Alyssa Edwards looks back, back, back again on her best 'Drag Race' moments (2024)

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From back rolls to rolling in international acclaim as part of the RuPaul's Drag Race Global All Stars cast, the legendary icon Alyssa Edwards has a career as illustrious as Coco Montrese's season 5 makeup was orange. Now, as she prepares to square off against 11 other queens hailing from the show's worldwide editions in hopes of adding an additional $200,000 to her purse, the franchise legend is looking back, back, back again with Entertainment Weekly at some of her best Drag Race moments so far.

Before RuPaul's Drag Race Global All Stars premieres Friday on Paramount+, catch up on Alyssa's recap of all the Drag Race moments that made her a fan-favorite competitor in EW's hilarious video above.

Season 5: Entering the Werk Room and clashing with Coco Montrese

First up, Alyssa talks being indoctrinated into RuPaul's Drag Race culture back on season 5, before she herself became a fixture of Drag Race culture at large. Alyssa laments the fact that she was immediately "dropped into a 30-foot water tank for a photo shoot" on the season 5 premiere back in 2013, which made her look "like a drowned rat" in drag, she jokes.

Alyssa also entered the Werk Room alongside one of her former rivals on the glamour circuit, Coco Montrese, who stepped in for Alyssa after she was reportedly unable to fulfill her duties upon winning the Miss Gay America pageant in 2010. "That lady snatched the tiara off my head," Alyssa says. "But, the wig did not move. Unshakeable."

Their past provided some of the spiciest moments of the season, including a particularly explosive fight that erupted in the Werk Room when Alyssa jabbed Coco for not having enough "pink in the eye" for her look. This, naturally, angered Coco, who clapped back at Alyssa — a decision that teed up perhaps Alyssa's most famous quote: "Girl, look how orange you f---ing look, girl!"

“Here’s the thing," Alyssa explains, looking back on the fight. "Me and Coco are like sisters from another mister. We squabble, we bicker, we fight, but we always make up!"

Season 5: Kissing RuPaul's ring to make up for, uh, *not* kissing a girl as Katy Perry in Snatch Game

Alyssa was many things at many different times on season 5, from back-rolling excellence to tongue-popping enchantress, but one thing she was not was a master of celebrity impersonation. She found this out the hard way by failing to impress RuPaul during the Snatch Game, during which she portrayed pop star Katy Perry to hilariously awful results (she even told Ru that, while channeling the singer of "I Kissed a Girl," she would never, in fact, kiss a girl). It was egregious enough that the host asked Alyssa to apologize to Perry, which she did in a now-viral social media post.

"Truth be told, here’s a fun fact, I’mma keep it real with y’all today. When RuPual said we were doing the Snatch Game, y’all didn’t know I packed a secret weapon. I had the blue wig, the Katy Perry wig, in my purse," Alyssa reveals. "I thought the Katy Perry was spot on, then when Ru called me in the bottom, I was convinced she just wanted to see me lip-sync again. Then I had to RuPaulogize, that was the iconic part, when I tweeted Katy Perry a RuPaulogy. All the Katy Cat fans came and celebrated,I think Katy liked the post, we all giggled about it. That’s the beauty of drag: if you can’t laugh at yourself, how the hell is an audience going to laugh with you — or at you, in my case?"

She fared slightly better (but not by much) during the subsequent comedy roast challenge, for which she went viral once again by giggling to herself in the Werk Room as she wrote jokes for the set. Now, she looks back on the moment through a different lens following the inexplicably bizarre personal evolution of then-judge Santino Rice, whom Alyssa jokes needs a "wellness check" on his current status.

Alyssa 'turned back rolls into bank rolls' with her 'All Stars 2' return

Alyssa re-entered the competition three years later, with renewed focus and a refreshed wardrobe. Thankfully, she didn't rewrite her personal approach to the maxi challenges, as she famously flubbed her lines during the "Drag Movie Shequels" episode, after she and Alaska were tasked with starring in a spoof of the classic movie What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Of course, Alyssa couldn't get her lines right; instead of singing the correct lyrics ("doo-dah, doo-dah") during one of the sketch's musical moments, Alyssa instead repeatedly used the phrase "doo-wah" in what would become a notable meme following the episode's premiere.

"What ever happened to Alyssa getting to do all the doo-dahs? Who cares? It’s funny! It’s drag!” Alyssa says of the moment, which she admits wasn't the best performance that week, but was undisputedly the "most memorable," she feels.

“I think Michelle [Visage] had to tell me 'doo-wah,' 'doo-dah,' whatever line it was, I can’t even remember, about 10 times," Alyssa remembers. "I was committed to the character, but, damn, I could not get that script solid."

Alyssa gets a second shot at 'All Stars 2,' and quickly sages the room of the artist formerly known as Phi Phi O'Hara

Her season 5 sister Detox first sent Alyssa home on All Stars 2, but the exit was short-lived. In fact, Alyssa hardly made it backstage before a video message from RuPaul informed her that she'd have another chance at returning to the competition — but, unbeknownst to her, all of the previously eliminated AS2 queens had the same opportunity.

“I thought it was a malfunction," Alyssa jokes. “I knew RuPaul wanted me to win!"

The fans, however, were the real winners when it was revealed that, as the queens who remained in the competition — particularly the contestant then known as Phi Phi O'Hara (a cosplay artist, video game streamer, and ex-drag queen who now goes by Jaremi Carey) — talked smack about Alyssa, she was listening from behind one of the makeup mirrors. The lights behind the mirror went on to reveal Alyssa serving an intense glare from behind the glass.

“Those mirrors came on and I looked like the real Mommie Dearest," Alyssa says, referencing her performance as the notoriously harsh Joan Crawford in AS2's Snatch Game.

The true test came during that week's maxi challenge, as the whole cast reunited to perform a roast in teams, with Alyssa coining her now-famous descriptor for Visage when she called her a "beast." RuPaul whittled the roster down to just Alyssa and Tatianna, and made them lip-sync against each other to Rihanna's "Shut Up and Drive" for the last remaining spot among the continuing cast.

Alyssa calls the duel one of her favorite experiences of her Drag Race journey, and confirms that they didn't plan to wear their nearly identical outfits beforehand.

"We both high-fived each other and hugged and said, 'Let’s put on a show!'” Alyssa says, before reacting with glee over the memory of RuPaul deciding to keep both queens — and tasking them both with eliminating one of the others. “I knew who I was eliminating," Alyssa says without hesitation, as both she and Tatianna pulled the lipstick of a very clearly unamused Phi Phi. "I said, honey, if I'm going to be back in this Werk Room, I can’t do no negativity, no energy, baby, we’ve got to sage this room, we’ve got to get that energy up out of here. This is drag, it’s not personal, let’s have fun."

Now, Alyssa is looking forward to further her legacy (and making new meme-able moments) on 'Global All Stars'

"Here I am now, on the world’s largest stage and fiercest worldwide drag competition, Global All Stars," Alyssa exclaims, telling audiences to "stay tuned" to see who she chose for Snatch Game this time around.

"I know a lot of people think I’m coming back just to try to win another crown, but honey, I’ve got a whole mantle full of ‘em," she says. "This is a personal goal of mine. I wanted to show the world that the old broom still sweeps, mops, and vacuums. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, y’all better buckle in."

Watch Alyssa's career recap in the video above.