Reality TV works in mysterious ways. An ostensible loss can quickly and unexpectedly be transformed into a win, especially in the hands of a queen who’s prepared. RuPaul’s Drag Race favorite Salina EsTitties, a.k.a. Jason De Puy, was heartbroken, she says, that her run on the recent All Stars season 11 came to an end in her first round of competition.

The feisty Latina performer, who first competed on Drag Race proper three years ago, returned for All Stars with fierce new looks and a fierce attitude, but still missed the cut of queens who made it out of their bracket to the Merge, where finalists would compete.

“We shot three episodes in one week for All Stars. I didn’t make the Merge, and I was crying,” Salina, out of drag, tells me over a Zoom chat. “So I learned I didn’t get the wild card, and my heart was broken. I was like, ‘Why?’ Right?” That was summer 2025.

“And then I was asked in February if I would ever consider re-auditioning for Big Brother, because I had auditioned three times before and I’d never got it,” she recalls. “So I auditioned, and then that came along. And because All Stars was airing as Big Brother was going to air, had I made the Merge on All Stars, I never would’ve been able to do Big Brother.”

Yet, despite going out in a blaze of not-quite glory on Season 28 of the long-running CBS show, Salina still insists, “Big Brother I think has been the coolest experience of my life so far, more so than Drag Race even.”

Primarily, Salina — or rather, De Puy — seems glad simply to have competed as himself, pointedly leaving his drag alter ego back at All Stars. “With the world now knowing who Jason is, I think that opens up a lane for me now that I don’t have to hide behind Salina so much,” he says. “And I would hope that I can start acting more out of drag.”

Acting is what brought the Bay Area native to Hollywood in the first place. After earning a BFA in musical theater, De Puy honed their talents training as a professional dancer in L.A. at a commercial dance studio.

“I did their scholarship program,” says De Puy, who was also doggedly chasing down auditions. “But I wasn’t booking anything as a boy. I think that’s a very common trajectory for a lot of drag queens, is they’re trying to be on Broadway or be stars, and drag is a way to let us perform and express our talents. So that’s kind of the route that I took.”

De Puy, as Salina EsTitties, walked that route without the help of a traditional drag mother or family. “No one gets credit for this, honey,” he laughs. “Only I get credit for this foolishness.”

Without a drag mom, he says, “it was very trial and error, just figuring it out,” and learning via YouTube. “Like you saw in season 15, looks and fashion wasn’t necessarily my forte. It was my performance, my talent, my creativity.” Salina 2.0 arrived at All Stars brandishing all her charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent with a fresh fire, and that sometimes involved stirring up drama.

Out of drag, De Puy — who will appear live at Pitchers Bar in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, September 10 — stirred up even more drama on Big Brother, playing a risky, duplicitous game that came back around to bite him hard. In the rowdiest tea party we’ve ever seen, his fellow houseguests tore into him, before he attempted to expose everyone else’s deceptions on his way out the door. It all made for juicy, messy reality TV.

“Reality TV, I was told in college, is a route you can go as an actor,” says De Puy. “I never truly respected it because I don’t see myself as a Kim Kardashian-Housewife. I’m like, ‘I actually have talent.’ I wanted to do talented stuff. But what I’ve learned by doing Drag Race is it is a talent to be a reality star.”

METRO WEEKLY: So hi, Jason. Hi, Salina. Is this a Jason or Salina interview?

SALINA ESTITTIES: Whatever you want it to be, because I am both of them. Hello.

MW: Oh, well, okay. I’ve talked to lots of Drag Race queens. I understand that it’s an artistic profession, and it’s your business. But at the same time, it is genuinely about becoming your alter ego, another part of yourself. So where is it for you in that balance?

