Pre-season, Madame Madness was touted as a frontrunner on Drag Race Holland. The bearded queen left fans gagged with her fierce promo and compelling bio, which states that she’s ‘trying to break through the boxes of masculinity and femininity.’ While she did live up to those aforementioned expectations with her alluring runways, her time was short-lived. This week, the queens were tasked with competing in a dance battle – with assistance from Amber Vineyard – before impressing the judges with a sparkle-themed ensemble on the main stage.
Madness failed to wow the judges and fell into the bottom for the third consecutive week, finding herself in a lip-sync showdown against Miss Abby OMG and Ma’Ma Queen. C’mon twist! Sadly, Madness was given the chop. We spoke with the star after her elimination to discuss her time on Drag Race Holland, falling victim to the infamous Drag Race curse, and who she planned to embody for Snatch Game.
First of all, condragulations for making it onto Drag Race Holland!
Well first, thank you! And yes, it’s been such a journey. Because of the pandemic it’s been like a crazy ride for me.
How has your life been affected by Drag Race so far?
I must say, I’ve gotten so much more media attention right now. Before I did Drag Race, when I used to do drag it would be more for the people in Amsterdam. And now that this has become such a worldwide phenomenon, I must say, so many things have changed. These pressures are things that I would you know expect. Having a thousand DM’s every day, people recognising you in the street. You know, things change.
You’ve also made history as the first bearded queen on the Drag Race franchise…
Yeah, the first ever bearded queen! It’s so cool to be the first bearded queen that goes onto the show. I just hope that people like seeing this type of queen and maybe change their perspective of drag.
As someone who also has a beard that hasn’t been clean shaven in years, I had major anxiety watching you shave it off this week.
Right?! You know, I just had to do it because I was constantly hearing from the judges that they didn’t understand the beard. So at some point, I thought to myself, ‘I already am not doing that well on the show right now, so maybe I should take a risk and do what the judges on the show asked me.’ That’s why I decided to shave it off.
Did you expect them to critique your beard before you entered the series?
I did. I imagined they would judge my beard very quickly.
Why do you think alternative queens are always told to do something different, but the typical beauty queens aren’t told to change it up?
I think it’s because we have the image of what the perfect woman is, and if we tried to do anything different from the perfect picture, it will be judged. I think it relates back to society as well. If you look anything but normal in society you will be judged for it, or people will ask you, ‘Why did you do that?’ or they will tell you to change it up. I would say that bearded queens are still new to the drag scene. The main thing that we see is gorgeous women doing backflips and being gorgeous in gowns, and I think that a bearded queen is far from what you usually see.
It seemed like you didn’t have as much fight this week. Why was that?
I just felt like a lot of things were already going on in my life besides Drag Race. I just lost my job. I was about to lose my two cats at home. So, I was already walking into the workroom with a lot of stress from the outside. I just felt like everything was crumbling down. So I just tried to make the best out of it. I tried to stay excited. But like, I also tried to stay realistic to myself. And just like, just roll with whatever is happening.
Did you manage to keep your two cats?
I still have them right now, which is good, but we have to give them up anytime soon. So I think next week or something like that we will give the catss away to a friend of mine. They’re actually not even my cats because they were just left behind. So yeah, we were just trying to take care of them. But it’s just the best we give them to someone else that will take good care of them.
Was your time on Drag Race everything you expected it to be?
Well when I was cast I thought to myself, ‘Okay this was going to be a very Dutch and traditional Drag Race.’ I already thought this was going to be a prominent thing in the show. Like, even when I walkED into the workroom, I just felt like, ‘Okay, this is how I imagined it was going to be.’ I just felt very at home.
If you continued in the competition, what could we have expected to see from you?
Well I can tell you this, I made the first looks myself, and then I had four looks that were very high fashion that I wanted to show after this week’s episode, to make it look even stronger. I was gonna pull up these fierce looks, but unfortunately, I couldn’t get the show to you guys.
Would you have painted the beard back on for the next challenge?
I would have painted it on the next week, yeah. It would be like a moment between Max and Michelle [Visage]. One day without grey hair and then the next day I would do it again.
It’s a common occurrence on Drag Race, when the judges tell the alternative queen to ‘switch it up’ and when they do, they go home. It’s a curse.
It’s always like that. Like, they always tell you to change it up and then when you change it up, they either miss it or they have something else to critique on and then you’ll be sent home. It’s always like that on Drag Race.
Did you expect for three queens to be lip-syncing that week?
No, I didn’t expect that at all. That was such a shock to me. But I was actually living for it. I think you could even tell on my face. And I was like, ‘We have to do a triple lip sync?’ That’s so fun.
It was a great lip sync too, and we’ve been waiting for I Wanna Dance With Somebody for years.
It was not my favourite song, if I can be honest. I would rather have something else but you know, I just had to do with everything that was thrown at me.
What’s your go-to song to lip-sync to if you had to pick one?
I would say Gwen Stefani’s What You Waiting For. It meets my drag, because Madness is all about fantasy and everything that isn’t normal is suddenly possible. It feels like Alice in Wonderland sort of meets Gwen Stefani What You Waiting For? It’s the same kind of theme, the same kind of beat and rhythm I go for.
I mean, the whole Love. Angel. Music. Baby. album needs to be lip-synced to…
Maybe on the next season, who knows? That would be fun.
Out of your six remaining sisters, who would you like to see take home the crown?
I would like Miss Abby OMG to take the crown because she’s my best friend and I would give her the world.
Final question: who did you have planned for Snatch Game?
I would have planned Conchita Wurst. When I was doing research, I was like, ‘What can I do as a bearded queen for Snatch Game? Conchita Wurst!’ I was looking at her and looking at the kind of interviews that she does. She would always be a little awkward, have a glass of wine and then once she had too much wine, she would try to become a little bit sexual with the interviewer, so I was trying to go for that!
Drag Race Holland continues weekly on Thursdays at 11pm on WOW Presents Plus, for more information visit WOW Presents Plus.
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