Drag Race All Stars’ Pandora Boxx Had a Snatch Game Plan B, C, and D

Pandora Boxx feels for Kim Cattrall. Not just because the drag queen impersonated the former Sex and the City actress during the Snatch Game of Love on this week’s episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 6 but also for Cattrall’s recent decision not to join And Just Like That, HBO Max’s revival of her flagship series. “I certainly respected her decision,” Pandora says. “You know, she doesn’t want to play the same character anymore.” Pandora dealt with similar feelings coming into All Stars season six more than a decade after her first appearance on Drag Race. Back in season two, her impersonation of Carol Channing became one of the first truly iconic Snatch Game performances (and not just for her lovely bunch of coconuts, either). “I don’t want to carry that in with me and keep thinking, Oh, is it as funny as last time?” she told Ra’Jah O’Hara while preparing for the challenge. “I can’t even think about it because I’m doing a completely different type of character.”

Pandora’s risk didn’t quite pay off: Her sexed-up Cattrall landed her in the bottom two for a second week in a row, leading to her elimination. But the risk nonetheless capped off another great run for the queen, giving her a sixth-place finish after she had previously been one of the first queens eliminated on All Stars 1. Following her latest elimination, Vulture spoke to Pandora about what has changed since her time away from Drag Race, reviving her Carol Channing impersonation, her other Snatch Game choices, and her upcoming album.

It’s been almost ten years since you were on All Stars 1. What made you feel like now was the time to come back?
Well, they asked me, one. [Laughs] That’s the biggest one. I think that enough time had passed, and I wasn’t bitter about it anymore. And also, it was a pandemic. I’m like, Well, I’m not doing anything.

This group of queens was kind of a young group; there were a lot of people from the last few seasons of Drag Race. What did you notice had changed since the last time you were on that show?
That everybody was young and that I wasn’t. I mean, I think drag itself has evolved so much, especially since season two, where everyone has a shake-and-go wig and a spandex dress. There are wig designers — you can get wigs from anywhere now — and costume designers, and the game has been upped now on Drag Race.

It also just feels like, culturally, in season two things were still coming up, and now it’s huge.
There were so many things I thought were going to happen after season two, like somebody approaching me about my own fragrance, about my own TV show, about a lipstick, and none of it happened because it wasn’t the right time, really. But now, you see that everywhere, and it’s amazing that drag has come so far that it can be all those things it was meant to be.

You also got into the Werk Room and saw your season-two sister Kylie Sonique Love. What was it like to be competing with her again?
The whole thing of just being on the set again was surreal and then to have Kylie there too, it was cool to have somebody that you already shared that experience with. And I was very excited for people to see Kylie now because she has evolved and changed. She’s absolutely stunning, so I don’t want her to stand directly next to me. But other than that, I love her.

I want to go through some of your specific challenges, starting with the Super Bowl halftime performance challenge, where you revived the Carol Channing impersonation that was one of your big season-two moments in Snatch Game. What was it like revisiting that?
I debated because I really didn’t want to do Carol Channing again, but I kind of felt like I had to because she passed away and a lot of people don’t know that she was the first famous halftime entertainer. So I was like, I want to educate people and show people that. And since that [Snatch Game] is all anybody talks to me about, this is a great way to do it in a different way.

It’s always refreshing to have people who aren’t doing the biggest pop stars, who are bringing back some of the classic stars.
Yeah, and I also thought, Well, I definitely stood out, because everyone’s doing like these dance moves, and I’m like, [Carol Channing voice] “Here I am!”

Speaking of you not wanting this impression to be all you were known for, you talked about that with the Snatch Game this week, too, and your decision to do Kim Cattrall. Tell me a bit more about how you came to that impersonation.
I’ve been thinking about Snatch Game for a long time — If I ever go back, who would I do? And people ask me that all the time. It was a really hard decision to make. I went through different people. I had brought a Dolly Parton look, but once Kylie said she was doing Dolly, I’m like, Nope, that’s who needs to be doing Dolly. She’s going to nail it, so she has to do it. I even brought a Tilda Swinton, because she’s kind of weird and you can say whatever you want, and Betty White. So with Kim Cattrall, I love Samantha as a character [on Sex and the City] and the cadence in her voice and how she says lines. I felt like she’s sexy, and it could be fun doing Snatch Game of Love as that character. Or so I thought.

Your first time in the bottom, the episode before, ended up being more drama than we were expecting when we got this tie. When I talked to Jan last week, it sounded like it was a stressful moment onstage. What was that like for you when both of those lipsticks came out?
My face, when mine was, probably summed it up, ’cause I was like, Oh my God, no. And then when Jan was pulled, I was slightly relieved, but then I was like, Oh shit, what’s gonna happen? They didn’t tell us what would happen if we had a tie, and I kept thinking, Well, we both can’t go home. That’s just not fair; this would be shitty. And then I was thinking, I think I might pass out.

That round of voting, along with the Snatch Game, led to a bit of drama in the last episode between you and Eureka. It seemed like both of you resolved it in the Werk Room after critiques, but I was curious — where do things stand with the two of you now?
I think we’re fine. We just keep making jokes that we’re lesbian lovers, so I think we’re good. When I was talking about it, I just said what I was feeling. It was in no way to blame her for it because it was like, No, I’m not gonna blame somebody else for me not making RuPaul laugh, so that’s not what I was doing. So yeah, we talked about it, and I think we’re fine.

So many people don’t mention those things and just let them come out in confessionals or behind people’s backs.
Yeah, I’m glad she said something to me because it was better to say it to me than to just say it in confessionals. Then we’d have to have, like, a social-media war. I mean, maybe that would’ve been good for both of us, but no. She talks a lot, so sometimes I don’t get a word in edgewise, but we got along during the season.

Lastly, I loved the talent-show performance of “Ridiculous.” It still gets stuck in my head sometimes. So I was very excited to see this news about your album. What can we expect from a Pandora Boxx album?
I’m working with the same producer, Electropoint, who did “Ridiculous,” so it’s going to be more fun, funny, dance-electronic music. There’s a Kickstarter going on right now; it actually got funded in two days, which is amazing. If people still donate, I can get fancier outfits for music videos and make it even better. I just want to make an album that people can dance and laugh and have fun with, and I think we need that right now.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.