SALINA: It’s such a fun question. I think it’s so different for everyone. For me, she truly is an extension of me, and it’s an expression of who I am. And it’s my art, right? So people write scripts. People make music. People have different mediums that they express themselves in, and drag happens to be the one I found myself in that’s also making me money. And I think what’s cool, since season 15 of Drag Race, is finding the bridge and the gap between me and my character and my art, and bridging that gap and using that as a way to fully express myself instead of performing myself.

MW: Well, I mean, isn’t Big Brother sort of performing yourself?

SALINA: Yeah. One-thousand percent, you know? I think for me, Big Brother was a journey to really discover who Jason is. I spent so much time trying to figure out Salina and incorporate myself into Salina and what that looks like — and then what Salina looks like to the world and how people perceive me as Salina. Then for me to drop the persona, the armor, the show, the clown, if you will, and to embrace me, just me without her in the picture, was my experiment with Big Brother.

MW: So I had never watched it before.

SALINA: Oh, really?

MW: For real. I’m actually up to episode 11 of this season now. I know some things are about to happen. So how long have you been a fan? When did you start watching?

SALINA: I’ve been watching since, I believe, season 20 was when I first started really locking in. I became best friends with Frankie Grande. He was on season 17 about 13 years ago. I was always a Survivor fan. Survivor was my number-one show.

MW: Me too. Well, Amazing Race and Survivor.

SALINA: Yes. And it’s all the same family, too, which is what I love. And then meeting Frankie, I was like, “Oh, he’s on Big Brother. I should watch the show.” And he always wanted me to watch it with him, to watch his episodes, but we never really got through the season together. So I started watching Season 20, and I’ve been watching ever since.

MW: So what is your honest assessment of how you did on the show?

SALINA: Oh, gameplay-wise, I see where my faults are. I did not think I was going to play the way that I played in the house. But I think that’s what’s so interesting about Big Brother. You really don’t know how you can play until you see who’s playing with you, and then how they’re deciding to play as well. I think my downfall was definitely telling Drew anything, because I didn’t know he was in an eight-person alliance from day one. In my mind, or what it looked like in the house, it’s all a game of perception, it looked like Drew wanted to play but no one was… It didn’t look like he was playing yet. So I was like, “Come on. Let’s just fucking play, like us together on the side over here.” And that’s what I thought was happening, but I got played.

MW: That’s good game, to look like you’re not playing at all.

SALINA: One-thousand percent. Yeah.

MW: That’s something, actually, that’s come up in my house recently: people who are good at making themselves look harmless, but they’re not.

SALINA: I mean, it’s a strategy, and it’s a way people can play. And he’s still there, and I’m not. So it says something to that.

MW: On one of the episodes, I guess it’s actually the first time you’re voting on the show, you shout out that you think Crystal Methyd is going to win All Stars, which was airing at the same time. And you predicted correctly. Why did you think it was going to be Crystal?

SALINA: During my bracket, we had a segment that was not aired in the edit, where we went around the room and we shared who the biggest threat in the competition was, and everybody said Crystal, myself included. But Crystal said me — which was very telling that the girl who’s the front-runner in the whole competition was afraid of me. I was like, “That’s kind of sickening, I think.” I haven’t even watched the Merge, but I knew what the challenges were going into the Merge because we were given what the challenges were going to be: stand-up comedy, disco, Lip Sync Smackdown, talent show. I would’ve ate all of them up, down! I would’ve ate them up. I was prepared to devour them. So I think they’re lucky I didn’t make the Merge.

But for that reason, and the way everyone was so hyping up Crystal, and the way that I saw things shake down, I was pretty sure that Crystal was going to make it to the end. And also, I was very conscious of my Drag Race fans going into the Big Brother House, so I wanted to bring them along on the ride with me. I also knew there was going to be a lot of Drag Race fans who never watched Big Brother. So I wanted them to feel included in the Big Brother experience I was having, that I’m like, “I see you guys. I’m grateful you’re here. I got you.” And I would try to make little nods to Drag Race for my fans who were there, and that was one example of that.

