One of the new contestants on RuPaul Drag’s Race is from a tiny town in North Carolina
A new season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” started Feb. 28 and one of the 13 contestants is a North Carolina native.
Heidi N Closet, who grew up as Trevien Anthonie Cheek, is from a town about 10 miles east of Asheboro with less than 2,000 residents, according to her website.
“Heidi comes from Ramseur, a small country town in North Carolina,” her bio on the show’s website reads. “She playfully says there’s little to do there except count chickens and cows.”
“RuPaul’s Drag Race,” hosted by the famed drag queen RuPaul, started in 2009, according to IMDb.
Over the course of each season (now in its 12th, along with four seasons of “RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars”), contestants battle to become “America’s Next Drag Superstar.” They compete in challenges such as acting and singing, give their best looks strutting down the runway and “lip sync for their lives” as RuPaul eliminates the queens one by one. Along with the crown, winners of past seasons received $100,000 and a one-year supply of Anastasia Beverly Hills cosmetics.
“I did not come from Ramseur to lose. So I am fully, 100 percent in this competition to win,” Heidi said in her promotional video for the show. “I want that crown — and $100,000, because poverty.”
Heidi’s name is actually a nod to Ramseur.
“My drag name came from a joke,” she said in the video. “It started out as a lot of men from my hometown are closeted and they would always try and get my goodies and whatnotries. I was like, ‘There’s no need to be hiding in the closet.’”
What sets her apart from other contestants? Heidi said it’s the large gap separating her two front teeth — where she can fit three whole quarters, she said.
During the premier of Season 12, the first seven queens competed in a runway fashion show and performed a choreographed dance and rap before celebrity guest judge Nicki Minaj.
But first they had to meet each other.
Heidi arrived on scene fifth. She was wearing a hot pink tiger-striped dress and made an unforgettable high-pitched sound with her tongue — which she later refers to as her mating call.
“I am Heidi N Closet. I am 24 years of fabulousness and I am from Ramseur, North Carolina, where the chicken outnumber the people,” she said by way of introduction.
Heidi survived the first episode — but not before having a possible allergic reaction to kale and going the ER.
“That’ll do it,” RuPaul said in response.
