Phi Phi O’Hara: RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 2

Interviews
Eileen Shapiro
Sep 5, 2016
0
8 minutes read

‘RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 2’ Thursdays at 8 p.m. on Logo and VH1

Phi Phi O’Hara (aka Jaremi Carey), the exceptionally talented and beautiful “RuPaul’s Drag Race” season four runner-up, is once again showcasing her special artistry, this time on “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 2.”

It’s been a tremendous year for her as she not only became engaged to her handsome boyfriend Michael and launched her “365 Days of Drag,” but she is also in the midst of recording a new album. Get Out! literally “dragged” her away from her crazy TV and touring schedule for a little heart to heart.

How are you?
It’s very hot in New York now!

Yes, I live there too. I’m so excited for you!
I’m excited for me.

Explain what exactly happens on “All-Stars.” Do you actually have to compete again?
Yeah. We’re jumping into the ring of fire one more time. It’s a chance to win another $100,000, and at the end of the episode is a twist. We get to send each other home, and the winner of the lip sync gets $10,000. It’s changed quite a bit, but it’s still the same.

So it’s up to the contestants to send the other contestant home?
It is! Ru knows what she’s doing. She’s very smart.

Phi Phi, you can’t be a bitch this season.
No! I’m not, really. I have heart showing! The response on Twitter is overwhelming.

How did you get picked for the “All-Stars” show? Did you have to beg Ru or get voted on?
I had to beg Ru. No, they called me and said everybody from the set had been watching how each of us grew, how we changed over the years, so they asked if I’d want to be part of it.

You have real talent. I know first hand. Not to say that the others don’t.
I think we all have unique personality characters, which is cool. I think they picked the best for season two of “All-Stars,” and that is really great.

Yes, you have a good crowd. The show started last night?
Last night was the first episode. So do you wanna know what happened?

I do. Give us a recap.
So the first episode brought everyone back, and we all saw each other. Then we had to do a talent show. So each one of us did something that we felt confident in. It ended up being that Adore, myself and Coco were in the bottom, and Roxxxy and Tatianna won, so they had to do the lip sync. Roxxxy won the lip sync over Tatianna., but there was a twist at the end of this episode, which was really, really cool. RuPaul showed up on the screen and announced for Coco that it wasn’t over; she gets to have her revenge. It was amazing. We watched it with Coco, so it was cool to see the audience. Their response was, they were happy for her, which was cool.

So you get to send each other home. Ru is smart.
We talked about it in the first episode, how hard it is. Do we want to take the $10,000 to win and then get rid of a girl and crush their dreams, and maybe lose a friend? But we got to do it, so… I think it was really conflicting for a lot of us. On the first episode though, we kind of all agreed that if they got the worst critique from the judges that they should go home, and that was only fair.

That’s true. It’s just sad, because everyone has a bad day.
Totally. I do feel sometimes that it may be a little hard on the person to be sent home, because you’re right, everybody does have a bad day. For Coco it was really hard, for what she does, but unfortunately she thought out of the box. When you do something like that, it either works out or it doesn’t, and unfortunately she didn’t do too well this time around.

Besides “All-Stars,” what have you been doing? The last we spoke, I think you were putting out a record or a video.
I am. I’m doing a boy album, which I’m really excited about, since it’s going to be about Jaremi. There’s no drag in it, and it’s a little more personal. It’s about me, myself, and it’s coming out soon. I’m really proud of it. The album is called “Paper Heart,” and I actually wrote it about mine and Michael’s relationship. I’m sure you know Michael and I got engaged?

OMG, I did not. Congrats! I didn’t know, but I’m so happy for you. You know I love Michael.
I’m very upset with you right now!

How could I have not known this? You proposed to him in front of millions?
I did. You can watch it on YouTube. I proposed to him at the end of RuPaul’s “Battle of the Seasons.” So I decided to write the album based on our relationship. Every song is about an aspect of our relationship, like if we got into a fight or anything like that.

Jaremi, you don’t fight.
Oh no, we fight. It’s like WWIII.

So when will you be getting married?
We will probably get married in September of next year. “All-Stars” is going to be very busy for me, so I’m going to go ahead and ride the train, and when it slows down a little, I’ll plan the wedding.

I’m really glad, because you’re a great couple, and he’s really good for you.
Thank you, that means a lot.

So when I review the album, do I have to call you Jaremi?
Yes, it’s going to be by Jaremi Carey. The name of it is “Paper Heart.”

I love the name.
Well, you know, the emotion that we have, it’s like a marriage and what not. I’m just love sick, and I can’t stop thinking about him. So we were trying to think of a cool, clever play on words, so we just came up with “Paper Heart,” which I love.

I do too. What else have you been doing?
I have my “365 Days of Drag” project, which I’m tired of. I wanna go to bed. I can’t wait for this year to end. It’s too much! I got really cocky. I should have done 30 days. So I think like I’m on 220 right now. We’re almost done.

Is there anything else that you want to promote or say?
Just so that the fans know, “All-Stars” is every Thursday on Logo and VH1 at 8 p.m.

Congratulations on everything, and good luck!