MW: On the flip side of feeling seen, something that we see you deal with on Big Brother, which is really relatable, is a sense of isolation being in that house full of straight people. Like many gay people who live in cities like Washington, New York, L.A., I have a bubble of queerness and diversity that does not look like what the Big Brother House looks like. Was there anybody that you felt genuinely close to?

SALINA: Yes. Lala [Verett], the older Black woman who’s also in entertainment. She is a showgirl and a diva, and she understands my lifestyle as far as being a show person. We bonded one-thousand percent, no questions asked. She was my mother the entire time in there. It was very, very beautiful to have her. And right now, you said you’re not necessarily caught up, but there’s a lot of unconscious bias taking place in the house and microaggression stuff to my two Black woman friends in the house right now. And the fact that they have each other I think is so important and so beautiful to know that at least Lala’s there for Taylor with what she’s going through in the house, and it’s so hard to watch. But yeah, Taylor [Brown], Lala, hands down, were people I bonded with off the bat.

MW: And the moment that went viral is you saying, “I miss gay people.” Even before I watched the show, I heard that quote, and I was like, “I know what that is.”

SALINA: I’ll go to the club, and people just yell it at me. And I’m like, “That’s why I’m here with my gay people.” But yeah, exactly what you said. I built my life. Being queer, being gay, I moved to Hollywood the second I could leave high school. And I created a lifestyle for myself that makes me feel comfortable and excited and happy and creative and fun. And that’s my gay community, my queer community. So to be sucked out of it and thrown into this straight house, I didn’t think it would be as hard as I thought. I thought it’d be fine. I was like, “I deal with straight people all the time. It’s not a big deal.” But I realized just how much community mattered to me by being isolated in there.

Going into that house, there are people who we are learning don’t necessarily agree or support our lifestyle, but they’re smiling in my face and still “love” me. And they’re still my friends, but I know, and I feel, that their heart does not care for parts of who I am. So do you really love me? Are you really my friend if you can’t love me completely unconditionally? Which I think is an interesting topic that I’m kind of navigating right now.

MW: I think it’s interesting that the show navigates it through your journey this season. Because I don’t feel like I’ve heard about Big Brother doing that all the time.

SALINA: Yeah. My favorite thing — I keep saying this about the show — is that it’s such a microcosm of America in the present moment, right? Each cast, each season of Big Brother, they get a group of Americans together in one house, and they reflect America in that time and place. So right now, I don’t know, what I experienced and what I’m seeing in the house is a good reflection of what’s going on in the world right now for us.

That’s why they call it a social experiment. And I think that’s why it’s so important we have live feeds so people can actually see how people are without an edit. That’s a portion of the story people miss. “If you ain’t watching Untucked, honey, you’re only getting half the story.”

I think that’s what makes the show so, so, so incredibly important and exciting and interesting is that we get to see them and their realness 24/7. And there’s truth that comes out of that and there’s truth that’s being spoken to what’s actually happening in the world right now.

MW: I haven’t watched the live feed stuff that people have been talking about.

SALINA: No, it’s a lot. It’s too much. You can go crazy. It’s a lot.

MW: Speaking of that, because it is 24/7, I guess there’s somebody out there who’s watching all that. Have you encountered the BB obsessives?

SALINA: Oh, yes. The fans on Twitter are very passionate, and they call them Live Feeders, the ones who watch 24/7. There’s people who do updates about what’s happening, what’s missing. And sometimes the edit of the show becomes irrelevant because we see what’s actually happening, and the show only gives you 25% of what’s actually happening, because they only have 45 minutes to tell a story. So it is interesting when you think about, for me even to be on this and Drag Race, how a Drag Race episode is edited down and you only get so much of the story. With Big Brother, you can get the full story by watching live feeds. So that fandom does exist. And I think they’re very important to the conversation of why Big Brother exists and why it’s important.

