vrocotamy

I'm pretty sure she was joking in the Entertainment Weekly review editorgrrl cited by saying she can't actually speak Russian (even if she may have learned have learned her excellent pronunciation through a cassette tape.) It's very hard to tell with Katya when she's pulling the interviewer's leg and when she's being serious. In other interviews (like her very extensive "Feast of Fun" podcast with Fausto Fernos and Marc Felion), she said she's fluent in Russian and was fluent (but is now rusty) in French. She exclusively listened to Russian pop music for five years, and is a dedicated "Russophile" who's very well-read in Russian literature and history - even if she is, by her own admission, delinquent in Russian slang due to having never traveled there. Katya actually intended to go on to graduate school to become a high school foreign language teacher, until one of her professors saw her "Katya" gig at her senior show at art school (she majored in video and performance art) and told her that she should be a character queen. In any case, she's hoping to travel to St. Petersburg soon to perform at a club there; she said she has a connection through a Russian emigre magazine in Chicago. I have more to say about this season - and the outcome of the show - but I was at the "live crowning" party in New York last night and thought I'd provide a few details. I'll start by saying I'm 5'3" on a good day and I had to illicitly stand on top of a sofa on the balcony to see the coronation and the performances at the end, and that I had to leave to see a trick (not literally in the Katya way) before the night ended, so I missed Ginger, Violet, and Pearl. Bianca and Shangela (a surprise) hosted, with Lady Bunny as the DJ (all three of them read each other through the night.) It was much more spontaneous and unfiltered than the filmed reunion in LA, so I'm glad I had the chance to attend. Bianca mostly did her schtick on the other queens (and a little on the audience and the staff at the club - she started speaking in Spanish to the sound guy during one of the many unfortunate AV accidents), but had some earnest moments of speaking as Roy and not Bianca. I suspected this might happen, since she's in town for The Vaudevillians, but Jinkx made a surprise appearance on stage with Bianca after the show ended and before Violet appeared and the audience gagged. She and Bianca started reading each other (Jinkx for Bianca's age and Bianca for Jinkx's recent mediocre review in The New York Times) and Jinkx started singing "I Wanna Be Popular" from Wicked, doing a good witch-bad witch act. Jinx also made reference to meeting Violet after wrestling practice (i.e. to her porno), which cracked everyone up and showed a saucier side of Jinkx than that on S5. Violet, Ginger, Pearl, and Shangela then appeared for Violet's coronation, and Violet seemed genuinely cowed by her win. She said Ginger and Pearl were just as deserving, if not moreso, and that she was flabbergasted by her victory. Her speech (and the glittering crown on her head) were actually quite beautiful - she dedicated it to all queer, bisexual, lesbian, gay, and transgender people, and then there were a series of photos with the other finalists and with her, Jinx, and Bianca. All the queens looked gorgeous, even moreso with the stage lighting than on TV.

My opinions on this matter are similar. In addition to the queens you mentioned (minus Shangela, although DJ is cute), I'd say Yara, Milk, Sahara, Dida, PhI Phi (minus the unfortunate personality), and April made very good-looking boys. Adore, Bianca, and Katya are all more "cute", with eccentrically attractive features (although I'd go with any three of them.) It's a truism that conventionally good-looking boys don't make attractive queens, but it falls apart in cases where the boys have more boyish than manly features (April, Manila, Phi Phi, Willam, etc.) It also falls apart in cases with conventionally attractive men with strongly defined cheekbones, and//or larger eyes, and/or smaller chins (Katya, Raven, Sahara, Nina), who can make strikingly beautiful but not especially fishy queens. Raven/David claimed to have only had lip enhancements at the time of Season 2 (in 2010), but I think he's had injections around his cheeks and eyes since then, in addition to a permanent fake tan and very manicured eyebrows. He's as much a drag king as a drag queen, in that his cosmetic enhancements work as much towards appearing better as a man and a woman (Detox should take notes). On Season 2, he said he wanted rhinoplasty, but he seems to have settled on rocking the stately Jewish nose (too few of us Jewish boys/girls wear it proudly.) I might be the only one gauche enough to say this, but I think Miss Fame is a very good-looking man who does not make a good-looking drag queen. Unless you get her in the absolute right lighting and at the absolute right angle, her face still reads man. Her brow ridge and chin are just too big, and her eyes are too close together. Thin lips, too. There aren't any feminine features like big eyes to offset the strong bone structure, like with Raven, to make her a "striking" but not masculine queen. I think Pearl is a cute, boyish-looking twink with puppy dog eyes. He's definitely not as good-looking as the average actor/model, as snakenax said, which shows up in pictures of him out of drag, but he's still mighty cute. All that said..he probably won't look as good in 5 or 10 years. Who knows, maybe it's just the bitterness in me speaking? I'm only a couple of years older, and I could never be the lithe, hairless, dreamy twink ideal he exemplifies.

