Drag Race Down Under star Nikita Iman has revealed what Michelle Visage was really like as a judge and opened up about her thoughts on missing the final.
The New Zealand drag queen, 27, was eliminated from the reality TV competition on Friday night after losing to her good friend Mandy Moobs in the lip sync battle.
She narrowly missed out on a place in next week’s season four finale, with drag queens Mandy, Lazy Susan, Vybe and Freya Armani securing the coveted positions.
Following her devastating elimination, Nikita spoke exclusively to Ny Breaking Australia about her time on the Stan series and how she felt about going home so close to the final.
“When I walked away, I literally had every outfit from my package showing except my finale, so the fact that I was able to literally show all my outfits except the finale, I’m so proud,” she shared.
“I mean, I was eliminated and the final taping was the next day, so I was like, ‘Oh my god, I was literally so close,’ but no, I can’t complain.
Drag Race Down Under star Nikita Iman (pictured) has revealed what it was like to miss the final after being eliminated from the show on Friday night
‘I was so happy and so proud when I left. I think I might have tapped out and was ready to go home, but I was also just ready to hang in there for the last few days.
“But I love the final four, they’re great final four girls. I love the whole cast, but I feel like if I had been in the final, something completely different would have been added, but it is what it is.”
The Auckland-born, Sydney-based queen also revealed what it was like getting up close and personal with notoriously feisty head judge Michelle, 56 – who took over from RuPaul in season four.
Nikita admitted that while she wasn’t intimidated by Michelle off camera, she was much more nervous when she was on camera facing the judges.
Despite her fears, she insisted that working with Michelle was still a lot of fun and theorized that facing drag legend RuPaul might have made her more nervous.
She said, ‘I didn’t find it [Michelle] intimidating when we stood there, but every time we were talking on camera I thought to myself, ‘Oh my God, what do I say and how do I say it?’
‘For me, my mouth usually runs faster than I think, so I always say something stupid or stupid, so I put a lot of pressure on myself to pay attention to what I said.
‘But interact with [Michelle] off camera and when she was talking to the girls I didn’t feel so nervous. She was so sweet, she really treated everyone so well.
She narrowly missed out on a place in next week’s season four finale, with drag queens Mandy, Lazy Susan, Vybe and Freya Armani securing the coveted positions.
The Auckland-born, Sydney-based queen also revealed what it was like to be up close with feisty head judge Michelle Visage, 56 – who took over from RuPaul in season four
“I think the environment she was in there made everyone a lot more relaxed and made the whole process a lot more fun.
“I’ve never met RuPaul or done a season with her, but I imagine it would be pretty fun to be in a room with her. [tense] but with Michelle it felt a lot more relaxed and as if our favorite teacher had taken over the class for the day.
“So we just have to have fun and enjoy it.”
Reflecting on her journey through the competition, Nikita said that before she started she was “so confident” that she would make it to the final four, until she met the other talented queens in person.
After overcoming “imposter syndrome” early on, Nikita said she became more confident and “unhindered” about where she finished each week, but still would have liked to make it to the final.
But she admitted she knew her time had come to an end when she performed her third lip sync against Mandy, saying she was happy she could end the show with someone she was so close to.
Nikita also shared what her plans would have been for the grand finale, detailing exactly what she planned to wear on that all-important final catwalk.
“I had a huge Marie Antoinette-style Samoan princess outfit,” she said.
Reflecting on her journey through the competition, Nikita said that before she started she was “so confident” that she would make it to the final four, until she met the other talented queens.
‘I just wanted to reference what it would have looked like when Samoa was first colonized with the large European style skirt but with very traditional Samoan fibres, colors and items.’
She also spoke about representing her Samoan heritage on the show, saying that although it was not her focus, she is proud that she was able to do so.
‘Before I went on the show, I didn’t think it was that important to be that [representation] because I didn’t want to put any pressure on my shoulders to represent the culture or my community, I was just there to represent myself,” she said.
“I didn’t realize that most of my package was influenced by culture, but I guess that’s just who I am and the way I think.
‘When I got the themes for the catwalk, it wasn’t my intention to think ‘fantastic, let’s do something Samoan’, it was just ‘Okay, period, I have this reference, so let’s do this’.
“But when you look at my package and my journey through the show, I think, ‘Wow, I’m really representing Samoa and the ballroom and where I am.’
“For me, that’s the best way to do it because I find that when people come in with the mentality of ‘I have my community on my shoulders to represent,’ they put a lot of pressure on themselves to really perform and their country or make community proud.’
While Nikita had many highlights on the show, including her breathtaking makeover challenge, she revealed there was one moment in particular that she couldn’t look back on.
After overcoming ‘imposter syndrome’, Nikita said she became more confident and felt ‘unhindered’ about where she ended up each week, but still would have liked to make it to the final.
She confessed that she cringed at her acting challenge and couldn’t even watch it on screen, but said she was still happy that she gave a new talent a chance.
‘My lowlight was probably the acting challenge, I couldn’t watch that! My eyes and ears were closed,” she joked.
“My partner said, ‘Do you want to go to the screening and watch it?’ and I said, ‘I don’t want to be around people when I watch it.’
‘I was like, ‘we’re going to make dinner, sit down, have a drink and watch on the couch.’
“I think it was a lowlight because it was so cringe to watch, but at the time that kind of thing and Snatch Game were just things I had never done before.”
She also revealed that she wished she had made more use of the three-week preparation time before appearing in the Stan series.
“We were given three weeks, but I moved and I was so busy with work that I literally crammed all my preparation into one week,” she said.
‘When I finished work I went out to the club on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, so I had Sunday to Thursday to cram everything in.
‘So if I ever get to do this again, I would definitely make the most of the three weeks!’
While Nikita had many highlights on the show, including her makeover challenge, she revealed that there was one moment in particular that she couldn’t look back on: her acting challenge.
Nikita didn’t close the door on returning to the Drag Race franchise in the future, sharing her desire to appear in a global spin-off version of the competition.
‘I would love to do a global version of the show! Queen of the Universe was just next, I don’t know if another Samoan queen would be good, someone else would be fantastic,” she said.
“But when I look at the season and my progress, I definitely see so much potential. I just need to get out there, work more and gain that experience and confidence in myself.
“On the show I came off so confident and delusional, and that’s very much who I am, but even though I’ve been doing drag for a long time, there’s so much more I can do and still learn.
“The next steps for me over the next year are traveling around Australia, my community involvement with the local bars, the local scene, local girls and just really getting my name out there.
“Even though the girls have seen me on the show every Friday for the past few months, I would still like to show them what Nikita does and what Nikita has to offer in terms of my shows.”
The next Drag Race Superstar from Down Under will be crowned during the season four finale, airing on Stan on Friday, December 20.
All four seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under are available to stream on Stan.