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

I was sad to see Nicky go, but blaming it on a language issue was kind of bogus. Her English is incredible. Better than any French person I know, and living in Montréal I know A LOT of people from France. There have been many Puerto Rican queens before that made it far into the competition speaking half as well as she does. I think it's a very strong cast this season. I couldn't really predict who's going home next.

With Nicky, it seems it was a pretty clear-cut case of the judges telling her to do one specific thing, and her repeatedly failing to improve that one thing.

feel like after the sasha-aquaria-yvie line of winners the stage was absolutely being set for sherry to win one for the classic drag, bigger, old gay culture references, purely comedic queen set... aka the title that should’ve gone to ginger minj but would’ve felt too repetitive after bianca so they gave it to violet instead

feel like gigi winning two seasons after aquaria would be pretty inconvenient for them but maybe they just bite the bullet bcuz she’s so obviously good. maybe jackie will win?

That was the first Snatch Game in a long time that made me properly laugh and not just feel that the trope needs retired. Gigi and Jackie were so good.

Also Vanjie's ten minute appearance being more memorable than some of the girls in this series!

And that brocoli costume being in more episodes than Rock M, stop trying to force a meme on us

I was gonna say, stop trying to make sexy broccoli happen !

well nothing will be more tired than monet x change and the sponge

oh that was truly awful

Yeah, if the top 3 or even 4 are already basically set in stone by this point, I can't really imagine a scenario where Gigi doesn't end up winning. Jackie's very good but everything she does well it feels Gigi does better (right down to the Snatch Game performance last week tbh).

Ru's workroom advice for Snatch Game this season was ... downright awful to the point of being borderline sabateur-ish? Don't tell someone who has no idea who El Debarge is to do El Debarge when most of the show's viewers at this point also don't have any idea who El Debarge is ffs!

the El Debarge thing also feels like a contrived meme, it reminds me of when Tyra had the girls sing "Pot Ledom" on ANTM

the debarge thing cracks me up i have to say

i think crystal's reaction being like "i honestly don't know what to tell you" every time ru brings it up instead of trying to sponge it makes it work for me.... incidentally crystal is great

between debarge and heidi's name ru actually has two good bits going this season

https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/rupauls-drag-race-patricia-quinn-aiden-zhane.html/

Yikes.

I thought this was the best episode of the season so far, challenge and runway. The top 3 killed it, but they pretty much all did. Heidi is the funniest cutest most adorable thing ever and I don't think she belonged in the bottom 2. The right person went home.

Yeah this was an awesome episode.

I wasnt mad at Heidi being in the bottom: she performed great but her Madonna gave mostly Heidi, and the Michelle look was kinda weird

Am glad to see Brita go but I have reconsidered her a little since hearing Racechaser talk about her being trolled by the producers & i dont think they’re wrong. The whole earrings discussion on the runway was a real OH COME ON moment. But: her madonna was weird & those ugly dance pants she wore with her cone bra bugged the hell out of me lol.

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE HELP WIDOW WITH HER SHOES. those black shits she wore on the runway looked SO bad.

Jada should have been top 3
I am ok with Gigi winning, she kinda killed it start to finish, but Jan did great too.
i think Jada was waaaay better than Crystal but i get that her improvement is the story they’re after

Jackie’s bride madonna was really bad - she didnt get the reference at all I dont think. She is lucky her Bridge & Tunnel Michelle runway was so on-point.

in other news have spent all day listening to Madonna :D

So this Super Celebrity short series they teased -- notice how it runs where Untucked normally would? I have to wonder if there's some MAJOR editing or worry that as the season goes on they're really trying not to have to focus on Sherry Pie at all.

Semi-related, a question that Willam and Alaska talked about this week on the podcast -- what, exactly, is the plan for the finale at this point? Forget about Sherry, just, everything else.

Maybe they will do a Valentina "I'd like to keep it on please" mask challenge.

Funny how they never criticize Gigi for having the exact same Fifties silhouette every week.

(Well, except for Michelle week, I guess.)

god that shared moment between Widow & Chaka Khan in untucked completely undid me
so lovely

just getting that intense boost from your idol in that moment

wow

and her lipsync was magic

That really was something all around. And Jan does demonstrate once again that psyching yourself up with the idea that you've unlocked 'the secret' to Drag Race doesn't mean you'll actually succeed.

