This week, The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Titans crowned its first Titan, and the winner was season two and Resurrection alum Victoria Elizabeth Black.
From the moment she arrived on the scene this season, Victoria was being eyed as the queen to beat. As a fan favorite for her stellar craftsmanship and talent for creating darkly beautiful looks that encompass the Boulets’ ethos of “Drag, Filth, Horror, and Glamour,” there was no question that she’d be fierce competition. Despite a cast packed with singularly talented queens, including her fellow finalists Koco Caine and HoSo Terra Toma, her final performance saw her literally reassembling herself into the titan she was destined to become, leading to her victory.
“Victoria has proven over the course of this season of the show that her particular skill at drag is truly unmatched by anyone working today,” the Boulet Brothers tell PRIDE about their newest reigning champ. “She has truly earned the title of Titan, and we’re proud to have her as our first winner of The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Titans.”
The reality of her big win is still sinking in for Victoria, who had just learned she’d won late the previous night. “It feels so crazy. I’m still taking it in,” she tells PRIDE with a big, well-earned grin spreading across her face. “I was like, did I just dream that? No, I didn’t — for once. Oh my God, it was just wild. It’s definitely like waking up from a fever dream. Just disbelief.”
Courtesy of Shudder
Victoria learned she had clinched the title and its accompanying $100,000 prize at a viewing party with her nearest and dearest around her. “We had a bunch of friends over in the house. So it was just like a big viewing party at home. And when that moment happened, because we had turned off all of our phones, there were no spoilers. When that moment happened, the room just erupted. I was in shock. I was screaming and just so much joy, so much happiness. I cried.”
It was a culmination of years and years of work that also included two previous stints on the Boulets’ infamous drag franchise, which saw Victoria as a finalist in season two and just missing out on Resurrection’s grand prize: an opportunity to return for season four of Dragula.
While both those experiences were heartbreakers, it ultimately all turned out how it was supposed to. That’s not to say Victoria didn’t have some trepidation about stepping back into the dark and stormy waters of the Dragula competition (and its various fright feats). “When I got that call, I was a little nervous because I was feeling comfortable where I was at the time. I got the call, and I was just like, ‘Do I really want to do this again?’” she recalls. “You just start spiraling about everything. But like, once I started really getting into it, the excitement started coming in. I was like, OK, let’s do this. Let’s go in — and we went in blazin’.”
Courtesy of Shudder
Her fellow contestants were certainly feeling that heat when Victoria walked into the room. Her arrival was met with palpable anxiety. “That was such a wild feeling to feel like you were the one that everyone was worried about. I was like, ‘I’m intimidating, I guess? They should maybe be scared, I guess?’ I don’t know. I’m just here to show my art and have fun, but they were terrified,” she laughs.
That’s not to say Victoria didn’t have her own fears when she took a look around at the incredible group of competitors who’d be vying for the same title. “Evah, I love her, she’s a close sister of mine. But I was a little scared of what she was gonna bring, as well as Abhora. Her mind is a complex place of art and she will think of things that I will never do just because she just thinks so out of the box. So that was very nerve-wracking at first. And then Hoso just being right off tour, I was like, ‘OK she’s already got her guns blazing,” she recalls.
The pressure of being that front-runner from the moment she walked in was both a blessing and a curse for the future Titan. “[It] stressed me out that I had to surpass what I’ve done before so I really had to really push myself but that drive really helped me figure out some things that I didn’t think I would before. Like being able to figure out my monster suit for the sci-fi challenge was something I never thought I would be able to do before but somehow pulled it off. So I’m very happy to have had that motivation from the people and the fans that have seen and believed in me this whole time.”
Courtesy of Shudder
All that belief was validated by the incredible art that Victoria brought to the main stage every week. From her jack o’lantern come to life, to her The Thing-inspired sci-fi creature, and, of course, the chicest version of the Crypt Keeper to slither on stage, Victoria showed she was a true artist to be reckoned with. As for what look she’s most proud of, it’s hands down her ode to Tales from the Crypt’s cadaverous host.
“I have such a connection with that character. I’ve always loved the skits they would do in the TV show. And when I was a kid, I always watched them so it was just really cool to actually interpret that in a drag character with a monologue and everything it was really fun,” she shares.
Courtesy of Shudder
Along with the incredible and subversive art on display, fans tune into Dragula for the drama and the vulnerability that the artists share with the audience — and maybe even for the sabotage. Koco Caine accused her costars of potentially plotting against her during filming of the season. While a lie detector proved that the queens had not been up to those particular shenanigans, Victoria has a theory of who the true culprit was.
“I still think she’s haunted, I hope she’s had an exorcism since then,” jokes Victoria. “They didn’t show it [on the show] but she had this little doll and her getting ready area that she had apparently found before the show at the antique store. It wasn’t till the last day that she’s like, ‘Yeah, I’ve had this the whole time.’ I was like, ‘Well, this explains a lot! This little haunted doll has been sabotaging you!”
Courtesy of Shudder
Another recurring plot point this season was the love triangle between HoSo, Abhora, and Astrid Aurelia, which Victoria shares was 100 percent authentic.
“That was all real. They all have those feelings. They didn’t know they were all gonna be cast in the same season together and have to deal with these emotions on screen,” she explains. “I feel for them all just because they had to do that on camera because we’re obviously separated. So that was a lot for them and everyone else in the room,” she recalls with a laugh.
All the drama is in the rearview for Victoria, who’s just looking forward to enjoying her reign, and, of course, spending that prize money. Some, she shares, will go right back into her drag, elevating it even further, but that’s not all. “My next goal is to create a haunted house attraction that could also be a queer space for performance art. It could maybe be a club, something that I can really give back to the community and make some killer shows and just keep making art.”
Also in the future is her headlining gig of The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Titans world tour. The tour begins in North America with stops in Los Angeles, New York, DC, Toronto, and Vancouver before heading down under to Australia.
Let’s hope that the world is ready for its new Titan ruler.
The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Titans is streaming now on Shudder.