Yep, I'd forgotten how much I enjoy Adore. The under-25 "baby queens" this season are no match for her in terms of charm, charisma, humor, and talent; TPTB made a mistake in trying to replicate the Adore phenomenon cheaply. She's gotten alot of flak lately from fandom and other queens (notably Raven and Delta) for giving up on perfectionist glamor drag - she doesn't even attempt to corset or wear dresses anymore, and mostly shows up in a blue wig with a ripped T-shirt and tights. Her explanation is that she's a "drag rock singer", not a drag queen per se like Delta and Raven. I was still disappointed by Adore giving up the fantasy drag until I saw the clip show and her "Hey Qween" interview with Jonny McGovern, but I see now that she's expanding the territory of drag performance in an interesting way (even if she perpetually looks like Magenta from The Rocky Horror Picture Show.) Her T on "Hey Qween" with Jonny McGovern on the BOTS tour was fascinating, as were her opinions on the queens of the current season (there's a double-sized "Look at Huh" segment where she gives her opinions on a ton of present and past RPDR queens.) Notably, Adore reiterated how kind, talented, and welcoming Jasmine Masters is (apparently, Jasmine was one of the first queens Adore met working in and around LA) - and how nice to young and new queens she is, which definitely counters Jasmine's portrayal on the show (and makes me believe that there was more "Aryan Airlines" bitchery than we saw). She also voiced her opinion that Katya, based on her abilities, should have won the whole season - and, in essence, is the "real winner" of the season based on the fan reaction to both her personality and talent (she cited the ). I agree to some degree with the former statement and entirely with the latter. She had very kind words for Kennedy, Ginger, and Violet personally and as entertainers, but threw some shade at Pearl. When asked by Jonny McGovern about Pearl, she simply started laughing uncomfortably and said "She's gorgeous." Apparently, Pearl posted something about Adore being ugly on social media a couple of years ago. As for the other queens guesting on the reunion show...Alaska, Latrice, Raven, Raja, Alyssa, and Jujubee (and RuPaul) were hilarious and on point. I understand how posters like those above don't get Alaska's sense of humor - it's not for everyone and humor is very personal - but I think we saw her laconic, vaguely absurd sarcasm, to quote rozen, at its best. Sharon seemed a bit reserved (and unrecognizable). I know she's gotten quite a bit of work done, in particular around her jaw, but her nose looked different (and not in a good way.) I also think Jinkx fell flat - and yes, she looks different, but I'd just attribute that to three years age difference and maybe a little weight gain. She can be utterly hilarious, but she's not always great in situations where she's asked to be spontaneously witty. I might get read for saying this, but Bianca, to me, was inconsistent. Her jokes are tried and true (and very broad) and often verge on the obvious, and I think a lot of her humor depends on context and on the counterintuitive appeal of her personality. I thought she was consistently hilarious on her season, but without a supporting narrative I can find her blunt without being particularly funny or insightful. Her Kasha and Ginger reads, for one, fell flat, but I thought her Pearl read was superb. I was amused by the consternation and shock of Latrice, Alyssa, and even Sharon at Pearl and Violet's audacity through the season.

