Hershii LiqCour-Jeté on how she REALLY felt about the Rate-A-Queen twist

PRIDE: Drag Race seems like such a whirlwind between getting cast, filming it, the cast reveal, all the press, and the show itself. As you reflect on all of it now, how are you feeling about your time on the show?

Hershii LiqCour-Jeté: I should have thought about those damn pants and said I made them. [Laughs]

Tea!

No, I did enjoy myself. It was a dream come true. I kind of half-assed my tapes, so I was shocked I got a call. But it was genuinely a dream come true because this was an opportunity I thought I was never gonna get.

What has been the most challenging and the most personally rewarding part of it all for you?

I would say the most challenging has been the waiting. Everything about this process is literally a year of waiting, you’re waiting to hear about your audition, then you’re waiting for the show to start, and you’re waiting to get there, then you’re waiting for it to be over, then you’re waiting for it to air. It’s just like, so much waiting. So that’s been the hardest part for me because I get anxiety. I think the best part is the interviews. I didn’t realize how good I was interviewing. I feel like I’m really good at interviews. I’m having fun.

Your energy is great. I can confirm! But yeah, I can imagine the waiting would be brutal.

I was so scared, especially knowing my placement after the show was over with. In the past, depending on the season, the early outs aren’t always treated the best. My whole goal was not only to show my drag but to have this opportunity for my family and my children. In the moment I felt like I had come there and it was for nothing. I felt like I ruined it. I didn’t know what it was gonna look like after this. I didn’t know like, ‘Is it gonna get worse? Am I not gonna make money again? How are people going to perceive me? Waiting to see the perception was really hard for me.

Yeah, I totally understand that, but how about now? How are you feeling about how it all played out?

Everybody likes me so that makes me feel much better. Everybody really saw my heart and saw that I was genuine and everything that I did, and every step that I made. I wasn’t trying to be a bitch for no reason or anything like that. I was nice to everybody. And it played out on TV. And I’m glad just everybody enjoyed the time while I was there.

Hershii, are you subtweeting someone right now?

No! TV is TV, so some people come in to play the game. Some people come in to play the game for what it is. That wasn’t my goal at all. I think the person that I could be subtweeting, I think that was their goal. And she’s making TV. That’s what she came there to do. I didn’t want to make TV like that. When it comes to reality TV, I gravitate to genuine people who are giving you their actual lives and who they are in real life.

I agree! I feel like you can always feel the authenticity even through the screen. But I want to circle back to something you said. You mentioned how you weren’t just there for yourself but also representing your family. How do you think that changes the stakes for you?

I’m the only working girl from L.A. that’s on this season, so I felt like I had a lot on my back. And unfortunately, I think I let that pressure get to me. Towards the end of my run there, I think that’s what made me cave. I didn’t just take a second to enjoy the experience and just play and have fun. It was always, ‘I gotta make it to the next round.’ I wish I didn’t focus so much on that while I was there.

One of the things you can always count on is that there are going to be twists and turns, and this season it was the Rate-A-Queen twist. How did you feel about it and how it played out?

The second [Rupaul] said it, I said, ‘Why? Why Ru, why? I know how these things play out. Somebody is going to vote fair. Somebody’s gonna vote for their friends. Somebody’s going to play around a little bit and then there might be two or three genuine people. Then on top of that... I don’t do the same thing that Mhi’ya [Iman Le’Paig] does, Mhi’ya doesn’t do what I do. I don’t do what Sapphira [Cristál] does so on and so forth. So it’s weird for me personally, judging other people’s drag when I have nothing to offer them from my judgment if that makes sense. Ru has $200,000 to give me; of course I’m gonna listen to everything you have to say. Yeah, it was weird. I didn’t like it.

Yeah, plus RuPaul offers feedback, critique, and advice, whereas you were all just judging.

We found who voted for what when y’all find out. We were watching the show with y’all. There were a couple of votes I was like, ‘Oh, really, girl? That’s what you put me?’

Were there any votes that caught you off guard?

Being honest? No. I would say, my group, besides Plane Jane, voted pretty fair. Because we decided as a group to include our runways in the overall thing. So I think my group was pretty fair. What I will say is when the full group got together is when I felt like it was a little messy. I like to use the word ‘fool-la-la’. There was a lot of fool-la-la going on. I thought the bottom two should have been Mirage And Morphine [Love Dion].

You mentioned watching the show, I am curious has there been anything you’ve learned about yourself or come to fully recognize after watching it play out on TV?

When it comes to other people’s drag, I compare myself to other people too much. I appreciate everybody’s contribution to drag where I kind of down my own. The whole time I was there. I was kind of putting myself down to be frank with you. Watching it back, I was there to compete and I was performing just as high if not better than some of the other girls that I was putting above myself. And I wish I didn’t do that. I wish I would’ve had a little bit more confidence in myself while I was there.

Yeah, I get that, especially in such a pressure cooker. Let’s end with a couple of fun questions. First things first, we gotta know who were you going to play in Snatch Game.

I was either going to be Tyler Perry or George Washington.

Oh my god! George Washington! We were robbed! OK, I know you are a married woman, but you still have eyes. So, who in your opinion was the trade of the season?

Oh my god, none of them, they’re all boogers. [Laughs] But if I had to pick, I would say Nymphia [Wind] and Mirage.

Ooh... very interesting!