As we approach the end of Canada’s Drag Race Season 5 (streaming on Crave), one of the most memorable moments of the season came from Xana from Vancouver and Toronto’s Makayla Couture, who got into an explosive argument with each other just before Xana’s elimination. But while things got particularly heated between the two contestants, there aren’t any hard feelings, after Makayla thought the criticism from Xana was unwarranted.
“I was pointing out everyone’s flaws,” Xana explained to Yahoo Canada. “It wasn’t a perfect runway for everybody, I was telling everybody the business, and Makayla just took it that way.”
“It’s a game. It’s a competition. We’re supposed to be in these positions of bottom, high, safe, low, whatever. I was just justifying my positioning of how I felt like I was safe, and the circumstances happened the way that they did. And I was sitting there being like, this is going to be good TV. People are going to love this. So I can’t really complain about what we did. Makayla and I watched that episode together. We’ve had a good laugh during the whole thing. It was very funny to watch back.”
‘It was something that kind of surpasses what Drag Race is’
But for much of Canada’s Drag Race Season 5 everyone, generally, seemed to be really supportive, which is how Xana felt in the competition.
“The first day we were all like, ‘Oh my god, sisters!’ We had such a good time,” she said. “It was very kumbaya for a good chunk of the season.”
“Honestly, we all have love and affirmation for each other. We said that multiple times on those couches, that we have respect for everybody there, and regardless of what we say or what we do on this show, that still rings true. We all still talk to each other. We’re all in communication with everybody, and I still share that love for everybody.”
One of the most touching moments on the season was when Xana spoke about how much it meant for to have Jaylene Tyme present this season, as Xana was striving to reclaim her Indigenous heritage, including sharing a family history with the Sixties Scoop.
“It was something that kind of surpasses what Drag Race is, and it’s beautiful that Canada’s Drag Race was able to highlight that as a special moment, and to share that with our communities, and communities that are outside of this show,” Xana said. “It’s teaching so many people history that they haven’t learned and I can see that the comments that come through on those posts, that people are like, ‘I just learned about this for the first time. This is so heartbreaking.'”
“Seeing this moment shared between two Indigenous people on TV and getting brought into the culture, and the healing that was going on at that time, even with [The Virgo Queen] as well, she came up and she was like, ‘I share this. I understand what you’re going through.'”
Xana on Canada’s Drag Race Season 5 on Crave
Could ‘Traitors’ be in Xana’s future?
For Xana, this was actually the artist’s second attempt to getting on the show, after she didn’t make the cut for Season 4
“When I received the no email I was like, OK I have another year to get better and do more,” Xana said. “I took that as an opportunity to grow as an artist.”
“I started my audition tape literally the next week. … Then when it came time, I was pretty much ready to go. And they were impressed by that. I even asked, ‘What was it this time?’ And they were like, ‘Well it was actually you. You showed us that you were readt.'”
While we absolutely loved Xana on Canada’s Drag Race, she’s also open the possibility for coming to back to reality TV.
“I think, honestly, Traitors would be a next step for me, even House of Villains, if they do another season of that,” Xana said. “It would be really cool to kind of be in that reality TV realm, but with drag in a different capacity.”
“If there was ever an opportunity to do Drag Race all villains, I would be signing myself up for that. … I have lots of plans, lots of ideas that I’d like to execute. I’ve made music already and I would love to continue exploring that avenue, it’s just very expensive, takes a lot of time. … It’s not something I’m trying to rush anything with, but it’s definitely something that I’m exploring.”