Yep, the only time the show has highlighted hosting skills has been in the introductions to the roast challenges, but hosting a revue seems like one of the benchmarks of success in the drag world. Chad and Raven have also arguably influenced drag in Southern California (and nationally) by hosting the two best-known drag shows around LA and San Diego. I suppose a reason RPDR doesn't highlight hosting skills is that it's trying to test the queens' skills as entertainers and artists beyond what's expected for a successful bar queen, with the professed purpose of selecting the next "drag superstar" who can cross over into the mainstream. That said, there seems to be almost as little room for the "fashion" drag queen in the wider performing arts and media, venturing even slightly beyond the confines of RuPaul's Drag Race fandom and World of Wonder's control, as for the "fashion" drag queen in the narrower drag world. The contestants who've gone far post show prove this, IMO. It's been the queens who are comedians or singers (Willam, Sharon, Jinkx, Shangela, Alaska, Bianca, Pandora, Adore, Courtney) - and a few with entertaining personalities who are fierce dancers/lip-syncers (Latrice, Alyssa) - who've made a mark outside the sphere of RPDR fandom. Jinkx is all three and she's been the most successful queen to come off the show, in terms of penetration outside queerdom. Even Manila and Raja, who are beloved by the fanbase, haven't successfully made a reputation outside of queerdom (although Raja arguably already had one from his appearances on America's Next Top Model.) I love Manila - she's fierce (and a fierce lip-syncer), witty, and has absolutely fantastic design skills/stylistic sensibility - but she doesn't have a sellable talent as a performer outside RPDR and the drag circuit. The one queen to truly have success in "fashion" - as a model and a muse - is Carmen Carrera, and she transitioned from living as a (beautiful) male drag performer to living openly as a beautiful woman, with a nose-job and enhanced breasts. Monica Beverly Hillz, another transwoman, has aso had some modeling success. I'm not counting Willam, Alaska, and Courtney's recent stint as American Apparel spokesmodels. Miss Fame and Bebe Zahara Benet (and maybe a few others I'm forgetting) were male models, but a dual-gender modeling career seems like a dubious proposition (tell me if I'm wrong.) The best way to profit from being a "fashion" (re: styling or design) queen, IMO, would be to use your appearance as a stunning vision of femininity to promote your skills as a designer or hair or makeup artist, or to sell a makeup line. Raja's success on RPDR probably furthered his already successful career as a makeup artist, but she never fully took advantage of the commercial opportunities it might have offered. I think Miss Fame (or maybe Pearl, more evolved) should try and use their drag to market their skills (or products), following on Raja's missed opportunity.

So...positives. Most of what I have to say has been said by someone else, so I'll go through it quickly: 1. Ross Matthews. I don't know him outside of his stint on RuPaul's Drag Race (and his judging of Snatch Game in S4 with Loretta Devine), but he provides a good counterweight to Michelle. 2. The challenges after Snatch Game were all original, complex, and produced engaging results. I enjoyed the concepts and outcomes of Conjoined Queens, Divine Inspiration, Prancing Queens, and Hello, Kitty Girls! I did think Divine Inspiration was very uneven - not only because of the uneven acting skills of the contestants, but because the sketch given to the glamour triplets (as steveac10 aptly titled them) diverged so much from the source material in Pink Flamingos. The scene where Divine eats dog shit in Pink Flamingos hardly even counts as a scene. It's basically a stunt tacked on to the end of the movie; there are no spoken lines, only a sound-track of "Who's That Doggy In the Window?" In any case, there's no indication of internal conflict (or great enthusiasm, either) on Divine's part over the shit-eating. I also know from Waters' DVD commentary that the crew followed the poodle in question around for three hours waiting for it to take a dump, so the scene given to the glamour triplets seemed even more asinine. But, keeping with the positive vibes of this thread...as bunnywithanaxe said, it's good that it paid homage to Divine and Waters, and to the illustrious herstory of drag. Glamazonian Airways was pretty nifty, too. 3. This is the season that introduced the world to the divine Katya Zamolodchikova, one of the most multi-talented, intelligent, and original queens to emerge from Drag Race and the queen that I've related to the most in the run of seven seasons, since she struggles as much as I do with self-doubt, anxiety, and low self-esteem (and her admissions to that effect always seemed genuine, rather than a cynical sympathy ploy.) 4. There were some hilarious mini-challenges (for example, the Real Housewives and Orange is the New Black take-offs). 5. Kennedy's Little Richard in Snatch Game. In a separate instance of drag manliness, I think the bearded runway may have been the best all season. I feel like Season 7 was one giant experiment by the producers to shake things up, defy expectations, and agitate and excite viewers, in response to the criticisms from some viewers that Season 6 was predictable and staid. Maybe 50% of the experiment of Season 7 landed, and 50% of it really, really, didn't land. More than the challenges themselves, IMO, Season 7's shortcomings originated in mistakes with casting (and with dubious eliminations in order to keep queens like Miss Fame around past their expectation date), in editing that didn't leave us time to get to know the queens or make sense of judging decisions, and in production shoving conflicts between cast members down our throats that left us cold or scratching our heads.

