Eat

Sashay Fillet

June 28, 2018 immrfabulous

Get ready Henny! The world of food & drag are about to collide in an epic hair flipping, pan frying battle, delightfully named: Sashay, Fillet.

On August 30th, during Calgary Pride Week, Top Chef Canada judge Mijune Pak and Yuhua Hamasaki of RuPaul’s Drag Race S10 will co-host a lively evening that sees Alberta chefs paired up with talented drag performers for a series of challenges resulting in delicious canapés and captivating performances for attendees.

Think Top Chef meets Drag Race.

And in advance of this epic culinary collaboration, I had the chance to chat with Drag Race alumni, Yuhua, and asked her to spill the tea on on some of MY need-to-know questions about Ru, the girls and her time on the show.

Here were my fishy findings:

FAB– Is Mama Ru beat for the gods? What does she look like in person?

Yuhua– The first time I saw her in drag I was going down the runway. I walked out for the first episode and I remember thinking ‘oh my gosh, she is GORGEOUS!’ She looks exactly the same (on tv) as she does in person.

I was so shook and so nervous that they had to re-film my runway walk, because I was walking the wrong way because I was so busy paying attention to her!

FAB– As a contestant are you able to predict who the top 5 will be as soon as you start filming?

Yuhua– Some girls look really amazing and then some girls may not look so amazing, but you don’t know what their hidden talents are until probably midway through. Some girls might look great, but can’t really perform; some girls might look great and they’re very funny; some girls – like me – can sew, but you don’t really know how the cookie is going to crumble.

FAB– Can you hear the judges making their one-liners while you’re doing your main stage runway. Or is dubbed over in post edit?

Yuhua– You can hear them, yes. Especially for me, when I was doing the first week challenge I could hear Michelle going “Angh, angh, angh“ and I was like what are you talking about? Do I look like a car or something? Or a New York City taxi, I had no idea what she was saying, but I just kept watching and doing my thing. It can’t distract you; you can’t let it affect you at all.

FAB– How did everyone know Miss Vanjie would become a thing when the show aired? She’s referred to in every S10 episode!

Yuhua– I had no idea, when I first heard her say it, I thought she was going to say Vanessa, and she messed it up. They did a second take, because she was really shook, scared and shocked that she got sent home in the first episode. When I heard her say it again for the third time, “Vanjie”, I thought, damn girl, you must be really really shook. She must be really nervous and scared.

FAB– Do you feel the picture of who you are was represented fairly?

Yuhua– The entire series was filmed a year ago, so we have grown from that. So what you see is from a year ago, you go through an experience, you graduate, you become a better person.

But everything I said and done was what I said and done. Everything that I said, I meant it. I felt that if I shouldn’t have said something, then I shouldn’t have said it. I have no regrets whatsoever. It’s 100,000 dollars, which is a 100,000 times more money than I have right now, so everything I said and done was based on what I felt at that time.

FAB– Sashay, Fillet will be your first time coming to Canada, thoughts on visiting our country?

Yuhua– Canada, you guys have the hottest President, wait, you don’t even call it President, Prime Minister in the world! That you guys are very open minded, the way you guys progress is like 200 years before the United States, so we have a lot to learn from you guys in Canada.