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

Different UK standards?

there is an old article saying they had to pause production due to the pandemic, so we might see more precautions taken in the future episodes.

Oh yeah, that's right, I vaguely remember hearing about that.

Meantime I'm sure word was floating around but confirmation on today's Race Chaser/Hot Goss episode via a Courtney Act guest turn that Ru and a bunch of Australian queens are filming the first season of Drag Race Australia about now. In New Zealand, apparently. I await VG's thoughts on it all.

I really like the UK girls! I thought Joe deserved better. Her Bowie look was a great interpretation of Life On Mars and her "God, Glenn Close looks rough" made me laugh out loud.

Joe deserved a lot better. Great Life On Mars look, which should have been spotted and acknowledged, and a better lip synch than that try-too-hard that she was up against. But if she’s 30, I’m 25!

...yeah I was wondering about that.

OMG yes !!

while I do think the judging of that Bowie look was wayyyyyy off, I didn't think they were robbed. They had given up before the lip-syncs started. I imagine that a working drag queen in the unofficial gay capital of the UK has accumulated lots of fans over the years, but being a good drag queen is not the same as being a good competitor on RPDR.

I can't stop thinking about Tia's amazing interpretation of Alan Turing. And Asttina has the same fearless beauty energy as Tyre Sanchez, only much more endearing.

It's tough this year. Although Glasgow is the obvious city for me to root for, I do have a soft spot in my heart for both Dundee and Newport, because of having lovely mini-breaks in both. Decisions, decisions.

Did anyone else notice that Ru says "may the best drag queen win" and not "may the best woman win"? Is this the way forward, I wonder, or is this some UK-only thing?

It’s the same over here now too.

I thought it was due to Gotmik being a trans man. But then the other contestants are also men. Did Ru still say "Gentlemen start your engines" when Gia was on All Stars ? I can't remember.

They had given up before the lip-syncs started.

I just saw her interview in PopBuzz and she said she could barely walk in the dress, much less dance in it unfortunately.

Forgive the thread spam, but I wanted to note that this show's 2020 season is nominated in the 2020 ILX TV poll:

ILX's Best Television of 2020 Poll / VOTING AND CAMPAIGNING THREAD / Voting Ends After January 29, 2021

If you like this show and you'd like to see it have a good showing in the poll (running in February) all you need to do is submit a ballot including it and your other favorites (3 minimum, 25 maximum, ranked by your favorite to least favorite) to forksclovetofu at gmail. It'll take five minutes; get to it!

OK, this week's LSFYL was pretty titanic on the winner's half. A song like that just begs getting in there and getting UGLY. Also clocked a rare non-frontal shot when [winner] synced the "I'm gonna be there til the end" with a throat cutting gesture aimed at the rest of the girls upstage.

Denali killed it, god she dances so well & that dressssss fuck so good. i felt bad for Kahmora trapped in her beautiful prison dress.
i was a little sad that they had to go up against each other, the untucked exchange btw them was v <3
that whole porkchop group are so tight now, i love them

Denali was great in the lip-synch but is very unlikeable in a way that reminds me of Jan.

Symone is so obviously the frontrunner this season and Tamisha has got Miss Congeniality in the bag.

Meanwhile in the UK I've decided that I really dislike Chaney and I want Asttina to win but I know that will not happen.

You dislike Chaney? Aw man. One of my faves for sure.

The UK lip sync was an obvious song choice but kinda sucked the energy out of the room. But in a real shock the actual Rusical was...good?

at first I thought it was just that thing where Scottish people make me cringe on TV as a Scot... but then I realised that Chaney is needy beyond belief and happy to dish out shade but unable to handle any criticism or sense they're flawed.

Denali was great in the lip-synch but is very unlikeable in a way that reminds me of Jan.

THAT IS ONE OF THE BEST LIP SYNCS IN DRAG RACE HISTORY

— Jan (@jansportnyc) January 23, 2021

Roffle.

