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Small Talk: Interior Illusions Lounge


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Does anyone have plans to see their queens perform this summer (especially over PRIDE season)?

 

Here in Minneapolis we have Alyssa Edwards all weekend, as well as an appearance by Latrice Royale and another queen that hasn't been confirmed yet (my friend is in charge of the event and has asked me for advice with a list he gave me -- not that he'll take it). 

 

Latrice is doing the same event that Willam did last year and it was booked really weird -- Willam was all over the advertising but they BARELY used him. The ticket was worth it for me because he did his own meet & greet (of his own volition) and was incredibly fun and gracious. Bebe from S1 lives here now so she's doing an event the Tuesday of Pride weekend. 

 

I'll be performing in the same show as Alexis Mateo but I don't know if I'll get to meet her or not.

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oh heck JakeyJokes I didn't know you were a drag queen!  Any chance we'll see you on RPDR anytime soon??  Give us the T on the shows you see/perform in.

 

I don't really have plans to see any of the queens from S7 this summer.  Usually the summer right after a season airs it is crazy busy for those queens so I'll wait a year all though honestly Katya, Ginger, and Kennedy are the only ones I would want to see live.

 

I think Bianca is coming somewhere close to where I live for her Rolodex of Hate tour--I live for her youtube videos and have heard they are nothing compared to seeing her live so if I can get up enough nerve to go see her (I would be going by myself as none of my friends are into drag queens).

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I think Bianca is coming somewhere close to where I live for her Rolodex of Hate tour--I live for her youtube videos and have heard they are nothing compared to seeing her live so if I can get up enough nerve to go see her (I would be going by myself as none of my friends are into drag queens).

 

I went to see if Bianca's touring near me, and found this: http://www.hurricanebianca.com

Hurricane Bianca is a feature-length comedy about a New York teacher who moves to a small town in Texas, gets fired for being gay, and returns disguised as a mean "lady" to get revenge on the people who were nasty to him! It's Tootsie meets Revenge of the Nerds, or Mrs. Doubtfire​ for the Jackass generation! Topical, touching and really funny, it's one person's journey to find himself while pretending to be someone else.
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Has anyone else listened to the latest "What the Tee?" podcast?  I am very curious who the unbearable queens are from the BOTS tours that Michelle and Ru mentioned but wouldn't name!

Sharon, Manila and Pandora are frequently mentioned by fans on line as having attitudes - it's probably one or more of them.

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Bianca's Rolodex show is coming near me right before July 4th, but we haven't made final plans for the holiday yet so I haven't bought tickets. 

 

I'm surprised to hear Manila has an attitude issue - I met her in Times Square where she was taping some weird (and awful) game show. They were in between shoots and I went over to see what was going on and lo and behold, it was Manila! Before I knew what my mouth was doing, I was all HEY MANILA!!! And she RAN over and gave me a big sweaty hug and talked to me for like 10 minutes. Me, a dowdy middle aged stay at home mom - not really her target demo. She took a pic with me and was really just as nice as could be and very chatty. She was the first queen I ever met! 

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oh heck JakeyJokes I didn't know you were a drag queen!  Any chance we'll see you on RPDR anytime soon??  Give us the T on the shows you see/perform in.

 

I'm a gay stand-up comedian, which is nowhere near as exciting as drag, but because of that I'll occasionally appear in drag-themed shows  (as a boy). It's why I was so disappointed there wasn't a stand-up challenge this season, but with this batch, maybe we were spared. And that is not  read because I cannot dance, sing, do make-up, sew, or fiercely lip-sync.

 

If you are on the fence about going to Bianca's show, I highly encourage you to go. Tickets are more expensive because she plays theaters, but you can buy the cheap seats. Her show is part stand-up/part Q & A, and I found the latter portion to be fascinating and even earnest at times.

 

How problematic could Manila and Pandora be if they've been repeatedly booked for BOTS? I've only heard one horror story about Manila and that was right after S3 ended, so maybe she was bitter or in that weird grasp of what fame can do to your head. Often times you'll hear "She's sooo nice" and "She's a total c***" about the same queen, so I think perspective is everything. For example, I have acquaintances who CANNOT STAND Willam, and yet I can't hate anyone who decides to pose for pictures on his own accord after a show is over. 

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I've heard on several occasions that Pandora is a bit of a....huhumm but idk I still luv her. It's gotta be a weird transition in a queens life when one season you're well loved then a few years later, after rpdr has produced multiple comedy queens it can make you feel like you're being pushed aside. Idk if that's what's going on with pandora but show biz in general is cut throat so a situation like Rpdr where it's a constant adding of new, fresh queens....I would have issues.

