In the immortal words of Christine Baranski's Tanya in Mamma Mia: “Be still my beating vagina.” Envy Peru is well-known for being the first winner of Drag Race Holland, with exceptional makeup skills and a high-energy performance style. From her 2020 win to her 2023 appearance at RuPaul's DragCon UK, lots has changed. FILMHOUNDS sat down with her to find out more.
Has RuPaul's DragCon UK been everything that you want it to be?
It has been even more than I thought it would be. I had my first DragCon in LA, but I didn't have like the full experience like I've had here because we had problems. So I was only there for two days. I've been here since Wednesday, and it has been amazing being in the hotel with all of the queens. Everybody's setting up their booth and getting to know each other. Particularly all of the international girls, because this is a DragCon with so much international representation through the franchises.
Is there anyone else here that you really wanted to meet?
I really want to meet Raven, but I didn't get the chance. Raven is really the person — and I think this is true for a lot of queens — that really inspired me doing my makeup, you know? So I still haven't got the chance to meet her, but the day will come. I knew Ellis Atlantis was going to be here and I love her. We finally got a chance to just hang out and chat. There are so many peers, I definitely can't name them all.
Have you got your head around the fact that there are people that will come here especially and queue for hours to see you? How does that feel?
It feels surreal. Holland is a small country, so everybody's pretty used to seeing me. But here, there are so many people from all across Europe that want to see the international girls or me. So the moment that we opened the booth, people were lining up. I was like “Wow, this is so amazing.” Normally you see it on social media, but now you can see those comments and likes, in real-time, real faces, real people. Sharing the most beautiful things with me. It's just been very beautiful.
I watched you perform last night [at the DragCon UK all-winners afterparty] — you were amazing. Your set felt so traditional yet totally fresh. No reliance on tricks, just pure performance. Was that a classic Envy Peru outing?
I think it is. I can do a lot of things, and I like to do high energy. But I thought it would be nice to do something different, to bring a little bit more sensuality and performance. I don't think a lot of us can pull that off. I think if people know me, they know that I'm a big Kylie Minogue fan. So of course the song Slow is one of my favourites now. It's definitely classic Envy Peru.
From your season of Drag Race Holland to now, what has your journey been like? Is it what you pictured? Has it already succeeded?
Well, looking back at it now, it has exceeded my expectations. At the moment itself, it was very difficult, because we were one of the first seasons that was filmed in the middle of the pandemic. So imagine getting ready for Drag Race in the middle of a pandemic! Everything was closed. Even after the last episode, we were still in the pandemic. So I imagined it very differently. We were never able to do the big Season tour afterwards because of lockdowns. But the moment that the world opened up again, that's where that all started. And that has been very cool.
New year, new you… what's in store in 2023?
I'm working on a lot of things. I'm planning to go to do more things in the US as well. And we have a lot of very cool things also planned in Holland. I have a new TV show coming up, though I cannot tell you a lot. I'm really a believer in not speaking on these things too much because you never know, something could happen. So I'm not going to spoil anything, but 2023? I'm ready to kick ass this year.