Denali fuckin killed it, Kahmora didn't even try, it was really sad to watch.

boxedjoy OTM abt Symone, can't remember the last time we had such a clear frontrunner so early. Maybe Bob? It feels like this season is pretty stacked, like usually you can kinda deduce which handful of queens are going home first, which are going home in the middle, and which are poised for top 3/4, but this feels like a lot of talent across the board.

I'm delighted with Utica, she has grown on me a lot and completely nixed my fears that she's all talk/no talent.

Also I looooove Joey Jay as a human being but less so as a drag queen and it seems clear they're headed home in the next episode or two. But I think they are the closest I've come to having a crush on a RPDR contestant?

oh man I just rewatched that lipsync twice, I have more thoughts:

* it is rare that we get a song as exciting as "100% Pure Love" and much rarer that we get a performance that lives up the caliber of a song like this, so this one really felt extra-special

* the queens in the back are going HAM, there are multiple shots of a slack-jawed Kandy, the energy in the room is palpable and a bunch of them start dancing along which happens sometimes but not all the time

* even though brilliantly executed, Denali's performance did recycle a few things (jerky arm movements, bouncy duckwalk, goofy physicality) in a way that makes me worried this won't be as fresh the second time around

also wtf was up with the Rose-Denali exchange in Untucked, like are they fucking already or???

it is rare that we get a song as exciting as "100% Pure Love" and much rarer that we get a performance that lives up the caliber of a song like this, so this one really felt extra-special

Yeah as soon as the song credits popped up I was all "Oh this'll be GOOD." Still sounds like the future, somehow.

yeah I feel like for every time I go "Oh this'll be GOOD" when the song credits pop up, it's only actually amazing like... 1 of 5 times. OTM re: it's longevity tho, this has been a fav since childhood and I still listen to it regularly and am surprised at how fresh and almost timeless it sounds

Anyway this isn't wrong, really

Drag Race is just 3 50 year olds getting progressively angrier that 20 year olds don't understand their references

— Super Darrio Galaxy (@fuckyeats) January 23, 2021

xxxposts i was wondering the same thing re denali & rose, surprisingly intimate/tender

also i said this on FB but when Rose flattens down her hair out of drag it gives me a real Corky St Clair / Simple Jack vibe that I just can’t unsee lol

50? Try 60.

Denali did go back to the same well a few times during the sync but it was all within the voguing-as-combat approach the song begged for (the finger slash across the neck gesture).

Which is, I think, the reason I’m seeing so many people going nuts over this one in a particular way. Obv we’ve seen bigger showstoppers (“Sorry Not Sorry” comes immediately to mind), but Denali made it a point to enter the song’s DNA and let it dictate her performance.

also i said this on FB but when Rose flattens down her hair out of drag it gives me a real Corky St Clair / Simple Jack vibe that I just can’t unsee lol

also Eric you are v otm about how all of her tricks happened to align perfectly w the song and she embodied its essence so well, like she just breathed the song

It's sort of how I also dance to my favorite songs, sort of "manifesting" my favorite sounds/changes from the song, tho I'm sure when I do it I look more like Elaine to "Shining Star."

Last thing I'll say about the performance and then I swear I'll shut up about it. The fact that she waits to bust into what I guess I'm just gonna call the Australian toilet flush squat-stomp until the moment the song gets to its most industrial beats is ... well, it's chef's kiss.

say what now

Do you protest at this contribution your country has made to world culture, apparently?

Obv we’ve seen bigger showstoppers (“Sorry Not Sorry” comes immediately to mind)

"Sorry Not Sorry" is packed to the gills with tricks and splits, but Denali's was a complete, beginning-to-end to end performance. Definitely some right song/right queen synchronicity, but she also paced it so well that I'm convinced she choreographed the whole damn thing. It was both stately in its restraint (not an escalating gauntlet of tricks, as thrilling as "SNS" is) but also a generous ton of fun.

