You’ll be able to mock Katya Zamolodchikova’s wigs, insult her footwear or trash-talk her make-up. Nonetheless, you’ll say nothing she hasn’t heard a thousand instances from her BFF, singer Trixie Mattel.
However, if you would like her quantity, don’t chuckle at her as a result of she does not have the newest iPhone.
The previous RuPaul’s Drag Race star tells PEOPLE solely that “monetary shaming” is a direct turn-off for her; the one habits she’d banish from the relationship world.
Katya, who hosts Grindr’s sex-positive relationship podcast, Who’s the A–hole?, remembers experiencing this final ick throughout a visit to Mexico Metropolis two years in the past.
“I used to be within the elevator with 4 homosexual guys — three of them knew who I used to be, one did not,” she says. “The elevator opens, and so they depart. The one that did not know who I used to be turned again and stated, ‘Good iPhone 6.’ And it is so silly, but it surely has caught with me for 2 years. I am like, ‘Are you for actual?’ ”
Katya might brush off the insult with fun, but it surely hits a nerve, a relationship habits that’s a no-no for her. She says, “To begin with, it wasn’t an iPhone 6, however that does not matter. That form of monetary snobbishness in the case of mate choice and flirting is so repulsive to me. It is like, ‘You’ll be able to’t f— a poor individual, darling. That is disgusting.’ Oh, develop up.”
“I want he would’ve been like, ‘Good, bald head.’ Do one thing. Simply have some balls, as a result of I’d’ve laughed at that.”
Katya not too long ago wrapped season 2 of Who’s the A–hole, which she says has been “a dream come true. Not solely does the drag celebrity indulge of their innate fascination with the world, however she will get to go on this expedition in snug clothes.
Followers who watch the present on Grindr’s YouTube channel see Katya out of drag. “It appears like I can put extra of the highlight on [the guests],” she says. “If I had been in drag, it might be extra about me, and that is one thing else.”
Because the podcast launched in February, she’s explored the ins and outs of contemporary relationship and probed the boundaries of what constitutes “a–hole” habits whereas additionally gasping at relationship horror tales alongside visitors like Saturday Night time Stay’s Bowen Yang, fellow Drag Race alum Gottmik, nation star Orville Peck and singer Adam Lambert.
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Katya tells PEOPLE she wasn’t positive she would get together with Adam initially. “I’ve a good friend who’s pals with him and he or she says he is very nice, however I did not suppose I used to be going to love him. [But] I fell in love with him in 12 seconds,” she says.
Provided that she continuously excursions along with her “greatest good friend,” fellow drag star and queer nation artist Trixie Mattel, Katya understands that will sound unusual. She admits she “had some bizarre prejudice in my head, for some cause.”
No matter it was, she obtained over it. “My God, Adam was such a sweetheart,” she says.
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The podcast largely focuses on relationship, nameless caller tales and her visitors who’ve lots to share. One nice instance: Bowen realizing he’s well-known after Grindr banned him for “catfishing” as a result of the app thought he was pretending to be the SNL star.
Although the podcast’s premise has been to research habits, Katya says doing it has helped her be much less self-analytical — and that’s a superb factor.
“I’ve at all times been hyperaware, maybe too self-conscious about myself,” she says. “[Doing the podcast has] allowed me to calm down a bit of bit and have a wholesome sense of self-reflection and consideration for different folks within the sexual enviornment. I really feel like I am evolving, which is nice.”
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That evolution brings data and Katya’s largest takeaway about intercourse from doing Who’s the A–gap? is an easy one: “You’ll be able to cease proper within the center and go house.”
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“My intuition was at all times to lie or to faux an harm or do some form of dramatic little tableau to get out of it,” she provides. “However yeah, you’ll be able to simply say, ‘ what? I do not wish to do that anymore.’ After which stroll out the door. Revelation.”
All episodes of Grindr Presents: Who’s the A–hole? with Katya will be considered on YouTube and streamed on Spotify.
