'...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

If that's accurate, then I'll make the obvious joke: I hope that you-know-who picks that queen and throws her out of the competition again.

Sorry to interrupt, but is there a Pose thread on this board? Surprised that I haven't seen one. Does it have a weird title or something?

I've been wondering about that myself. Given the second season just wrapped, it's kinda overdue.

So Race Chaser's been on a hell of a roll -- the Manila guest appearance the other week was great, but this latest one with Alessandra Torresani is next-level genius. If she didn't have her own podcast I say she should just join this one!

https://megaphone.link/HTX5936455511

Another must-listen Race Chaser the other day with Delta Work -- got into a LOT of backstage stuff from recent seasons. Delta takes over the episode and it's practically a monologue -- and she admits she can talk a little too much -- but still:

https://megaphone.link/HTX7409826732

Meantime, this happened last night:

In the press room at the @TheEmmys, I asked @RuPaul to address the diversity or lack thereof in his show @RuPaulsDragRace. And... pic.twitter.com/kL1EYxJQXK

— Danielle Young (@RhapsoDani) September 23, 2019

I admit I don't even want to watch that clip. However, Delta's hour-long monologue is in itself Emmy-worthy.

Delta's right that it's impossible to know the target that's on RuPaul's back at this point in her career. But she also seems basically right that what she's selling when, say, she hugs Plastique Tiara in the workroom and tells everyone they're "family" is not coherent with the seemingly closed-off person she seems to be in real life.

Trudat.

I hedged with a lot of "seem"s there.

apparently the UK Drag Race is very good! I'm not in the UK atm so I can't watch it. If I catch a way to let you (and I) see it i'll let you know. Please do the same.

Just saw the first episode -- thought it was pretty good! No spoilers for now but it's interesting catching the at times subtle differences between the American version and this one. (One of the biggest ones -- zero prizes! The grand prize as such is getting your own WOW+ series in Hollywood.)

Its good in a way that the original hasn't been for a long long time. But its not great. The show wants to translate American styling on to a British heritage. I thought it was very telling that they were all pretty and under 35 and there were no Lily Savage type end-of-the-pier queens. Alan Carr was worse than when Twiggy did ANTM - no real insight or critique and clearly there because Britain doesn't have enough high-profile gays to choose from.

Also that lip synch, yikes. I would have sent them both home - one being truly awful shouldnt let the other one away with not knowing the words at all

That said i feel a lot more enthused about watching it than i have in a long long time. One of the queens has already been gaining negative traction outside the show for being an open and proud Tory and she seems to be one of the strongest contestants so that might pan out curiously.

Interesting, which one?

btw, if you're not within the iPlayer zone you can watch this on WOW TV's subscription service. First month is free, then it's $3.99 a month, I think. I am happy to support them, and also could not get any downloads of episode 1.

MAGA Chipz

That fits.

MAGA was my favourite. I enjoyed this and I haven't enjoyed a DR for a few years now. Ru looks heartily sick of the whole thing though and her abilities to pretend that she's enjoying herself at straining at the seams.

yeah MAGA seemed like the most convincingly talented out of the lot of them based on one episode, it's unfortunate

Second episode was much better but fuck me the script for "Downton Draggy" was painfully unfunny even by the standards of the acting challenges that are always dismally unfunny in this show

It hasn't occurred to me until lately that it's possible, if not quote plausible, that the acting challenges are always written terribly so that it's a lot easier to separate the stars capable of transcending the material from the ones who need to be fed good jokes.

That'd be some 4D chess, and we're talking reality TV writers here. Fun to think about, though.

One can dream. Good episode all around otherwise though I will miss Scaredy; still, pretty evident in the lip sync why she went.

Hilarious follow-on from last week this morning -- on Race Chaser/Hot Goss, they got hold of a Gothy Kendoll nude somehow and Willam was, how you say, verrrrrrrry loudly appreciative of the package on display. There was a line in there about how Gothy really shouldn't worry about his teeth.

I will miss Scaredy

I certainly will not.

How on earth Blu and Baga were safe over Cheryl is beyond me. Baga's was so poorly assembled and Blu's was painful to look at it. It was nice to see fashion icon and living legend Twiggy being a mediocre judge a decade on from being a mediocre judge on ANTM though.

Hahah (belated).

Snatch Game tomorrow...could be good.

Meantime, uh (reminds me of Ellen/W on a different scale):

#DragRace Queens @NinaWest & @monetxchange celebrate @MeghanMcCain's birthday on @TheView, making her an “Official Ru girl” https://t.co/nDZ9T20AsZ

— Logo 🏳️‍🌈 (@LogoTV) October 23, 2019

This is gross. She’s an unrepentant fascist and you guys are ultra disappointing.

— Liz Roscher (@lizroscher) October 23, 2019

Just ultra? Not totally?

