SPECIAL THANKS TO IMOGEN REID AND JASMINE ALOMA AT THE BBC

As of writing, social media is utter bedlam. Gay Twitter has fallen. Pangina Heals stans… are in mourning. Drag Race fans haven’t witnessed pandemonium like this since… well, honestly, last week, when the aforementioned Thailand co-host shockingly chopped Jimbo from UK vs the World. On this week’s episode, Pangina suffered a similar fate when Blu Hydrangea unceremoniously chose to eliminate her from the competition – prompting fans to question whether the “current All Star rules” should be scrapped entirely if the strongest talent aren’t going to reach the final.

“I couldn’t hear anything Ru was saying at that moment. It was like an out-of-body experience where I don’t remember anything after the name “Pangina” was called and until after my makeup was taken off,” the star tells GAY TIMES. “I was hysterically crying, really hard. You saw that breakdown on television, right?! [Laughs] It was a full on panic attack, heartbreak. For me, it just showed how much I really care to be on the programme that I love like this, and how much I was giving it my all.”

Although she didn’t sashay away as the first ever ‘Queen of the Mothertucking World’, Pangina became an instant fan-favourite with viewers due to her charismatic confessionals, awe-inspiring lip-sync smackdowns and, of course, her runways (see header). Her Mariah Carey impersonation on Snatch Game may not have hit all the right (whistle) notes, but Pangina Heals will go down in herstory as one of the most championed and sickening contestants the show has ever seen.

Here, we speak with Pangina about her ‘heartbreaking’ exit from UK vs the World, why she has “no regrets” about her time on the series and her ambitious plans for the upcoming third season of Drag Race Thailand.

Pangina, I should not be talking with you today. I did not expect…

Erm, I don’t think I expected it either. Honestly, when I was watching the lip-sync with Blu I was basically like, ‘Go Blu! You better win this lip-sync!’ I didn’t expect it, but we all signed up to this. This is a competition. Everyone has to go home at one point or the other, so how can I be mad at Blu? Obviously I’m heartbroken, but I am not angry at Blu whatsoever. She made a decision and, if I did that in a certain challenge during a competition, I have to take the fact that I have to go home.

Can you take me back to the moment when you were on the stage with the rest of the bottoms and Blu revealed your lipstick?

In the beginning when we were all in the bottom, I was like, ‘There is no way that I will be going home’ because I won two weeks and I thought I was doing really well. Generally on Snatch Game, I did not think I was the worst. But having said that, when we were up on the stage I was like, ‘It’s fine! I’ll see you next week! I’m not going to go home.’ I was cheering Blu on, ‘Go for it! You better win this!’ because I had a feeling that Baga [Chipz] most likely would be eliminating me because she was close to Jimbo, which made sense. It’s fine. It is what it is. And so, when Blu called my name, in the beginning I thought she was talking about Juju because she was like, ‘I’ve been a fan of this person for so long…’ I thought, ‘It’s got to be Juju,’ but when she said my name, everything went white. I couldn’t hear anything Ru was saying at that moment. It was like an out-of-body experience where I don’t remember anything after the name “Pangina” was called and until after my makeup was taken off. I was hysterically crying, really hard. You saw that breakdown on television, right?! [Laughs] It was a full on panic attack, heartbreak. For me, it just showed how much I really care to be on the programme that I love like this, and how much I was giving it my all.

I mean, RuPaul and Michelle Visage’s faces said it all. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them look that shocked at an elimination before. They were… pissed.

Yeah. With Ru and Michelle being shocked… I think I saw Michelle cry as well, and I didn’t expect it. We talked after the show and Michelle was like, ‘You did really, really well. Your country should be proud.’ In that moment I was just really grateful, but I think it was a gag for everybody. Clara [Amfo] cried as well. It wasn’t shown on camera, I think, but Juju was crying hysterically like when she was lip-syncing with Raven, you know?