SPECIAL THANKS TO JO SEAR AND JASMINE ALOMA AT THE BBC

As one of a select few queens who have endured success as four-time Drag Race-rs, Eureka’s status as a franchise legend is indisputable. In season nine, she happy-cried to Lady Gaga slash Ronnie as she reflected on Mother Mother’s LGBTQIA+ impact and made herstory, albeit not in a positive way, as the first queen to be eliminated as a result of an injury. The self-described “Elephant Queen” made a triumphant return the following year, earning a spot in the final with two challenges under her belt and one of the series’ most iconic lip-sync showdowns with Tennessee bestie Kameron Michaels.

Although she failed to secure the crown with her third attempt on All Stars 6, Eureka won the – as various queens have put it – the ‘race after Drag Race‘ when she co-led three seasons of HBO’s We’re Here, which collected four Primetime Emmys and a Peabody Award. Again, because it bears repeating: she’s a legend.

In her fourth attempt at Drag Race victory on Canada vs the World, Eureka exuded joy in her newfound skin as a sober trans woman. While her time ended prematurely, sashaying away in sixth place, she assures GAY TIMES that it “felt right” for her journey. “I don’t necessarily know if it was my time to return competing. I think I really wanted to share my trans journey and where I was right now in my life – desperately, almost. I was maybe overly excited, that I jumped in a little quicker than I should’ve.”

Here, Eureka is as raw, shady and hilarious as she has ever been as she reflects on her Canada’s Drag Race vs the World experience (including her lip-sync battle with Miss Fiercalicious and the challenge she “hated”), the season 10 queen she wanted to “send to the house” and feeling “pleasant comfort” in her trans and sober journeys.

Eureka, it’s a pleasure to speak with you, but it’s also… annoying? I didn’t want you to go this soon.

It’s never ideal! Honestly, it felt good and right in the moment. I’m a present person, officially, so I was living in the present. I had a good time, but also being there, I don’t necessarily know if it was my time to return competing. I think I really wanted to share my trans journey and where I was right now in my life – desperately, almost. I was maybe overly excited, that I jumped in a little quicker than I should’ve.