The first straight queen cast on the show talks about how her casting caused an online debate and "a lot more negative opinions" sent her way.

After a shocking two eliminations last week, RuPaul’s Drag Race season 14 returned to business as usual in the latest episode, with the queens showing off their style in another design challenge.

In season 14’s latest episode, which aired on Friday, Feb. 11, the queens were tasked with creating top-tier fashion looks out of unconventional materials — specifically, materials found in boxes shipped to them by “Glamazon Prime.”After hitting the runway in their makeshift outfits, the queens received their critiques from the judges; Jorgeous took home her first challenge win for her glamorous dance costume, while queens Maddy Morphosis and Jasmine Kennedie wound up in the bottom for their sloppily-executed dresses.

Performing in a lip sync to Beyoncé‘s “Suga Mama,” the queens stomped the runway, vying for the judges’ approval. Ultimately, Jasmine’s booty-shaking dance moves won her another week in the competition, making Maddy the latest queen to sashay away. Below, Billboard chats with Maddy Morphosis about her time on the show, dealing with a design challenge, and her history-making turn as the show’s first cisgender straight male contestant.

Looking back, how are you feeling about your time on Drag Race?

I’m sad that I didn’t get to go further in the competition, but I don’t know, I’m really happy for the experience. I fully thought I wouldn’t get a callback for the audition, so I definitely didn’t think I would make it on the show. I thought if I did make it on the show, I would’ve gone home first, so the fact that I made it six episodes in is awesome. I got a chance to show some of my drag and really have the full experience.

Your casting has seemed to be the hot-button issue of the season online, with some fans saying you shouldn’t be taking up this space as a cis straight man, while others defended your right to be on the show. I know you’ve put out a statement regarding some of it, but how have you gone about sort of navigating this wave of attention?

I mean, it was largely just me trying to focus on the positive, if I’m being honest. While there was a lot of negative stuff, there was a lot more overwhelmingly positive responses. Obviously, being around the queer community most of my life, I have never dealt with any kind of discrimination at drag shows, never had pushback for doing drag, because I think a lot of people in the queer community get what it feels like to be discriminated against and to feel othered. Most people in the queer community do not want that for other people, so it was never a part of my experience.

But then once it went online, it goes from being all of these people you meet in person, to hundreds of thousands — even millions of people — with opinions, then it obviously does open up to a lot more negative opinions as well. But overall, it’s been very positive, so that’s sort of what I chose to focus on.

It also opened up to fans making so many memes out of you this season — how do you feel about being constantly meme’d throughout season 14?

Sometimes it’s great, but some of ’em cut a little deep! [Laughs.] Like, “That’s very funny, but also, I’m a person. I do in fact have feelings!”

You certainly helped some of it with your TikTok, where you actively make fun of yourself and the other contestants in hilarious mini-sketches. How do you go about making those?

I try not to think about them too much. If I get even a whiff of an idea, I just post it right then and there. There’s no schedule, no output, just me getting some dumb idea, and I post it right then and there. Or I’ll hear an audio, and I get an idea for it and I post it. I try to make sure that nothing’s overly-produced on TikTok, because that’s the stuff I love — things that are just simple, easy to relate to, and stupid.

Throughout the season, you really showed off this high camp aesthetic — what is it about the concept of camp that speaks to you as a performer?

I spent too much of my life taking myself seriously, and I really found this niche of making people laugh by being stupid and fun. I started going to drag shows a few years before I ever started doing drag, and I always told myself that I would never do something like drag, because they go out there in leotards, and they dance and do kicks, splits, and all that. That’s not for me. But seeing someone come into town doing camp and comedy and making people laugh, being stupid and referential, I kind of fell in love with that, and that’s where my persona has gone. But I tried to put my own look to it, because I always try to look good doing it. I don’t do super, over-the-top, crazy makeup, or super exaggerated looks. Rather, I aim for being aesthetically pleasing to the eye, but also stupid and funny.

I was really scared, because some looks I had, I was like, “This is my best look ever” — and then I see it on the runway, and it’s like, “Oh, I don’t like it.” And then there’s ones like the white J. Lo look — that was my least favorite look I brought to Drag Race, and then seeing it back, I was like, “Oh, it looks very good on the runway!”

As long as we’re talking about looks, let’s talk about the design challenge — you were in the bottom for the first design challenge, so what was going through your head when just a couple weeks later you were handed another one?

Whenever they announced it was a design challenge, it was immediately an eye-roll, like, “Well, this sucks.” But it’s the same as the first time we did the ball challenge — I got way too invested in a certain idea trying to make it, it all came apart, and I had to throw something else together at the last minute. With this one, the goal was to try and go with the flow and see what happened as we developed a story. Normally, when I make things, it’s because I have something very specific in mind; with a design challenge, it’s making something from scratch, idea or not. I can get crafty, but I’m not a high-fashion person as you can see! It’s never been my drag. So with this, I was like, “I can’t make something that’s the most beautiful thing they’ve ever seen, so maybe I can just make something really ugly and dumb and fun and they’ll like it for that.” But, I didn’t hit the mark.

Now, I also need to thank you for bringing the drama back to Untucked — that fight between you and Jasmine over who was going to slay who in a lip sync was incredible. What was going on in that moment that allowed it to boil over?

Honestly, I think we were under so much pressure and stress, and then the fact that we had a couple Untucked drinks, and the fact that one of us was going home just turned it into this perfect storm. I think there was so much misunderstanding there — I think she thought, initially, that I was being disrespectful or something. So then she says something I find disrespectful, and it started devolving into us having two different conversations, which only added to the frustration. It was just an in-the-moment thing.

Obviously, we’re good now, we’ve talked since then, we understand that it was just the moment. Drag Race is a pressure cooker of emotions, so if you make it through without crying or getting angry or upset, then you’re not human.

Before I let you go — is there a song, album or artist that’s really been inspiring you as of late?

I’ve been dipping back into a lot of older music lately, like the Mary Jane Girls, Sister Sledge… that’s been the vibe, lately. That’s been my playlist for painting, and that’s where I’ve been at for the last couple of months. Going to drag shows and hearing so much [current] top 40, sometimes you have to take a break and dip into something else.