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

About time for this, I figure! Fifth season premiered yesterday.

condragulations

Quite right!

this show is kind of fascinating in a "gender is all performance!" way - everyone congratulating each other (incl the judges) on how well they achieve some kind of archetypal female-ness

Okay come on, I KNOW I'm not the only person on here watching.

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

Absolutely. A brilliantly WTF look.

could we have Raven permanently replaced by Nicole Paige Brooks on Photo Fashion Ruview please

Yeah that was a brilliant turn. Forgot she'd done it before almost a decade back!

"i would totally wear it.. in blue"

I am NOT happy about who was eliminated this week wtf

I'm so tired of the way they make this show for drama and comments.

Yeah, that was some bullshit.
Also, that improv challenge is awful. It's always awful.

i'm watching for the first time since i think 2019, really enjoying this season. also didn't hurt that one of last week's cowboys turned out to be a high school friend of my husband's.

No way! I loved those cowboys. I would love to see some kind of crossover episode where they take the queens to the rodeo and get them to try roping or something.

yeah cowboy makeover was a fantastic episode

Cowboys were great. This week…yeah I successfully avoided spoilers but I sensed enough chatter that I was all “Man, SHE didn’t lose, did she?”

I’ll add, pretty moving and thoughtful Untucked too! And it feels honest, since nobody who was left is a shit-stirrer.

I would love to see some kind of crossover episode where they take the queens to the rodeo and get them to try roping or something.

at least they got to practice on each a little bit :)

*each other

that's the thing though, this show _is_ for drama, and everybody is aware of the rigga morris so much at this point that it became an intentional part of the show.

as an aside, i just watched the netflix america's next top model doc, and it's hard to not make parallels, like the exploitation aspect (which is the most cringeworthy thing about the top model, together with the "we were filming a documentary and the girls were aware of that" BS that just made everything they did that much worse). and still, it feels less exploitive on drag race - maybe because the contestants aren't as young/naive (not to be confused with delusional), or maybe because just appearing on drag race gives you an actual chance of being employed, or maybe because the show isn't afraid to make fun of itself and its heavy handling of its own story lines.

which is exactly the reason for what happened - i think the biggest mistake she did was to not create drama / make a story arc for herself (there was an interesting bit in untucked iirc where mikey said something about her story arc working in her favour? which makes it clear how well the queens understand this being a big part of the game).

the improv challenge was excruciatingly bad, and what made it worse was that it dragged on so much. and unlike the crew, we didn't even get paid for having to sit through the unedited version! (the crew getting paid was brilliant, the funniest moment of the season so far)

makeover challenges are maybe the best drag race challenges period, there is some amazing chemistry that happens when you inject people that have no clue about all the drama and the dynamics established at this point, with queens having to explain some of it. and somehow even the heavily constructed story lines work (while queens sharing some of their life stories with each other can feel forced at times), and all the camaraderie and the banter and everything is just so great.

i really wish they changed the rules though to make all makeover episodes non elimination episodes. just make it about celebrating people.

the crew getting paid was brilliant, the funniest moment of the season so far

Absolutely. They were all TERRIBLE with the puppets, the best joke was this beforehand:

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:kqdyhnklmmv34nmml6btyqv6/bafkreiagigf52kug36nw3i5tqvnkcbcrq3cwr4ynu274iivwtf4bi7otdu

i really wish they changed the rules though to make all makeover episodes non elimination episodes. just make it about celebrating people.

Arguably the best seasons based off the main franchise were the all-winners All Stars and the charity All Stars seasons.

as an aside, i just watched the netflix america's next top model doc, and it's hard to not make parallels, like the exploitation aspect (which is the most cringeworthy thing about the top model, together with the "we were filming a documentary and the girls were aware of that" BS that just made everything they did that much worse). and still, it feels less exploitive on drag race - maybe because the contestants aren't as young/naive (not to be confused with delusional), or maybe because just appearing on drag race gives you an actual chance of being employed, or maybe because the show isn't afraid to make fun of itself and its heavy handling of its own story lines.

I think there's also a key difference in this sense: unlike the ANTM heyday of the 2000s, RPDR hitting in the 2010s and onward also means social media/control of one's own narrative is more accessible, combined with the shift into podcasting. Whole lotta veteran queens can and do say a lot more now about it all, and stuff like Race Chaser actually breaks news at points:

https://www.out.com/news/drag-race-barry-winchell-murder

yeah Willam’s the best for putting that story in its correct, respectful context

also i hated this week’s elimination ;_;

Calpernia followed up:

https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10162054556687687&id=521932686

I love the make over challenge, but the judging sucks every time. I feel bad for the guests.

Yeah, me too. They always feel so responsible, and they shouldn't be made to feel that way. Completely agree that the makeover challenge should be a no-elimination week every time.

Meanwhile, Cats is getting a ballroom makeover:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xG_BqtI0S0

Also, I saw the trailer for Stop! That! Train! and while I'm sure it will be terrible, I did laugh at "Tell it to me straight... now tell it to me gay."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O9ZeG6op_Y

How do you not know the words to Sissy That Walk? Even I could lipsync to that one.
Also, Jane and Juicy's lipsync is one of my all-time favourites.

