As one of Canada’s most legendary drag artists, Tynomi Banks originally competed in the inaugural season of Canada’s Drag Race. While she may not have snatched the crown the first time around on the reality series, Tynomi was eager to return for a second chance to show her growth. When she’s not touring with Nelly Furtado or leading international campaigns, Tynomi has proven that the stage is where she shines. Yet, she’s found her kryptonite: Avril Lavigne.
Canada’s Drag Race vs the World 2 has brought together nine international queens across the Drag Race universe in hopes of becoming the Queen of the Motherpucking World! Hosted by Brooke Lynn Hytes with Brad Goreski and Traci Melchor, the season includes Lemon, Miss Fiercalicious, and Tynomi Banks from Canada’s Drag Race, Alexis Mateo, Eureka, and Kennedy Davenport from RuPaul’s Drag Race, Cheryl and Le Fil from RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, and La Kahena from Drag Race France. This spin-off series has seen the return of the Golden Beaver, a twist first introduced on Season 4 of the main series. It allows the winning queen of the week to save one of the bottom three queens from lipsyncing for their life. With two opportunities to be saved this season, Tynomi didn’t get a chance to have the Golden Beaver save her. But she’s not mad. Performing is her therapy.
Tynomi Achieved Her Main Goal
After expressing my sadness to be talking to her this early in the season, Tynomi said, “Don’t be sad. It’s ok. It’s only six episodes. I made it halfway. I think I’ll be making a cameo again. I got to show a lot of my looks. That’s why I’m happy. The main thing for me is I got to show my confidence. I got to show that I’m funny. I got to show that I’m beautiful. The glow-up was the main goal here.” For Tynomi, it was good to be back in the new and improved Werk Room. “Our first season, there were a lot of kinks and nooks that had to be worked out. It made me not like TV in that way. I have a control thing. I discovered a lot about myself and learned to work through it and grow from it. Being back on the season right now, all I wanted to show was how confident and how happy I was. And that came across.”
Despite having her Season 1 sister Lemon alongside her, Tynomi had two other connections from her life off the show joining her in the competition: Alexis Mateo and Miss Fiercalicous. For Alexis, she knows her through working in Puerto Vallarta. With Fierce, it’s through the Toronto drag scene. So what was that like to have them there? “It was really different. Alexis, I was nervous of because watching her on past seasons. She doesn’t stand no bullshit. She will come for you and stand you correct. So the fact that she had that much respect for me, I watched that and teared up the first episode. Instantly, there’s a friendship there.” As for Fierce, Tynomi laughed before sharing, “That girl is so funny.” Tynomi even spilled the tea about the first time the two of them ever met. “The first time I ever met her, she wasn’t even doing drag. I was on billboards around town. She just never heard of me and someone was like, ‘Oh, that’s Tynomi.’ She walks over and goes, ‘Oh, just so you know, I’m going to be taking your gigs one day. I’m going to be a bigger star than you.’ I looked at her and said, ‘You should walk one block north and turn your neck and tell me who’s painted on the wall.” It was a big ad of me doing an Axe ad with Nelly Furtado. Tynomi says she had always humbled Fierce since day one, having a brother-sister dynamic. She said, “I was happy she was on the show. It gave good TV.”
Tynomi Had Some Scary Scene Partners
The season had some fun and bright moments, including this week’s mini challenge where the remaining queens had to screen test for a new animated film as the character Draggy, acting alongside a tennis ball. As she laughed, “Clown work! Tynomi doesn’t do that! But you have it now. It’s recorded for everyone to see.” This was not the first time though that Tynomi and her sisters had a scary scene partner. Just a week prior, the cast had to improv alongside The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ Lisa Rinna. So who was the scarier scene partner? “At first, Lisa Rinna. She’s just like this icon. I just remember that fight. She smashes glasses. She’s a fierce woman. But also the ball didn’t give me anything to work with. Where’s the words? Help me. Help me.”
When it came to the game play, the season featured the Golden Beaver. With power being put in the hands of the queens, how they treated one another was crucial. Having called Miss Fiercalicious a brat on numerous occasions, Tynomi says, “The first time we got into a fight, it made me nervous. I was mad at her.” She even joked that she would “beat her up.” Tynomi knew it was just a moment and the game that Fierce was playing. “She was being super, super extra. She is great TV. Honestly. And she’s very smart. As soon as I saw her tactic, I was like, ok I’m fine.”
There’s No Begging For Tynomi Banks
This season, when it came to the ball challenge, this cast was not proficient with sewing machines. Nearly every remaining queen was looking for a design challenge redemption story. Did it ease her at all? Tynomi noted, “I was 50/50 on that. We were stressed. The one person that knew how to make anything and everything was Eureka. I felt a lot of us were going to her just getting little hints and helps.” As they were all going through it, Tynomi shared, “At one point, my machine broke for maybe two hours. I was trying to make my dress and it was just breaking the string. I don’t sew. I just learned to sew for the show. To troubleshoot, I don’t know what to do. I got a new machine and I made my dress.” But she made the dress, and she was happy about it! “I was in the mindset where, honestly, you could have told me the dress was a piece of sh– or the ugliest thing. I made it. It’s not. It wasn’t. I didn’t believe anything.” In a game where you don’t know what the judges are thinking, it was clear that they may have had some preconceived notions of what they expected for each of the three categories in the ball challenge.
When it came to being the bottom, her fellow bottom two queens, Cheryl and Kennedy Davenport, pitched to the week’s winner, Alexis Mateo, about why she should consider using the Golden Beaver on them. Tynomi, well, she did not. Looking back, she has no regrets. “It’s a hard situation. Just in life, I don’t like begging for things. The whole Beaver thing is such a weird thing for me. I don’t like begging when I deserve to be there. I’d rather fight.” And fight she did. Unfortunately, for the second time in her tenure on Canada’s Drag Race, it was an Avril Lavigne song that knocked her out of the competition. She does believe that if they did the lip sync for the win and had the lipsticks, it would have been way more interesting. To be fair, the results of the season may have looked very different as well! “Fierce was right. They should have kicked off one of the Americans right away,” referring to the first Golden Beaver decision by Lemon during episode 1.
Tynomi has left Canada’s Drag Race vs the World with a full heart, enjoying her experience on the show. While she wished some of the judging may have been different, that’s just how the beaver, crumbles? Tynomi has promised great things are still to come, so watch her as she continues to take over the world. Listen to Tynomi Banks’ full interview on Block Talk.
Canada’s Drag Race: Canada vs the World 2 streams new episodes every Friday at 9:00pm on WOW Presents Plus internationally and on Crave in Canada.