Drag Racer Mayhem Miller headlines Impulse Dallas event in Ft. Worth
Tammye Nash | Managing Editor
nash@dallasvoice.com
Ask, and she’ll tell you: Mayhem Miller is “the queen of the party.” And this weekend, Mayhem brings the party to Fort Worth as the special guest at “Cirque du SoGay,” a special event presented by Impulse Dallas Saturday night at Fort Worth’s Urban Cowboy Saloon.
Mayhem is one of the 14 drag queens chosen to compete in RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 10, now underway and airing Thursday nights on VH1. Going into Episode 5 — set to air just hours from now as I am writing — Mayhem has one win under her belt, two weeks safe and, in Episode 3, had to lip-sync for her life against Yuhua Hamasaki, who ended up being eliminated.
[UPDATE: In the fifth episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 10, which aired after this issue of Dallas Voice had gone to press, Mayhem ended up in the bottom two, having to lip-sync for her life against Monet X. Change. And while Mayhem surely looked pretty in pink and did a good job performing a Shania Twain song for guest judge Shaina Twain, Monet’s over-the-top rendition of the song gave her the edge, and Mayhem was eliminated.]
Despite that brush with elimination, Mayhem is determined that she will make the most of an opportunity that has been a long time coming for her.
In an interview earlier this week, Mayhem explained that she began doing drag after “one weird night” when she went to her local bar — she’s from Riverside, Calif. — to support a friend who was entered in that night’s amateur competition. She said she went in drag herself, with the help of a friend who did her makeup, just as another level of support for her friend who was competing.
“That was the night I got bitten by the drag bug,” Mayhem said. “I ended up getting on the stage that night, and ever since then I’ve been doing drag.”
While landing a spot on Drag Race has long been a goal, Mayhem said it took a while to get there.
“For those that don’t know me, I come from a prestigious group of friends,” Mayhem explained, and many of those friends have been on previous Drag Race seasons. In fact, Mayhem’s drag family includes her sisters Raven, Morgan McMichaels, Delta and Detox, all of whom are Drag Race alums.
But until Season 10, “I’ve always been the odd one out, always on the outside looking in,” she continued. “I auditioned year after year but never made it. It was really hard to be so close but not make the show.
“Of course I wanted to be on the show. Drag Race is the pinnacle of our industry, the top of the top. And if you are one of the best, you want to be acknowledged as one of the best,” she continued. “When I finally got that call, it meant the world to me. This is finally it, my moment to shine and to be seen as equal to my sisters.”
While fans have only seen the first four episodes, with seven more queens left to be eliminated before the final three head to the finale where the top two will lip-sync for the crown, every episode except the finale, which will air live, has already been filmed. The contestants, though, are sworn to secrecy about who goes home when, and who goes all the way.
But Mayhem did say competing on the show has been “what I expected — and so much more.”
She continued, “Going into the show, especially when you have so many friends who have competed before, you know what to expect.
But you also know you have to expect the unexpected.
Contestants are not allowed to tell anyone they were chosen for the show until the big reveal, when all the competitors are announced — after all the episodes except the finale have been filmed. And during the two or so months they are away for filming, they aren’t allowed contact with family and friends so that the secret stays safe.
The experience can be a real eye-opener. “One thing I will say is that I wasn’t expecting to miss my family and my friends so much,” Mayhem said. “When you are cut off from all social media and everything and everyone that is familiar to you, you realize how much it all really means to you.”
The contestants have each other, of course. But at the same time, most of them are strangers to each other, and when you get right down to it, they have to remember they are all competing for the same prize.
“It’s interesting. You’re in this situation with a bunch of strangers, and you’re all put through this ringer together,” Mayhem said.
“You want to support each other, and you try to support each other. We all feel the same way; we’re all there for the same reason: to win. It really pushes you.”
And with so many bigger-than-life personalities crammed into such close proximity day after day to compete against each other, there will be conflict — for example, the loud and long dust-up between Eureka O’Hara and The Vixen in week four.
It happens, Mayhem acknowledged, “but I try to always be neutral. That’s my nature. I don’t like conflict and I don’t like fighting.”
Although expecting the unexpected is a necessary part of competing on Drag Race, the queens know some things are definite. For example, there will definitely be design challenges. And for Mayhem, those were some of the hardest parts of the competition.
“The design challenges were difficult for me because I don’t make my own stuff,” she said. “Yes, I can sew if I have to. But I don’t do it regularly. But the show pushed me into doing something I am not familiar with, that I don’t like doing — it pushed me into doing it, and doing it well.”
Competing in Drag Race also can be a hard reality check for some of the queens. “A lot of the girls are big names where they are from, but then you get here and you realize, oh wow! This person has way more experience than I do!
“You might be the top dog at home, but you get to the competition, and that is all thrown out,:” she said. “Everybody starts from scratch. You realize that even though you might have a lot of experience in this one area, somebody else has more experience in a different area. When you get right down to it, it’s almost a level playing field.”
Mayhem said she has just focused on taking it all in stride and taking each challenge as it comes. “My drag is very varied,” she said. “I am well-versed in all aspects of drag — from the glamour side of it to the avant garde and the crazy, out-of-the-box side. Then we get into the comedy and the acting side of my drag, and the fashion side of my drag.
“I pride myself on being a well-rounded entertainer.”
Mayhem said she knows the role drag has played in the history of the LGBT movement, and “I feel it is an honor to be able to say I am a drag queen. I know that I have a platform to continue the legacy of those who came before us, and I am proud to be out there, pushing for our rights and pushing for our visibility.”
And participating in events like Impulse Dallas’ Cirque du SoGay is part of that, she added.
Impulse is a national organization focusing on promoting “healthier sexual lifestyles using modern social approaches.” Mayhem said that she has worked with Impulse Los Angeles many times over the years, and when the opportunity to work with Impulse Dallas came up, she jumped at it.
“As an individual and as a public figure, I think it’s important to give back as much as you can and to support your community,” she said.
Impulse Dallas and Tito’s Vodka present Cirque du SoGay, featuring Mayhem Miller, Ivana Tramp, May May Graves and DH Ryan Tiffin, from 9 p.m.-2 a.m. at Urban Cowboy Saloon, 2620 E. Lancaster in Fort Worth. Admission is free, but RSVP at CirqueDuSoGay.EventBrite.com is required for admission.
