Hello squirrels and boys, my name is Liana Kindler and I’m here to give you the scoop on what happened on the latest episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race.
I’ll get to dishing out the most recent episode later on, so if you’re just looking for that skip down to the second part of the article, but for those who are just joining us and have never watched the show, here’s a little RuPaul her-story:
RuPaul’s Drag Race is essentially the sassier, gay-er lovechild of a consummation between Project Runway and America’s Next Top Model.
13 lucky drag queens compete to earn the title of America’s Drag Superstar, as crowned by the Head Hunty of the drag community, RuPaul Charles, as well as a year’s supply of drag makeup, an all-expenses-paid trip to some fun location, and a huge cash prize. Every week, these queens are faced with challenges, from sewing coture gowns out of candy to acting in a campy 80’s Horror Movie trailer, to prove they have the Charisma Uniqueness Nerve and Talent to be America’s Next Drag Superstar.
WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK
Y’all have caught this season midway, as last week debuted the fifth episode of the season, after which only 8 queens of the original 13 remain, and the episode was one of the most iconic challenges on RuPaul’s Drag Race—Snatch Game, a mock-game show testing the acting ability of each queen, plus a runway based on Madonna’s Greatest Looks (spoiler alert: too many Kimonos not enough fucking Madonna. I’m ashamed of everyone.)
However,
ACID (clapping emoji) BETTY (clapping emoji) IS (clapping emoji) GONE.
For those of us just getting here, Acid Betty was The Main Villain™ of the season, constantly dragging queens for no specific reason, and bossing everyone around during group challenges. And now she’s gone! Although, during her elimination she was so kind and thankful, so it was a bittersweet end. Anyway, I heard she’s doing nice things for fellow members of the RPDR fambly (see: Cynthia Lee Fontaine’s cancer scare).
MEET THE QUEENS
courtesy of ew.com
Bob the Drag Queen: Hailing from New York City is Bob the Drag Queen. He’s a 29 year old slab o’ ebony over 7ft in heels, and louder than Rage on a Thursday night. The cream of the comedy crop in the workroom, Bob is certainly a huge threat to all the other girls, with her hilarious one-liners (or all liners, tbh) and an impressive sewing ability.
Thorgy Thor: To me, Thorgy’s like your cool aunt who taught you how to roll a joint that one time your parents were out of town and couldn’t find a nanny in time. She’s a Brooklyn queen, which is basically synonymous with “weird and a lot,” but she’s proven to have a heart of gold and a kind personality, which is refreshing after last season’s bitchfest.
Derrick Barry: With a name like Derrick Barry, you wouldn’t expect this 32 year-old man to be possibly the most famous Brittney drag impersonator, with his OWN FUCKING SHOW on the LAS VEGAS STRIP. LIKE, BRITTNEY JUST GOT HER OWN SHOW ON THE STRIP??? Derrick has got Brittney’s look down, like, in the first episode her photoshoot literally looked like it was of Britt. Judges have shown some concerns with lack of originality and “feeling like he’s trapped himself in a box,” being an impersonator, but Derrick Barry’s fighting to win.
Kim Chi: Okay, I’m not going to try and play it down, Kim Chi is my favorite queen this season, and maybe I’m biased because she’s Asian, which is not a highly-represented culture in the drag community, or because she’s friends with my All Time Favorite Queen, Raja (winner of season 3), but her insane makeup skills, creativity, and attention to detail while crafting her runways have proved her to be tough competition on the runway.
Chi Chi DeVayne: Chi Chi was always a question mark in my mind because she seemed to have a bad attitude, especially when it came to group challenges (see: New Wave Challenge from last week), but after watching Untucked (the BTS of RPDR), everyone could see that she’s doing her best and trying to work with what she has, and she’s turning. It. Out. Regardless of how I feel about her, so I think she’s here to stay. She’s one helluva dancer, and can work the runway on her budtget coture.
Robbie Turner: Sharing roots with past RPDR queens such as Jinkx Monsoon (winner of Season 5) and Ben DeLaCreme (contestant on Season 6, winner of Miss Congeniality Award), this Seattle queen has a lot to live up to. Drawing inspiration from Norma Shearer, Judy Garland, and Dolly Parton, Robbie “Turnter” always brings fun to the show. Most memorable moment was when she werked it down the runway in a pair of skates.
Naomi Smalls: From Redlands, CA, Naomi Smalls, named after her inspirations Naomi Campbell and Biggie Smalls, is a tall glass of fierce realness. She’s all about the modeling side of drag, and it really translates in her photo shoots and runway looks (although her silhouette is usually the same every look, which is disappointing).
WHAT TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN FUTURE EPISODES
That’s right everyone, RuPaul’s Drag Race is free to view on logotv’s website every Tuesday if you have the correct cable provider [(or if you have facebook, just use the xfinity option and it’ll just ask for you to log into facebook without asking any cable details, so if you’re like me and don’t have a cable provider, but don’t want to buy episodes on iTunes because you’re a broke college student, follow me through this fun loophole that I hope logotv doesn’t find out about) u can put this in if you think it’ll be okay lmao]!
This week, the queens will be opening up The Library*, both as their mini challenge and for their main challenge, for which the queens will be pairing up with cast members from the show Little Women LA (think, the Real Housewives of LA, but with little people) and performing acts based off RuPaul’s favorite book, The Wizard of Oz.
*Inspired by iconic movie Paris is Burning, ‘The Library’ is a challenge in which queens must “read” each other to filth (because reading is FUN-DA-MENTAL)—whoever’s the funniest or has the best reads according to Ru, wins.
http://www.logotv.com/video-clips/sjeqg8/rupauls-drag-race-first-look
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