MW: We talked about being fans of Survivor, Amazing Race, Drag Race. I like a reality competition where I identify what the talents and skills are. What, in your opinion, are the talents and skills necessary for succeeding on Big Brother?

SALINA: Ooh. Yeah, because I thought I had those talents and skills. You know what I mean? I went in being like, “I can be friends with anybody. I meet people where they’re at.” I thought my emotional intelligence would really help me. And I think to an extent it did. It made me very privy to what’s happening in the Big Brother House. But I think it’s a different number of skills and a different set of skills you need from my drag talents. And that was what was interesting.

Drag is an art. Doing Drag Race costs money to do, actually. You need to pay a lot of money to do it. And you need to have the talent to back up some challenges there: improv, dance, singing. On Big Brother, it’s who you are as a person and how you choose to maneuver through the house and then manipulate, strategize, and lie with each other.

So I think they always hire a lot of salespeople, a lot of lawyers on those kinds of shows, and it’s people who are able to read a room and read people and trust their instincts. And I think that’s the talent that is really important in that house. Because my instincts were correct. I just trusted the wrong people. And in my life, I have a history of not trusting the right people.

MW: We’ll flip it a little because I want to talk about Angela on the show. It appeared that you guys were getting close, and then you pulled a little stunt. And then she blew it up, and it became this whole thing. Have you seen it? What have you thought about it since you’ve seen it air?

SALINA: So when I got out of the house, I was showered with so much love from the tea party situation. But I was told by my friends that it was not looking good for a minute, that people were hating me, people did not like me. And when I go back and watch it, I see that when I spoke to Drew to try to get him on my side, I used that Angela moment to try to showboat in front of Drew and Melody to get their favor to be like, “Oh, this guy’s funny and fun and having a good time with this stuff.”

But Drew went and told Angela that I was fake crying to her, and I wasn’t fake crying. And I think that’s kind of where it got a little weird or touchy because my mom did pass away from cancer. That was a touching moment with her in that moment.

But also, there was other layers involved where she was cuddling in my bed with me, which I thought was a little weird, so like, okay. And then there’s this idea that I was playing to camera, and trying to break that fourth wall like I did on Drag Race: All Stars with Aura. So it was kind of a nod to that moment. So people who don’t know the context are just like, “Why is he taking this and being weird with it?” I see how that looks. I totally acknowledge that. It wasn’t my intention to make light of a very deep situation because I feel very passionately about my mom and that connection I made.

And I think, too, that’s why if you go back and watch the egg fight, and then me and Angela made up right away, it’s because I was owning up to everything in that moment. And I shared with her those emotions were real and I was crying, too, for real. That was real.

In talking about being the only gay in the house, the first day I had a moment where I broke down and cried when the live feeds weren’t on yet. So I broke down and cried. And a lot of people came to my rescue because I was feeling very, “Oh, crap. I’m the only gay person in here. I’m the oldest in here. I’m the chubbiest in here.” I broke down really fast, right away, and everyone kind of came to my rescue. So what I decided in that moment was, “Oh, when I’m vulnerable and emotional, people kind of come to me. Maybe this is a strategy for me.” So that’s kind of why I decided to go that route with Angela, but then, of course, it blew up. [Laughs.]

MW: I also thought the cuddling was a little weird, but I didn’t know where it came from because I’m just watching the TV.

SALINA: Thank you! I saw very clearly… Because I was cuddling with Lyric in my bed, little Lyric, and Angela walked by and gave a shady look. And then when Lyric left, she came back. She was like, “Can I cuddle with you?” And I was like, “What the fuck?” So that’s how that whole conversation started. I was already feeling a little uncomfortable that she wanted to cuddle with me. So, yeah, there’s layers to this stuff.

MW: Also, I did see the Aura Mayari reference, because I watched All Stars. So I was like, “Oh, well, I’ve seen her do that.”

SALINA: Yes. Again, I was being messy by doing that, and then I got called out, “Messy bitch,” all of that.

