Madame Merle, as photographed by Mathu Andersen.

Merle Ginsberg, the best-selling author and fashion journalist (she's also the blogger behind FashionRules.com), is often times the only biological girl on RuPaul’s Drag Race. That’s hardly a problem for her.

As we found out, Mizz Merle loves the catty chat backstage and playing the role of a judge on camera. In fact, it’s waaaay better than being a contestant; Ginsberg found this out after competing (and nearly winning) as a wannabe fashion designer on Bravo's design competition reality show, Launch My Line.

Today, Merle talks about her experiences in the wiggy, tuck-tastic drag land that is RuPaul's Drag Race. She dishes on the queens and shares insights on celebrity judges. Read on to find out who should have left earlier, who could be a Paris runway model, and who reminds Lady Ginsberg of herself. Plus, she hints at what may come during an apparently uber-shocking finale.

--by Ruth Schneider

Get the full Q&A realness after the jump!

Pull up the the bumper, baby! Let's chat with Merle...

You’ve been around the reality show block – do you like the contestant or the judge role better?

It’s so much better being a judge. One of the reasons I wanted to do Launch My Line is because I had such a brilliant time doing RuPaul — I thought, “I like this television gig. This is great. I wanna do this again.” I get on Launch My Line and I thought, “Oh my god, I'm a prisoner.” Every time you have to go to the bathroom, somebody has to walk you. You have absolutely no freedom. And the hours are insane. When you're a judge, you come in and you have fabulous hair and makeup people all over you and you get to meet some great celebrity co-stars. Being a judge is a great gig. Being a contestant is a really tough gig.

Merle and her "Launch My Line" teammate, designer Thai Nguyen, during the show's finale. Photo by Bravo.

Who was your favorite celebrity guest judge?

Well, certainly Debbie Reynolds was an absolute hero and I grew up watching her movies. It's funny, my mom was around this summer and so I got to tell her all these stories about Debbie Reynolds, and she died a month ago. So, it was really kind of great to be able say to my mom, “I just shot a TV show with Debbie Reynolds.” That was just mind-blowing for me. It's my entire youth sitting here next to me.

But Henry Rollins was way up there, too. I'm just a huge fan. His music, his radio show, his political stance. He's just a strong individualist. And I loved watching a straight guy in that scenario. He just dealt with it beautifully. I mean, I remember one of them flirting with him, and Ru said, "Henry, how are you dealing with that?" He said, "At my age, I'm thrilled somebody is flirting with me."

What differences do you see between seasons 1 and 2?

I know that there was a concerted effort to have younger people be on Season 2, because it was just different, less-established people in a way. You know, Bebe, Nina, Ongina, Shannel — these are people who are very established in their world. And they are amazing individualists. They are very interesting and extreme and evolved people. The people on this season were definitely younger, some real newcomers. It made a big difference.

A Santino's eye view of Ru and Merle at the judges' table during Season 1.

Did you have a favorite challenge?

Every time, I see a new episode I say "That's my favorite one. The rock 'n' roll challenge is my favorite. No, the disco greasy chicken is my favorite. No, the book challenge is my favorite. And, also, the Snatch Game. There's some just incredible comedy there.

RuPaul says she is looking for people with “charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent.” What are the traits that you look for in picking the next drag superstar?

The same, but in a different order of priority. To me, uniqueness is number one. I loved Nina Flowers and Bebe and Ongina because they were so uniquely themselves. I've never seen anybody do anything like what they did and dress the way they did. We’re all looking for looks and clothes and all that stuff, but for me it's uniqueness, even if it's sort of bad, I still like it.

Here come da judges! Episode 1 of Season 2, with guest judge Kathy Griffin (far left).

RuPaul always says “the final decision is mine.” How much input do you give as a judge?

Most of us are in awe of Ru’s thinking process because there's a lot going on there. It's not like it's off the cuff. Ru takes this pretty seriously. I think he does listen to us. I think he really wants to hear what were going to say. And then he's going to make up his own mind. That's the kind of person he is. I love the honesty of him going, "But the final decision is mine to make" because that's probably true on every show with every host and executive producer, but they don't have the nerve to say it.

