The “Itty Bitty EsTitties Committee” added an abundance of new members this year as a result of its founder, Salina, making her Drag Race debut. While the self-described ‘brassy Chola’ didn’t take home the crown – or win a single challenge, for that matter (robbed!) – she continuously tore up the stage in her lip-sync smackdowns, became one of the most memorable confessional queens in the show’s herstory and provided visibility for Latina women across the world.

“I took a big risk going into the season, making it my mission to represent West Coast Latin culture,” says Salina, “and even though the judges didn’t necessarily understand what I was bringing to the table a lot of the time, the fact that people clocked what I was putting down made this entire journey worth it.”

Although she received positive reviews for her performance as Tuck in Wigloose: The Rusical, Salina lost her place in the competition after facing Loosey LaDuca in a lip-sync to Kate Bush’s enduring classic Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God).

Following her exit, Salina caught up with GAY TIMES to discuss her journey across the milestone 15th season of RuPaul’s Drag Race, why she felt “relieved but completely unhinged” after sashaying away and her plans to make a reality television comeback on “Big Brother or Survivor”.

Salina, condragulations on making it so far this season – you were so much fun to watch. Did it take you long to come to terms with your elimination?

On the show after the elimination, I felt relieved but also completely unhinged. Feeling beat down and discouraged and allowing myself to “dim my light” came to the forefront when I had nothing to lose after being eliminated. When I got back home, the first thing I did was call my best friend Mandoh and Frankie Grande and I completely cried to them about how the judges hated everything I wore. It did take me a minute to come to terms with my elimination, but it was more coming to terms with the harshness of the critiques I got while on the show and understanding that, at the end of the day, they were critiquing me to boost me up. But being there, it did not feel that way. My mom passed away during my first bottom placement episode, and that kind of put everything in perspective for me… At the end of the day, none of those critiques or that outfit I wore matters. I had to “let loose” if you will.

I’m so sorry to hear about your mum. I have to say, a lot of fans disagree with a lot of your bottom placements, me included! How did it feel to see that support online?

I was honestly confused a lot of the times I was in the bottom! I understand my looks were a little out of the box, but I felt like you couldn’t deny my talent in these challenges at the end of the day. So seeing all the support online and even people loving my looks, what I brought to the table in terms of representation, and also recognising my talent, means the world to me. As we saw I won zero challenges, and in this competition your deservedness of the crown is based upon how many challenge wins you have, hence, my elimination episode. Bloop! I just wanna reiterate for the haters that I am not bitter, it’s just a very extreme one-of-a-kind situation to put yourself through everything that this competition demands of you, so I think it’s only human to have feelings about everything and how cards were dealt. The love from fans online has made this process so unbelievably amazing. I don’t know where I’d be without that love tbh.

What would you say was the most challenging aspect of your Drag Race experience?

I feel like I did pretty well climbing my way as far as I could. I think the most challenging part was recognising that I wasn’t one of the girls being praised and celebrated by the judges. When I realised I wasn’t a frontrunner in the judges’ eyes, I think that became the most challenging part to deal with.