In 2017, Peppermint entered RuPaul’s Drag Race Werk Room already a drag legend. When she left as season nine’s runner-up, she did so as a Drag Race legend. And yet, despite pleas from fans, Peppermint hasn’t been back to the franchise since. Instead, this year, she reentered the reality-competition circuit through The Traitors, Peacock’s social-strategy competition featuring reality-TV stars from a variety of shows and networks. The sole contestant from Drag Race, she was also the only trans person in the house, and a Black trans woman at that.
Drag Race fans are particularly protective of Pep — the kind of woman who will cry when asked to hit her friend in a video game — so when she was voted out in the first banishment, many cried foul. It didn’t help that her elimination was not based in any real evidence but rather the dubious claim that she reacted “dramatically†in a brief conversation with Trishelle from The Challenge. Trishelle’s campaigning against Pep left a sour taste because it felt like a series of microaggressions — tone policing chief among them — led to an elimination that seemed grounded in ignorance at best and prejudice at worst. “It’s all mob mentality,†Peppermint told Vulture in a recent interview. “They just took the word of someone who was being extremely dishonest and assassinating my character.â€
What made you want to be involved with The Traitors?
Horror and murder mysteries are my thing, so I knew it would be a murder mystery. The Traitors was my favorite show last year. It was weird when my phone rang and it was The Traitors asking if I would go on the show — I had just said, I’m never going to go on reality TV again — it was a huge moment for me. That’s why my heart’s broken today with you, Jason.
Who were you connecting with prior to your elimination?
I didn’t have anyone else. Prior to the elimination, no one was really talking to me. I started to get to know people in the first couple days, but certainly not enough to have any major alliances. When we did the superlatives in that mission, and I discovered that people had voted me the most popular, that was validation. I was like, “Oh, maybe they are liking me.â€
Can you tell me the story of your elimination from your perspective?
It all connected to the conversation with Trishelle that seemed really friendly. We were talking about fashion. I said, “I brought nice fashions and I’m excited.†She said the same, she brought nice fashions. I was like, “We’re two fashion girls. Let’s go.†That was all I needed from that conversation. She’s the one who introduced the idea of, “Well, if I get killed, that means you’re a traitor.â€
That was a hard left turn for me. It insinuates that I’d be jealous of whatever she packed. And it insinuates that I’m a traitor. Two things that I know are categorically false. I was like, “Damn, girl. You’re not digging at me once. You’re digging at me twice.†What I wanted to say was, “Bitch, you could never.†But I didn’t want to do that because I didn’t see what fashion she brought. So I was like, Okay, maybe they are so great. And that was the end of it for me. Apparently, in some alternate universe, I got up, stormed out of the room, ran down the hall, she ran after me like in a scary movie where you’re running and you fall because your high-heel shoes all fall off in slow motion, and then she screamed my name passionately to try to mend our beautiful relationship.
None of that happened. If she had come after me or ended up in the same room and tried to call after me, I would’ve stopped and turned around. I didn’t know that until the next morning. I thought I just had a nice conversation about fashion and I was like, Let me represent. This is not a show about fashion, but obviously Alan is serving looks. Now, my question is, Did anybody have that reaction when Trishelle walked into the room? It took me aback that anyone was bringing up a conversation that I’d had with Trishelle. The overly dramatic version that it snowballed into — some kind of dramatic catfight — that’s just not how I remember it at all.
The original scene felt very minor to me.
That was my recollection of it.
It also felt like there were microaggressions flying at you constantly throughout your elimination episode. Is that how you felt there?
I felt probably the worst I’ve ever felt in my life since being in high school, when I was picked on as a queer kid. I felt like I went onto my favorite show to have an experience and meet some of the people who I watched on TV, and I ended up getting transported back to when I used to get beaten up.
Was that specifically from Trishelle, or was that from the larger group?
It was from Trishelle, and eventually it was from the larger group. And so all those microaggressions that had been happening throughout, where people were giving me the cold shoulder leading up to the elimination, were just sort of expanded and suffocated me
I also was thinking: Gosh, the optics here just don’t feel … something feels icky about this for some reason. I know it’s a game. As a faithful, we’re all sitting ducks. Most of the faithfuls are going to get killed. But I also thought maybe what I’m bringing to the table is something worth keeping here with these people. Do they see that I could be a good ally? Can they sense my authenticity and the genuineness of how I try to communicate? Does any of that register with any of these people?
That first elimination is obviously going to be hard, but what I was struck by was that, when you don’t have a lot to go off of, it’s very easy for biases that you had coming into the show to affect how you vote. Did it feel like that was a factor when you were there?
I went into the place as the only person from Drag Race and the only Black trans woman in the show. That’s a wonderful, momentous thing, and I was so proud to have been able to have that opportunity. Most people in the United States say that they don’t even personally know someone who’s transgender, so that’s an uphill battle. Most of the people who were in that castle said that they didn’t watch Drag Race.
I wasn’t on Survivor with Sandra and Parvati, but I know them and I love them because of that. Right? So I just didn’t have someone saying, “Oh, I watched Peppermint on Drag Race. I love her.†No one in that house ever said that. That was an uphill battle, with me trying to get to know people in the short amount of time that we had. I was trying to build genuine connections, but the few weak bonds that I had been able to build just were not strong enough to hold up to what they could have relied on, which is exactly as you describe it. Since they can’t rely on a previous relationship, they can’t rely on the fact that they’ve watched me on TV over the years, and they can’t really rely on a strong connection with me in the room, then they just have to go on what they think when they see me walk through the door. You need very little to confirm your biases when you are trying to make a decision like that.
What struck me about what Trishelle was perceiving was that, to me, it indicated a lack of previous interaction specifically with Black trans women or drag queens, and thus not knowing how you would talk, and so she felt like you reacting normally was this huge thing.Â
That’s certainly true. If she and I had gotten to know each other, we would’ve gotten used to each other and how each other speaks. I don’t think it’s any mystery that I’m dramatic. Maybe she just doesn’t have any connection to drag queens, the LGBTQ+ community, or trans people at all. I don’t know much about her, and I’m not going to judge her the way that she judged me, but I am going to say that that’s a safe bet.
Is there anything you look back on and think you would have done differently?
I probably would’ve been more open to being a traitor. But I feel like if I had been a traitor, it would’ve gone the same way. I just don’t know. Given the outside world and knowing how much the outside world affects our everyday lives; what’s going on in the outside world with regards to how LGBTQ+ people are viewed; and the literal campaign that’s happening, throwing trans people and queer people under the bus, saying that we’re groomers and we’re perpetrators … I didn’t want to go into that house electing to be a perpetrator.
I love the show so much. I do. It does break my heart when someone innocent is sort of lambasted without any sort of recourse or repercussion or revenge. I hope somebody was able to avenge me, but I don’t think that anybody was trying.