2023 Rewind: Ahead of 'Drag Race All Stars,' Queen Naysha Lopez Thirst Traps & Spills Some Tea

This piece is part of EDGE's 2023 Rewind series. We're reaching into our archives and sharing some of our favorite stories from the past year.

The new season of "RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars" doesn't land until May 12, but contestant Naysha Lopez is already making her presence known, either in thirst-traps on Instagram or dishing her sisters with Entertainment Weekly.

But it was the thirst traps she dropped last week that caught the public's attention.

The 38-year-old Chicago resident, who is known for her weekly behind-the-scenes chit-chat at her weekly "RuPaul's Drag Race" recap show at Roscoe's bar in Chicago, is no stranger to the show, or to drag competition. After winning the 2013 Miss Continental Contest, Lopez appeared on Season 8 of "RuPaul's Drag Race," only to be the first one sent home. She returned to the competition after the third episode and became the first to be eliminated twice in the same season. In 2021, Rodriguez was a runner-up in the Mr. Continental competition and won in the swimsuit category. In 2022, Naysha Lopez was among a group of drag queens who performed on stage with Jennifer Lopez at the iHeartRadio Music Awards.

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Lopez described the upcoming season as a blend of elements while throwing some shade at her competition. "There are seasons that are very kumbaya, very that, and then there are seasons that get kind of real. I think that this season is an amazing combination of the two. We are incredibly honest with each other, and, in doing so, we're also very loving with each other, so I think you're going to get a little bit of both worlds," she says, setting up the truth-bomb she's about to drop. "There's a lot of fashion. There's some ugly stuff, too. But, it's going to be great."

She expressed surprise at even being considered for "All Stars." "I'm always spilling tea at Roscoe's, so I'm like, they're never going to bring me toAll Stars I talk too much s---!" Naysha says of the weekly program that sees her welcoming guests from the show to dish candid thoughts on "Drag Race." "And, sure enough, they called, and I'm just like, 'Oh wow, yeah, I'm on board, let's do it!' "

But she admits to being better prepared this time around. ""I went into Season 8 knowing who I was, but very caught up in my own aesthetic and not allowing myself to break free of that, do other things, and embrace different aesthetics," she explains. "Going into 'Drag Race,' even if you're a comedy queen, at some point you're going to have to serve beauty and fashion, and vice-versa. A fashion or beauty queen has to ugly it up a bit and be funny. So, the second time around, I feel like I was way more prepared to do that than I did the first time."

Check out more pics from Lopez's IG: