VH1 Interview: Raven (RuPaul Drag Race 2)

Here is the VH1 interview 

of Raven who came in the 2nd place on RuPaul' Drag Race 2. In this interview , Raven discusses coming in 2nd place on the show, she also talks about her experience being on the show, her rival with Tatianna ect

Was this a good experience for you?
Yeah. I enjoyed it. I don’t enjoy the aftermath of not being able to go to Disneyland or go and have a drink at the club. Now it’s just people on you. You’ll be standing there posing with someone in a picture, and while you’re doing that, someone’s sticking you in the back or pulling your arm, and you’re like, “Hold on. They came to me first.” People are so rude.

It seemed like you were really pissed to have lost to Tyra.
I was.

What was up with you writing on the mirror, “Keep your eyes on the stars, you’ll never be one”?
Everyone who goes to my shows knows that’s how I end every one of my shows. I say it before I tell the crowd goodnight. Yeah, it could have been a little bit of stab, but I also know that my friends who go to my shows know that’s how I leave the show. I was leaving the show, that’s why I wrote that on the mirror. Why not? Plus it made for good TV.

Are you still pissed?
No. I was really upset, though. It’s one of those things where you come so far and you hear no and you’re like, “F***.” That’s what really irritated me, but I’m over it now. If we would have filmed this reunion right after, I’m sure there would have been a lot more resentment.

What helped you get over it? Time?
That, and the fact that I can tell myself I’m a winner. We all made it here out of thousands of submissions. We all won in our own right. I think just finally realizing I didn’t win, let her have it. I mean, who won the last American Idol? Everyone remembers Adam Lambert, but they do not remember the winner.

Kris Allen, but point taken.
Thank you for totally s***ting on what I was saying. I felt like I made my mark, I did my job and I went from lip synching twice early on. I think that’s very amazing that I went from the bottom to the top.

I know this is weird to ask, but being that you seem to really get the TV aspect of it all, did the good TV in Tyra’s hyperventilating reaction to winning ease the blow of losing at all?
I took that in two ways: I took it that she could finally stop playing the part and go back to being her and I also took it as she knew she was going to win, so she had to overreact.

You think it was an act?
I do. I did then and I do now.

Any bad blood?
Not at all. We haven’t really talked. I keep in touch with Morgan, Juju, Jessica, Sonique and Pandora. Those are the only ones I’ve really kept in contact with. Shangela, I see every once in a while. There could possibly be bad blood with Tyra, actually, but it’s not a big deal.

Obviously, your rivalry with Tatianna was a huge part of your storyline. What do you make of it all, looking back?
The thing was that I was just upset, because I saw so many people putting so much into their transformation. With Tatianna, I was seeing the judges living for something that wasn’t…polished. I think she’s beautiful. I think she’s gorgeous. I just wanted to see more, and that was something that really started to chew away at me.
Y
ou felt like it came too easy for her?
Yeah. And everywhere you looked were other people doing so much work. In my interviews, I was always being questioned about Tatianna. So it was like, OK, I’m gonna help create this story to make it better. It’s a f***ing TV show. And that’s what kills me when I see on Facebook, “Get rid of Tyra. Get rid of Raven. They’re bitches.” You want to watch a show that’s a bunch of people running around nice and kissing?

You weren’t there to make a crotch-full of friends.
Exactly. I can’t believe I said that.
I
love it, but I don’t know what it means.
I don’t either.

Tell me about the Britney Spears-fan hate. I thought that might be an association from your past: did you once know a Britney fan who did you wrong or something?
No. It stems from people who are avid Britney Spears fans, and who think she can do no wrong. What I told Tatianna was that you couldn’t go watch Britney Spears sit on the edge of a stage with a guitar or piano, sing a song, no pyrotehnics and enjoy it. She has to have all this s*** going on around her. When I go to a concert, I like to see Imogen Heap or the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I like to see someone who can sit there, do a set and make it amazing. I’m not saying that I haven’t been to a Britney Spears concert, because I have. The point that I was trying to make is that Tatianna likes things that are just pretty. She doesn’t look for anything deeper. It really pissed me off.

Do you think you were unnecessarily hard on Tatianna?
I’m hard on myself. I own up to it when I suck. My chicken sucked and I admitted it. When I do something bad, I can admit it. I’m not the type of person to sit there and say, “I’m the bomb! I’m perfect.” When I should get validated for something, I want to be validated. When I do something that’s bad, smack me on the hand and I’ll fix it.

There’s a sort of crickets-chirping part of Untucked where you mention having humility, but taking to you, I can see it.
A lot of people say that. In the rock and roll episode, when I got to meet Terri Nun, when I came back in the room they asked, “Did you love her?” and I said, “No, she loved me.” Who wouldn’t say that? Think of meeting someone you love who proceeds to talk you up. You’d do the same thing. I did see some comments that were like, “There goes Raven being humble again.” I’m actually a very humble person.

And yet, your reputation as a bitch persists.
It’s a TV show. And that’s why when I see people who are like blogging about how I’m such a bitch and how they hate me, it’s like, OK, you’re the only one allowed to be a bitch? You bought that franchise? Just because I’m speaking my mind and giving my opinion when it’s asked for, I’m being a bitch. OK. Change the definition and stick my picture next to it. It’s so funny how other people are allowed to be bitchy, but we aren’t.