— Nina West (@NinaWest) October 23, 2019

Katya ain't impressed:

Gross https://t.co/navSlS3ajr

— Katya (@katya_zamo) October 24, 2019

Did the other queens really not know that gay marriage is illegal in Northern Ireland (well, at time of recording). I mean, I know English people aren't great at knowing about Northern Ireland, but I guess I always think drag queens are going to be a bit more aware of issues affecting gay people.

I have to think that was realllly played up for the cameras. But I also think that was kinda nicely funny timing given what DID happen this week in real life.

despite the reading mini-challenge being pretty awful, I thought that was one of the best episodes this franchise has ever had?

The song was no "but your dad just calls me Katya", but it was very good, and the whole episode was very warm and human.

Yeah that was a real treat!

Yeah, that was a great one. But did the lip synch winner really deserve to win? To me she was just strutting up and down, waving her arms around. Surely kept in because of previous and potential future performances.

I did think it was a mistake. There was a lot of facing-the-back-wall dancing

I am still LOLing over Blu not knowing THAT word...but then recovering perfectly.

So it wrapped up! Thoughts?

They had The Vivienne pegged as the winner from the start. I’d suspected it for a while - nobody else would have been praised for an outfit that looked like the Blair Witch draped in tacky crystals with only a tiny bit of blue face showing. But the editing last night really confirmed it for me. Still, it was the best series of DR I’ve seen for ages.

It was the right winner I guess. She was the most polished of the three and Ru likes that. But I had a bit more affection for DDC overall, although I think they made her win the makeover challenge just so the 3 queens would have an equal amount of badges going in the finals.

I hope I never have to hear DDC laugh ever again. That screamy fake laugh annoyed the shit out of me.

I assume one of the major aims of the show from the BBC's side was to get a new audience to engage with the BBC. The cross promotion between Drag Race and Strictly definitely felt like that ("What's our gayest show? How can we make it gayer so that gay people will actually watch it and make it cool?") with having Michelle on Strictly and then having AJ put the queens through their Latin dance paces on the finale. I don't think I'd registered just how tiny AJ is when you stand him next to a bunch of drag queens in actual heels as opposed to dance heels.

the last episode of this is always a real slog and this was no exception but the format was much better than the pre-recorded live ones

I knew The Viv was gonna win when the other two spoke about needing support/validation from other people and she spoke about finding it in herself, RuPaul/the show loves all that self-empowerment nonsense, which in the context of overcoming addiction feels almost irresponsible

Meantime, per Wikipedia at least:

The second series of RuPaul's Drag Race UK was confirmed and casting was closed on 15 November 2019

Willam mentioned some names the other week about people who should have been in the first season so I'm guessing some of them will be en route.

Am I...wrong or is All-Stars not happening soon? I seem to remember it kicking in around late December last year so maybe they're finally taking a slight break in the cycle? (Which I think would be good.)

Race Chaser podcast now well into into Season 4 (yay!) & Sharon as phone in guest for ep 4 is so meta & cool & kinda weird & i just love it

that is all

Yeah they've been on a crazy roll these last few episodes. All KIIIINDS of stories. Having this extended peek-on-the-nside, especially given Willam's healthy DGAF approach, has been amazing.

Also, just realized that Trixie has her own YT channel for the cosmetics and this was hilarious:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oeklm-MsqAs

Great Katya interview from yesterday:

https://themuse.jezebel.com/drag-race-alum-katya-zamolodchikova-revels-in-the-embar-1840902410

As mentioned in the interview, Trixie and Katya now have ANOTHER series, which is an amazing sponcon effort of all things. Netflix get them on board to do a thing called I Like to Watch, where they review various offerings on their own service. Happily, they do not hold back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cznrcf5u-TY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLy3F5OdM_w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI0h288usl0

Plus these two (and the latter, well, of course)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iogEXKuYD0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1DcpANmSQg

Oh and! New season full on starts Friday Feb. 28:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2scwC2sT1a0

We got guest judges (read the whole thread)

Welcome to the Ru-nited States of America! 🏳️‍🌈🇺🇸

Pledge allegiance to the drag FRI 2/28 at 8/7c on @VH1! 👑✨#DragRace pic.twitter.com/WkI6gn4j4m

— RuPaul's Drag Race (@RuPaulsDragRace) February 13, 2020

I am amused to note that this is not in fact the first sitting congressperson to appear on the show -- indeed, the current second person in line of succession to the entire executive branch already did.

Also, the best Valentine's tweet

Time out, hold up. Hold up, sweetheart. Let’s get it together before you wanna read. I don't have a valentine. I've never had a valentine. If I wanted a valentine, yes, I probably can go out and get one, because I AM WHAT? SICKENING.

— Britt Stephens (@brittsteps) February 14, 2020

Alternately:

Today is the day hot gays tweet about how no one wants to be with them.

— Trixie Mattel (@trixiemattel) February 14, 2020

lol