Xana on Confidence, Culture, and Comedy: A Deep Dive into Canada’s Drag Race Season 5
Xana do, Xana don’t. We sat down with Xana of Canada’s Drag Race Season 5, to unpack her journey on the show and beyond. From her unwavering confidence in a high-stakes competition to sharing a heartfelt connection to her Indigenous culture, Xana opens up about the defining moments that shaped her drag and personal life. We chat about her win on the Snatch Game performance, her thoughts on comedy as a tool for joy, and her inspiring work supporting marginalized communities.
TEM (The Extra Mile ): Looking back at the season would you still refer yourself as the villain of season 5?
Xana: Oh yeah absolutely. There’s no way around it, I knew exactly what I was doing on that show and if they edited me as ‘not as a villian’ I would have been very shocked. So I’m very happy with what I did on this program and Villian with a capital V is very fitting.
TEM: The one thing that you know I really admired from you all the way from the beginning was just your confidence. What would you say drive it and like how did you stay so focused on like such a high stake environment?
Xana: Well I think for me like I’ve walked into this competition knowing what I wanted to do. I am one of the 11 people of the many many performers that applied for this show so I didn’t have to be self-doubt. I didn’t have to worry about oh my god enough to be here. I’m here. I’m in the room, why would I not be 100% confident, why would I not be 100% percent myself. Yes it’s a high stress environment but like that’s essentially what drag is at all times. You should be firing at all cylinders or should be no self-doubt and even there’s moments when I think Simone even we’re like are you nervous? And I’m like no I don’t think I’m nervous. Do you think I’m nervous? So it’s just like one of those things that like I would have done myself a disservice if I didn’t 100% go into confidence and believe in myself. Even when I was not doing well I would like This is good. We’re gonna hit it. We’re gonna make it work. So that was just something that I think Drag if you need to have that kind of illusion that kind of confidence to push yourself forward. But if you don’t have it and it’s very apparent when you see someone who isn’t confident on that show and that’s not what I want to have for my journey God.
TEM: So the Snatch Game, that was my favourite moment. Tell us about that moment and would you say that was probably your favorite moment on the being on the show?
Xana: I feel like the Snatch Game was very interesting. It is hard It is very hard to do if anybody listening to this thing could do the Snatch game, you probably can’t and being there and being able to like participate in it was wild. My favorite moment. I don’t know. I don’t know if winning the game was my favorite moment. Obviously loved it. But I think one of my favorite moments was, I want to say the design challenge, the first one, because I had to, I created both of my looks. So like, I walked down that record and two things that I made, and I was very happy and confident with myself. Obviously being safe, I was like, but yeah, that was definitely one of the cool things. So that’s like, you get to show so much more than just performing. You get to show so much more than just being in drag, you get to show what the art of drag is, because it can be applied just when we just formats. I think creating something for yourself to wear is one of those skills that is necessary for multiple performers, because drag can be very expensive. And if you don’t have the financial means to do it, you should be able to create for yourself.
TEM: I want to talk about that in moment that we got to see on the show. actually, it was a couple of weeks back, we got to see a really beautiful moment where you kind of mentioned that you felt disconnected between your on your culture and hat beautiful exchange between you and Jaylene with the sash. How would you say that moment kind of resonated with you? And what what a what would you like to say to let’s say other Indigenous performers or individuals that may feel disconnected to their culture of heritage?
Xana : I think that moment surpasses what drag race is, and I think it reaches many audiences that may not have known about those atrocities that are just learning for the first time in 2024, 2025. I think the moment between me and Jalylene was very healing you, you and everybody who’s got to see that is witnessing the medicine that is what Indigenous culture is, and it is gifting, it is sharing, it’s involving people in the culture. And I think that was something that neither Jalien and I would have known the impact of until we got to see it ourselves. And I think that video now has like seven million views on TikTok and probably another 500,000 on So, like, many people who need to see that happen have, and I, for indigenous performers out there, indigenous folks that may not be connected to their culture. I’m still getting punished and tagged in that post saying, like, this has hit me so hard. This has brought me home. This is like resonating with me and not just indigenous folks, but anybody who may be mixed race that may not feel identified or a connection to their culture, it’s, it’s resonating with that it connects with the indigenous cultures, but if it can connect other people, other races to what that feeling is, then I think that that’s the work that is truly magical there.
TEM: I think there was also a moment where you opened up about your childhood and you mentioned that you use comedy to kind of get through that. Do you just you are and comedy kind of still play a big role in how you express yourself today?
Xana : Of course I love telling jokes if they land or not. I just love being that kind of comedic relief because I feel like even in drag like we need to have that this willingness brought into the world. It’s one of those things that like every single day it feels like everything’s getting worse and I want to be that person for myself. I want to be that person for the people around me that like I get to make them laugh and to make them get that giggle in because laughter needs to happen in the everyday life otherwise like you’re taking the joy out of it and I think for me being able to be off the cuff and just like super jumpy with the comments just kind of gets everybody to that place where it’s like not everything has to be that serious and it’s easier to enjoy life when we’re all laughing together.
TEM: What’s next for you that you’re able to share with the viewers?
Xana: It’s kind of an open book. The world is my oyster at this point. I just came back from Toronto. We’re going to the UK in a couple of days. We’re going to be coming back to Toronto. I’m going to the Yukon in February, so I get to meet and see other people in other communities. I have music out right now, which kind of allows me to reach different people with another artistic format. I want to experience everything that drag can offer me and whether that is doing another TV show that may be not involved explicitly or being on another drag race franchise. Those are the things that I want to do with this platform and getting to meet the community that has supported me and everybody on this show is kind of what’s next for me.
TEM: How does Xana go the Extra Mile whether it’d be in your drag or in your personal life?
Xana : I always go the extra mile. to make sure that not only I’m being taken care of, but my communities are being taken care of, there’s a lot of things that I do outside of drag that kind of supports and uplifts people. I have many charities that I run for the Indigenous and POC people of Vancouver. I also raised $5,000 for my sister Sanjina for her gender affirming surgeries when we had come back from the show. So that’s kind of going extra mile for me. And if I can impart anything on everybody else, if you have negative thoughts about the show, if you have negative thoughts about me, negative thoughts about my sisters, take that energy and work on yourself and work in your communities. Take care of the people that are around you first before you start putting that energy out there, because it’s kind of a waste of your time. If you aren’t enlightening and enlightening everyone’s day, then you kind of need to reassess what we’re doing in our future, right?