'...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

When do they film this? It feels like something that was done after the final. Lexi's face looks really different, as does Arietty's.

Oh yeah, obviously it's done much later if they're all talking about fan responses and so on. Never mind.

Yeah I figure this and the final were filmed probably a couple of weeks back. The promo photo featuring Liza in the final surfaced two weeks back on the official account I think?

Hormona’s lipsync “reveals” were like a dressing room quick/change. You gotta be somewhere else?

none of the lipsyncs had a wow factor unlike the previous season, and the bounce thing has to go, it's been overdone to death

but it was nice to see that kori and lydia are still a couple (and learn about kori toot)

i wonder if they film it later just so that everybody has a chance to memorize all the 7 songs?
michelle and ru comments on suzi dying to do liza were hilarious

Suzie deserved her Ru-demption arc in this. She heard the criticisms and she updated her style. OK, she updated it to the Seventies, but still, marks for effort.

Like the girls who come on without ever having taken a basic sewing class, if being the best lipsyncer now brings a possible prize of $50,000, you'd think you'd work at bringing something to the competition other than just twirling or bouncing in the exact same way for every song? I'm trying to remember who it was who really murdered this competition one year by having a different gimmick for every single song and being really prepared.

Silky nutmeg ganache, no?

Yes, that's the one.

Glorious victory.

sorry to keep ragging on this stupid show we should all be embarrassed to still be watching but the drop-off in quality from Nymphia to any of the queens this season, winner included, is STEEP

I miss the reunion episodes when everyone would get bitchy. I can understand the united front that they're trying to present these days, and the kindness message they are going for, but I still would've liked to see Arietty get verbally piled on for her pettiness.

I agree that none of them can touch Nymphia, but they were a fun gang.

Yeah I would have been fine with any of the top four winning, a good bunch, but it was the right choice in the end. Nymphia is a supernova but you can’t always luck out. I do agree that the polishing of things with the season wrapups loses a little something now, but I also think part of it is the switch for two seasons now to having the finale in just the typical setting; having it in a theater gave it a sense of scope and occasion. This just feels smaller and the slickness becomes even more so. I’m still baffled they don’t use the Drag Race Las Vegas set for finales more; they did it the once and I figured that was the path going forward!

Anyway I am intrigued as to this tournament setup for All Stars. Is this going to be a series of one on one episodes?

Totally agree, Ned, about missing out on the big theatre experience. It was always so much fun to see the crowd.

Where did you see about the possible format change for All Stars?

They've run a couple of short promos:

https://www.out.com/gay-tv-shows/rupauls-drag-race-all-stars-10-premiere-date-watch

Cool, thanks Ned.

the finale felt cheap, the final lipsync underwhelming, and what's up with that weird audience? they should've put all the queens in the front row.
onya's win was pretty obvious - i wonder if they filmed 3 final lipsyncs: onya vs jewels, onya vs lexi and onya vs sam (well, maybe not the latter)

Uh yeah this finale was super ... underwhelming. The editing was rough and cheap too. And honestly none of the finalists this year felt like they had a fraction the vibrancy of Nymphia Wind or Willow Pill. I wanted to give Nymphia the crown for a 2nd year in a row, honestly. Congrats to Onya, though, she was the clear front runner of this group and deserved it all things considered.

Also felt like Lexi got jobbed out of a cool finale lip sync outfit reveal

Anyway, the appropriate stuff -- Pit Stop:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL-4TkEizpk

The actual finale:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ7ebqI6jRI

And Onya's first interview, with mom too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LykJ2CK5fEo

I agree that none of them can touch Nymphia, but they were a fun gang.

To me Sapphira Crystàl was stronger than all of them, even Nymphia.

I'm glad Onya won though. For someone who's only been doing this part-time for 3 or 4 years, she's incredibly well rounded and a natural.

Yeah among other things talk about someone who just always knows her best angle for the camera!

Ru was otm about how she works the runway, takes her time but also the constant eye contact, like she’s in conversation with the judges rather than just performing AT them

and that first runway look was Ohhhh MAH goddd so great

her lipsync look though felt like it was going to be a reveal that never happened.

onya handles the crowd like a seasoned pro, it's really hard to believe she's been doing drag as a hobby essentially.

seeing her mom - i wonder if the production pushed for her dad to participate in the makeover ep since it'd be too easy with her mom!

also loved Jewels dad congratulating Onya’s dad in the crowd, v sweet <3

Willam roasting the minimal audience setup and the like for the final on the latest Race Chaser gives me life.

Oh man, not Cynthia Lee Fontaine, possibly my least favourite queen ever.

Roffle. Referring to:

https://ew.com/rupauls-drag-race-all-stars-10-cast-revealed-11719777

Separately: this is incredibly awful! (The URL doesn't say it but it's a terrible medical emergency.)

https://deadline.com/2025/04/rupauls-drag-race-star-jiggly-caliente-exits-drag-race-philippines-1236376402/

:(

OMG, that's terrible. Poor queen.

Gosh, forgot to post about Jiggly’s passing earlier this week. Utter damn shame. Too many queens already gone but this feels like the worst for sure.

This all said, the show goes on…and of course Chappell is a judge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8viU028yuw

Plus, an hour long promo interview with all 18 queens? Why sure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJB1PvGHQA0

Hmm. I'm happy for them, or sorry that happened, but I won't be watching all that.

It is a big shock about Jiggly, for sure.

Indeed. I was kinda waiting on the latest Race Chaser/Hot Goss especially since Willam of course was a season four sister, and the segment they did on her with memories from both hosts was very lovely.

https://megaphone.link/FODP4445840916

I wasn't impressed with the first two episodes of All Stars. The improv challenge was dire. Like, not just the queens' performances, everything about it. But Bosco looks fantastic and I want to hear more about Deja's weird surgery thing. As someone who has gone through immense weight changes many times in my life, I would like to hear more about the impetus behind it and the reaction of other people, especially since she didn't "do it properly".

Otherwise, I'm finding it all a bit meh so far.

It's definitely needing to spark up a bit but maybe the third episode to conclude the bracket will be more cut-throat. But yeah on Bosco's glow-up and what DeJa went through, but it was also crushing to learn about Phoenix's sister!

It’s finishing now but Jiggly’s memorial service is streaming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkUzwQY6dI4

I was impressed with how Ru managed to deal with a couple of liars this week.

Roffle. A good way of putting it!

Separately, a fine collision of aesthetics, if you will.

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

this all stars season has been a drag of the worst kind already, but if that wasn't enough, the last ep was possibly the worst hour of television i've seen in quite some time.

Yikes... Really? I was pretty bummed at the finale of the latest US drag race so this isn't exactly unsurprising to hear

The maxi challenge was definitely giving shades of "Shakesqueer," let's say. I haven't minded the season but I'm kinda glad we're finally done with the first round.

It wasn't great. The improv challenges on this season have all been terrible. And the judges particularly annoyed me this week. Complaining that Denali was giving mixed signals, when that was how they WROTE THE CHARACTER. Like, it was a low bar, but Denali absolutely should have been in the top two this week. She had a great costume and was the second best in an awful challenge.

I was slightly shocked to see the changes in Ginger's and Mistress's faces in the preview clip of next week. Obviously they're on the Mounjaro, and good luck to them, but I hope they're not getting risky procedures on top of it, as some other queens have done.

Also, Michelle's grasp of history is pretty poor. Elizabeth I and Marie Antoinette are nothing like each other.

Sorry if that's a bit of a spoilery post. If you make it this far in this season, I don't think you'll care.

Mistress's hair switchup is what threw me.