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Vanessa Vanjie Mateo Solves The Mystery Of 'RuPaul Drag Race's Miss Vanjie Moment

By Kristy Puchko | TV | April 4, 2018 |

By Kristy Puchko | TV | April 4, 2018 |

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Ok. Maybe we’re obsessed. Maybe not as much as RuPaul, but we can’t get enough of Miss Vanjie, the queen or the meme. Why did she make her exit chanting her own name like a haunted lost child? Why did it catch on so big on Gay Twitter? Does her online popularity mean she’s a lock for a return in season 11 or might win her way back into season 10? Miss Vanjie is a mystery that’s got Drag Race fans frenzied. But Vanessa Vanjie Mateo herself broke her silence, speaking to Billboard about the runway exit that has queens, judges, and fans going wild.


Asked what was the meaning of repeating her own name three times as she left, Miss Vanjie set the record straight:

Hell no, there was no fucking meaning. When I tell you I was at the end of the runway and I was thinking … well first of all, I didn’t anticipate getting kicked off first, so I didn’t plan my exit, I didn’t plan what to say, I didn’t plan what to write on the mirror with the lipstick message. I didn’t plan any of that. So literally when I got there, I turned around and saw RuPaul and saw Christina [Aguilera] and saw everyone was looking just at the judges, I decided to give them my name, and I said “Fuck it. Might as well have these bitches remember me.” So I just started screaming at the top of my lungs “Miss Vanjie,” over and over. And I was depressed as hell, so that’s why I was looking so damn sad!

She added, “Maybe it’s just because I’m such a real-ass bitch, that I don’t even try to think, I just go with the flow and say whatever comes to mind and I don’t even think about it twice.”

Also, she was asked which was her favorite joke in the meme. She picked The Shining one seen below.

But how she describes is pure Vanjie.

“I like the one where the little kid with the knife is writing Miss Vanjie on the wall with the lipstick. Or something, he’s writing in red, I don’t know if it’s blood or something but it’s funny as hell.”

Never change, Miss Vanjie.

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Kristy Puchko is the managing editor of Pajiba. You can follow her on Twitter.