Bianca Del Rio is a girl who can’t say no.
Since winning season six of RuPaul’s Drag Race, she’s starred in a film written especially for her, started ‘Really Queen,?’ her own highly popular YouTube show, and is currently touring the world with her stand-up show.
To what does she owe her success? Well. She loves to say yes.
And after performing in bars for nineteen years, she isn’t taking a single opportunity for granted.
With her film Hurricane Bianca in post-production, and her Rolodex of Hate Tour in full swing, she’s a very busy girl.
But she still has time to reflect back on her days as a Ru girl.
Just a bit.
“I had a very different impression of my portrayal on the show. Before it aired, I told my friends I was really nice; I was very calm,” she said. “Then I look back and in the first episode I’m already cussing somebody out. It’s like, ‘Oh shit!’”
Del Rio undoubtedly has a reputation for being a bitch. And she can live with that. Doesn’t everyone love a bitch who secretly harbors a heart of gold?
While she admits that the rigorous filming schedule can get to a lady — 12 to 14 days, with absolutely no socializing allowed outside of filming — she doesn’t feel the editing is to blame if you don’t like how you’re depicted on TV.
“When the queens complain about the editing, it makes me laugh. The fact is: they need to edit themselves. There are a lot of things I chose not to do or say, because I didn’t want it to backfire on me.”
Her strategy? Sit back and wait until everyone else to hang themselves.
You can’t say it didn’t work.
Del Rio knew the producers wanted to showcase contestants who were emotional exhibitionists; who would cry and confess and share their feelings at the drop of a cloche.
She doesn’t blame them. They’re just trying to make good TV.
Nevertheless, she was determined to win on her own terms or not at all.
And her terms doesn’t include tears.
“I didn’t want to win because my parents kicked me out,” she says. “I didn’t want to win because my parents left me at the bus stop. That’s not my story… and that’s one of the reasons I didn’t think I’d win.”
The film centers around a science teacher in Texas named Richard Martinez. When people in his small town find out he’s gay, he’s promptly fired. Martinez returns to the town as Bianca del Rio to teach the close-minded folks a valuable (and hilarious) lesson. The movie is ostensibly a comedy, but Del Rio says it holds an important message, too: In twenty-nine states across the USA, it’s still legal to fire someone just because they’re gay.
“It’s really insane,” she says. “It’s 2015 and this shit still happens. Everyone’s talking about marriage equality… but you can still get fired from your job just loving members of your own sex. It’s nuts!”
Del Rio says the most challenging part of the 18-day shoot was playing a science teacher — not exactly typecasting in her case.
Playing Bianca Del Rio in the Texas heat had its challenges, too.
“But a drag queen in the heat ain’t nothing,” she says. “I can deal with it.”
As for future projects, Del Rio says she isn’t slowing down anytime soon. On top of Hurricane Bianca, you can expect a brand new stand-up comedy tour in the spring. And when you’re a girl who says “yes,” you can expect to be busy.
Very busy, indeed.
She may have even hinted at a secret project that she’s not quite at liberty to discuss yet… but she promises she’ll let the world know her master scheme as soon as humanly possible.
Bianca Del Rio 2016?