MW: It was messy in both scenarios.

SALINA: Correct. I was being messy. I was never pro-reality TV. Reality TV was never my dream. I did not know that this is where I’d end up. I wanted to be on Broadway. I want to do TV and film and commercials. I’m an actor. That was the goal. Reality TV, I was told in college, is a route you can go as an actor. I never truly respected it because I don’t see myself as a Kim Kardashian-Housewife. I’m like, “I actually have talent.” I wanted to do talented stuff. But what I’ve learned by doing Drag Race is that it is a talent to be a reality star. Mistress is very talented at creating reality TV. Plane Jane is very talented at creating reality TV. I don’t see myself being talented at reality TV.

So, say, All Stars, I kind of understood the reality TV talent of it all, and I felt like I was able to deliver on All Stars. And that worked in my favor on All Stars in a way. What I learned on Big Brother is trying to produce yourself as a reality TV person, like I tried to do in that moment, does not serve me in the Big Brother House to the fans, to the viewers, or to my game in the house as well.

Where on Drag Race, you can kind of get rewarded for creating drama. You’ll get, “Oh, we’ll keep her around because she has this good storyline with this girl that she’s fighting with.” On Big Brother, you do not get rewarded for being shady, shifty, or getting caught doing that or producing yourself. So I think my biggest lesson in the Big Brother House was when I stopped trying to produce myself as this persona or thing and I’m just myself, that fared better for me in the game than trying to be that.

MW: On the subject of lessons, you mentioned earlier the money it costs to do drag. As somebody who watches All Stars and watched your first season, I could see the glow-up in confidence and wardrobe, and just attacking it. So other than money, what happens between your first season and All Stars that enables you to hone it and bring a stronger package?

SALINA: Yeah. I think after season 15, I was very offended that people were dogging on me so hard. I was like, “Oh my God. Everyone hates me. No one respects my art.”

MW: Never me.

SALINA: Thank you. But I felt this very passionate critique of me. My mom passed away at the same time that Drag Race was airing, too, so I was dealing with a lot of that grief, the negativity from the fans. And I was like, “Augh.” So when I got to have a moment to breathe, I was like, “Okay. Let’s look at what people are saying. My outfits are unfitted and crazy and too many ideas. All right. Noted. Let me fix that.”

So I think that was one of my first things I needed to do, was lock in on what this looks like, how I look. I also lost 130 pounds in that time from my season 15 to All Stars. And that changes the way clothes fit on me and the way that people can make clothes on me, too. My body was a very particular way on season 15. Because after COVID and my mom dying, I was eating a lot. So I think the weight loss really helped me to look a little better, which is unfortunate but true. And I felt better about myself, so that also helped my confidence. I think it was more of my fashions that I had to lock in on and the way that outfits fit me, and then honing in on what the idea is and not throw everything at the wall. Just edit and simplify.

MW: Well, I could see the growth. And that’s what they look for, right?

SALINA: Yeah. Thank you.

MW: Going back to the Angela stuff, like whatever a person’s point of view of how it played out, in the recaps, the announcer kept saying, and I even quoted this, that, “Angela thought that Jason was on her side, but…” What was it? “But it was all an act by the drag queen.” And then there was, “But the drag queen was putting on a show.” These are in the recaps that open the episodes.

SALINA: Oh, see, I haven’t even watched the episodes, so I didn’t know that they were saying that.

MW: Yes.

SALINA: Oh, that’s not good. That doesn’t help me.

MW: It doesn’t need to be like that. “But it was all an act by the drag queen.”

SALINA: How it was framed. Yeah.

MW: It sounds like a certain kind of fear-mongering about drag queens, which I guess you didn’t feel like that was what you were there for. Did you sense any of that while you were on the show?

