Orion Story says Drag Race saved her from homelessness: 'I came back from the show and got my s--- together!'

Orion Story had volumes' worth of life experience when she came to RuPaul's Drag Race — filming of which she tells EW helped save her life from a particularly rough period.

"The entire Drag Race experience has been therapeutic for me," Orion tells EW in the latest episode of our Quick Drag recap series. "Pretty much, I went to Drag Race homeless, I was struggling with substance abuse. I felt like, when I auditioned, it was a now or never. I thought of it as the only way I'm going to get my s--- together is to do it the only way I know how: through drag."

She treated Drag Race as a "healing process," admitting that "it's kind of hard to watch back because I see how much I was struggling in that point in my life, and I want to go in the past and give myself a hug and say, 'It's going to be okay.'"

The Michigan native — who was previously eliminated on the season 14 premiere, only to re-enter the competition on last week's episode — explains that she's "absolutely" on a better path after wrapping production, and that she's "thankful for the show helping" her reset her priorities.

Far less sweet for Orion, however, was watching fellow competitor Daya Betty eat a dead dragonfly in the Werk Room, after Kornbread "The Snack" Jeté dared her to eat it for $1,000. But the thought of scoring cash for munching on crunchy insect wings didn't repulse her enough to nix it from the realm of possibility altogether.

"I was like, s---, if Kornbread is going to pay her $1,000 to eat it, I'll eat it! I've eaten bugs before!" Orion says. "I'm from Michigan, of course I've eaten bugs before. It's a rite of passage."

For Drag Race queens, the annual ball episode is a rite of passage that often goes down much smoother for all involved. This season, Orion's group of seven contenders was tasked with creating three looks inspired by various animal prints, while the other half were required to make outfits using red, white, and blue fabrics. The separation was "confusing at first," she recalls, but between constructing a tiger-print gown inspired by her late mother's charismatic personality, she soon settled into a maternal role of her own by helping the other queens make their gowns.

"I made Kornbread's gloves, I helped Angie with her skirt on the dress!" she says. "I was giving a little workshop moment that you didn't see!"

Listen to Orion's full conversation on the latest mini episode of EW's BINGE podcast above, and hear the rest of our season 14 recaps below. Tune in to the @EW Twitter account Fridays at 10:05 p.m. ET / 7:05 p.m. PT for more Quick Drag chats with the queens, immediately following new episodes of RuPaul's Drag Race season 14 on VH1.

Subscribe to EW's BINGE podcast for full recaps of RuPaul's Drag Race, including weekly season 14 recaps with the cast, adapted from our new Quick Drag series airing Fridays at 10:05 p.m. ET / 7:05 p.m. PT on the @EW Twitter account.

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