I've heard stories about Manila & Mimi being a bit nasty as well so idk......there's no telling what's going on in their personal life and everyone has bad days, days when ur just in a pissy mood....

Edited by Dirtybubble
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Sharon, Manila and Pandora are frequently mentioned by fans on line as having attitudes - it's probably one or more of them.

I think Needles is back in everyone's graces; the same podcast has Michelle talking about sharing a bunk with her on the tour bus for the most recent BOTS tour, plus she got to do THs in the clip show.

Speaking of podcast, gonna complain just a bit. I clocked this week's at four full minutes of ads before the show even started, and I'm getting somewhat weary of Michelle begging Ru to tour every week.

They never outright admitted that this season was lackluster, but Ru did state repeatedly that he was glad it was over.

ETA: I just got around to watching this year's "Can I Asssk You a Question" series and I think I am shipping Alaska and Katya. (Alaskatya?)

Edited by kieyra
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The "Can I Asssssk You a Question" was more entertaining than much of S7, honestly. I loved everything about it, especially Alaska revealing that she was wearing sneakers under her dress and that's why she was so comfortable.

 

 

I've heard on several occasions that Pandora is a bit of a....huhumm but idk I still luv her. It's gotta be a weird transition in a queens life when one season you're well loved then a few years later, after rpdr has produced multiple comedy queens it can make you feel like you're being pushed aside. Idk if that's what's going on with pandora but show biz in general is cut throat so a situation like Rpdr where it's a constant adding of new, fresh queens....I would have issues

 

Yeah, Pandora was the original RPDR Comedy Queen (S1 didn't have one), but what does she have to be bitter about? She's got good management and still gets the Drag Center recaps. I will say that when I saw her at BOTS she was very funny, although if you look up her YouTube videos, her act doesn't change its content very much. To be fair, I haven't seen her in over two years and maybe she's added new material and online isn't doing her justice.

Edited by JakeyJokes
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Did anyone get to see any queens over Pride Weekend?

 

Latrice and Alyssa were both in town, but the only ones I saw were Alaska and Adore, who did The Saloon Block party here in Minneapolis. Both sang live and were great. Adore crowd-surfed and I was more terrified during that then I was when I was on the power tower amusement park style ride that they had. I've never been to a rock concert so that was new for me! None of us dropped her. Can you imagine if Minneapolis broke Adore's neck? We would never be forgiven. 

 

Adore is totally doing a punk rock kind of look now. Flannel long-sleeve, Black Sabbath T-shirt, not going for any kind of glamour or fish at all (or trying to cinch the hog bod). And it's totally her and it works, and she gave a very fiery, impassioned speech about how when she started, older queens told her she was doing drag wrong and she said "There is no wrong in drag! Did anyone tell RuPaul he was wrong for wearing a jockstrap and a wig in the '80s?!" It was prescient because later the promoter at the club that booked Alyssa was decrying the pics he saw of Adore, so he clearly didn't get the point. I definitely think there's still room for pageant queens, but it's not the be all end all, and it's not necessarily what the "kids" are into.

 

Oooh! Let's spill T! I got so much of it when I was at Pride in South Dakota. First of all, Alexis Mateo was great. Second of all, Season 7 queens are really expensive to book -- even Tempest Dujour's booking fee went up -- and then their rates will go back down once the new season starts. They were going to book Sasha Belle from Iowa City, but she wanted a plane even though other queens were making the drive from Iowa City to Sioux Falls (which, to be fair, is six hours. My drive was four and a half and I was going stir-crazy). But the girl is a genius when it comes to booking because Iowa City booked Bianca del Rio before Season 6 aired but her performance wasn't until after it aired, so they got her at a lower rate.

 

Also, the kids all love the younger glamour queens (Pearl, Violet, Trixie) but they're harder to book because clubs don't like to do 18+ nights; no one makes money selling water and Diet Coke. Things that make you go hmmmm.

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Since my last post, I've seen Ivy Winters (twice), Adore & Courtney (at the same show), Violet, and I'm going to see Detox this weekend.

 

Ivy is always impressive, and juggled clubs and knives, and did her stilts routine in a rather small bar with a low ceiling. I got to meet her both times, and she is always sweet and bubbly. I think she's super talented and underappreciated.

 

I saw Violet in Savannah, and she did two numbers. One was in the reversible tartan outfit. She's amazingly tall, thin, and beautiful. We got to meet her and get a quick picture, and she was very approachable and has such a great laugh. This was after the finale filmed, but before it aired, so I told her that I hoped she won, and she said, "Me too, bitch!" (In a friendly way!) It was awesome!

