He has said of his early experimentation with gender expression: I started doing drag because I was kind of going through this identity crisis where I thought I wanted to be a woman.

[5] Hernandez performed at the gay bar Albuquerque Social Club and was crowned Miss Duke City at the venue in 2016.

[3] On the premiere episode of the season ("10s Across the Board"), she placed in the bottom two of the main challenge and defeated Vanessa Vanjie Mateo in a lip-sync to "Ain't No Other Man" (2006) by Christina Aguilera.

[9][10] Kalorie Karbdashian-Williams was eliminated from the competition on the second episode ("PharmaRusical"),[3] which featured a musical theatre challenge (or Rusical) inspired by pharmaceutical marketing.

[16] Paul Hagen of the LGBT magazine Metrosource wrote, "We especially got behind Kalorie's big-is-beautiful ethos, and her inspiring story of reshaping her life after reaching a weight well above 300 pounds in high school ... And we have rarely seen any contestant on Drag Race twerk on the runway with such vigor.