One thing Global All Starscontinues to teach us is that this is a collection of INCREDIBLY talented queens. There’s no question that Gala Varo is “that girl”. From her incredible pole dancing routine in the talent show, to her instantly unforgettable lip sync to one of the strangest and most delightful picks ever, “Mahna Mahna”, she’s snatched the hearts of the fandom — if missing out on the crown. But isn’t the former the best prize in the end? (Although that check would be nice, too!) For Gala, it has meant everything.
PRIDE caught up with the queen to talk about how she’s feeling now that all the dust has settled. She opened up about both the struggles she faced in the competition, and how she’s been riding the wave of love from the audience, but also how she feels afraid that that wave will crash. She also revealed what happened before she shared with her sisters that she was considering leaving the competition early, and how friendships are what kept her going.
Courtesy of World of Wonder
PRIDE: Now the dust has settled and you look back at your time on Global All Stars, how are you feeling about it?
GALA VARO: Well, at that time it was really, really difficult. You can see in the last episode that I was so in my head. I was thinking the worst of me, I wasn’t doing so good. It was getting so hard because of the language, and I wasn’t good because I hadn’t won anything, any challenge. So I was like, okay, my thing is the girl group, the talent show, these physical things. So I was seeing that the next episode is going to be more comedy, more acting. For a queen that doesn’t speak English, it is really hard. So it was like. I’m a fighter and a survivor, so I need to push it, and maybe I’m gonna lip sync, and I’m gonna lip sync till the end.
Yeah, I totally understand how discouraging that would be. I was shocked when you shared that you almost quit, but I loved how quickly all of your sisters rallied around you to encourage you. What did it mean to you to get that kind of support from them?
I’m gonna tell you a secret. That day in the morning I read letters from my best friends. My best friends [write] letters for me [for] when I feel alone or when I feel bad. It was amazing. I got the strength to keep going. I read the letters five minutes before I entered the workroom. I was having all these emotions and feelings that I wanted to share with my sisters. And they were so, so amazing, so kind, so gentle with me. They gave me all the love and support that I needed at that moment.
Courtesy of World of Wonder
Those moments are so beautiful in the workroom, and then you turn around and win the mini-challenge. Do you feel vindicated?
It was a surprise for me because I was just trying to exist. I was like, ‘Okay, I need to do this.’ And when I won I was like, ‘I won? Why?’ I’m not even here. My head is in another place, my head is in Mexico with my friends.
The Snatch Game challenge might not have gone in the direction you wanted, but it did result in one of the wildest lip-syncs ever. How do you feel about that performance? Because I was LIVING?
If you have watched me perform before, I always use sexual songs or high-energy songs. ‘Take On Me’ was okay. ‘Bang Bang’ is okay. But then mana, ‘Mahna Mahna’ is like, ‘Holy shit, what is happening?’ But actually, I like to have fun on stage. So I thought that that was a big opportunity to try to make something different, to show the judges that I also can have fun and enjoy something different. I was trying just to have fun, be silly, and make faces.
Courtesy of World of Wonder
I think it was a tough call for the judges because we’re both so amazing and wild. And I’m not alone in feeling that way, the audience has really rallied around you all season. I am curious if you’ve seen that and if so, what it’s meant to you.
Oh my God. The love and support from the audience is insane. I’ve never lived this kind of love before. Latin people and Mexican people are really passionate; when we love, we love. And when we see our representative queens... they are our people and feeling that in this moment, I am this queen representing all of them, it’s a big thing. I can feel all the love, and it’s amazing. Sometimes I get a little bit afraid because I say, maybe one day they are going to stop loving me, or maybe when I leave the competition they are going to hate it, and they are not going to show me any more love. But I know that those are just these thoughts that are just in my head, and I’m just going to give them my best.
Courtesy of World of Wonder
I totally get that. And that is, I can see why that would get in your head. But I will say, to combat that voice, that we’ve seen you at your most confident, just on fire, and loved you. Then we’ve seen you struggling and having moments of vulnerability, and we were with you then, too! Okay, I’m gonna end with a silly question. If you’re anything like me you have a big group text, and the small group text where the REAL tea gets spilled. Do you have one with your Global All Stars sisters? And if so, who’s in it?
Oh my God! [Laughs] You want that tea? Okay. We are ‘'Mango Team’. The Mango Team is Soa, Eva, Athena, and Pythia, and that's it!