How does your fashionista background play into the judging?

It plays a big part in it. These are men dressing as women. So there's a couple issues at play: Do they look like women? Do they look really feminine? They don’t have to be doing contemporary Hollywood or New York fashion, but they have to have style. Jujubee wasn't doing Paris runway, but she was doing this pop-culture dragon lady thing that was kinda fabulous. So you have to judge them on their own skills.

Tyra Sanchez wore absolutely amazing, stunning outfits that blew us all away. And so did Ongina in season 1. These people are doing real fashion. Tyra only had one not-great look and that was in the rock and roll challenge. That was because she is always doing high fashion or Beyonce. She didn't know how to get down with the rock 'n' roll thing. But everything else. She did super high fashion. She could have been on a Dior runway.

Merle, with fellow fashionista and "Launch My Line" contestant, Patrick McDonald at New York Fashion Week.

Did you know RuPual before becoming a judge on the show?

Believe it or not, no. I knew Randy Barbato who is one of the executive producers a little bit, and I knew Fenton Bailey who owned World of Wonder. I'd worked with them and I'd given quotes on some of their interesting pop culture documentaries.

Ru and I know many of the same people in New York. There was a club where Ru played in New York when he first got there and a friend of mine ran it. So, I was in that club all the time. I probably saw him performing, and we knew some of the same people because we've talked about it, but we did not know each other. I'm presuming [the producers] probably wanted one biological female. They probably thought that was a good way to break it up a little bit.

Who were you glad to see go?

You are never really happy to see anyone go, ‘cause there all really bummed out. You feel bad. I did think that Tatiana should go, at that point. I thought she lasted a little longer than she should have. I would have liked Pandora to stick around longer. I loved her Carol Channing. She was not generic pretty. Although she is pretty, she had real personality and humor.

Judges Kathy Griffin and Merle get a load of the gals in Episode 1.

Can you dish on a few of the more notorious competitors: You talked about Tyra's glamour already... But what about Pandora Boxx?

I just love, love, love Pandora's name; it brings up so many things. Love the comedy. Love the way she left with a pratfall. Sweet and charming.

Jujubee?

Jujubee is a Miss Congeniality in her way — just so sweet and darling. What I loved about Juju is she was so motivated by her dad and the spirit of her dad. While she’s super, super cute and honest, she’s got a real backbone and some fight.

Raven?

Raven is probably the person on the show who reminds me the most of me. She’s kind of got that dark lady mystique and she's got a lot of cool. It took us a while to figure her out. First couple shows, she was throwing much shade and opaqueness, we didn't know what was going on. Only when she started to open up, we were like, “Whoa this is an interesting person.”

Tatianna?

Tatianna, to me, looked the most like a girl and I really forgot she was a boy because we’re not there on the days they’re boys. Watching the show after we shot it, I was like "Oh my god, she's really a boy." She actually reminded me a young Racquel Welch. But absolutely no fashion sense whatsoever. She just kept doing the $2-hooker thing.

Jessica Wild?

Jessica had such a great attitude and I kept thinking everything she came out that she’s kind of dark and a little bit swarthy. I thought this guy trying to pull off girl, can't pull off girl. But she did some things so amazingly like the rock n roll challenge.

Any hints about the finale?

Nothing you’re going to see in the finale is anything you expected. None of it is in any way staged. It all happened, and we were all sitting thinking, “What the f*ck?”

Thai and Merle hit the red carpet at the RuPaul's Drag Race Season 2 premiere party in Hollywood this past January. Glamorama!!!

Need to catch up on more of Merle and all the girls of RuPaul's Drag Race Season 2 before next Mondays big ballsy finale (on Logo on April 26th at 9pm ET)? Watch full episodes from this season at LogoTV.com. And during the RuPaul's Drag Race Season 2 Finale, join our Live-Blogging Finale Party at LogoTV.com next Monday from 8:30pm-10:30pm!