'...and DON'T *bleep* IT UP!' -- the RuPaul's Drag Race thread

I promise to start now.

Marilyn Monroe should've been in the bottom. She didn't do anything.

Yeah that was an epic flop. I like Ivy well enough but that made me go "Whuh?"

Jinkx, Alaska and Roxy were the best overall, but Jinkx just owned it period.

I like Ivy too and I think she was lucky she didn't have to lipsynch against Lineysha. I didn't expect her to do so well (but her Celia Cruz was unforgiveable).

Deep clusterfuck, that. Also what WAS Detox thinking.

um hi I just started watching season 5 online having never watched and omg I'm hooked

I'll be caught up in no time :D

Don't forget to watch Untucked, an essential part of this show!

Yeah I just figured that out...gotta love these bitchy girls. MORE drag homework? *twists arm*

Very good. Join us, join us...

Shanté, you stay!

Season 2 still the best so far, I think.

I just binge-rewatched season 3 over the weekend on Netflix and I might have to vote for that one. Then again I just like Raja a hell of a lot, so.

Yes for Raja and Manila. But the rest, not so interesting. Yara-Sophia maybe...

It actually came down to the right final four I thought, Alexis was a character in her own right. But yeah Yara (Xara?) was next level.

I still haven't seen season four! For some stupid reason it's not on Netflix -- it was for about two seconds and then went away again without explanation. (Already know who won, obv., but I'd like to see it happen.)

Wait what!! Can't you watch it on logo online or something? We can't in Canada but I thought you could in the US.
Season 4 was pretty good, although they tried to create too much unnecessary drama. But I'll let you see by yourself.

You can see the Untucked episodes from season 4 on the site but not the main shows. Since you can buy all the shows from iTunes maybe they want to go that route? Who knows!

Makes sense. If RuPaul had a dollar everytime she mentions iTunes...

Hey, house payments are probably up there. (And I don't begrudge Ru ANY success and trappings.)

I don't either. At least she's very upfront and funny about it.

Fun fact we learned during the All Stars season: Jujubee's real name is actually Airplane!

Hahaha yeah I remember thinking "Wait, what?"

I also love that Manila's real name is the none-more-Minnesota Karl Westerberg.

Lol wow

Almost caught up on S5 now yay!

Every single time Alyssa glams up for the runway all I think is JOAN COLLINS JOAN COLLINS JOAN COLLINS

I don't know why but I think I like Detox. Jinkx is great but I dunno if the unglam thing is going to hold out for her or not. I love her for it, but it could wear thin.

I will say this, have started following her on FB -- win or lose she seems to be having a blast and is booked for other live appearances and things and more this year already, so I like to think of her as winning already!

Meanwhile, it's a little surprising to see such a mostly white group at this point. Not that I think the show is biased, appears to be more luck of the draw season by season in terms of who survives.

that little edie impersonation was fuckin awesome in the last ep. too bad her fashion totally sucks.

I found s2 streaming on Amazon Prime, so yaaaay

Meantime:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/02/27/drag_race_grey_gardens_and_jinx_monsoon_why_the_queens_need_camp.html

I do have to quibble with some of the assertions there -- while Sharon's success in 4 is great, in 3 Raja was more than a little disruptive herself -- as was Manila really; if anything Alexis was the one let go at the end precisely for being full pageant.

I haven't watched all the seasons, but I don't get the impression that they are only seeking pageant or necessarily favoring that. And while I noticed the lack of "camp history" in the S5 girls, isn't there an argument that maybe a lot of queens are trying to let go of that, like that cliche of teens not wanting to know about older music? I mean, I'm bummed that they don't know who Little Edie is but maybe when they see Jinkxs win they go find out. And it doesn't mean they're any more terrible for what they don't know of their history. If anything, it's kind of fabulous that they all came to that same place *without* it.
I dunno. That article seemed a little too buttclenched.

Related but I think better expressed post, linked off the official site

http://www.newnownext.com/drag-race-jinkx-monsoon-snatch-game-little-edie/02/2013/

Oh and in checking Twitter Alyssa DID apologize to Ms. Perry.

Also this exchange is interesting (notice it's everyone else BUT Jinkx and Michelle who get riled up -- and as Michelle notes, in noting the obvious, there's always editing).

https://twitter.com/JinkxMonsoon/status/306550634079977473

This is better than what they showed on the show:

http://www.newnownext.com/jinkx-monsoon-little-edie-rupauls-drag-race/02/2013/

My Top 5 Snatch Game contestants from all seasons:

1. Sharon Needles as Michelle Visage
2. Pandora Boxx as Carole Channing
3. Tatianna as Britney Spears
4. Jinkx Monsoon as Little Edie
5. Alexis Matteo as Alicia Keys

Only three eps in (S5; no previous exposure to the show). Anyone care to rank the hottest queens out of drag? So far from S5 I'm into Lineysha and, oddly, Ivy.

xpost I just watched the S2 Snatch Game, Pandora's Carol Channing was hysterical, so good.

