It turns out a winner can still have something to prove.
RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 7 is the first all-winners season in the franchise's history, bringing back illustrious queens from all different seasons, both regular and All Stars, from the show's legendary run. There's even a queen from across the pond!
Just because these queens have their legacies firmly in tact, however, doesn't mean they didn't enter the competition with chips on their shoulders.
"We see our criticisms more than anyone else," said Drag Race season five winner Jinkx Monsoon. "I felt like all of the things that I was proud of often got overshadowed by not being as polished a drag queen as some of my competitors. I'm really excited, this time, to show off my talents and be a little bit more polished from the diamond in the rough that I might have been the first time."
For season three Drag Race winner Raja, there was a similar desire to show fans and the judges how much she's grown in the decade-plus since she first walked the show's runway.
"We're all show-offs and narcissists," she joked. "So why not go back on TV and show off? It's been 11 years for me, so I really wanted to show people my evolution."
The Vivienne, who won the inaugural season of RuPaul's Drag Race UK, came in with an even more specific goal: proving people wrong.
"I definitely came out of my season experiencing the whole ‘the other person was robbed' situation." she said. "That's never a nice place to be. I'm happy with where my career has gone. I wanted to show ‘Yeah, I did deserve this win.'"
For Trinity the Tuck, who finished fourth on Drag Race season nine before being crowned co-winner of All Stars 4 with Monét X Change, it was all about letting down the guard she had up during her previous experiences.
"The first two times [on the show], I was really competitive," Trinity said. "This time, of course I wanted to win. But I really just wanted to have fun. I wanted to take in the entire experience because the first two times I didn't really do that."
With more experience and notoriety, it stands to wonder if taking critiques from the judges became more difficult.
"Yeah, for sure. Especially when a lot of us have gone on to work with some of the judges, you know what I mean?" Monét admitted. "I was on a tour with Michelle Visage, I was on a tour with Ross Mathews. But RuPaul, I don't care. When I am a 97-year-old and RuPaul is still alive and I'm doing drag, he can always critique me."
Shea Couleé, who competed on season nine of Drag Race before winning All Stars 5, had the viewers in mind when she entered the Werk Room for a third time.
"To come back and re-reintroduce myself," she said, "I just wanted to come into a room with a bunch of icons and amazing artists and make some unforgettable television."
See if Shea and the other queens were successful when RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 7 begins streaming May 20 on Paramount+.