Eureka D. Huggard, most famously known as Eureka O'Hara, is an American drag queen, musician, and reality television personality who has become a prominent figure in the entertainment industry. Born on August 26, 1990, Eureka rose to national attention through her participation in RuPaul's Drag Race, appearing on season 9, season 10, and RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars season 6. Eureka's journey on Drag Race was marked by both triumph and tribulation, solidifying her status as a memorable and impactful queen. Beyond the show, Eureka is known for her advocacy of body positivity and her recent transition as a trans woman.
Early Life and Career
Before her appearances on RuPaul's Drag Race, Eureka participated in the drag pageantry system. She won the National title for anti-bullying organization as Miss Don't H8 DIVA and awarded Hall of Fame.
RuPaul's Drag Race
Eureka's first attempt at the crown was on season 9 of RuPaul's Drag Race. However, her journey was cut short due to a knee injury sustained during a cheerleading challenge. This made her the first contestant in the show's history to be sent home due to an injury. Despite the setback, Eureka's talent and charisma were undeniable, earning her an invitation to return for season 10.
In season 10, Eureka showcased her talents, making it to the finale and ultimately finishing as a runner-up. Throughout the season, Eureka was often criticized in the media and by fellow contestants for her aggressiveness, for constantly making herself the center of every show, for endlessly talking in rehearsals, for being “too much.” Despite this, she remained a strong competitor, proving her skills in various challenges and lip-sync battles. As part of the final challenge, O'Hara and the other top four contestants wrote and recorded their own verses for RuPaul's song "American."
In 2021, Eureka competed on the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, where she once more placed as a runner-up. In 2024, she competed on the second season of Canada's Drag Race: Canada vs. the World.
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Memorable Moments and Performances
Eureka is known for several iconic moments on RuPaul's Drag Race. One notable performance was on "The Bossy Rossy Show," a talk show challenge where she was paired with Aquaria as grown-up babies. Embracing the stereotype of a "fat baby body," Eureka went on stage in a pink and purple bib, diaper-like underwear, and a hair bow, turning the stereotype on its head through comedic performance. She takes any stereotype that can be used against her - for instance, that fat people are lazy, whining babies, unwilling to diet - and she makes these work for her, performing them as comedy, having the first and last laugh over her body.
Eureka also defied stereotypes by showcasing her athleticism, regularly performing full splits and lifting her legs to her face. In one episode, she lip-synced against Kameron Michaels, a "muscle queen," and they both did splits at the same moment, resulting in neither being eliminated.
Fashion and Style
Eureka's fashion choices have also been a highlight of her time on Drag Race. One standout outfit was the "Broccoli Dress," a striped pink and white dress covered with cartoonish pictures of broccoli, paired with green, braided hair. Eureka proudly demonstrates a love for food, but she also associates herself with a “health food” that fat people supposedly don’t eat enough of. She contradicts the stereotype that fat people only eat things like chips and candy and avoid the vegetables that would supposedly slim them down.
Body Positivity
Eureka is a strong advocate for body positivity, challenging fatphobic attitudes both within and outside the queer community. As a fat person, fat activist and Eureka fan, I’m really happy about this result. Eureka is not what I would consider a radical fat activist, but she’s out there doing impressive drag and showing pride and strength in her fat body. It’s exciting to see a big girl make it to the finale. Instead of being the humorous yet irrelevant fat friend propping up thin people, Eureka was aggressive about putting herself in the spotlight. Space has a significance to fat people that may not commonly be understood. This is especially true for fat women. Despite feminism’s advances, women are still most valued when they are petite and not too aggressive, small physically and emotionally. I grew up learning that I should diet and that I should be “a nice young lady.” I was told to eat only broiled chicken and lettuce in the six weeks proceeding my wedding to lose weight for the event. (I proudly refused.) News cameras film fat rolls and complain about America’s supposed “obesity epidemic,” dehumanizing us, vilifying us for cultural ills, and implying that we’re degenerate for taking up space on the street. We are advised to get life-threatening bariatric surgery which mutilates healthy organs to make us thinner, even if it hurts our health for life or kills us.
She has spoken out against the prevalence of body shaming, particularly in the gay male community where looks are often prioritized. In her single "Body Positivity," Eureka promotes self-love and acceptance of all body types.
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"The Big Girl" Music Video
Eureka's music video, "The Big Girl," humorously addresses fatphobic tropes and practices. It opens with a thin blond girl named Eureka O’Hara telling the doctor that she wants to look on the outside the way she feels on the inside. Five minutes later, she emerges from the ER as the glamorous, fat drag queen we recognize. She sees her look in the mirror and screeches, “I love it!” Eureka takes a variety of fatphobic tropes and practices - weight loss surgery, the idea that a thin person is trapped inside a fat person and waiting to emerge, the idea that thinness is a more authentic expression of personality than fatness - and she playfully reverses them all!
Transition
Eureka initially identified as a cisgender gay man, before living as a transgender woman from ages 18 to 22. More recently, Eureka has shared her journey of transitioning as a trans woman. People credits her moment of understanding to filming her HBO series "We're Here," which also stars "Drag Race" queens Shangela and Bob the Drag Queen. While filming the show in the spring in Florida, Eureka met two trans people, "Mandy, who transitioned later in life, and Dempsey, a young trans girl who inspired her to reexamine her identity," the magazine writes. "Hearing the story of Mandy regretting losing all that time - and all the regret and the pain that she was going through during the time of not fully being herself - was really important to me. When I left Mandy's house that day, I started spiraling. It just had me searching my mind, 'What is happening, what is going on?' Then I just answered myself: 'I'm trans. I'm a trans woman.' It just clicked," Eureka explained. "Now I'm at 31 years old, and I'm like, 'Well I don't want to be like Mandy and finally transition at 70 to be happy. During the start of her transition, Eureka said that she had as strong support system, which included her "We're Here" sisters along with her drag mother, Jacqueline St. James. She says she has been on hormone replacement therapy for seven months, and is "taking the steps toward a physical transformation," People notes. "I wanted to have the opportunity to tell the story with the show, because I was so impacted by Mandy. It was like I got to decide for the first time ever in my life how I came out, 'cause I never had that experience before," Eureka said. "I was always called gay before I ever even knew what gay was; when I wanted to transition before, I was told by the other people in my life and trans people that I was trans before I really understood what it was. Elsewhere in the interview, Eureka opened up about the struggles she faces in the future.
She has been open about her experiences and the support she received from her We're Here co-stars, Bob the Drag Queen and Shangela, as well as her drag mother, Jacqueline St. James. Eureka shared that she had been on hormone replacement therapy for seven months and was preparing for potential surgeries, including breast argumentation and facial feminization surgery.
Future Aspirations
Eureka added: "I'm preparing my body and myself for surgeries in the future, too, because I do want to be the woman that I want to be. I've been losing weight and being more mindful of what I eat in my diet and have been taking care of myself health-wise, because I was told by a doctor that they wouldn't put me under at the size that I was. "Every day, I'm becoming the woman that I strive to be - but I'm already that woman. It's just like any other female and any other person, I'm going to do what I need to do to feel even more comfortable in my skin," she said.
Other Ventures
After competing on season 10, Eureka continued to work prominently as a drag queen in the entertainment industry.
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We're Here
Eureka is also known for her role in the HBO reality series We're Here, where she and fellow drag queens Bob the Drag Queen and Shangela travel to small towns across the United States to spread messages of love, acceptance, and self-expression through the art of drag.
Music
Eureka has released several music videos, including "The Big Girl," "Pretty Hot And Tasty," "Come Together," and "WERQ!".