 

Adore and Courtney were guest performers at Ultimate Miami Drag Queen. They each sang 3 songs, one cover, and 2 original. There was a slightly scary moment when Adore left the stage and tried to stand on a chair and almost fell, but there was a big guy right there who caught her in time. She and Courtney were both great, though. People stayed in their seats until Adore came out, and then they crowded the stage and screamed like teenagers. Men, women, young, old, gay, straight...didn't matter. I don't think my husband really "gets" Adore, and he liked Courtney better, though. The contestants (non-drag race queens) were pretty great, too. TP Lords won, and we ran into her in the parking lot afterwards, and she was very gracious and friendly, and posed for a picture with us. Another performer we really enjoyed was TLo Ivy, a previous winner, who was extremely gorgeous and sexy. We didn't get to meet Courtney and Adore, but we met Adore previously.

 

So next we're going to see Detox, and we have meet and greet tickets for that, so I'm very excited!

 

 

 

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I saw ABCD during Pride in DC LAST year. It was my first drag show, I'm a socially awkward penguin, and I was absolutely star struck meeting Bianca. I blurted out, "I'M A HUGE INTROVERT BUT I'M ON XANAX SO IT'S FINE". Total dork mode. (She laughed.)

The show was amazing, everyone was sweet, and I was sitting near Courtney's merch table and got to check out her sickening legs from a distance of three feet for a good hour. Oh, and a gay man flatly refused to believe me when I told him how old I was, so that was cool. (As he pointed out, he had no incentive to lie.)

There's a video floating around on YouTube of Adore performing DTF during this show, you can clearly see the back of my head around 2:55. Famous!

Edited by kieyra
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So Pearl is already losing her luster as the girls march out into the real world. Several established queens (most prominently Sharon and Raja) have posted very thinly veiled complaints about a certain season 7 queen's lack of professionalism and bad attitude. She's cancelled 3 major gigs since the season ended, including the main drag event during NYC pride for various "illnesses" - and bailed on a July 4th gig at the last minute to attend a Miu Miu event in Paris with Violet, Sharon and Fame. Looks like the bitter old lady brigades' complaints that certain high placing queens weren't ready for prime time may have been more than bitterness and shade.

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If that's true about Pearl, that's disappointing, but not really surprising.  Afterall, the shade that Ms. Kasha Davis threw at her at the finale really made me think.  But I'm still a little bit bitter over the Final 3, looking back, if you tell me those were the first 3 eliminiated I'm more likely to belive that instead of the last 3 standing.

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The Pearl saga took a new twist over the weekend with the appearance of several explicit nudes meant for Grindr or the like. No face, but Pearl/Matt neglected to hide a few rather distinctive tattoos. Reddit and their ilk, which had been consumed in a large flurry of Pearl negativity is now rallying around her to decry her "exploitation". It says to me how naive places like the RPDR Reddit sub are about real gay culture (because over half of them joined during this season and most appear to be 15 and female). They are not experienced Fruit Flies. Rather, like bridesmaids at a gay bar bachelorette party they are oblivious to the intended purpose of their environment - they just think it's a hoot. Thus, they don't know the cardinal rule of cruising, on line or otherwise: never trust a trick.

 

If the circumstances are as Pearl claims, oops on you girl. If not, bravo on some rather expert fame whoring.

 

I'd link, but the only copies I can find are behind a restricted registration wall. And they're pretty explicit. I'll just leave by saying Pearl's endowment is far more impressive than her drag skills. Some guys get all the luck.

Edited by SteveAC10
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Based on her woe is me reaction to the events of the last few weeks - she'll be back waxing eyebrows at the salon and dressing up in off white gowns on Saturday nights sooner than later. She's working really hard you guys....really hard. It's not fair people are criticizing her:

 

https://www.facebook.com/pearldragqueen/posts/403464149845555

 

Totally as Ginger and Kennedy predicted in the final episode, not ready for primetime.

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I *do* feel bad that his nude pics got released, because I had that happen to me once (it's a really weird story and I'm not a celebrity). It's not fun.

 

As for that Facebook rant: Ooof. She's coming off really thin-skinned. When you are in the public eye, people are assholes. Even people who say they are your "fans". Willam, who has veneers, posted a picture of his lip tattoo this week and one of the most recent comments posted was a "fan" insulting his teeth. That's what people do now -- they sit behind a computer and talk shit. You have to be able to find strength within yourself to ignore it and focus on the good stuff. Interesting that the only queen that I saw comment on it was Violet (in support). And while I don't necessarily have a dog in this fight, I do kind of love that she called out Raja. If you're gonna go to bat, swing for the fences.

