Culture

Drag Race: Sapphira Cristál addresses season 16 loss

By Sam Damshenas

23rd April 2024

Sapphira Cristál says she would’ve won RuPaul’s Drag Race if it wasn’t for the final lip-sync.

The Philadelphia queen demolished the 16th season of the series with only one bottom placement and four maxi-challenge wins – three of which were consecutive, becoming the first contestant on a regular season to do so.

In the season 16 finale, Sapphira competed against Nymphia Wind in a lip-sync smackdown for the crown to Kylie Minogue’s Grammy Award-winning smasher ‘Padam Padam’.

Although the Slue Foot: Embracing All of Me author delivered a fierce lip-sync, she was upstaged by Nymphia’s various tricks, from her balloon and carthweel reveals to her bendy stunts.

Nymphia was ultimately crowned ‘America’s Next Drag Superstar’, making herstory as the American franchise’s first-ever East Asian winner in the process, with Sapphira settling for second place.

In her exit interview with Entertainment Weekly, Sapphira said the result “came down to that final lip-sync, and that final lip-sync only”: “If it didn’t come down to that final lip-sync, I won the whole thing.”

Despite her loss, the queen has no regrets about her strategy in the final lip-sync. She also revealed that her creative decision behind her use of vampire fangs: “I just thought, oh, it’s about hearts.

“Who loves hearts? Who loves blood? Who loves to hear the pumping of blood? The one and only Nosferatu! You think about Interview With the Vampire, Blade, From Dusk Til Dawn, these sexy vampires who seduce people and hear their blood pumping and it makes them excited. My approach was just to be a sexy vampire.”

When asked if she had considered incorporating fake blood into her act, Sapphira said it never crossed her mind because “there are too many unknowns when it comes to having liquids on stage”.

“I want to win by winning and not by sabotaging anyone. As we saw, Nymphia was doing a lot, and if she slipped on some blood, I would’ve felt horrible,” she explained.

“I just couldn’t get it together, but I wanted to have a pumping heart that I took out of something and held in my hand. It just didn’t work out in time. But, that was not something that didn’t happen because of production or anything. Logistically, it just didn’t.”

While Sapphira didn’t comment on whether she’s keen on appearing on a future instalment of Drag Race, from All Stars to vs the World, she shared that she has “a lot coming out” with her upcoming The Cristál Ball tour and EP of the same name.

“Also, Monét X Change and I will be singing at Lincoln Center with an orchestra and Soundcake. It’s aural confessions, opera, pop, drag; it’s everything you want,” she said.

“We have a little bit of Thorgy Thor in there as well. All the classical girls are doing the thing. I’m living my absolute best life, and I encourage everyone else to take the bull by the horns and buck it.

“Ride the river of abundance and keep going toward your dreams. Remember to truly love and accept yourself, because that’s the only way you’ll be able to spread the love that you have inside, out.”

Revisit Nymphia and Sapphira’s instantly iconic ‘Padam Padam’ lip-sync here or below.