RuPaul's Drag Race UK vs the World winner interview Blu Hydrangea

As if the British royal family didn't have enough to worry about, Queen Elizabeth II was found quivering in a dark corner inside Buckingham Palace on Wednesday morning, hours after Blu Hydrangea — Belfast's finest drag entertainer — was crowned "Queen of the Mother-Tucking World" by Mama Ru on the RuPaul's Drag Race UK vs. the World finale. But the queen who blossomed from Northern Ireland to the global stage isn't just proudly bearing a new crown and scepter as the franchise's latest reigning royal, her coronation interview with EW (in the video above) proves why her sisters dubbed her the horniest — and shadiest — lady of the cast.

Watch our full chat with Blu above, and read on for a breakdown of her quotes, including Blu's thoughts on the fallout from her controversial decision to send Drag Race Thailand judge Pangina Heals packing, her secret plan to do a quick-drag change into Dr. Evil during her Austin Powers Snatch Game moment, how she'll use her crown to fight for community equality, and the bombshell moment where she recalls Jimbo approaching her to request Pangina's elimination.

'RuPaul's Drag Race UK Vs the World' winner Blu Hydrangea with her scepter. WOW

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Congratulations on winning! How did you celebrate last night?

BLU HYDRANGEA: The episode went up at nine, and I skipped right to the end, sat beside my mom and boyfriend. Once I knew I'd won, I slipped to the back of my local bar where I started drag and watched them all react. The atmosphere was amazing because I already knew that I'd won. My butthole was clenched so tightly!

I had my eye on you from the start. When we interviewed Jujubee and Mo Heart, they said to watch out for you as the shade queen of the season; on the show they deemed you horniest and shadiest. What the hell were you doing on that set?

I was just thirsting over Pangina, like the rest of the world. Any time she'd do anything, my little penis would just go ding! You're stuck in quarantine for 10 days, then you're shoved in a Werk Room. This time, we didn't have a Brit Crew, so there was nothing to let steam off with. That was Pangina for me.

Blame it all on Pangina! As the bearer of those titles: Miss Blu, what's the shadiest thing that happened this season?

This is the shadiest, funniest moment I had on set: It was the day we went to film Snatch Game, Jimbo had just been eliminated. It was breakfast time, early in the morning. Jimbo came out to get their little cereal breakfast, and looked at me dead in the eye and went, "You better win Snatch Game, and you better send Pangina home." I thought nothing of it. I went, "Oh, that's never going to happen," and that's exactly what happened.

Jimbo started a campaign against Pangina!?

Yes! The Curse of Jimbo, I'm calling it. It's a working title. We'll make a movie…. I mean, [he was] probably just a little bit bitter that Jimbo had been sent home by Pangina. You're locked back in your hotel room, so I imagine he had a lot of time to think about how much he hated that bitch.

Speaking of Snatch Game, it was great to see you come so far from UK season 1 and blow people away on this challenge. First you did Austin Powers, then switched to Dr. Evil. How the hell did you have the time to flawlessly apply a bald cap between Snatch Game questions that quickly?

It was a very quick change. Maybe 10 seconds or less. I had the bald cap on underneath the Austin Powers wig. I whacked off the wig, wiped off my teeth where I added the dirt, and took off the outfit. I had Dr. Evil underneath. It was the reason I was so nervous after my walk-through with Ru. I wanted to leave it as a gag. When Ru heard I was doing Austin Powers, she was not amused. Like, we've seen it before. I was ready to gag them, and I think I did. Baga slayed the Snatch Game, so that was the thing I had up my sleeve that would clinch the win over her.

Was it a surprise that you were going to change into Dr. Evil?

They probably saw me applying the bald cap, but, at that point Ru told me to do every character under the sun except Austin Powers, so I imagine they're like, Blu is just having a breakdown and making herself bald. We'll just let her do her thing. There's a drag queen over here called Olympia Avalanche on YouTube, she does character illusions. I asked her to help me write some jokes, and it wouldn't have gone down as well without her.

The eliminations, between Pangina sending Jimbo home and then you sending Pangina home, also had people talking. You said Pangina was your inspiration and your biggest competition, you told her you didn't think you'd be able to pick her, but you couldn't say it wasn't tempting. How quickly did you come to that decision to send her home?

I just felt Pangina wasn't playing the game as fairly as possible, as a judge well should have been playing the game. As soon as I knew that everyone else was in the bottom, I had her name pretty high up on the list. One thing about me though that's a big difference between my first season I'd been on and this one, I wouldn't make those kind of choices or risks, and I'd always be thinking about someone else's feelings. I was worried that Pangina would feel like she was letting everyone down and that I'd get backlash. I was almost worried about everyone else in that situation but myself when I was talking to her. But, whenever I got up to that box to pick the lipstick, I felt like I'd regret the decision and I owe it to myself to think for me, about me, for once in my life. I thought it was a great way to not be overlooked by the judges anymore. I know I'd just won that week, and I feel like throughout the competition I'd done really well and deserved to be in the top more often. But, there was always someone who had their eye a little bit more, so I was ready to make the focus myself. And it worked out, so, no regrets.

