Kandy Ho | |
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![]() Kandy Ho at RuPaul's DragCon LA, 2022 | |
Born | Frank Diaz Jr. [1] September 24, 1987 Connecticut, U.S. |
Television |
Frank Diaz Jr. (born September 24, 1987),[ citation needed ] better known by the stage name Kandy Ho, is a Puerto Rican drag queen and television personality. [2]
Diaz was born and raised in Connecticut, United States, and moved to Puerto Rico when she was 10 years old. [3] [4] She was raised as a Pentecostal and Baptist. [3]
Before competing on RuPaul's Drag Race, she worked in sales for 8 years. [5] She first performed in drag as a fill-in for a talent show, where she impersonated Madonna, but was hesitant to return to drag until she was asked by friends to fill in as Kimberly Wyatt in a Pussycat Dolls impersonation act for Pride. She was convinced to fill in by her then-boyfriend, and decided to continue pursuing drag afterwards. [3] [5] Her drag name is composed of "Kandy", because she describes herself as sweet and was suggested to her by a friend, as well as "Ho", because she needed something "raunchy" to "spice up" the name and was suggested the name by her then-boyfriend. [5] [6]
Originally from Cayey, Puerto Rico, she rose to prominence on the seventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race in 2015, [7] [8] [9] and later competed on the second season Chilean version of Drag Race, The Switch Drag Race, in 2018, where she represented Puerto Rico. [10] She was accepted onto Drag Race after only auditioning once. [5] During her run on season 7 she was notably critiqued by Michelle Visage for her makeup contouring looking like she had painted on a beard, with Visage's reaction of wagging her finger and saying "no" being turned into a popular GIF. [11]
In 2019 she was ranked by Vulture as one of the most powerful drag queens in America. [12]