 

Ginger was in town last night for her "Crossdresser for Christ" show. I didn't go but a drag queen I know went and said it was amazing. I'm also sad to report that Ginger apparently split up with her husband this week and she talked about it during the show.

Edited by JakeyJokes
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Oh that makes me sad about Ginger; the time after being on this show is probably really stressful.

 

Still, the offers aren't going to be the same after season 8 starts. I'm sorry Pearl is tired and overwhelmed, but she should have expected constant travel for the next year.

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This is that small window to work constantly, up the performance fees and cash in on being on the last season of RPDR. But I don't think Pearl was really working before, so this isn't just much more of what she's used to. Still, do it, make money now, save for later. And hone your craft. This is an incredible opportunity to have someone else who already has contacts and knows how to get someone booked cross country and world wide. Sleep on the plane and stop complaining. Somehow I think she'll be complaining next year and the year after, too. Possibly about not having enough work/money.

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Adore and Courtney were guest performers at Ultimate Miami Drag Queen. They each sang 3 songs, one cover, and 2 original. There was a slightly scary moment when Adore left the stage and tried to stand on a chair and almost fell, but there was a big guy right there who caught her in time. She and Courtney were both great, though. People stayed in their seats until Adore came out, and then they crowded the stage and screamed like teenagers. Men, women, young, old, gay, straight...didn't matter. I don't think my husband really "gets" Adore, and he liked Courtney better, though. The contestants (non-drag race queens) were pretty great, too. TP Lords won, and we ran into her in the parking lot afterwards, and she was very gracious and friendly, and posed for a picture with us. Another performer we really enjoyed was TLo Ivy, a previous winner, who was extremely gorgeous and sexy. We didn't get to meet Courtney and Adore, but we met Adore previously.

Hey PalmettoTree!  I was also at this show!  I thought Courtney and Adore were both great, but I thought they looked awful.  Their look wasn't as polished as I expected for two RPDR top 3 finalists.  I also thought the queen who won was miles beyond the other contestants.  Now the winners from the previous years were pretty fricken awesome!

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It is really sick/sad that those pictures were leaked; I was shocked at how graphic they were (I was expecting like, professional nude photos, but this is degrading/not something that should be public.) I think it's perfectly understandable that Pearl is exhausted, stressed, and not handling it that well.  I hope she has the support of close friends, since opening up on facebook is leading to more hate, mocking and derision.

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It is really sick/sad that those pictures were leaked; I was shocked at how graphic they were (I was expecting like, professional nude photos, but this is degrading/not something that should be public.) 

This is something that a lot of young guys in the online hook-up culture are experiencing... the graphic nature of the picture is the intent of the picture as person A is trying to cement an assignation with person B ... the problem being... once you send that photo of you, you have no control over where it goes.  Some, like me and perhaps JakeyJokes, learn this the hard way with a embarrassment that is just localized ... but when your potential audience is as big as these boy's audiences... that embarrassment is going to be much larger and widespread.

tl/dr - don't trust tricks.

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Interesting that a bunch of queens are jockeying for a slot on AS2 on twitter, but Willam swears it has already been cast, since certain queens have already begun canceling appearances all around the same time period. Maybe there's a "viewer's choice" spot left, or they are just doing PR for the show.

 

I would love to see Katya and Alaska on AS2. Please, just no teams this time around. And no Pearl. I'm not here for whining. And actually keep the number of "villains" or people who acted terribly looking for redemption down in a minimum (i.e., no Phi Phi).

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Adore is most likely on All Stars. She had to cancel her gig at Duluth Pride (over Labor Day weekend) and is being replaced by Sharon Needles and Miss Fame.

 

Willam has been instagramming pics of "Hurricane Bianca" with Shangela (Bianca's movie) and I can't wait for it.

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Ru and Michelle had Laganja on their most recent podcast, and while she was still rather sensitive and thin-skinned, she came off much better than she did on the show. If she showed up on All Stars, it would probably be okay (unless she forgets the lessons learned and completely unravels again).

 

One of the topics of conversation was how the younger queens don't take criticism well - that they get too defensive and/or think they already have it figured out and don't listen. Michelle noted that she had a hell of a time with the season seven contestants because of this, which just made me laugh. They designed season seven to court younger viewers and cast young, hot queens in order to do so and then Ru has been complaining about how awful it's been dealing with younger viewers on social media and now Michelle complaining about how difficult it was to judge/advise the young, hot queens. You reap what you sow, guys. Hope WoW/Logo learned their lesson and will just try to cast interesting/talented performers. I've been rewatching some earlier seasons and 7 is just such a dud.

