Jiggly Caliente

///By Sulay Marilyn Gonzales

Tell us a bit about your life after RuPaul’s Drag Race. How did it change? Besides that my booking fee went up [laughs], it has placed me in a position where people give a damn about what I say or do. It’s weird but cool at the same time. You almost have to represent yourself either like what they saw or close to perfection. I love the attention and buzz that it has given me, the work and opportunities that have come because of it. For that I will forever be grateful to the powers that be that cast me. 

Who has been your drag inspiration and why? My drag inspirations were the NYC girls that I admired and longed to be like. It was for a while the pageant circuit and the amateur shows I did throughout the city that kept me afloat. I admired the hosting chops of Harmonica Sunbeam, Princess Janae, Bianca Del Rio and Shequida, all very different, but their humor and ability to spit out comedy is amazing. I admired my drag mother Chevelle Brooks from Houston, Texas, cause she showed me a plus beauty to look up to. She is sickening, and plus she burns the stage when she hits it cause she moves like a skinny girl, if not better, and she is really pretty. But the beauty and allure of the bombshells like Angela Carrera and Ashley Blake and Candice Cayne, always on point and sickening when they hit the stage.

Is there anything you feel you could have done better to last longer in the competition? I get this all the time! I would have trusted my instinct and listened to Ru. It sounds so simple going in, but when the cameras are on and in your face, you’re being asked 50,000 questions and then compete for money, it’s a lot going on all at the same time. So I would say focus is what I would do more, and play the game.

Any advice to those plus-size Barbies who want to enter the competition? For my plus-size Barbies, stay strong, believe in yourself, since the world thinks a Beyonce body is the epitome of sex siren, and you don’t have it delusionize your mind in thinking that’s your body. Know you’re sexy in your size, and work it. It’s not a hindrance your size. It’s what helps you stand out from the pack. It’s how you project yourself to the world. Believe in your inner sex siren beauty. I know I’m a size 18, but I act like I’m a size 6 with Beyonce’s body. And nobody gonna ruin my inner delusion!

Name three things you learned from being in a national drag competition led by the most famous drag queen of the world, RuPaul. To trust yourself and others,that no matter what, it’s still a TV show and it’s for entertainment, so just have fun with it. And I also learned to work with others and roll with the punches.

June is LGBT Pride Month.  is there anything you want to say to your LGBT youth fans out there? I was guilty of not knowing about my gay history, like Stonewall. Take the time to Google it and know what has come before you. I would also like to tell all the young’ins to be careful; yes, we live in a world where gay marriage is slowly being accepted, but we are still in danger. So please be mindful of your surroundings when you’re out partying, not just this month but in general. There have been too many attacks in the city against our kind for us to be careless. So please, I implore you to be careful and enjoy. We need the future to live on.

SEE JIGGLY CALIENTE AT ELIXIR LOUNGE, JUNE 22.
43-03 Broadway, Queens, NY 11103