On a lighter note, Chaka learning what merkins are and her reaction to that was gold.

amazing. she’s so cute

I can't believe how much I am enjoying this season, Heidi is just so adorable <3

I didn’t know until today that Jan’s drag mom is Alexis Michelle. Maybe ~intensity~ is a family trait?

Sad to see her go, she seemed like at least top4 material

House Tryhard.

the underdogs this season (heidi, jaida, crystal) are really very likable and also talented. gigi is already in sam smith music videos she'll be fine one way or another. would love to see one of those three other girls win it. heidi and crystal both seem like two who would really be able to benefit from increased exposure/money/opportunity.

I think Heidi as a winner wouldn't make sense - her charm is her self-deprecating underdog status and being crowned the winner I think would undo that. She has the Alyssa/Vanjie fan favourite factor though, and I think a run on an All-Stars season in a year or two when she's got a bit more money supporting her ideas would be excellent for her.

Given the success of designing/sewing competitions, and the success of Drag Race, I wonder if there's room for a drag design competition. Especially now that most of the queens get their clothes made for them by someone else. Or some kind of crossover: I'd love to see aspiring designers try to produce a drag collection. Even if it's only for one episode.

Jaida is so polished it's difficult for me to regard her as an underdog.

i think she’s impressed/surprised in the comedy challenges in a way that wasn’t rly expected but i feel you. to me the favorites are/were gigi, sherry, brita and jan—obv we throw sherry out now but in the context of the contained narrative of the already filmed season i would still put gigi and sherry in their own tier in terms of most likely to win.

Also, I kind of wish they would've just kept Sherry in the mix? Surely catfishing isn't as terrible as fracking, right?

(Kidding.)

Something about the way Sherry paints her face really puts me off.

After Dusty Ray's dots, I'll pretty much accept anything.

In non-RPDR-but-related news, Alaska is a talking head in the great Circus of Books documentary that appeared yesterday on Netflix. (I've known Rachel, whose parents were the owners and who directed the film, for a few years, and she did great.). Meantime up on HBO starting today:

We could all use a little love.
#WereHere, a real-life series starring @thatonequeen, @itsshangela, & @eurekaohara premieres April 23. pic.twitter.com/qNGEK8mUmV

— HBO (@HBO) March 20, 2020

Also, I kind of wish they would've just kept Sherry in the mix? Surely catfishing isn't as terrible as fracking, right?

― Vegemite Is My Grrl (Eric H.), Thursday, April 23, 2020 10:28 AM (three hours ago)

the week to week mood swings from world of wonder about how much sherry pie should be in the show is really fascinating to watch

she appeared on the runway suddenly after two weeks of being practically edited out?

Yeah, I rewound the runway to make sure I hadn't missed something.

WoW, messy.

The We're Here debut was fun enough -- pretty clearly a 'what if Queer Eye but RPDR veterans' premise, and I was mildly surprised it was NOT a WoW production simply because there was a lot of Ru-like personal growth and struggle and emotion themes. But kinda nice to see the three of them just doing something that wasn't competition or specifically a drag tour related thing, even though it kinda is. Though I was amused by the fact that it seemed like it was just the three of them (and a camera crew) at first and then suddenly there's a slew of other people around too.

I love Eureka in drag terms but I wish it was someone other than her in We’re Here. She makes everything end up being about her :/

I love Bob & Shangy forever tho

(Spoiler)

Widow getting axed for playing the angry black woman ... kinda proves The Vixen right?

You’re onto something there.

Jeff Goldblum & Rachel Bloom were awesome judges!

Im not saying the Vixen was wrong, but the Widow just always seemed lost, in every challenge. Like she never got over her first-week nerves or something.

Do the Drag Race producers not know about Jeff Goldblum's reputation, or do they not care, I wonder?

Crossed my mind more than once. Did make the sauciness feel more like sleaziness.

As for Secret Celebrity etc. etc., fine, an amusing fillip, but sure seemed like something that would have worked better as a short standalone thing later in the year just to stretch out the brand a bit while nothing is being filmed at all. Also having to stay awake until 11:30 even on a Friday did my head in.

Having only seen Nico in (hot) photos up to now, finally seeing him in (perpetual) motion was ... yeah, the crush is tempered somewhat.