RuPaul’s Drag Race season 16 episode 5 followed up the heartbreaking elimination of Mirage with another devastating queen being asked to sashay away — the fan-favorite Amanda Tori Meating.
Between her iconic performance of “My Kitty” at the Variety Show, her inventive ball looks in the “Mother of All Balls,” and her completely underrated comedic performance as a news anchor on “RDR Live,” Amanda had the fans rooting for her pretty much from the jump. While her runway looks didn’t always match her performance skills and contagious charisma, Amanda was also able to show a lot of improvement in her five-episode arc on Drag Race season 16.
Unfortunately, the judges had critiques for Amanda’s girl-group performance as the Lovah Girlz (alongside Plane Jane, Plasma, and Xunami Muse), who wrote their own verses for RuPaul’s “Courage to Love.” The critiques were even harsher for Amanda’s runway look, and she ultimately lost the “Emergency” by Icona Pop lip sync to fellow competitor Q.
During her exit interview with Out, Amanda talks about her ongoing — and currently still unresolved — feud with Plane Jane, shares her reactions to being beloved by the Drag Race fandom, and comments on the poetic “egg” reference in her final runway look as it pertains to Amanda recently coming out as trans.
Scroll through to read Out’s interview with Amanda Tori Meating, who you can follow on Instagram, X/Twitter, and TikTok. You can also support Amanda by buying her merch on MyBestJudy, booking her for a video on Cameo, and/or sending her a cash tip via Venmo!
Out: Let's zoom out and start with a big-picture question: how would you describe your Drag Race journey?
Amanda Tori Meating: I would describe my Drag Race journey with this compound word that I learned on set: “mad c*nt.”
I love that you've been such a huge part of season 16. You're an undeniable fan-favorite! I loved you on the show and I'm frankly shocked that you're gone so soon. How has it been to receive so much love on social media?
It's honestly been so crazy. Leaving Drag Race after being eliminated, I kind of just thought everyone was going to think I was a booger and bad at drag. Maybe the silly, goofy girl who they kept around for vibes. So, to have people liking the vibes and the personality, and also being like, 'No, I get what you're going for with the looks and the aesthetic'… that's been very validating!
Let's talk about episode 5. You were in the same group as Plane Jane, who's been your main antagonist throughout the season. How did it feel to land in the same group as her? Were you annoyed, or not as bothered by it?
Oh, no. I come from the theater, so I am very used to working with girls I don't like. So my attitude going into that was like, 'If this b*tch is on the team with me, I'm going to be the most sickening I can be, and I hope she can keep up.'
I get the impression that… let's put it this way: most queens who do these exit interviews after being on the show are like, 'Whatever happened in the werk room happened a long time ago, so it's all in the past.' But I get the impression that things between you and Plane Jane are still, perhaps, not great. How do you feel about that situation as of right now and today?
As of right now and today, she and I have been in touch in recent weeks, so I would say that we've reached I guess an understanding. We're like, 'We may not necessarily like each other that much, but we are co-workers and we should be able to share a space respectfully and as mature adults.' And if there are no cameras rolling, then there's absolutely nothing to be gained from shady little comments that aren't even funny. So yeah, I think we've been able to at least come to that.
A coworker! That is very on-brand.
Well, yes! [laughs]
You and Q were friends on the show, and I think both of you did a great job in the lip sync. Did falling in the bottom two with Q throw you off because she was actually close to you on the show?
You know what? It honestly made it a little bit, I don't know if 'thrown off' was the right word, but I guess when I knew it was going to be the two of us in the bottom two, I was like, 'Oh, I really hate to either get sent home by my sister or send my sister home.' But I was also like, 'I'm going to fight to the death. Tooth and nail.'
However, after they asked me to sashay away, I was glad that I got sent home by a sister and a friend. Like, at that point, Plane Jane and I were very much not on good terms. So, if I had gotten sent home by her, I would've [had a completely different reaction and felt a lot worse].
As someone who watches Drag Race and has covered the show for many years now, this bottom two truly felt like a toss-up. Q had been placing second for many weeks, which is a great track record. But you were a huge character on the show and your aesthetic evolution was very exciting to see. What was going through your head when the lip sync started?
Yeah, there were so many things to be considered in that situation, right? I think her track record was definitely better than mine, so that was certainly not looking good for me. But I also felt that I could certainly hold my own against her in the lip sync, and beat her.
If you're in the bottom two, there is a chance that you're going home, right? So I didn't want to just say, 'Oh, I'm not going home.' Perhaps I should have. But at that moment I was like, 'I do not want to go home. I'm going to fight tooth and nail to stay. But if this does happen to be my last time on the main stage of RuPaul’s Drag Race — until I come back to win All Stars — then I better turn it and give as good of a show as I possibly can.'
You recently came out as trans during an interview with Entertainment Weekly’s Joey Nolfi. First of all, congratulations! We're so happy to see it and to learn more about your journey. How do you feel after disclosing that information to the fans?
It felt like a big leap because it was something that I came to terms with after filming the show. I had been thinking about it and questioning it for a long time, but the experience of being on Drag Race with the girls and only being called Amanda — not being referred to by my government name — I was like, 'Oh no, this is the way that I want to be living.' So as I got back from Drag Race, it was sort of like a slap in the face to be called anything but Amanda. I was like, 'Hmm, maybe I do need to investigate this.' And that's been my journey since [we finished filming the show].
For my last question, I wanted to talk about your "nest"/"egg" runway look from episode 5. Some trans people use the term “egg” in reference to someone who is trans but hasn't realized that yet. Were you conscious of that when you prepared this runway look, or was it a complete coincidence?
So, I was aware that that was the term, right? And I knew that that was a reference. But I was absolutely not planning it. I was literally just like, 'Oh, I'm going to use a pussycat to tell a visual story. Maybe it's an egg cracking and the bangs are jagged. It's like a bird's nest!' So to come back from Drag Race, come to terms with being trans, and make the choice to move forward with it… to then look back and be like, 'Oh my god, I literally got sent home as an egg.' That is crazy.
It's poetic. It's beautiful. And we're all really happy for you.
Oh, and actually, when I did the photoshoot for this look, that was the day when I took my first estrogen pills!
RuPaul’s Drag Race season 16 airs every Friday on MTV.