Hershii LiqCour-Jete hated 'RuPaul's Drag Race' elimination twist

Dry your succulent tears of a drag queen with candy bar wrappers abound because, after three weeks of RuPaul's Drag Race season 16, the sweet Hershii LiqCour-Jete is this year's honorable (and, frankly, iconic) inductee into the Porkchop Loading Dock.

Though she might have been eliminated on the Mother ball, as a proud parent to two children with her longtime partner, Hershii will always — quite literally — be Mother in more ways than one, and her elimination interview with EW (below) offers some maternal insight into her time on the show — as well as her reaction to the mother of all twists looming over the season.

As Hershii sashays away from the competition after landing in the bottom for a runway look that included a pair of instantly legendary pre-made pants, the Los Angeles-based performer reacts to the Rate-a-Queen twist that ultimately led to her elimination, reveals what her drag sister Kornbread said upon learning of her exit, and finally explains why she was in the jungle for last week's talent show performance.

RuPaul's Drag Race season 16 continues Friday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on MTV. Read on for Hershii's full elimination interview.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How are you feeling since this unfolded?

HERSHII LIQCOUR-JETÉ: I feel much better now…. Unfortunately, people treat you like your placement on the show, and that’s what I was most scared of, being treated like I wasn’t a professional, like I didn’t know what I was doing, like I was just some hag that threw on a wig. The love I’ve received has been overwhelming.

In Untucked, you broke down over potentially leaving and said you did this for your kids. Someone mentioned Vanjie as being an example that being Porkchopped isn’t the end — how do you hope to turn this into a win?

You’ll see it soon. All of it is coming soon. I can’t say yet. I’ve worked on some things. The crying in the room, everybody looked like they already decided I was leaving, so I felt even worse. I felt like I needed to make a plea, like, don’t just throw me away.

It's going to be hard for anyone to throw you away, especially after your talent show, which I thought was hilarious. I think Geneva said she didn’t understand why you were in the jungle. Can you explain why?

I’m very gorgeous, but I’m also very stupid. The reason why I was in the forest… I don’t know. That’s just where I wanted to go look for the glue. The glue had to be out there. The girls needed new glue for their wigs, let’s just go to the Amazon Forest to find it. There was absolutely no reason for it.

So, it’s just good, dumb, fun drag?

Just dumb drag. Everybody was trying to dig away trying to find out about it. No, that’s just where I decided to go look.... I stand on my stupidity. It was ridiculous.

Last week, Plane Jane caused a stir. Everyone in the Werk Room speculated that she was scheming, and this week it came to a head in Untucked when she clashed with Amanda for telling her that she didn’t like her look. What are your thoughts now, seeing the episode back coupled with the reaction to Plane from fans? Does it feel different versus how you remember experiencing Plane in the room?

For me, no. I was just waiting to see what she said [on TV]. Plane Jane did not just come to do drag, she came to make TV, in my opinion. She wanted to give the girls what they wanted from Drag Race, and she wanted to shake some things up and start conversations, and, as you can see, she’s doing what she came to do. That whole thing with her and Amanda, a little harsh. Honestly, that’s a regular work room. That’s regular drag. If you see a girl you don’t like, if you see something we ain’t checking for, if we see something that doesn’t make sense, we gon' say something about it. Could Jane have been a little softer in her approach? Sure [Laughs] but then you probably wouldn’t be talking about it right now, and that’s what she wanted!

There seems to be growing division, it feels like younger fans label it as super mean.

There are moments where I listen and I’m like, now Jane. I understand [that from the] outside looking in. We have relationships with Plane Jane. We filmed for months with her, so we know her a little bit better than the world does, so it’s easier for us to take it in…. some people like mess!

Back to this episode, you referenced this a little bit earlier, but when did you know you might be the one leaving?

I was standing between Geneva and Mhi’ya [on the Main Stage]. While we were making the outfits, Mhi’ya’s didn’t look good, so in my mind I was like, I have a chance, but seeing it on the stage, she pulled it together better than I thought. I was shocked that Geneva was down there. I didn’t know why she was. I thought either Morphine or Mirage would be in the bottom, so I was shocked to see Geneva. I knew I was in the bottom after they clocked my pants. I said, to this day, I should’ve just f---ing lied and said I made those pants.

I wanted to talk about those pants! Michelle clocked it quickly. I thought it was iconic when I realized all you did was put a patch on the pockets!

I was so proud of those pockets. You could not tell me I was not going to get past!

How did you slip past the rules like that? Did you just slide past the crew to the runway?
I should’ve got past the elimination for the fact that I made five different outfits. I was going through it in that Werk Room. It started with some socks, then a leotard, then it moved over to another leotard, I sewed a lot, and I was, in my mind, like, just keep on going. I finally got down to the flowery blue shirt thing, and the drag gods were on my side because I happened to be walking past all the pants and fabric, and those were the only pair of pants in that color. I did it, I pulled it together. This is the Mother ball, I look like somebody’s mother, Michelle is going to love the streak in my hair because she has a streak. I just knew I did it, that’s why I was so confident on the runway.

Those pants were in the menswear collection?

They were in the menswear collection!

So we can credit you, you made them look like women’s pants, the way they fit.

Exactly. I listened to the rules very carefully; Ru did not say sew a look, he said make a look. I was the only mother in the Mother’s ball. I was robbed!

How did you feel about the Rate-a-Queen twist in general?

Hated it! It was the first challenge we were all together, nobody was going to give me immunity, nobody was coming to save me. I knew it boiled down to that lip-sync. I’m a performer, but the electric pop music is not in my wheelhouse. Love the song, but I didn’t know what to do with it. I made it a point, if you’re going to go home, let’s have a good time. I forgot it was a lip-sync and performed to the cameras. I enjoyed myself.

I noticed you walked up to Geneva when she was on all fours, it looked like you were going to sit on her. Was that the plan?

I was going to. I really was. But, the music ended, and I was like, okay, we’ve got to wrap the song up, so just pose in front of her. I was thinking about it. I think I thought a second too long.

What was Kornbread’s reaction when you got home?

She said, "What do you mean? So you did go up there and embarrass me?" [Laughs] She was obviously joking, but she said, "See, we’re not going to be sisters anymore. I can’t have this." And I said, "But you were early out too!" and she said, "I was put out, I didn’t get kicked out!"

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