SALINA: No. I haven’t seen the episode, so I didn’t know it was narrated that way. Which doesn’t help the narrative of me and what had happened. That’s context I never knew. I’m learning that right now, because I haven’t watched it, but yeah. I hear what you’re saying. And I think part of my goal going into the house not in drag was to prove drag queens aren’t scary. This is what you guys are saying, drag queens are threatening and predators and all this stuff. And I feel like I displayed myself in a very — other than that moment in particular —

MW: But that was contestant stuff. It doesn’t need to be like, “Drag queen deceives poor mom.”

SALINA: Yeah. Because I’m not dressed as a drag queen, you know? It was Jason who was being messy. So there was no drag queen ever in that house at any point. It was always me, you know? So yeah, I think that’s important for people to take away, too.

But, I mean, I haven’t heard anyone say anything about drag queens or anything in that sense. I don’t think that was very effective in regards to making drag queens look a certain way. But it was my intention to go in there and represent for my drag queens in a way, too. And drag queens are messy. So yeah, there you have it.

MW: Do you think any of these shows, like Traitors, for example, hire drag performers specifically to be deceptive or villainous?

SALINA: Well, I think the interesting thing, we’ve seen it with Bob [the Drag Queen] and Monét [X Change] on Traitors, and they kind of go out a little early, and I went out third. So I think there is something to the idea that we’re all gay, larger-than-life personalities, and then we’re drag queens on top of that, which also calls for us to be even larger than life, right? So we are larger-than-life people, and I think people are threatened by that authenticity and the power and the confidence that comes with us just being ourselves, these larger-than-life characters. I think that comes off very threatening to people, especially some straight people who are conservative and come from a different background and they’re not used to the lavish, beautiful lives that we choose to be a part of.

Again, going back to supporting lifestyles, they’re not familiar with the lifestyle that we lead. I feel like I live a very extravagant, very fun, boisterous life, and I choose that for myself. Some straight person from Minnesota who’s never even seen a drag queen before, or even knows how to have a good time, our lifestyle becomes threatening to them. So of course they get us out first because it’s considered a threat in a gaming sense as well.

So I think we’re always kind of targeted just for being so authentic with ourselves. And I think that sometimes it becomes a target in those kinds of games. Especially when you’re the only one. The important takeaway I learned is that when you’re the only one, you become a target. But if there is more than one, we could band together and overcome. Without community, without each other, you’re a lone wolf just fending for yourself. And it’s really, really hard to do in those games.

MW: That’s a big lesson. Who are the bigger stunt pullers, the queens on Drag Race or house guests on Big Brother?

SALINA: Definitely the drag queens on Drag Race, honey. I mean, those house guests are sleeping! They don’t know what’s going on. They all want to be famous so bad and they have no idea what to do if the spotlight was on them. So I would say the drag queens definitely got it going on more than those houseguests.

MW: Are there any other reality series that you would consider doing or trying?

SALINA: I would do Survivor. I would love to go back to Big Brother. I think I want to redeem myself in my gameplay for sure. I would do Amazing Race with Frankie or Rome.

MW: Oh, that would be good.

SALINA: I mean, I would do Traitors. But low-key, I think the power structure in Traitors is a little off-balance sometimes. So I think they’re still figuring it out. I think every season gets a little better in regards to how fair the Traitors versus the Civilians are or whatever. But yeah, I would definitely play.

MW: How has your family responded to you becoming a bonafide TV personality?

SALINA: Interesting. My dad is very… He has two jobs. He’s trying to survive. I think he’s proud of me that I’ve been able to support myself while also being this star of sorts. I think he’s very proud of that. But where I find what’s most exciting for me is the way that Drag Race kind of brought me and my gay brother together, because we didn’t have a really close relationship a lot since high school. We kind of separated and went our separate ways. And Drag Race kind of brought us together because he’s a big Drag Race fan. And he’s a big Twitter personality.

