Drag Race Down Under star Nikita Iman has revealed what Michelle Visage was really like as a judge and addressed how she feels about missing out on the final.
The New Zealand drag queen, 27, was eliminated from the reality TV competition on Friday night after losing out in the lip sync battle to her close friend Mandy Moobs.
She narrowly missed out on a place in next week’s season four finale, with drag queens Mandy, Lazy Susan, Vybe and Freya Armani securing the coveted positions.
After her devastating elimination, Nikita spoke exclusively to Daily Mail Australia about her time on the Stan series and how she felt about going home so close to the final.
‘When I walked away, I had literally showed every single outfit of my package except for my finale, so the fact that I was able to literally showcase all of my outfits except for the finale, I’m so proud,’ she shared.
‘I mean, I had been eliminated and then filming for the finale was the next day, so I was like ”oh my gosh, I was literally so, so close” but no, I can’t complain.
Drag Race Down Under star Nikita Iman (pictured) has revealed what it was really like missing out on the final after she was eliminated from the show on Friday night
‘I was so happy and so proud when I had left. I think maybe I had tapped out and was ready to go home, but I was also just ready just to push it for that last couple of days.
‘But I love the final four, it’s an amazing final four girls. The whole cast I love, but I feel like me being in the finale would have added something a little bit different, but it is what it is.’
The Auckland-born, Sydney-based queen also revealed what it was really like being up-close with the notoriously feisty head judge Michelle, 56 – who took over from RuPaul on season four.
Nikita admitted that although she wasn’t intimidated by Michelle off-camera, she found herself much more nervous while facing the judges on-camera.
Despite her fears, she insisted that working with Michelle was still a lot of fun and theorised that facing drag legend RuPaul would have made her more nervous.
She dished: ‘I didn’t find [Michelle] intimidating when we were standing there, but whenever we were on camera talking, I found myself like ”oh my God, what do I say and how to do I say it?”
‘For me, my mouth usually runs quicker than I think so I always say something stupid or silly, so that’s when I put a lot of pressure on myself to watch what I was saying.
‘But interacting to [Michelle] off-camera and when she was talking to the girls, I didn’t feel that nervous. She was so, so lovely, she really treated everyone so well.
She narrowly missed out on a place in next week’s season four finale, with drag queens Mandy, Lazy Susan, Vybe and Freya Armani securing the coveted positions
The Auckland-born, Sydney-based queen also revealed what it was really like being up-close with feisty head judge Michelle Visage, 56 – who took over from RuPaul on season four
‘I think the environment of her being there just made everyone a lot more relaxed and the whole process a lot more enjoyable.
‘I never met RuPaul nor have I ever done a season with her, but I can imagine being in a room with her would be quite [tense] but with Michelle it felt a lot more relaxed and like our favourite teacher had taken over the class for the day.
‘So we just got to have fun and enjoy it.’
Reflecting on her journey on the competition, Nikita said she was ‘so confident’ before she started that she was going to make the final four, until she met the other talented queens in person.
After overcoming ‘imposter syndrome’ early on, Nikita said she became more confident and was ‘unbothered’ about where she placed each week, but still would have loved to make the final.
But, she admitted she knew her time had come to an end when she entered her third lip sync against Mandy, saying she is pleased she was able to end the show with someone who she was so close with.
Nikita also dished on what her plans would have been for the grand finale, sharing exactly what she planned to wear on that all-important last runway.
‘I had this massive kind of Marie Antoinette style Samoan princess outfit,’ she shared.
Reflecting on her journey on the competition, Nikita said she was ‘so confident’ before she started that she was going to make the final four, until she met the other talented queens
‘I just wanted to reference what it would have looked like when Samoa was first colonised with the big European style skirt but with very traditional Samoan fibres, colours and items.’
She also spoke about representing her Samoan heritage on the show, saying that while it hadn’t been a focus of hers, she is proud she was able to do so.
‘Before I went on the show, it wasn’t that important to me to be that [representation] because I didn’t want to put pressure on my shoulders to represent culture or my community, I was just there to represent myself,’ she said.
‘I didn’t realise that the majority of my package was influenced from the culture, but I think that’s just who I am and the way that I think.
‘When I got given the themes for the runway, it wasn’t my intention to think ”fab, let’s do something Samoan”, it was just ”OK, period, I have this reference, so let’s do this”.
‘But when you look at my package and my journey on the show, I’m like ”wow I’m really repping Samoa and ballroom and where I am.
‘To me, that’s the best way to do it because I find that when people go in with the mentality of ”I’ve got my community on my shoulders to represent”, they put a lot of pressure on themselves to really perform and make their country or community proud.’
While Nikita had many highlights on the show, including her show-stopping makeover challenge, she revealed there was one moment in particular she couldn’t watch back.
After overcoming ‘imposter syndrome’, Nikita said she became more confident and was ‘unbothered’ about where she placed each week, but still would have loved to make the final
She confessed she was left cringing at her acting challenge and was unable to even look at it on screen, but said she was still pleased to have given a new talent a go.
‘My lowlight was probably the acting challenge, I couldn’t watch that! My eyes and my ears were closed,’ she quipped.
‘My partner was like ”do you want to go to the viewing and watch it?” and I was like ”I don’t want to be around people when I watch it”.
‘I was like ”we’re going to make some dinner, sit down, have a drink and watch it on the couch”.
‘I think it was a lowlight because it was so cringe to watch but in the moment, like that and Snatch Game, they were just things I’d never done before.’
She also revealed she wishes she had made more use of the three-week prep time before appearing on the Stan series.
‘We were given three weeks, but I moved and I was so busy with work so I literally crammed all of my preparation into one week,’ she shared.
‘Then, when I finished work, I went out clubbing Thursday, Friday and Saturday, so then I had Sunday through to Thursday to cram in everything.
‘So if I ever get to do this again, I’d definitely make the most of the whole three weeks!’
While Nikita had many highlights on the show, including her makeover challenge, she revealed there was one moment in particular she couldn’t watch back – her acting challenge
Nikita didn’t close the door on returning to the Drag Race franchise in the future, sharing her desire to appear on a global spin-off version of the competition.
‘I’d love to do a global version of the show! Queen of the Universe was just on, I don’t know whether another Samoan queen being on would be good, someone else would be fab,’ she said.
‘But watching the season and watching my progress, I definitely see so many potentials – I just need to get out there, work more and get that experience and confidence in myself.
‘On the show, I came off so confident and so delusional, and that’s very much who I am, but even though I’ve been doing drag for a long time now, there’s so much more that I can do and still learn.
‘The next steps for me in the coming year is travelling Australia, doing my community engagement with the local bars, local scene, local girls and just really getting my name out there.
‘Even though the girls have been seeing me on the show, every Friday for the last couple of months, I’d still love to show them what Nikita does and what Nikita brings in terms of my shows.’
Down Under’s next Drag Race Superstar will be crowned during the season four finale, airing on Stan on Friday, December 20.
All four seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under can be streamed on Stan.