It was clearly the right decision for you in that moment. You looked gooped when you heard her weeping backstage after the elimination, and you suggested in the next episode that you regretted it in that specific moment. Did you try to change it when you saw that reaction, and do you regret it?

I made the right decision; I don't regret it in the slightest. My reaction was based on her reaction. Normally, on All Stars, they go, "Well, Ru, it's been great, maybe I'll do a Jujubee and see you the next time," but I think she had so much weight on her shoulders: she was a judge, she represented for Thailand, and in her culture it's a big honor to represent for your country. I can imagine in that moment how heartbreaking that would be. I was heartbroken for her because it wasn't a malicious decision, it was a strategic decision. I love her, and it was sad to see someone I love be upset. That's where the little chin wiggle came from, but, no regrets, I'd absolutely do it again tomorrow if I had to. [Laughs]

The relationship is fine between you two, right?

Absolutely. We sent texts all the time, we've sent nudes. I think that week where it just aired, I feel like the outside forces were almost caving in on us a little bit. There wasn't animosity, it was more like awkwardness, because there's so much hate being thrown around both ways, it just didn't feel like the same relationship we had before. We've talked since, it's fabulous, I can't wait to give her the biggest hug. Or blow job. Whatever she wants.

Speaking of controversial eliminations, Jimbo is being called iconic and also taking heat today for the moment she went on the whole Pangina's outfit being "s---ty" moment. How did that go over in the room, and do you think if the tables were turned and it was Pangina saying that about Jimbo, the response would be different?

We've all seen the Rita Baga "thirsty" Golden Girls wig [moment] and all that, which was camp. I think that was more fun. This was fueled by bitterness, maybe. It wasn't a fun thing to be part of. There could've been a funnier joke, a funnier punchline. If this had been the other way around, Pangina would be getting so much hate because it would become a race thing. One thing I've noticed — obviously it's been going on for years — people of color get so much hate on Drag Race just for being there and being themselves, saying things that a white person would get away with but getting so much flak for it. It's disgusting. If you're going to be on Drag Race, you need to amplify voices and not send hate. You need to speak out for people of color, you need to be amplifying the voices of trans people and people that don't have this platform. If you're not doing that, then you're not a fan of drag, because drag is rooted in people of color and trans people, and if you're sending hate or racist comments, it's just not what drag is about.

One of the things I admired about you on this season was when you opened up about questioning your gender and the journey you've had with that. Has the response you've gotten from fans since given you new clarity or inspiration on that identity journey?

In that moment I didn't expect to have that conversation, and I was still figuring out a lot about myself. It was my verbal diarrhea, how I felt candidly. It was emotional, and something I'm still learning about. Bimini and Ginny [Lemon], their episode had just aired [while we were filming] where they talked about being non-binary and I related to that…. I've spent so much time with Drag Race and trying to ride the wave on Blu. For the past year since we filmed this, I spent a lot of time on Josh. I grew a mullet, I lost some weight, I wore funky clothes, I'm trying to express myself in whatever way I want. It's been very freeing, and I'm glad I spent some time on Josh. Without Josh, Blu would be nothing.

What you said in your finale speech was so poignant, when you said you can represent a whole community or just one kid watching Drag Race and hiding it from their parents, like you did. Given the rise in anti-LGBTQIA+ sentiment, particularly in the U.S. with anti-trans bills and the Don't Say Gay bill, how do you want to use this title to affect change for those people?

That's a job of drag queens in general. We are the epicenter of queer communities, we go to Prides, we're on the stages, we need to amplify the voices that need to be heard and donate to charities. I'm willing to share my stage with anybody who has a voice that needs to be heard. I'm not just some winner, I'm the queen of the mother-tucking world, so I have to pull up my knickers and do whatever I can to make the world a better place. I know that sounds so silly coming from a man — sorry, a non-binary person — in a wig, but the reality is that this can do so much for so many people. It's nice to be on TV and travel the world and be on stage, but if you're not doing anything that's meaningful with this opportunity, then it's not worth it. I'm going to put a lot of effort into that and keep learning, because I'm still flawed and willing to continue to learn and better myself. Hopefully that will lead to helping the world.

Subscribe to EW's BINGE podcast for full recaps of RuPaul's Drag Race, including weekly season 14 interviews with the cast.

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