So I think Drag Race really brought me and my brother together, and now Big Brother brought us even closer. He got to be in my opening package of the first episode with me. So yeah, I think that’s what’s been the greatest takeaway from all of this with my family — getting closer with my brother because he’s a fan of these shows.

MW: That’s beautiful. Are you just totally different kinds of gay guys? What’s the divide?

SALINA: We had a tumultuous high school experience where I lost my virginity to someone he had a crush on, so that caused a rift.

MW: Too-similar gay guys then.

SALINA: That caused a rift in our relationship for a long time. We had a very inappropriate theater teacher at the time who was instigating a lot of this animosity, too.

MW: That is inappropriate.

SALINA: So it was just very messy. I’ve been playing Big Brother since high school, okay? Yeah, it’s a mess.

MW: Oh, wow. Well, I’m glad that you guys are past that, hopefully. Now, I see that you perform stand-up on I’m Dead on Revry TV, and you’re doing acting roles. So what’s next for you? Will it include more music, more stand-up?

SALINA: I think with the world now knowing who Jason is, I think that opens up a lane for me now that I don’t have to hide behind Salina so much. And I would hope that I can start acting more out of drag. I’ve been submitting and auditioning out of drag, and I’m getting a lot of auditions out of drag before Big Brother. But now that my face is out there in the world and people see and know who I am now, I’m like, “Oh, maybe that’ll help boost me a little more when it comes to these auditions.” And I hope that I can do a little more acting, TV, and film and commercial stuff, then get out of the bars.

I’m getting older. I turn 36 in October. I’m like, “There’s no security hanging out at the bars in downtown L.A.” I think, too, being in the Big Brother House kind of put in perspective for me I’m not a 20-year-old. I’m in this house with a bunch of 20-year-olds. I’m not 20 no more. I’m getting older. And there’s, again, no retirement fund for drag. There’s no security. I’m like, “What the hell am I doing with myself?” So there’s a part of me that’s like, “I have to start figuring out what’s next for me,” just like your question asked. And I would hope that I can continue being in entertainment, but not have to solely rely on being at the bars as well.

MW: Well, how much are we seeing Salina? Where would someone see her next if they wanted to?

SALINA: There’s an announcement coming very soon of a tour that will be launching. So keep an eye out for that. I have some scripts in the works that I would hope I can start getting into production. I think I want to kind of go towards a director-filmmaker route perhaps in the future as well, so I’m kind of working on that. I have a bunch of scripts that I’ve been working on. So Salina’s always going to be working. That girl doesn’t stop. I can’t get rid of her if I wanted to. So you will see her, and she will make appearances. She’ll be around.

I think coming out of the Big Brother House, though, too, I’m still a little traumatized in navigating life afterward. It was a very traumatic experience, I think, that I went through.

You know, right now, my bully from the house got evicted last week. And even the idea of seeing him in person kind of still scares me a little bit, because I am still processing what had happened in the house. Because in the house, it’s all about game, game, game. But then you leave the house and realize, “Oh, maybe it’s more personal than just that.”

You start to learn who these people really are that you were actually in the house with. So I’m still navigating that. I’m still kind of processing and giving myself space to process, because I think it is a bigger traumatic experience than I’m putting it off as. I’m taking my time with Salina right now. I don’t want to go back to work in this [moment] necessarily. In my mind, I was still supposed to be in that house until October, so I wasn’t supposed to be in drag until October.

MW: Got it.

SALINA: I’m creeping back a little bit, but I’m definitely trying to embrace this experience and realizing who Jason is and finding that out for myself. And I’m going to give myself space and time to do that.

Salina EsTitties will appear at Pitchers, 2319 18th St. NW, on Thursday, Sept. 10. Big Brother watch party at 8 p.m. followed by a performance at 10 p.m. Visit instagram.com/pitchersdc.

Big Brother 28 airs and streams weekly on CBS until its scheduled October 1 finale. Visit cbs.com/shows/big_brother.

Follow Salina on Instagram at @estitties.