Loved that it was all Ru songs. It seemed to heighten everything because they were fans of the songs already.

Jane & Juicy’s lipsync was awesome, Jane was cracking me up!

Yeah it wasn’t just giving up, it was making surrender completely entertaining in its own right!

Pretty much had the sense the winner would be the winner and zero complaints (I had no complaints about any of the top three) but I kiiiiinda thought the runner-up actually killed the lipsync more. But again, no complaints! (Also Ms. Congeniality was clearly more Ms. What The Hell Why Wasn't She A Finalist.)

I feel like this group of queens deserved a better season. And also that Jane Don't and at least one other queen are being kept back for All Stars, where the true weirdos triumph.

Yeah that's probably true. Agreed that this season didn't live up to the lineup. It was such a fantastic group but there were so many episodes that just didn't do them enough justice.

Is the makeup starting to flake on the show's veneer finally? I am starting to think so

Someone on one of the recap websites asked why the production budget for this show seems to be going down instead of up. Does it not get the ratings it used to? I understand that they don't do the huge finales anymore since COVID, and maybe out of fear of pickets or more violent protests, but it is weird how small it seems to have become in some ways.

Their biggest theater show was Willow Pill's season iirc and that was post covid! This is a very very recent trend.

It is very annoying, really.

Anyway, as always worth checking out the live reaction video -- Darlene absolutely knows how to pull focus from the start:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqUjgx0EULo

As well as these two having a blast:

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

Oh yeah, Octobeard, you’re correct of course. Well then, I wonder if it’s a safety concern.
I just love Darlene.

Drag Race All Stars 11 preview out - as often wondering what the criteria is for an All Star - some always make obvious sense, others I guess show is interested in how they have developed, others - I could not even remember their names which is not auspicious - could also be seasons where my interest waned (remember 14 & 16 cited and when saw runways remembered but names were not there)

So - Lucky Starzzz - probably most interested in and rooting for as got chopped so early

Morgan - I enjoy Morgan, so ok, already had few chances but fine, wondering if producers are setting us up to hope for a redux of Mystique/Morgan drama from S2 to get us to watch only to watch them have a love fest

Akeria C Davenport incidentally reminded me of a peeve of mine from season just concluded - Akeria describes herself as the Diahann Carroll of drag and when Athena did the 80s runway as Joan Collins - I was very annoyed that Ru, Michelle, no-one clocked her for using the line ‘this champagne is burnt’ as that was NOT a Joan Collins/Alexis Colby line but was a read by Dominique Deveraux/Diahann (‘I want to be the first black bitch on TV’) Carroll in their first meeting. Unforgivable imo and Athena should have been docked points for that alone.

Kennedy Davenport is back! Guess having roast named in your honor is no substitute for a crown.

Most I just feel like ‘ehh, fine’ or ‘ok’ - guess we’ll see what happens next

Yeah it’s a mix but it is a nice way to showcase more from the ever growing back catalog. Definitely had a couple of “I…sorta remember?” moments. Mystique, April, Shuga, Vivacious and Lucky are among my “Hey, great to see them again!” choices.

I know the needles and the peptides and the stacks or whatever are incredible these days and everyone looks ageless and sculpted, but man, Vivacious really looks amazing.

April Carrión clearly left no impression on me at all, neither did Aura Mayari. I do not remember either of them.

Delighted to see Kennedy and Akeria again. There are few things greater on Drag Race than Kennedy's Little Richard.

so just for fun, and to reinforce my point, the Diahann Carroll/Joan Collins Dynasty meet - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7hTFqBmHH0

While we wait on All Stars — I am not pleased by this news.

https://ew.com/drag-queen-katya-hospitalized-11961928

No, that's bad.

I’ve watched the first 2 eps of new AllStars — enjoying it! forgot how much I love Akeria. her drag, her commentary, her no bullshit Texas-ity.

Lucky is doing great already - that makes me happy too!

Mystique’s plan to feel her way into the game is very sadly misjudged. I’ve been enjoying her but also want to shake her like Girl! Get going!

I like Dawn’s drag but all of her and Morphine’s two faced bitchiness just reminds me of why I hated their season (Nymphia was the only thing that kept me going)

and someone needs to tell Morphine that how you get points is WIN challenges. All this whining that no one’s giving her points when she does literally fuck all except whine that she’s not magically getting them.

It would help her, yes. But will she learn?

Dawn seems on a glide path at least.

Some further hilarity:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3bjlhFICEY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4h1CF6MnsA

Bob’s impression of Morphine made me lol so hard

Truly perfect!

Man, that challenge was TERRIBLE. And how have you never heard the word kosher?

Yeah it was pretty dumb. Akeria made me laugh though.

Yeah, she was great. And her French look was fantastic too.

Incredible - she ascended to a whole new level this season

Really great. She’s got some moments here too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2snuACJQiw