the scream that the world heard.
MC: Looking back on the entire experience, what do you think your rose and thorn are of your Drag Race entire experience?
ON: The rose of my experience would have to be winning, but second to that, meeting so many wonderful judges, Snatch Game and winning that in front of Quinta Brunson, that was probably my best moment. I think my worst moment was probably reliving some of the really emotional parts that happened on the show. I learned that friendships on the show aren’t necessarily just about the good times, but the bad times and how you overcome them. I am just so happy to know that the girls on the show are not only my friends, but they’re my sisters. The things that happened on the show kind of bonded us together. Thought it was my thorn, it grew into a rose after that.
MC: When conflict arose with you and a fellow competitor, you demonstrated an ability to address the conflict and put it to bed once it was discussed. Whether it was fighting with Jewels Sparkles and Lexi Love in the Werk Room or addressing Arrietty’s lipstick message, you set an example on how to move forward through and past conflict. Have you always been that way?
ON: I’ve never been one to hold onto grudges, even before the show. I don’t have time for that in my heart. I have always felt that it takes way more energy to hate somebody than it does to just love on them and move on. I’ve just always been that way, and I’m a Gemini too. I’ll be mad one second and then the next, forget what even happened!
MC: There is absolutely nothing like Ohio drag and specifically, Cleveland drag..
ON: It’s drag baby! Ohio drag is DRAG!
MC: Tell me about Cleveland drag and the kind of drag that has birthed Onya Nurve…
ON: I think in Cleveland specifically, the cool thing about it is that there are so many different kinds of styles of entertainment in Cleveland. I feel like burlesque is more popular than drag in Cleveland and then you have drag that has a very strong pageant scene here. We have a bunch of alternative queens, queens that are new queens from colleges, we have a very strong king influence in Cleveland. I feel like it’s served to my drag because baby, I can do a little bit of everything.
And I am not afraid to be fun and have fun and it’s never been about the shit we put on our bodies. Ohio drag just reminds you that it is drag and it should be fun and it should be fierce and it should be three thousand pounds of glitter and if you don’t like it, you don’t have to look at it type of deal!
MC: Cleveland’s drag king scene is something that is becoming more and more known nationwide in drag king circles and beyond. What do you think it is going to take to have that style of drag truly take off the way that it should?
ON: Somebody just has to do it. Somebody just has to keep knocking on those doors until somebody says yes. I don’t think that its not going to happen, I think that its gonna happen, somebody just has to say “I’m gonna be the first”.
MC: We didn’t have a drag king this season, but we definitely did have Nunya Business, also known as your father who teamed up with you in the makeover challenge. How is he reacting to his newfound fame and his unofficial status as one of the thirst traps of Season 17?
ON: He is on cloud nine. I think my mom and my dad, they cannot stop crying, they are over the moon and so proud to be a part of this legacy.
MC: Another person that is part of your legacy is Sapphira Cristál, the finalist from RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 16. Tell me about how she came into your life.
ON: Yes! Me and Sapphira met after filming in London and we just clicked. She has a way of mentoring me at this stage of my life, as a RuPaul’s Drag Race queen, that I don’t think anybody else could do. I am so honored to be the daughter of such a legend, a legend before Drag Race, this is a bonafide legend! I just also want to shout out my other mothers Monica Lexin, Sassy Sascha, and Jay The Doll who have also been mentors and friends to me even before getting on the show.
MC: One thing about drag is certain, you do not have to have only one “mother”!
ON: Hell no, I don’t know why people think they only can have one, it’s drag, you can have as many as you want. That’s the fun of it, you can have five thousand moms!
MC: Now that the season has passed, what are we seeing? I could totally see an Onya Nurve cookbook in the future!
ON: I love that. I would love to work with a chef to get a book together, to have some type of collab together, that would be so amazing. Or some tv show, a cooking show like Anthony Bourdain where i am traveling the world in drag and experiencing different cultures. Couldn’t you see that?
MC: What is the best advice that you have gotten throughout your whole Drag Race experience that you will take into the next phase of your life?
ON: I think it was when RuPaul said I don’t have to have these walls up, I can take the walls down. Most of the spaces I enter are a safe space, including the space of Drag Race, I can let people in and feel okay to spread that joy because it’s contagious. I don’t have to be afraid and keep walls up to keep people out. I should be open to loving on everyone; I think that is what I took from the show the most. I didn’t think that I was a shy person but the fact that Rupaul recognized that I had some sort of wall up I think I’ve learned from that because that was one of my downfalls. Even though I did win the crown, it was something that could have prohibited me from doing that. I am going to take what RuPaul said and just learn from it.
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