Carson Kressley had a special connection to one of the stars who participated in Season 2 of “RuPaul’s Secret Celebrity Drag Race”—he co-starred in the original installment of “Quer Eye (for Straight Guy).”
Thom Filicia returned to the show in the show’s first season, playing drag personality Jackie Will. As soon as Kressley settled in as a judge for the VH1 show, it took her a minute to recognize that her “Queer Eye” co-star, also her co-host on “Get a Room with Carson and Thom” And have been around for a long time. Dude was the queen on stage. Of course, he had left his glasses backstage.
“We filmed it on a new stage. It felt very, very different from the very usual ‘Drag Race,'” Cressley told TheWrap when we spoke with him Friday ahead of the show’s season 2 finale on VH1 “I was out of my element and out a little bit. I didn’t have my glasses on that day, which I can see, but I can’t see like the actual detail. …so I’m just watching the performance and I think the blame is on my ‘Juice,’ which I know is one of his favorite songs – we’re so close. And I saw that person working, and I was like, ‘That’s interesting.’ And then when it came time for the contestant to speak, I was like, ‘Oh my god, I know that Syracuse, New York Finger Lakes-area accent. That’s Tom Filicia.’ And I was, as the kids say, misled and embraced that I didn’t recognize him early enough. But I wasn’t expecting him to be there. Like, out of all 500 billion people in the world. I didn’t think Thom Filicia would be there. Nor did I think he would be able to keep it as secret as he did. So I had absolutely no idea it was him. ,
Filicia was cut several weeks before the finale, but Cressley said her friend “loved the experience” was gone. Kressley found Phylicia’s exit shocking. Another pre-finale exit — Chick-Li-Fe (aka “Glee’s” Kevin McHale), which was cut just last Friday night, was also a surprise.
“Yeah, I was shocked about that one. Chic-Li-Fay was awesome. Throughout the season, I thought [Chic] There will be ‘very, very much until the very end,’ said Cressley. “Like episode 3, I was just like, well, this is [Poppy Love], Chic-li-fe, Thirsty von Trapp – these are like three people. So yes, it was a shocker.
“But then we wound up with three amazing contenders in the end, who all bring very, very different energies and different ways of pulling off in very personal ways,” Cressley told AJ McLean’s Poppy Love, Mark Indelicato’s Thirty Vaughn. Said about the trap and Tatyana Ali. Cycle 7. “And I think it’s going to be a great finale tonight, because they’re all so different.”
Watch TheWrap’s full conversation with Kreisley in the video above.