Watch: Minnie Cooper “I wasn’t fighting with anyone”

Michael James 21 August 2022

As RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under reaches the halfway point of season two we chat to the latest queen to depart the show, Minnie Cooper.

Episode four saw the queens compete in another challenging Snatch Game with plenty of highs and lows.

While Hannah Conda managed to secure herself a win with her impersonation of Liza Minelli, Minnie Cooper landed in the bottom two for her impression of lesbian comedian Ellen Degeneres.

Minnie found herself fighting for her spot in the competition against Brisbane queen Beverly Kills.

Despite a colourful performance Minnie Cooper was told to Sashay away.

She sat down to chat with Michael James about her time on the show.

A Drag Race Down Under double save?

It’s fair to say that Minnie Cooper and Beverly Kills left it all on the runway this episode.

So much so there was speculation the pair might both be saved.

“I thought it was going to be a double save too!” Minnie gushed.

After Beverly was told to stay there was a moment Minnie thought she may still be safe.

“They deliberated for ages, it was really long. Then they said Beverly, you stay, then I went to say congratulations and Ru went uh uh uh! and I stopped.”

“I thought oh maybe it’s a double save? Then she said sashay away and I was like oh.”

It would have been a fitting save for this season of Drag Race Down Under. Despite personal conflicts on the show Minnie Cooper has delivered some stellar performances and turned out amazing looks.

“I really felt like it was the best thing that I did”

But it was her final lip sync that she was most proud of.

“I think it’s the best thing I did on the show” she revealed.

“So when I got eliminated I was like oh my god my best wasn’t enough!”

“I really felt like it was the best thing that I did as far as performance goes.”

Minnie was certain she would land in the bottom two and made sure she was prepared.

“Because I sort of knew I was going to be in the bottom for the lip sync so I really thought about it. I didn’t actually go in cold, I was like okay I’m on skates, I’m dressed as a clown I might as well perform it as a clown.”

However, according to Michelle Visage, it was her clown performance that was her undoing.

“Apparently that was my detriment, according to Michelle.”

“I asked her about the lip sync and she said because I performed it like a clown.”

“I was like Michelle, I was dressed as a clown!”

Workroom conflict

Over the course of season two, Minnie Cooper has proven herself a strong character on Drag Race Down Under.

Many of the queens have been involved in discussions with Minnie that have been perceived as conflicts or fights.

However, Minnie doesn’t perceive these as fights, more as her speaking her mind.

“It’s funny, I wasn’t fighting with anyone, I don’t think I was fighting with anyone. I just think it’s funny that they could call that fighting, I think I’m just having discussions.”

Several queens including Pomara Fifth found themselves in conflict with Minnie.

“What you don’t see is they were actually bitching behind my back and I called them out on it, is that fighting?” she says.

“I just said if you’re upset talk to me and we can talk about it.

“Don’t talk about me, because that’s not the way you resolve conflict then.”

“I’ve never experienced that before”

Beyond the conflict, there was an underlying feeling of isolation for Minnie Cooper.

As the oldest queen in the group, she often felt left out and excluded from the other queens.

“When you’re one person being isolated by a group of people what is the human response?”

“Because I’ve never experienced that before ever in a group. It’s like bullying at school, it’s like this one little kid and everybody, for whatever reason is excluding this one person.”

“Even Kong said in his very own words, I can see that Minnie is being isolated by the group.”

“What is the reaction to that? I’m a 50-year-old person I’m either going to [withdraw] or I’m going to retaliate.”

Reflecting back on the experience after watching Drag Race Down Under gives more perspective for Minnie.

“I don’t think it was a deliberate thing, I think it was the nature of the beast of that environment to be perfectly honest.”

“Because I’m sure if that was a normal circumstance they would not have. I walked into that room and we were all on an even playing field. If we were in a normal working environment they could not treat me like that because I’d be a superior to them.”

Minnie Cooper on Snatch Game

Snatch Game is arguably one of the hardest tasks on Drag Race.

Going into it Minnie Cooper felt confident, she had Ru laughing and was ready to slay the competition.

“I don’t know what happened and I felt like I was doing everything he was asking me to do as well, which was super weird.”

“But nothing was landing apparently.”

While plenty of attention went to other queens during the episode Minnie is certain some of her better content didn’t make the cut.

“Two of the jokes that I thought were hilarious didn’t make the edit, which I find really interesting. I thought that all those jokes were hilarious but they didn’t make the edit.”

But she has some ideas for how to make Snatch Game easier for the contestants and she has a good point.

“I wish they had a live audience because as a comedian you need something to bounce off, not just these three people over in the corner that aren’t even looking at you.”

While Ellen Degeneres was her undoing, we never got to hear who Minnie may have played as her second choice.

“I had Jeanne Little in the bag but Ru never asked me about Jeanne so I left it, I was the only one that wasn’t asked for their second choice.”

What’s next for Minnie Cooper?

With Drag Race Down Under behind her Minnie Cooper has plenty more up her sleeve and she can’t wait to show you.

“Look out for my one-woman show and you’ll get to discover the life of what it was like for a little old boy growing up in the western suburbs and turning into a female crossdresser” she laughs.

The title of the show?

“From chorus boy to leading lady.”

Minnie Cooper will be touring the show nationally in the coming months including in Australia and New Zealand.

Watch our full interview with Minnie Cooper from Drag Race Down Under on YouTube below.