But then, in the heat of the moment, just getting so nervous and freezing up on stage, I resorted back to what I had before and it was kind of a flop. I was thinking that I could spin them to be not as harsh.

So instead of not having enough material, I stuck with what I had. When they were telling me, вЂњOh dear, youвЂ™re having a bit of problems with these jokes and you should probably change them,вЂќ I didnвЂ™t know what to do because I didnвЂ™t have a lot of material and we didnвЂ™t have a lot of time to change it up. So I was thinking, How do I bridge this gap and make sure that my jokes felt like comedy but also make them not seem offensive? But when it comes to writing and delivering them, I definitely came up a little short and my jokes sounded a little offensive. I know how a joke is supposed to feel - itвЂ™s supposed to make people laugh. It was my first experience with a roast and I found it to be really difficult to understand how a joke works. Darnit.) But it was a very difficult challenge for me. Well, you know, they asked one of the nicest people to do an insult comedy challenge and I was like, вЂњFuck.вЂќ (Ooops. Do you regret keeping those jokes in even after being persuaded to get rid of them during the rehearsal? During the rehearsal with Michelle Visage and Loni Love, you delivered some of those same jokes and basically got the same critique then. One of your biggest critiques from the judges was that many of your jokes came off as mean. But I feel like itвЂ™s kind of a burnt bag of popcorn: it has some really good kernels in there, but itвЂ™s still a burnt bag of popcorn. Of course, the roast could have gone so much better. But honestly, I feel confident in my beautiful lip-sync - I had a great time and I feel like I went out on an amazing note. I could always be like, Oh, my lip-sync could have gone better. Even though I wasnвЂ™t the best, I still had so much fun, regardless of the result. I feel like I went into the challenge very headstrong. I donвЂ™t necessarily think anything went wrong.

In your own words, what would you say went wrong leading up to your elimination? Up against the current frontrunner SymonГ©, Utica broke her winning lip-sync streak and was ultimately sent home - but not before getting two middle fingers from RuPaul.ДЄhead of her elimination, NYLON hopped on the phone with Utica Queen to talk about her fashion sensibility, adjusting her drag aesthetic to please the judges, being an empath, cultural appropriation, what she learned from being madeover by SymonГ©, getting вЂњexcitedвЂќ to lip-sync for her life, and why she thinks her roast resembled вЂњa burnt bag of popcorn.вЂќ In the end, the improv trouper bombed and she landed in the bottom for the second week in a row, and for the third time in total. While rehearsing her jokes in front of Michelle Visage and Loni Love, both judges suggested that she change up some of her more scathing material, but without anything to fall back on, Utica stuck to her guns for the main challenge. Last week, when tasked with doing a roast of past Miss Congeniality winners, Utica struggled to invoke humor into her reads. However, thereвЂ™s only so far lip-syncing can take you, and by the time Utica landed in the bottom twice, it was clear that her Drag Race days might be numbered. Performances like these tended to land Utica near, if not at, the bottom, but with her finely-tuned, otherworldly lip-sync skills, she frequently managed to avoid elimination - even next to heavy-hitters like Elliott With 2 Ts and Tina Burner. Still, UticaвЂ™s quirkiness sometimes put her at odds with the judges, who adored her looks but felt that her kooky character distracted from their glamour.ДЄnd though it was that very kook that endeared Utica to many fans, it often got in the way of her performance in the competition - particularly when it came time for her to embody another character, whether that was a disco diva (вЂњDisco-MentaryвЂќ), a sassy mom (вЂњBossy Rossy RubootвЂќ), or even the late Bob Ross (вЂњSnatch GameвЂќ). Self-described as вЂњquite the kook,вЂќ the 6вЂ™4вЂќ Minnesotan surprised everyone with her keen fashion sense, somehow finding a way to blend her slightly off-kilter energy with editorial-worthy high fashion ensembles. This week, Utica was asked to sashay away.ДЇor the queen from the smallest town (Utica, Minnesota - less than 300, according to recent censuses), 25-year-old Utica Queen sure made a huge impression on RuPaulвЂ™s Drag Race season 13. Every week, NYLON writer Michael Cuby will conduct an exit interview with the queen eliminated from RuPaul's Drag Race Season 13.

Utica drag queen