Maybe you’ve seen her perform as one of the core members of Best of Orlando-winning drag night Off the Record. Maybe you’ve seen her hosting Orlando’s own take on Drag Race, YouTube series The Gig. Maybe you caught her as part of the Ren’s Nosferatu aftershow, V-Bar. Myki Meeks is one of the busiest drag artists in the City Beautiful, and her calendar got a hell of a lot more full with the recent announcement that she’ll be a contestant on Season 18 of RuPaul’s Drag Race premiering Friday, Jan. 2, on MTV. Orlando Weekly caught up with Meeks right before things get wild …
Congratulations, and I assume you had to keep this news secret for far too long?
It was very difficult! I mean, I just left town and did probably the biggest thing I’ve done in my life so far. And to come back and act like I was just going to see Grandma for a few weeks, it was hard. But, you know, it felt very cool to just enjoy these last few months of normalcy before everything erupted.
How would you describe your drag artistry to folks who will be just now discovering you through Drag Race?
I’ve always said Myki Meeks is a theatrical, dynamic powerhouse. My aesthetic reference points are old Hollywood glamour and party girl. So I see myself as a cross between Ava Gardner and Charli XCX.
That’s quite a …
Very specific references, but it’s true. I came up through the Orlando drag scene, which has very strong roots in pageantry. I’ve done pageants a few times, but my weekly gigs are more “party girl,” so I find that I like just going between the two.
As you were moving farther along in the audition process, did you turn to any Orlando RuPaul alumni for advice?
So in between the calls — the first call was to say, “Hey, you’re being considered,” and the second call was, “You got it” — I don’t think I brought it up to anybody except Jewels Sparkles from Tampa, because we’re close sisters and I didn’t want to put too much energy into it without confirmation. But once I got the final call, I sat down with Roxxxy Andrews. We went through my whole runway package. She gave me some fantastic advice, and Ginger Minj gave me some really good words of encouragement.
What was it like performing at OTR the same night the news hit the internet?
That was overwhelming, for sure. This is a show that I’ve helped promote and create for the past four years. This past year, we started bringing in queens from RuPaul’s Drag Race, and now to be on the other end of that — to showcase the community in this way, to say, “Hey, your girl has made it to this big platform” — it felt very, very special. I did my very first meet-and-greet with the community of OTR. It was a little silly, because it’s the same people I see every week, but to see the love and energy come back to me, it was just a very special night.
Speaking of television, did hosting The Gig prepare you for Drag Race at all?
You know, I don’t think I brought up The Gig at all during Drag Race. So I love hearing these types of questions. The Gig was a special project in partnership with The Ren. There was a lack of competitions in the scene, and I’ve always wanted to do my own. Donald Rupe, the producer of the Ren, was like, “Well, why don’t we take this to the next level and make this a whole YouTube series as well?” How did it prepare me for Drag Race? Well, I was literally getting ready for Drag Race as we were filming and producing The Gig, both things at the same time. So if you saw me at that time, you would have seen the stress behind my eyes. It was such a special time. I mean, it really did prepare me. I had cameras on my face. I had microphones. We had to do confessionals. It also gave me the insight of what it felt like to be a judge and what I wanted to see from a contestant. I think one of the biggest takeaways was, everybody in the competition was fantastic, and that’s undeniable. It’s not about who is good, who’s bad. It’s about who shone the brightest that week. And I took that mindset with me to Drag Race and thought, well, if I don’t have a top placement this week, I can’t deny that I at least did it and I showed up the best that I could.
Do you have any plans for the holidays? Or anything leading up to Jan. 2?
I think this is definitely the time to catch up on sleep. I just came back from New York and Chicago for press week. It was four or five straight days of 8 a.m. drag. And this is definitely the time to enjoy with my family, before things get wild. It all feels a little unreal. So I’m just going to be with my friends, visit my family, play a lot of videogames, relax until Jan. 2.
What’s the promo grind like for this?
Once we did the premiere party, there was a huge press junket, I think I spoke with like, 12 to 15 different outlets, and after I was done, I just sat back in the dressing room and thought, like, “What the hell just happened?”’ It’s a little imposter syndrome to me, because I’m like, “How did I get to this point?” But now that I’ve been able to sit with it for a little, I’m like, I’ve worked so hard for something like this and now I’m ready to receive that energy back.
Where can we see you perform locally for now?
Even during the run of the show, I will still be at Off the Record Wednesdays as much as I can. So we’re working right now, if I can give away a little bit, we’re working to bring in my Season 18 sisters during the airing of the show on Wednesdays. There’ll be viewing parties on Fridays. I’ll definitely be at the Renaissance Theatre Co. [at 54 W. Church St.] Jan. 2 for the premiere party for the first episode. And then when I’m available, I’m still on cast at Southern Nights on Thursdays. You know, there hasn’t been an Orlando queen on a regular season since Season 9, and this is Season 18, so almost 10 years. It’s a whole new generation, and I’m just excited to represent them.
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“It’s a whole new generation, and I’m just excited to represent them.”
This article appears in Dec. 31, 2025–Jan. 6, 2026.
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