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RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars' eighth season was very tough for Alexis Michelle, as she faced a lot of backlash after choosing to save Kandy Muse over LaLa Ri. LaLa was performing incredibly well in the competition but had to go home after episode 6.
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly on the Quick Drag podcast, Michelle said that she wanted to save LaLa at the time but did not want to send Kandy home. She blamed the voting format of the show, calling it an "impossible decision" to make on her own. Alexis doesn't hold any grudges against her sisters from the show, but she does resent having to choose to eliminate Ri.
Alexis Michelle also said that it was not a simple decision for her, adding:
"You can say I was acting, if you want to believe that, fine, it's not up to me to decide what people think about that. It's not even my business. But I can tell you I hated making the decision and I hated having to make the decision."
She stated that she admired Lala and held her in high regard. Alexis did not want to send anyone home, even saying that she hoped she could go back in time and save Lala.
"People can call me two-faced, and that's fine, because they don't know me and they don't know how genuine and sincere I am. It's a really unfortunate part of this game," she added.
Alexis herself was eliminated in episode 9, which was decided by Jimbo.
Alexis Michelle faced PTSD during her time on RuPaul's Drag Race season 9
39-year-old Alexis Michelle is a Romanian-Jewish-American drag queen from New York. She was a cast member of RuPaul's Drag Race season 9, ranking fifth, and was featured in RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars season 8, ranking fourth.
In her Entertainment Weekly episode, Michelle accepted that the game's format prompts people to make tough decisions with over $200,000 at stake. In each challenge, the weekly lip sync winner had to go against a secret assassin. If the assassin wins, all the queens vote for who goes home, but if the winner defeats the assassin, they choose who to send home among the bottom two contestants.
Alexis Michelle tried to do what was fair for some time, but she did not plan to save anyone in the competition. She confessed that she still had PTSD from her time in season 9 and that she fell into a deep depression after that. She decided not to save LaLa, her good friend in All Stars, after that, adding:
"So, when I say to my friend, "I can't vote for you," this is a dialogue, this isn't signing a contract, like, This sucks, but I can't, I know I have to make a choice, but I can't. It feels horrible."
Alexis Michelle has appeared in many shows, including The Rachael Ray Show
Alexis attended the Interlochen Center for the Arts and the University of Michigan to get a BFA in music theatre. She started doing drag at just 10 years old and auditioned for Drag Race eight times before being selected. Michelle also starred in Rags to B***hes: A Battle of Wits & Wigs competition and runs her own Broadway show called "Alexis, I Am!.
She has been a part of many TV shows like The Rachael Ray Show, Hot Ones: The Game Show, and Dragnificent!
Fans can stream RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars season 8 on Paramount+.
