Jaymes Mansfield

by Russ White , Garrett Pattiani
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QLife caught up with Jaymes before the season started for an interview about her experience with the show,

Jaymes sashayed away on Episode 2, but you can still vote for Jaymes in our Season 9 Leaderboard

QLife: Tell us a little bit about what's been happening in your life the past few months.

Jaymes: All my life has completely changed, I'll tell you that. I've been going to places I've never dreamed possible. I never even thought touring would be a fathomable thought for me and my drag and now it's a reality. I'm getting to meet all these wonderful new people–it's like a bizarre thing to be going from a bar where you perform for $25 a night to being flown places that people are excited to see you. You've been hustling your whole drag career just trying to get people to show up to your local gigs and now you have an audience. That'a a little weird.

QLife: What's the what's the biggest thing that you've learned from your experience on the show?

Jaymes: The biggest thing I've learned from this experience is honestly just be yourself. I think that's the core message of that show–to never compromise who you are. Just be true to what you do.

QLife: What are four words that you use to describe your drag persona?

Jaymes: Kooky, campy, funny and fabulous!

QLife: We noticed in the footage from the New York premiere that you had an animal print on your outfit. What is what is all about?.

Jaymes: It's my own creation I was inspired a lot by the costumes that Miley Cyrus wore on the Bangers tour. I decided to put my own original spin on that. I always want to be like a walking puppet. My character's name is Nipple, and he's my best friend.

QLife; Do you do you make your own outfits or do you have the made?

Jaymes: Oh, well here's the thing. I'm from a small town, so either you have to learn to make everything, or you starve. So I make everything myself. I wouldn't have it any other way.

QLife: What's been the most outrageous outfit you've ever made?

Jaymes: I have an outfit I wear on tour now. It's a giant, pink quinceanera skirt with a small little tiny body, so it looks like a tall little short person. My arms are a small tiny puppet, my human head is there, so it looks like I have little tiny body.

QLife: Where are you headed to next for the show and touring? Are you pretty busy?

Jaymes: I'm doing a two-city tour. I just left Austin and I'm going to Seattle next—you know the city that never has sunshine—so I'm going to bring the summer there.

QLife: How long have you been doing drag and what were your inspirations? Were there any queens that made a big impression?

Jaymes: I started four years ago. I did it as a joke. I used to be a puppeteer before I started doing drag. I decided why share the spotlight with something else when you can be the spotlight. I've always been a huge fan of drag. I love drag queens of the past. One of the things I do is directly history where I teach the younger generation about names that came before us and shown them that before we had this TV show that drag queens had careers.

QLife: Where did the name Jaymes Mansfield come from.

Jaymes: It's fairly brainy obviously. I and fired by Jane Austen novel that are underrated.

QLife: Jane Austen. That cracks me up!

Jaymes: Actually, it's a play on words with my actual birth name and the actress Jane Mansfield. I figured Jaymes is not a very glamorous name but Mansfield is. I liked the ring of it, and I always like Jane Mansfield because she was a very eccentric woman that kind of treated herself like a drag queen.

QLife: Do you have an anthem song? What's your go-to song?

Jaymes: Luka by Suzanne Vega [laughs]. That's really hard; I can just pick one. I guess I'd have to say "The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun" by Julie Brown. You know, the song sends an important message[laughs].

QLife: Is there anything else you want our readers to know about you?

Jaymes: Aside from being the most fabulous drag queen in RuPaul's Drag Race history, I'm actually a YouTuber and my whole channel is dedicated to education and trying to spread the word of drag to everyone across the country.

QLife: Thank you so much for spending some of your afternoon with us and that congratulations on Season 9 and we wish you the best of luck!

Jaymes: Thanks! This was actually very pleasant. I was expecting you guys to grill me and come hard news at me. I was expecting my "meryl-streep-cry-in-the-dark" moment.

 

Garrett Pattiani

Publisher