Edited by Kostgard
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I would love to see Latrice on All-Stars. I wonder if she's ineligible since she was on the previous All Stars, which was such a shitshow I refuse to acknowledge it.

 

Other folks I'd like to see: Alaska, Katya, Alyssa

 

Looking forward to All-Stars, just hoping it's run better than the last one!

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hey designed season seven to court younger viewers and cast young, hot queens in order to do so and then Ru has been complaining about how awful it's been dealing with younger viewers on social media and now Michelle complaining about how difficult it was to judge/advise the young, hot queens. You reap what you sow, guys. Hope WoW/Logo learned their lesson and will just try to cast interesting/talented performers. I've been rewatching some earlier seasons and 7 is just such a dud.

 

I wonder if Season 7 was "The Millennial Season" and there was just no avoiding a transition between an old guard and a new -- by which I mean, you had queens whose first exposure to drag was not something underground or punk rock but this show itself. I am in my late twenties but my closest friends are the age of Violet and Max (born in '91 or '92). They had Facebook and social media as early as high school, if not middle school -- I did not. I am not that much older than them but there is perhaps a significant difference there in terms of how one seeks approval and strives to be popular and liked, and how one seeks information and attention and has it on the ready. It's really late but I hope that makes some kind of sense.

 

We kind of got this explained with the Bitter Old Lady Brigade vs. Aryan Airlines, but they simplified it with editing and they did themselves no favors by never acknowledging that Katya, while technically the (second?) oldest of the Final 6, never bought into it and stayed neutral. In partner challenges, she enjoyed working with Kennedy as much as with Violet.

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I don't think the issue was really young/old or changing of the guard, but that they cast with a specific idea in mind (young, hot, internet famous) instead of just picking stand-out queens. Adore and Laganja were both under 25 in their season and while Laganja had her drama, both were stronger performers than the season seven crowd.

Maybe the difference is club famous versus internet famous. Adore and Laganja performed in clubs and learned how to be performers and how to entertain an audience. Most of the season seven girls just knew how to look fabulous in front of a camera, which is why so many of the challenges were total duds - they didn't have performers, they had models.

Edited by Kostgard
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Yeah, I too wished that there was more snark and behind-the-scenes tidbits, like VH1's Pop Up Video. It hardly feels worth the effort if there isn't going to be some good info/dirt served up.

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Yeah, I too wished that there was more snark and behind-the-scenes tidbits, like VH1's Pop Up Video. It hardly feels worth the effort if there isn't going to be some good info/dirt served up.

 

Now you guys should know that Ru and Michelle aren't going to spill the good T on the commentaries. =) They are going to give pageant type comments because W.O.W. signs their paychecks.  You need to get some previous season queens in there to really get the dirt.  That's why I liked previous season queens, Bianca & Alaska, doing commentary on the first episode of S7.  You don't have to be nasty about it just some behind-the-scenes stuff.

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Now you guys should know that Ru and Michelle aren't going to spill the good T on the commentaries. =) They are going to give pageant type comments because W.O.W. signs their paychecks.  You need to get some previous season queens in there to really get the dirt.  That's why I liked previous season queens, Bianca & Alaska, doing commentary on the first episode of S7.  You don't have to be nasty about it just some behind-the-scenes stuff.

 

 

I wouldn't expect them to be really mean about it and throw some major shade (though that would be awesome - what does Ru really think about Phi Phi? - the show isn't going to dump on its talent). But some fun behind the scenes stuff would make this far more interesting. Like "this 'week' for this episode was actually only three days and the queens had to sew three different outfits in that time" or "we had to shoot this three times because the Pit Crew's underwear kept falling off" or "we made an unpaid intern named Mike clean up Willam's puke." You know, just little tidbits like that.

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I only watched Episode Two and I thought there'd be a lot more snark (but I still love the episode because I'm a big fan of pro wrestling, and I loved that they had the tidbit about former WWE Women's Champion The Fabulous Moolah! I have a similar affinity for the Project Runway WWE diva episode).

 

I remember that Willam wrote -- I think on his Tumblr -- that by this episode he already wanted to leave. He said it was bullshit that The Princess had to lip-synch and volunteered to do it in her place since he was team captain. Allegedly, RuPaul said "You're going off-script, dear" and that's why his "BYE!" when he left the runway was so pointed (to turn another phrase).

 

I wish they were showing Untucked, too, since the S4 ones were legendary toward the end, no?

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