I'm about as cynical about that as I am about the fame of the Kardashians. If I remove my personal feelings about entirely constructed social media fame, I just don't think the audience for a queer art is broad enough to have it's own celebutantes. As I've said here, the worship of the fashion queens seems to stem entirely from free social media like Instagram, and - save Miss Fame - they don't market anything but T-shirts. These queens are models for their own designs, but unfortunately there are models and designers who are better at that. Now, I do think there are ways for Pearl and Miss Fame to monetize their senses of style, looks, and makeup skills, sans performance. Miss Fame could be a makeup maven who uses drag to promote her talents (or a small scale makeup line) and Pearl, if she improves her communication skills, could be a club promoter a la her club kid predecessor, James ST. James, or use her drag to promote a career as a makeup, hair, or costume stylist, probably for movies or theater most fittingly. But those are ultimately limited in staying power and market. I think the future of drag - in terms of profitability and popularity - lies with queens like Katya, Jinkx, Willam, and Bianca, who keep one foot in the gay bar scene, but have the business smarts, creativity, and bona fides as entertainers to move into more mainstream venues for performance and into film or TV. Of course, web presence is a HUGE opportunity to make a reputation outside the bar scene, and Katya's web series shows the potential of digital media to expand a DQ's career.

I really loved Cucumber and Banana. Cucumber and the portions of Banana having to deal with queer men actually achieved a cogent (and irreverent) look at the problems facing us today, and Banana expanded the focus to queer women and transpeople. They're both by Russell B. Davies, the creator of the original (and far superior) Queer as Folk and the popular remake of Dr. Who. Unfortunately, C and B don't offer formulas and easy answers, so they won't do well with an American basic cable audience. But watch them!

I think Ginger and Pearl both came out of the runway speeches and Untucked looking pretty bad. It was like a DO NOT manual for conflict resolution. Pearl kept raking Ginger over the coals and rather absurdly bemoaning the unfairness of competition, and Ginger kept demanding that Pearl be not mad at her, instead of either just letting her statement stand or apologizing for it. Some might disagree, but I think it was tacky that Ginger so explicitly called out her competitors' personal faults, especially if Pearl confided in her as a friend. I don't know what the standard is in pageants, but the classy, professional way to go about the runway speech would have been to give a pointed critique of Violet or Pearl's capacities as demonstrated by the show's challenges and runways, by comparison to her demonstrated strengths. At the same time, Pearl is just way too thin-skinned and clearly doesn't understand (or can't deal with) the trials and travails of competition. And, I'm sorry, Pearl (and Violet), but there's no such thing as an artist - especially a performing artist - who isn't in constant competition for professional opportunities. It comes with the territory.

I think Ginger's comment that no one "could sing or act like her on RuPaul's Drag Race" was clearly a defensive move, and not well thought-out. By that, I mean any viewer would immediately think of "Jinkx Monsoon" - if not "Adore Delano" or "Willam Belli" or "Alaska Thunderfuck" or "Courtney Act" and disprove her statement. Let's be clear, I think Ginger's great at comedy, acting, and singing, but she's one of many who's been good at dramatic skills and performance on the show in their own singular ways. I think Ginger's conducted herself with a mind towards her reception by viewers up until this episode, when she cracked and let her insecurities stream out. It's a good run under the extraordinary pressure - even Bianca cracked a little by the "Glitter Ball" last season with her overreaction to Ben's runway comment - but she certainly came out of this episode looking worse than when she came in. That said, she was under an immense amount of stress and no one is perfect, so I still don't agree with the "I Hate Ginger" crowd.