Lineysha's gorgeous. Ivy's not a crazy answer either, that bone structure really is something else. I was thinking about her terrible Marilyn and found myself wondering why the hell she didn't do Joan Rivers. Eh. Hindsight

Yes she would've been a great Joan Rivers!

Yeah, I know this is probably the exact rongest angle to take on the show, but I'm finding it very interesting navigating my impressions/levels of attraction to certain contestants when they're in drag vs. when they're not in drag.

Alyssa's *almost* attractive but it's like her lips are too big for her and she keeps tripping over them when she talks. Beautiful eyes though.

Coco's blue contacts freak me out. I keep expecting them to shoot lasers

Haha Alyssa looks like Will Arnett in AND out of drag.

Hottest out of drag:

S1: Jade
S2: Tyra, Raven
S3: Raja, Carmen, Mariah
S4: PhiPhi, Lashauwn
S5: Lineysha

xp otm

Well, actually, in drag he often reminds me of Hugo Weaving.

xpost elmo otm! Defnitely Will Arnett out of drag. In drag as mentioned upthread I just get constant Joan Collins, lol

in drag he she

Sorry.

Raven from Season 2 was pretty stunning out of drag. Tyra's crooked eyebrow drove me insane, but otherwise: gorgeous.

That Salon article is really kind of awful, though?

"as far as I’m concerned, until the other ladies stop reading each other long enough to read a book" hey wow stfu

shades of Serena ChaCha

It was nice to have Drag Race España to get into today — 13 queens, biggest season yet, and the judging panel vibes and everything remain top notch.

Okay All Stars Season 8 cast announcement/promo stuff here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7WG8bnKvuw

This is a solid cast! Some deep cuts and a really interesting mix overall, I'm liking the sound of this season.

I will be a Darienne Lake stan account from this moment on

it’s a good mix, especially with jimbo - the element of chaos - thrown in

this new Hulu “Drag Me To Dinner” thing seems weird & random but of course i’ll watch bc Willam

See 40 drag stars from "RuPaul's" "Drag Race", "Dragula", more join new "Drag Me to Dinner" competition series https://t.co/ObhW8CFQoV

— Willam (@willam) May 1, 2023

I appreciated the goss the other day where Willam said one reason why All-Stars 8's cast is the way it is was that a lot of people didn't want to join in unless there was a format like season 7 ie no eliminations. (And supposedly AS9 will be like that.)

On a much more serious note, eesh.

So All-Stars has indeed been pretty entertaining with its random enough cast, and the whole Heidi drama is a thing. As is, clearly, Jimbo on a glide path and simultaneously never being able to win a lipsync. But the various Bianca del Rio Pit Stops have been even funnier (I loved how the Sonique episode was half them just talking about other stuff, and the Sugar/Spice one was hilarious).

Drag Race España's been great this season as well, you're missing out if you're missing out of that, but right now Drag Race Mexico looks like it's going to kill it -- that's easily the fanciest work room setup I've seen in a while, not to mention the main stage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY8WqQHLMII

if kandy wins i quit. worried about jimbo being such an obvious favorite (where is the arc!). maybe she’s being intentionally bad at lip syncs, to look less of a threat? but probably not..

pit stops have definitely been a riot but it’s the fashion photo ruview that got significantly better with raven replaced. i <3 kerri as a host, shooting kasha’s runway was everything.

Yeah she’s a fun change! Introduces a different dynamic by default given the age difference

need a supercut of all the times alexis dramatically wept for attention (also love how the other queens this season are always like “ok. anyway…”)

and a supercut of lala ri’s face whenever tea is being spilled

Based on the preview for next week seems like we'll get dramatic weeping AND some kind of consequences for it!

Meantime talking ancillary stuff -- seeing the Trixie and Katya livestream-of-sorts the other week of a later tour performance was a fun treat, having caught the very first one of the over a year back; fun to see it again and also they slightly changed and reworked things, both onstage and in the edit. They remain great etc etc.

