Cookie Kunty leaves “Drag Race France” season 2 at the gates of the semi-final. “I’m sad to leave but really happy to have been until this episode, to have been able to show myself so vulnerable and to have been able to present other facets of me (…) It’s just the end for this chapter and this is the start of another, ”she commented after her elimination. This departure coincides with Piche’s return to competition. This one won a place for the lip-sync following the “Showtime” challenge which offered a second chance to the eliminated candidates. On So what of Shy’m, the Franco-Canadian artist finally bowed to her competitor-drafted. For 20 minutesCookie Kunty looks back on this adventure.
Not too disappointed to have left the competition at the gates of the semi-final?
Obviously we want to go to the end but I’m quite happy with my career, happy to have been able to show everything I was able to show. Most importantly, now I can sit back, enjoy and watch my girlfriends shine.
During the evening, did you feel behind the other competitors?
In any case, not during the “Showtime” challenge. I was focused, determined to do my best. I felt we had something quite powerful and I was happy with the five of us. I think we did very well. I knew my parade would be a little weaker. I was just hoping that there would be someone else who would have shone a little less at that time too and that it could pass… But I suspected that I had a chance of going to the lip-sync. When I saw everyone get dressed, yes, I felt that my outfit was a little less “strong”.
At the end of the episode, you said you were happy to have shown yourself vulnerable. Why was this important to you?
We idealize drag artists a lot. Sometimes taking the lead with the thing, it can happen. That’s life. Don’t be afraid of confrontations either. In the season, there were also moments when we were moved. It was an emotional lift, so showing that was important to simply humanize us.
During the competition, you had some tense exchanges with Sara Forever and Ginger Bitch. How do you view these sequences with hindsight?
I knew they would exist anyway. I think I’m also a good spectator of “Drag Race” before being a candidate myself so, in a way, it brings spice, a little excitement. These are little stories that happen quite frequently in other franchises. It wasn’t something I dreaded seeing. Afterwards, obviously, in all families, in all friendships, there are always spats. In the context of a competition, you want to defend your place, you want to defend what you are there for, you don’t want to be wrongly accused, so there are plenty of elements that make it happen and what isn’t too bad either. We’re all friends. In the community, when you work, you sometimes have to fight against a promoter who is not fair play or against other artists who want to defend their livelihood, and these spats are things that happen but it’s always benevolent and in the spirit of sisterhood. It’s formative for us too, we arm ourselves against the rest of the world by testing each other because we know we’re doing it in a framework safe.
The exhibition offered ” Drag Race France » is not always benevolent, there have been problems with cyberbullying in particular. Were you prepared for it?
There have indeed been some unpleasant messages or people who are unhappy on the networks, it happens. I don’t want that to define my journey because it’s far from being the majority. That was a tiny part of the returns. There were so many positives in return. We can’t please everyone, whether it’s our art, our way of being or what we look like. By exposing yourself on a platform like television, of course, you expect all opinions to be expressed and to be taken in the face. But that’s not what defines my time on the show.
What do you want us to remember?
The rest, the positive, the other moments when there was team cohesion, when it was beautiful. Lots of times it was just really fun, good TV.
What did you learn about yourself by participating in this show?
I was pretty aware of my strengths and weaknesses. Afterwards, maybe under pressure I was less flexible in my way of operating, or maybe I was a little more authoritarian than I thought (laughs).
You are a figure of the Parisian drag scene and you are also the contest’s mistress of ceremonies drag me up at the Who’s in Paris. Was there any form of endangerment involved in participating in ” Drag Race France » ?
Certainly, but we don’t do anything if we don’t dare. It was also important for me to become more aware of what my candidates were going through the rest of the year in my competition. Yes, there was a jeopardy in the sense that you always have more to lose when there are expectations of you, but it was exciting. I’ve been working in drag for years, sometimes there’s something a bit routine that can set in. Turning everything upside down again and finding yourself in a position where you have to show what you do and do it as well as possible, that’s for sure, it’s a challenge.
You were on the bill last year Three nights a week, by Florent Gouelou. You had even been shortlisted for the Césars in the category ” best hope ». Do you have any new leads in terms of cinema?
I would like. I need to be contacted. It was really gratifying as an experience. I would love to do it again, whether in civilian clothes or in drag.
You also appeared in clips for La Zarra, which represented us at the last Eurovision Song Contest. Are you still in contact with her?
Yes, she’s a friend. She comes to see me quite often during my shows drag me up on Sunday. It’s cool to have artists supporting us. She understood that the community had welcomed and understood her. She found, in the community, her community.
Do you continue drag me up in September ?
Of course ! Even if it’s going to be tiring, there will obviously be the tour and I’m going to have to cut myself a little in two, I think it’s important that I continue to do this for the community, for the local drags. Then drag me up brings me back to reality and I hold on to it.