Yeah, I agree that I was a bit too harsh on Ginger there. She definitely inhabits a particular, mid-century Modern, Tracy Turnblad-cum-Elizabeth Taylor, "high hair for Jesus", aesthetic and it's always polished. I would like to see her push it further to its extremes, even if her body type (both short and heavy, with weight concentrated in the belly) makes a lot of silhouettes difficult or impossible. She's a great queen in virtually every aspect and very beautiful, so I'd simply like her to be even better. I stand by my stance, however, that Kennedy - in spite of her many talents and her beauty - has worn a few of the most abhorrent garments on RuPaul's Drag Race that were not made as part of a challenge. Her chicken outfit and the fluffy green gown make Santino's overstated criticisms of Pandora Boxx in Season 2 - or Alyssa Edwards in Season 5 - seem particularly ridiculous in comparison. I actually think Katya was the only queen this season to serve a wide variety of looks on the runway, even if she wore only one wig, essentially, the whole season. Her Slavic folk princess nude illusion outfit was very different from her '60s pill-box hat stewardess "jet set eleganza" look, which was very different from her "Britney at 40" leather and lace runway, which was very different from her campy "Baberaham Lincoln" and death-by-shark looks, which was very different from her shiny green Russian trophy wife gown. They're all unified by the 80% sexy, 20% disgusting sensibility, but were very varied. That aspect of her performance is not appreciated a whole lot in odes to Katya, and unfortunately didn't factor into the judges' decision to cut her at 5th.

When I heard the spoiler of Pearl, Ginger, and Violet as the final three, that was my conclusion - that Ru and her associates really want to crown a big girl, and they feel Ginger is their best chance, so they didn't want to put any meaty competition (e.g. Katya or Kennedy) in the final three with her. Even without the fan vote, which is only one factor in the ultimate results, it would make Ginger's win look very clear and rational. The only wrench in that plan is that I think production projected Ginger to be much more popular than she was, after the popularity of Bianca, another sharp-tongued Southern comedy queen, last season. Even if Ginger is much more popular with the broader viewership than with the Reddit fanatics, she's unpopular enough that I project Violet will win. I just looked at the Facebook fan vote and Violet is at 3,300 likes, Pearl is at 3,000, and Ginger is at 2,100. In all honesty...I've been a Ginger fan this season overall, but I think she and Pearl showed their asses (or at least, lapses in judgment) this episode, and that it might be enough to pull Violet over the top. It's something that's leaked, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily true. I can find the exact source later if you're interested. I don't want to pull the thread too off track towards Season 2 discussion - although it's surprisingly relevant since this is the most puzzling final three since then. Allegedly, a producer told Raven she was "the one", and Santino and Merle were also led to believe Raven was going to be crowned, so they were surprised when Ru "changed her mind" at the last minute. I always assumed Tyra was crowned for the reasons you mention above - I can easily see Ru and a corporate sponsor deciding in advance that Tyra was the right fit. Beautiful as a girl, handsome as a man, great on the runway, has a cute kid, and comes with a backstory about being homeless. And Ru was still all about the glamazons at that point - but I think those maybe were plus factors in awarding her the win over Raven, rather than reasons she was preordained to win. Tyra had a better reality TV arc and was more likely to elicit compassion than Raven - who had so many pricelessly bitchy confessionals she couldn't be redeemed by her show of that very compassion in the Drag Mothers episode - even if Raven proved in the spokesmodel challenge that she was better equipped to fulfill the duties of a winner than Tyra. I agree and disagree with different portions of this post. I'll start with what I agree with: 1.) This was the worst season ever. 2.) Ginger and Kennedy's looks were often dated, rather '80s/Dynasty, and repetitive. Ginger has always been polished, but her only really memorable outifts were the runways for Snatch Game and John Waters (leather and lace and ugly dress.) I think she could push her "Crossdresser for Christ" aesthetic even further. I liked Kennedy's finale pride dress - these are drag queens, after all! - and her leather and lace look. But Kennedy's weakest aspect is her runway presentation - and two of her outfits - the chicken/phoenix outfit from the "Death Becomes Her" runway and the furry gown in the green runway - are among the worst items to ever have been brought by a queen onto the show (not made there.) I really resent the notion promoted by some of the "fashion queens" and their acolytes this season that the "future of drag" is modeling outfits you make yourself, since there are models and designers for that, and they're better than virtually all queens at those tasks. But visual communication is an important part of drag, and it's neither Ginger nor Kennedy's strong suit.

You're right, it's Jason (as last night's episode proved.) I don't especially hope there are more videos, though. Joey Malone would have needed to eat a few sandwiches and age a few years to flood my basement.

THIS. For all the animosity that's been played up between the "Bitter Old Lady Brigade" and the young sylphs, they actually seem to like each other quite a bit off the show and all seem to be decent people. In exit interviews with Trixie and Jaidynn, they said the two queens with difficult personalities were Violet and Kennedy, but that they get along with both now. Jaidynn elaborated a bit more and basically said Kennedy was trying to work with and that Violet was very bitchy, moreso than shown on the show (something that's been corroborated by a few other queens).