On the flipside, that Drag Me To Dinner thing on Hulu? OOF. Absolute misfire; the whole thing felt very much like a 'what if a theater kid did a drag competition/parody of a drag competition/cooking show/parody of a cooking show' etc. Won't lay it all on Neil Patrick Harris's feet but if that was the center of it all, man. Right from the opening minute it felt forced and cloying, just tonally weird, like it couldn't decide what it was exactly going for. I guess if you want to see slightly slicker versions of a typical mid Drag Race acting challenge you're set.

i tried to watch an episode of Drag Me To Dinner & i bailed hard. love everyone involved but yeah the tone was definitely off

like they were worried about going full camp but kept the jokes as if they were doing that? idk

Made absolutely no sense. Per Willam/Alaska on their podcast talking about their episode it does seem like the prep segments were indeed happening in the moment as opposed to scripted as such but you could have fooled me completely thanks to the ridiculous framing. Just pick a lane!

back to allstars

kandy really? way to push the narrative.
i thought this was 100% Lala’s win and i’m kinda fucked off at them dinging her on her runway “simplicity”???!

loved the lipsync tho

alexis was really good this week too i thought
jimbo’s number was bad imo, her singing voice just made it dead in the water

jayme’s baggy cameltoe grace was yeeeks
but kahanna should have gone home
of course kandy sent jaymes home bc she is not stupid but i really kinda hate kandy

The Pit Stop having ALLLL sorts of fun with that. And with things in general, good lord Peppermint and Bianca have stories

i fucking love Peppermint so much

Okay so as mentioned Drag Me To Dinner was ass. THIS, though? Sign me the FUCK up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gicOSllEFNQ

Oh and separately we got Drag Race France coming back end of June!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aHCBN5IUfA

LaLa was incandescent this week, literally everything I love about her

her character was so good

Really is a new highlight for the show's history.

also this makes me love her more

my girl lala ri doesn’t know how to wear a sash lmao pic.twitter.com/WEpYnQJzBx

— its edu (@povdemie) June 15, 2023

will alexis be the top contender for regretting appearing on all stars?

- threw her team under the bus
- threw heidi under the bus
- yesterday’s ep

lol as soon as they were pushing the story of lala saving alexis it was clear what was going to happen

i hope kandy sends her home on a rail next week lol

she did a good lipsync tho

Hilariously, turned out she was posing for photos at a Pride event here in town yesterday; someone I knew went and said she was cool. I was a couple of blocks away at one point, shoulda gone over!

Conclusion of Drag Race España was pretty nice, good winner. Drag Race México got off to a solid enough start last week, Valentina and Lolita make for a fine cohost team; also given Valentina's gender identification it makes for a change-up in terms of how a host presents in the workroom (Lolita goes boy there as per most every other host). And given Nicky's surely not-coincidentally timed appearance on All-Stars here, a reminder we have France kicking in season 2 in a few days.

Valentina was great on Pit Stop!

Yeah that was absolutely spectacular.

i can’t stand valentina anymore, i skipped through most of it
purely an irrational pov

omg

i kinda don’t care about jimbo either way normally BUT jimbo’s lipsync this week was the stupidest goddamn thing i’ve seen on this show in a long time and i loved it so much

i was dying laughing

it was so fucking stupid <3

Unexpected news!

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/hbo-were-here-renewed-season-4-new-hosts-1235534460/

interesting host choices

Very.

Jimbo 🇨🇦 what a ridiculous perfect creature

Truly! A good way to end the season even if fairly well telegraphed. But pretty great Lala got the Fame Games cash!

Read the oral history of the show the other week -- essential stuff for all the further stories and memories, honestly. It is of course done with the participation of all the production crew and there's obviously quite a bit they won't or don't say, but we get more of a peek behind the curtain. Still, notable who does NOT turn up in the interviews, though they are often mentioned -- Delta, Sharon, Phi Phi, Willam, the Vixen, Naomi too I think, among others. Willam allegedly will be starting a 'book report' on it on Hot Goss this week so I'm sure we're going to get more thoughts, as it were.

Both Mexico and France have been solid watches so far and we have Down Under and Philippines back in the next couple of weeks, and supposedly the first Spanish All Stars en route too.

anybody still watching this?
enjoying this season much more than the last, it’s a much better and more entertaining group (which is why the snatch game was all the more disappointing)

Ha, yes, very much been dedicated to it and kept meaning to revive it. Solid cast, yeah, and I have zero idea who will win. Most curious about whether Plain Jane goes the distance or completely fucks up.

Revive it = revive the thread. Also this is one of the most on-brand things I've ever seen but I admire the commitment:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJf6AUz1n9s

(In case you're wondering how Plasma has the money for that: descendant of a Texas political dynasty on the GOP side, but her lobbyist dad apparently flooded the zone against the Texas anti-drag regulation and helped in the lawsuit getting it stopped, so even if it's Senator Rob Portman on gay marriage energy I'll take something over nothing.)

I’m still watching US, UK, Canada, France, All Stars, and Vs. The World. I enjoy most of it, but am not as excited as I used to be when it would be on once a year. I’ve been watching since the first season, and everything after Season 9 has become somewhat of a big blur.
The current season is pretty good, but I wish they would get rid of Snatch Game.

xp i wondered how that was funded (and whether it’s a major spoiler for who wins). that makes the “where were you on january the 6th?” read even funnier lol

i thought plain jane was almost timid in snatch game?
like she wasn’t sure if her jokes were landing? she could’ve killed it.