Pangina Heals Spills The Tea About Her Brand-New Show Tongue Thai'd

After hosting and judging two seasons of Drag Race Thailand, Pangina Heals reached new heights in her career by appearing as a competitor on RuPaul’s Drag Race: UK vs the World. Since then, even fans who had never seen Heals in the Thailand series became familiar with her fabulous drag and charismatic personality.

As of 2022, Heals is now conquering Hollywood with a brand-new digital series from WOW Presents Plus, Tongue Thai’d With Pangina Heals. Tthe show will feature guests such as Jujubee (Drag Race season two), Jimbo (Canada’s Drag Race), Kim Chi (Drag Race season eight), Cheryl Hole (Drag Race UK), Ongina (Drag Race season one), Honey Davenport (Drag Race season 11), Maxi Shield (Drag Race Down Under), and Mark Kanemura (a dancer who has been featured on Drag Race).

During an interview with PRIDE, Heals spilled the tea about Tongue Thai’d, discussed her friendships with other Asian queens from the Drag Race franchise, and even revealed what’s the current status of Drag Race Thailand season three.

Scroll through to read the PRIDE interview with Pangina Heals – and make sure to watch Tongue Thai’d on WOW Presents Plus.

PRIDE: How would you describe Tongue Thai’d to new viewers who might be interested in watching it?

Pangina Heals: It’s basically a show where drag queens eat spicy-ass Thai food. You get culture, you get a lot of charisma, and you get a little bit of diarrhea.

And it seems like the episodes get spicier and spicier not only with the food that you’re eating, but also with the questions that you’re asking. Is that accurate?

It is very true. I feel like [the episode with] Jujubee… She has a stable relationship, so she’s quite vanilla, but I love her. But I think when the episodes with Honey Davenport or Kim Chi come, it just gets a lot spicier because we ask about the craziest things they’ve ever done, and basically we talk about things that you don’t usually talk about when you’re having food. So there’s a lot of things that you get to find out about each of the entertainers that come on.

The grand prize for Drag Race UK is getting a show on WOW Presents Plus. You didn’t win UK vs the World, but you’re now getting your own show on the streaming service anyway. Are you low-key feeling like a winner right now?

I definitely do! And going into UK vs the World, I’ve always felt like… until then, there was no other Thai girl, so I was literally the only Thai RuGirl, and I felt so lucky. I already feel like a winner. I’m traveling the world doing tours everywhere, meeting people who feel inspired from what I do, people who feel represented by me, and I feel like I get to connect with people. I’m just so thankful, and f*ck yeah, I feel like a winner.

Drag Race Thailand came out all the way back in 2018. So, to see this resurgence in your career in 2022, it’s really exciting for us who are fans of the Thailand franchise. How has this second wind of fans and mainstream audiences been for you?

It’s been overwhelming, honestly, and it’s taught me so many life lessons. I’ve never thought that my following would increase by that much. I expected it to be by a certain amount, but it just surpassed everything I’ve ever thought it would be. Literally, my Instagram went up 300,000. I was just in awe. I would wake up one day and it just jumped up like 20k, and I was like, ‘The f*ck...’ And I literally thought that people were going to receive me okay. But somehow going on the show, I just wanted to be myself because I had the conversation with myself, was going in, I was like, ‘Should I be that funny queen? Should I be that fashion queen?’ And then I was like, ‘You know what? You’re enough. You can be you without letting anyone put you in a box.’ And I felt that a lot of the fans resonated with that.

This is an interview show, but you also want to expose audiences to Thai food. What are some of your all-time favorite dishes?

My all-time favorite dishes in Thailand are spicy… My favorite one translates to bitter snail curry. Oh, it’s so good. It fills your soul up. And I just had it just now, actually. But Thai food is all about the seafood sauce. We know that if the seafood sauce is green, it’s not as good as the red one.

Tongue Thai’d is featuring queens like Jujubee, Kim Chi, and Ongina. How fun was it to get together with other Asian queens from the Drag Race universe?

It’s great because all of us have our own cultures that are related to food. Like, Kim Chi is a foodie. Ongina said she is OK with spice, and then I really just had her coughing up a lot of the things. And Juju was fun too because it’s the first time that people get to see us converse in our native tongues. So it’s like having lunch with my sisters, but we’re tucked.

A lot of fans gave you a hard time for eliminating Jimbo on UK vs the World, who’s also appearing as a guest on the show. What do you wish fans knew about your relationship with Jimbo outside of the competitive environment of Drag Race?

We definitely talk. I’ll always be like, ‘Hey, I miss you. How are you doing?’ One lesson that I took from this experience – that I feel like [is relevant] if girls go onto the show – is that there is reality and then there is a reality that people create around you. And what is important is your own reality and your own truth. Because people can sit there all day and say that Pangina needs to admit that she eliminated Jimbo because she was a threat or she hates Canada or whatever. I don’t. But no matter what I say, they already created a narrative and I don’t fulfill the narrative. So I don’t give a f*ck. For me, the lesson that I want to perpetuate to anyone is to live your life, live your truth, and those who are around you that just lift you up, keep them close.

You’re probably tired of getting this question, but as a big fan of Drag Race Thailand, I have to ask if you have any updates at all on season three.

Yeah, it’s out tomorrow. [Laughs]

Fabulous! So is the Meet The Queens dropping today!?

Honestly, I believe that great things always happen, and manifestation is really real. And so I’ve been praying to a lot of deities here in Thailand and I know it’s going to happen. It’s just a matter of when. I will let you bitch-slap me if it doesn’t happen, how about that?