I've heard that rumor...however, the infamous inside leaker at Reddit (illnevertellu) denied that was the case, but that the queens are contractually obligated to say they don't know who's in the top three. Kennedy's tears seemed real to me, at least. I also think that her speech would have been refilmed without the malapropism if TPTB were interested in promoting her to top three (although, of course, the editing monkeys could have used the original footage if the four-endings thesis is true.) The editing of the runway critiques really endeavored to make Kennedy's performance in the challenge look substantially worse than that of Violet or Pearl, so it's difficult to tell if TPTB had already decided to send her home that episode or if it was a decision made in the editing room while the season aired. I edited my post above to summarize the reasons why I think Pearl made top three over Kennedy. But, seeing the controversy on Reddit - I feel like 1/3 of the posters are "Go Pearl! Pearl for the win! Ding dong, the witch (Kennedy) is dead", 1/3 are shocked and offended Kennedy was cut over Pearl, and 1/3 are indifferent to either - the idea that production aimed to be polarizing by putting Pearl in the top 3 is especially salient. Production clearly wanted to shake everything up from the relatively staid (but excellent) season 6, and they succeeded. I think the producers are familiar with the bulk of the footage that's been filmed when they make the final cuts before airing, and they could have already projected painting Kennedy as the bitch (or Darienne last season) by the end of filming. IMO, it's the reason Ruduction pulled a last minute switch from Raven winning to Tyra winning in the last episode of S2 - they had enough footage to put a convincing villain edit on Raven and decided Tyra could be made sympathetic with fewer gymnastics. I think Pearl's comments on Facebook about the "real story" behind her argument with Ru are enough to ensure that she won't win. Painting Ru in an unflattering light or contradicting the edit that blatantly - and painting World of Wonder in a bad light - probably killed her chances of winning. World of Wonder, RuPaul, and the other interested parties choose a winner, in part, based on professionalism and heeding the contract. Even Sharon - for all her shenanigans - never revealed anything she was contractually obligated to conceal.

I knew Pearl was going to be in the final three since Voss Entertainment - the company that is managing the live crowning in New York and the "Night of 1000 Queens" during Pride weekend here - goofed and sent a poster for the Pride event, in the confirmation e-mail for the ticket I bought, featuring Pearl, Ginger, and Violet. But I at least expected Kennedy to really screw up egregiously in order for Pearl to be kept over her. If you scored the three components of the challenge - the runway look, the acting, and the dancing - Pearl did the worst overall of the queens this episode. Her runway look was good, but very expected (it didn't push her aesthetic to its limits the way it should have, it just reiterated the look she's been serving all season); her acting was decent; and her dancing was horrific. Like, it was the Elaine Benes terrible dancing from Seinfeld translated into the language of drag queens. Kennedy's acting portions were the worst of the four, but I think her gown was the best she's worn all season and her dancing portions were by far the best of the four queens. Her runway speech was unprofessional in its reference to Violet and she regrettably mixed up condone and conduct, but I think Pearl's journey should have ended here and Kennedy should have advanced to the final three. Who knows, maybe the runway speech was what screwed Kennedy over? Or, more likely, TPTB had already decided an aging, slightly bitter, slightly bald and slightly overweight black Texan pageant queen with a thick Southern drawl and a sharp mouth was not telegenic enough, or not the "look" the season was going for, or would not appeal to the teenybopper fans who they want to market towards. Pearl seems like a nice person by the post-show accounts of all the contestants, she's a talented makeup artist and has a defined (if very limited) aesthetic, and she's had what seems like a hard life. Her vague, tearful accounts of her childhood seemed to be dancing around child physical and/or sexual abuse, and she dropped out of high school at 16 to work as a hairstylist and/or spa attendant and support herself. But, end of the day, she was there for her value as an intriguing reality TV contestant, not for her value as an entertainer. I've said my piece about that on other threads here, but I'll sum it up: 1.) The whole "Pearl coming out of her shell" and finding her way redemption arc is classic reality television, and a classic Mama Ru fantasy dating back to Tyra; 2.) She's more "telegenic" than Kennedy by Ruduction's estimation, and appeals to the teenybopper fans who flocked to Adore last season for her heartthrob looks; and 3.) Her placement over Kennedy is polarizing, and keeps people talking about the show.