Ginger Minj is 'letting the monsters eat themselves' as reigning 'All Stars' winner
After 10 years, four seasons, and a record-breaking three Snatch Game wins, the iconic drag queen has finally claimed victory. Minj was crowned winner of All Stars Season 10 on Friday night, something that still feels "surreal" a few days later. Now that she's won, she says "I don't know what to do with myself" — but you can expect whatever comes next to be impactful.
"Even before winning, I have always tried to be a queen for the people. And by the people, I mean all people," Minj tells Out. "So, whether you love me or you loathe me, I will always use whatever platform I have to make the world a happier, safer, better place for all of us. I got into drag because there's nothing more punk rock or political than bucking the system in a big way, and I think that if you can approach things through love and humor, you can open a lot of doors and change a lot of minds."
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Season 10 of All Stars introduced a new format that gave the returning queens more time to shine as they competed in three groups of six known as "brackets," before the top three from each group merged to compete against each other. The finale featured the most queens in Drag Race herstory, with eight facing off in a lip sync battle royal for the crown. Minj, the first to win under the format, loves the changes as "an old pageant girl at heart."
"Before you compete at a national pageant, you have to qualify at a preliminary," she explains. "So, it really felt like brackets for these little prelim pageants that led us up to the big final national. And I love that. I thought it was so exciting, especially as a viewer, because for the six weeks before I even stepped foot on screen, I got to just be a fan and watch these two mini seasons play out."
Originally in bracket three, Minj swept her competitors by landing in the top two for each of her group's three episodes, then once again after the groups merged. She also set a Drag Race record by becoming the first queen to win Snatch Game three times. However, the performance she was proudest of wasn't any of her victories, but rather her talent show number, in which she did an original musical theatre number that showcased just how far she's come.
"I am most proud of, honestly, the one thing I didn't win, which was the talent show," Minj says. "I absolutely loved that, because it felt like it was finally an opportunity to show the entire world exactly who I am as a performer that I hadn't been able to do in 10 years on Drag Race up to that point."
Minj was so focused on devoting her energy to the challenges that antagonism from her fellow competitors washed right over her. Despite some prodding in the werkroom and during Untucked from Season 15 alum Mistress Isabelle Brooks, Minj kept her cool and refused to engage. She maintains now that "there was no tension between us."
"It was all very one-sided. And when I saw it play out on television, I knew that that she was poking the bear," Minj says. "But honestly, I was so hyper-focused on what I had to do that I wasn't paying attention. So, I didn't even know it was as big of a deal as it actually was in-person."
Minj is taking a similar approach to the online backlash over her victory. While disagreements are always expected among fans, the queen has been the target of an especially intense brigade of viewers upset by her win, with some claiming she was favored by producers or that she shouldn't have been allowed to compete on four seasons in the first place. Minj says she's handling negative comments "exactly the same way as I handled Mistress" — by simply not engaging with them.
"I just don't pay attention to the negativity," she says. "Why would I? If I had been crowned 10 years ago, that version of myself probably would have been completely embroiled in the entire mix of it, but at the place that I am in my life now — and I fought so hard to get here — I'm not going to sacrifice any of my peace or my happiness for people who are just looking for an excuse to be miserable."
"As long as I just keep kind of focusing on all of the love that is there surrounding me — and there's so much love and positivity swirling around me at all times — I'm just feeding off of that and then letting the monsters eat themselves," Minj adds.
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Now that she's finally won Drag Race, Minj isn't interested in following the paths of other former contestants by going on reality shows like The Traitors, mainly because "I'm not a good liar." Instead, she says she would love to participate in vocal competitions like The Masked Singer or Show Me Your Voice. Her dream role is to star in Harvey Fierstein's breakthrough 1983 musical, La Cage aux Folles, which was the first hit Broadway musical about a gay relationship.
"Especially now with today's political climate, I really want to star in a Broadway revival of La Cage aux Folles," Minj says. "I've done the show a couple times before. ... It's sad, but it's also really interesting that over four decades after that show was written and produced, it's even more timely and relevant right now."
Even in the face of anti-LGBTQ+ or anti-drag laws, the queen isn't slowing down. Minj will be hitting the road this fall alongside former Drag Race contestants Jujubee and Sapphira Cristál for their Hokus Pokus Live tour, and expects more opportunities to come as her success grows.
"I was born and raised in Leesburg, Florida, which is an hour north of Orlando and 45 years behind it culturally," Minj says. "Even though it was really rough growing up, it gave me a lot of coping skills as I got older to look three steps ahead and see where things are going. That's just how I'm taking it day by day, trying to look ahead, see what's down the pike, and if there's anything I can do to change it."
This article originally appeared on Out: Ginger Minj is 'letting the monsters eat themselves' as reigning 'All Stars' winner
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