By Mary Colurso
Two drag queens from Alabama, Trinity the Tuck and Sam Star, are ready to dazzle viewers with appearances on reality TV in 2025.
Sam Star, from Leeds, is set to sparkle on Season 17 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” The new season will debut Jan. 3 on MTV, at 7 p.m. CT. Fourteen contestants will compete on the show, vying for a $200,000 prize
“Thank y’all so much for all of the love and support!!!,” Sam Star said in a Dec. 9 Instagram post. “I’m truly so overjoyed and grateful for this unbelievable opportunity! I can’t wait for y’all to be a part of this dream becoming reality.” She has more than 22,000 followers on Instagram (where she describes herself as “Supermodel of the South”) and about 1,500 followers each on Facebook and TikTok.
“Stunning, stylish, Southern!,” Sam’s “Drag Race” bio says. “Sam is quite the Renaissance queen, having trained in musical theater, and being a retired gymnast and cheerleader who can do back handsprings! With polished makeup skills and a gorgeous mug, Sam has gone on to win an impressive number of pageant titles for such a young queen; it’s no surprise to learn that Trinity The Tuck is her drag mother and mentor.”
Credited as Sam Purkey, the actor was featured in the 2022 cast of “Kinky Boots” at Red Mountain Theatre in Birmingham, and appeared in productions of “Chicago,” “Memphis,” “Elf: the Musical” and “Damn Yankees” around Birmingham, according to the Red Mountain Theatre website.
Sam Star was nominated for Newcomer of the Year at the 2024 LTP Peoples Choice Awards and was named Miss Glamorous Newcomer 2022.
Trinity the Tuck, a Birmingham native formerly known as Trinity Taylor, will strut their cooking skills — or lack thereof —on “Worst Cooks in America Celebrity Edition: Heroes vs. Villains.” The new season starts Jan. 5 on the Food Network, at 7 p.m. CT.
Trinity is no stranger to TV viewers in Alabama, after stints on “RuPaul’s Drag Race” in 2017 and “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” in 2018. (Trinity won the $100,000 prize on “All Stars,” sharing the title with Monet X Change.)
Trinity also been featured on the E! series “Botched” and Netflix’s “AJ & the Queen.” In 2019, Trinity had a cameo in Taylor Swift’s 2019 “Calm Down” video, along with another Alabama native, Laverne Cox. Trinity has 1.2 million followers on Instagram, 209,000 followers on Facebook and more than 144,000 followers on TikTok.
Trinity plans to review the new season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” on YouTube with Shontelle Sparkles, according to a recent Facebook post, presumably cheering for protege Sam Star.
Fans who want to see Trinity out of their element, however, can tune into “Worst Cooks,” watching celebrity competitors engage in meal-making mayhem.
“This season’s cast has survived the cutthroat world of reality television where they earned their reputations as heroes or villains, and now they will find out if they have what it takes to succeed in culinary boot camp,” a Food Network press release says. “From a comic book themed Flavor City challenge to a royal food inspired Games of Scones, the challenges are as creative and outrageous as the competitors.”
Trinity will be among the reality TV heroes testing their abilities in the kitchen, along with Sebastian Bach of Skid Row, Cheryl Burke of “Dancing with the Stars,” Frankie Grande of “Big Brother 16″ and Olympic skater Adam Rippon, who appeared in “Stars on Mars.”
The season’s villains are Tiffany “New York” Pollard, a standout on “Flavor of Love” and “I Love New York,” Wes Bergmann of “The Challenge,” Corinne Olympios of “The Bachelor,” Bartise Bowden of “Love Is Blind” and “Perfect Match,” and Rachel Reilly of “Big Brother” and “The Amazing Race.” Chefs Jeff Mauro and Antonia Lofaso are on board to coach and evaluate the contestants.
After weekly eliminations, the most-improved contestant will win $25,000 for the charity of their choice, along with bragging rights, the press release says. Challenges along the way will include seafood dishes, dinner-party dishes, breakfast food and a scavenger hunt. On the Feb. 2 finale, the top two competitors will be asked to whip up a three-course, restaurant-quality meal for a panel of judges.
Alabama already has produced a winner on “Worst Cooks”: Stacey Loper, a Hoover therapist and counselor, bested 15 other recruits on Season 27 of the Food Network series, winning a cash prize of $25,000 and bragging rights as a home chef in early 2024.