* even though brilliantly executed, Denali's performance did recycle a few things (jerky arm movements, bouncy duckwalk, goofy physicality) in a way that makes me worried this won't be as fresh the second time around

I clocked that too, but even though I thought she outclassed Rosé, I have a hard time remembering that lip sync. Not so with this barnburner, obviously.

I like how Tanisha has kids who'd be considered old on the show.

Now that was not the result I would have guessed last night on Drag Race UK

...WHEW.

Not since Season *FOUR* in terms of that level of pure fucking Untucked meltdown.

But that bee was well timed.

the continual sense of Chaney being The Apppointed One: they weren't even the best person with the gold box, never mind the entire workroom. The British cast is infinitely more likeable than the US one, and the fact we've lost three queens who all had potential while the US version moves slowly with an obvious filler queen sent home first...

fuck i am exhausted, all those looks and all that drama a bitch needs a lie down

Agreed that the UK cast vibes are way friendlier overall, even with all the sharp edges.

also god this x 100

Tamisha following Kandy around the room reminds me of when I said something smart under my breath in front of my mom #DragRace

— Taylor H. (@TaylorAHemp) January 30, 2021

aside from untucked, LaLa’s lip sync was fantastic, the way she’d pick UP props & use them as well as take them off, just so in the moment - picking up joey’s bills was LMAO AWESOME

so effervescent! love her so much

See, this is why I often don't bother with Untucked. I don't need to watch twenty minutes of some not-very-bright person screeching about how she doesn't care that she was called arrogant, when she clearly cares very much. It's not entertaining.

I have zero desire to see Untucked and I wish the main show would move away from this contrived drama and focus more on the art/craft/performance of drag. It's also really hard to watch when they bring in so much context from out of the show, who's following who on Instagram etc, I want to enjoy a TV show not live inside a self-contained universe.

LaLa’s lip sync was fantastic,

I loved how she carried herself throughout the whole critique and lipsync process, from her mock-shock at being in the bottom for having paper bags glued to a bodice, to agreeing with the judges' critiques without breaking down, to just going for it in the lipsync. She was a star.

The one thing I did like about Untucked was the observation that if you keep being safe, you get no face time with the judges, no chance for your little moment on the runway, and those moments are a very important part of the show.

LaLa has definite star power and I would have been gutted to see her go so soon, that lipsync was also one for the ages, how lucky we have been!!

Now that Joey's gone, the rest of the cast truly feels filler-free and I cannot for the life of me figure out who's going to go home next, like all of them feel like they could be top 5 and none of them feel like they deserve to go home 3rd.

Kandy is clearly stressed out and does not know how to handle stress v well, like... if someone calls you out, they're wrong, but if people DON'T call you out, they're also wrong??? Tamisha also went a little too hard, she's not wrong but she's also old enough to know better and should know when to cool it. She too feels like she's stressed out and taking a bit of it out on Kandy, it was nagl for either of them.

(as a person who hates confrontation in all forms i love watching Tamisha & Kandy just plant their feet & go at each other with full direct eye contact, no flinching)

reading btw the lines here a lot so thiis isnt in any way known just me speculatin

obv Tamisha is playing out her anger at “Kandy thinks I’m not competition” from last week by picking the fight this week.
Shes in her feelings being in the bottom & then Kandy + Tina running the room as soon as she walks in clearly worked her last nerve. She is prob panicking a little because the competition is harder than a pageant, and calls for a vitality & energy level that she’s maybe worried she can’t draw from as much as she used to.

And Kandy is in her feelings about being safe, because she is surrounded by competition & the only thing she knows how to do when she’s scared is be loud & attack. She knows deep down that improving ~slightly~ is NOT enough to make you a top queen & she knows she’s self-deluding & Tamisha calling her out for being arrogant cuts to the heart of her fear - that she’s not enough.