One thing that Drag Race is always going to do is leave audiences gagged. Case in point: Crystal Envy's elimination from the competition last week. Seen as one of season 17’s front runners, Crystal consistently delivered in challenges and on the runway. But at the end of the day, it’s Mama Ru’s decision and this time it meant Crystal was asked to sashay away.
Not, thankfully, before she made an indelible mark on the competition and the fandom that has fans craving for more from the New Jersey queen. PRIDE caught up with Crystal to talk about her time on the show, how she felt about her elimination, who she almost played in Snatch Game, and get a tease for an upcoming collab with a true Drag Race legend.
Crystal also opened up about why her critiques about being too perfect hit home — and how her quest for perfection began when she was just a baby gay as her armor against the world.
PRIDE: First, I just want to start by congratulating you on an incredible run. I'll be honest, that quilted look is living in my head, but it is paying no rent! How are you feeling about your time on Drag Race?
CRYSTAL ENVY: I truly feel so good. I got to showcase what I did so well, and I excelled in almost every challenge. I can't really complain; I [was] in the top I think three out of the seven weeks total that I was there, and the one time I landed low, I got the boot. So, that's kind of an iconic track record. Most people have ups and downs, and they're on a low incline, and then they get the boot. I was on the high incline, and then they said goodbye, [to] which I was like, 'Oh, okay.'
It’s true you were never below safe. You were never low, you were always either top two, high, or safe. Did you feel like your track record was going to keep you out of the bottom?
I hate to say that I did think that, but honestly, I truly did. Even if I was bottom three for Snatch Game, I thought maybe I would be the safe one, like Arrietty was saved. I thought I would have been the safe one because Arrietty got eliminated [before], totally. I definitely deserved low that week. I definitely don't think I should have been high, but I don't think I should have been eliminated.
It was a gag, it was honestly a gag that we’re talking today! As we said, you’d been doing amazing this season. You’d done incredible in the challenges and ate up the runways. And yet, perhaps your most iconic moment was as a tumbleweed. Was there a moment when you were rolling in the back that it went through your head like, ‘I’m never gonna live this down. This is going to be with me forever’?
I do these rolls a bit more aggressively at my shows. It's like one of the stunts I do, I'll roll off the stage into the audience or something crazy. So I was like, 'Okay, listen, I'm really agile. I took a lot of tumbling classes before I went to the show. I could do this in the background. We need a tumbleweed to move. I'm in all nude. I look like a tumbleweed. Let's give it.' And then while I was doing it, I was like, 'Now I'm literally going to have to do this at every show for the rest of my life.' I have been and they love it every time I do it.
I'm sure that brings the house down! You collaborated on music with Jasmine Kennedy, are we getting a tumbleweed remix? Are we getting a tumbleweed song? What is the Tumbleweed dynasty that's about to roll out?
So there may not be a remix about tumbleweeds, but I did have the iconic 'Unprofessional' with Latrice Royale.
Oh, that's right!
So I don't know, maybe Miss Royale wants to do a remix and give it to the children, who knows, maybe something in the future.
I hope that's a real tease because I really want to see and hear that.
Latrice Royale x Crystal Envy sounds iconic if you ask me!
I’m manifesting it! So, let’s talk about the Snatch Game. I’m curious, did you have a backup character?
I went with the two [characters] and they were both like, 50/50, for me. I brought Nicole Richie and I brought JWoww from Jersey Shore. Before I left [for the competition], I was asking opinions [from] the people that were helping me with my package, like my drag mom and my partner. I auditioned with those two, as well. And everyone was like 50/50. So I was like, no one's giving me an answer, so when I went with them both.
It was literally a day-of decision that I went with Nicole. I ended up not choosing JWoww because I was worried that I would have been read for being too predictable and choosing like a Jersey caricature. So that's why I went with Nicole. But maybe I should have gone with JWoww because then I could have just been myself and acted a fool from the GTL Jersey Shore like I am. [Laughs]
Oh yeah, that would have been hilarious to see you interact with Big Ang and Ms. Bigfoot, but hey, save it for All Stars! I am curious though if there was anything you learned about yourself through this process and seeing yourself on TV.
The main thing was in the critiques for Snatch Game, Ru [suggested] letting that facade down a bit, that perfected pageant person that I am. I don't necessarily attribute that to pageants, because I've been that way my entire life. I think growing up as a queer, gay boy in a town where I was the only openly — I came out of 13 — gay kid in my school. We had, like, a pretty large school. I graduated with 400 kids in my class, so 1,200 in the whole school in high school, and I was the only openly gay queer person. And on top of that, I did drag in high school as well. So you're constantly told, at a young age, that when you're part of the LGBTQIA plus community, what you're doing is wrong. So I feel like that's where my striving for perfection comes from because I don't want anyone to pick at something that maybe is [air quotes] "wrong" about me. I think that when you're vulnerable, which is what RuPaul loves, that's where people can maybe nitpick you a little bit more, but that's also where people get to truly see the authentic you. So definitely something I struggle with a bit, but I work on it daily. You have to let your guard down a little bit.
That is so true. We fall in love with people's vulnerability but it also can be so hard to open up that way! OK, let's end on a fun and silly note. I want to know all about your season 17 group text. Starting with who is in there texting all the time?
Oh, who’s in there texting all the time? Lucky [Starzzz] is a hardcore texter. She will be sending random texts at 3 a.m. I'll also tell you who is the least [active] texter in the group chat, that is Miss Sam Star. [She] does not reply to texts even though she's younger than me. She acts like a forty-year-old and she's like, 'Just call me” or she's like, 'I just need a phone call.’ I'm like, 'Why are you acting like a millennial? Like you're like a Gen Zer, girl!’
I have a friend like that who always calls me and I always think someone has died. I'm like, calm down, just text me.
She'll call me at like 3 or 4 a.m. I'm like, 'Samantha, this is the crack of dawn!' She'll be like, 'I'm drunk, girl!'
Who in the chat has the best memes and who is the shadiest?
I think Kori [King] has the best memes. She’s just a meme queen down. Everything she says and does is just, it's a can and a bit, and she loves canned bits. Who's the shadiest? So it might be a surprise, but Acacia [Forgot]. Acacia is so shady. I love Acacia, but the girl can read you down.
It came out more after filming for Acacia. Whenever we're in a group setting now we love to read each other. That's the best part about drag.
Okay, last question: So that's the group chat. Now, who is in the side group chat where y'all talk about what's happening in the main group chat?
I won't tell you all the names, but I'll just tell you that, of course, I'm in it. I mean, you can't have one without the Crystal Envy it int!