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S03.E05: Warhol Ball

ElectricBoogaloo
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CaioF

CaioF

(edited)

Well.... not the most exciting/unexpected episode.. We could see from the beginning that Aja was leaving (till halfway editors tried to imply BeBe could be in the bottom, but once she was announced not only safe but at the top, it was clear). The soup thing was kinda meh and relied all on the voice overs and Trixie was the only that was reaaally funny, totally played to her strengh and she delivered. For the 70´s looks, they were solid.. BeBe stood out (and thats the only reason it could be given for her to be a top contender this week) and clearly Shangela and Aja were the two worst . That talk with Aja and everytime she tried to explain her thought process she messed up with a iconic/history reference was cringe.. Like, when we get queens being dumb can be funny sometimes, but Ru wans´t having it and that made it very unconfortable.

And its official: Trixie is meant to lose lip syncs unfairly against sedated/stuck in one spot queens. WTH? I know it was Diana Ross song (what a perfect time to have it) and BeBe wanted to fully emulate her but she was too stiff and one note all performance. Trixie at least made her own way and had some moments that prevent me to fall asleep waching Bee Bee. But comming from Ru, I kinda expected that decision =_=

Well, as far the elimination, yep, Aja surprised us a couple times but she was too much hit or miss and her lack of references/knowing how to portrait a character or even brand herself, caught up to her. Shangela is a stronger contender, presence (her talking heads are still owing good portion of this season) and shes playing it right by having the right girls on her side. Curious with next week.. I was expecting the same twist from last season but it seems we gonna have something a little differente this time..

Edited by CaioF
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HunterHunted

HunterHunted

(edited)

Though Shangela's runway outfit was terrible (it really was god awful), I can't argue with Aja's ouster. She failed on both the soup and runway challenges. I think the lip synch was a lot more even than the show wanted to admit. However, the fix was kind of in for Bebe to win.

Something felt off during this episode. It was a perfectly cromulent episode of television, but lacked a certain level of spark. I don't know. I wasn't feeling it.

I'm curious about why only 3 kicked off contestants seem to be in the running to return. 

Edited by HunterHunted
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CaioF

CaioF

(edited)
11 minutes ago, Stowaway said:

I was genuinely confused by the judging of the soup can challenge. It was like trying to judge a contest where people fill in a coloring book, and no one goes outside the lines, and everyone colors the sky blue and the plants green. Like, OK, some people were better than others. . . but not meaningfully so. I kind of hated all of them.

It was like 90% about the voice overs . Like the one half of the Hello Kitty challenge in season 7 and than was the second part were the outfits were suposed to be judged/be the main reference for the judges on decide the winner and the bottom queens. 

Edited by CaioF
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CaioF

CaioF

10 minutes ago, Stowaway said:

I went back and checked that last shot. Based on height, skin tone, and tattoos, I think we're missing Milk and Thorgy. This also tracks along the salty/ bitter/ peevish axis.

That would be wierd not bring back exactly the two that would play more drama/play the ´´ I´m here for revange`` character. Maybe theres something more behind the twist.

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annewithaneee

annewithaneee

That lip sync song choice was total Rigor Morris, it made me chuckle. Well-deserved top two finish for Trixie, glad she pulled out of that nasty tailspin. And to make a jumpsuit within those time constraints?? It looked as good if not better than your average Project Runway effort, and those contestants are there just to sew shit.

I personally don't think the Aja boot was fair. Shangela's ridiculously shitty execution of her disco look was worse than Aja's good execution of a bad idea. I also don't think it matters that it was this Survivor-style elimination versus a judges/Ru boot: I have a feeling Aja would have gone regardless, and it would've been just one of those unfair-feeling eliminations where a queen stayed because Ru has a soft spot for her, or production has a larger plan. But we would have seen Aja vs Shangela LSFYL. And it could have been explosively wonderful and legendary, or a car crash of desperation and eight million death drops. I wish we'd seen that instead.

Also, come on, where is this promise of the judges keeping it real and not taking it easy on the queens because it's All Stars? It might be that the editors are leaving it all on the cutting room floor, but if ever there was a time for Michelle to go all in on someone, it's Shangela. She's had three seasons to not fuck up a sewing challenge, and she still fucked it up. Come on. And the alliance-strategery and Danaerys talk is so, so tired. It's Milk levels of delusional at this point...you're the only one attempting to scheme, sis, you're playing a half-assed game of chess against yourself.

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Glade

Glade

Aja did look great and Shangela had paper plates glued to her wig/top, but still clearly Shangela has been excelling otherwise so her track record should matter.  I couldn't bear it if Shangela was offed, but she could have improvised something better then that.  This isn't S3, with the endless fashion/make a dress challenges, the show has moved on from that; this ball, unlike the others, only had 2 looks, not 3.

It is odd that only 3/5 of the queens were 'captured' to come back, and since Milk is so tall it does seem likely that she wasn't in that lineup. Maybe it's more like the defunct Michelle's save where an arbitrary decision was made on who needs revenge.  ChiChi obviously doesn't, but clearly Thorgy (thinks she) does.  I kind of hope that's the last scene of Alaska/Chad in those outfits reciting canned dialogue, it was lame.

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violet and green

violet and green

Blimey, I thought Bebe's was one of the worst outfits and indeed soup cans! Poor Aja, that didn't seem fair. I couldn't see how they could criticize her exquisitely detailed and beautifully sewn runway look so much that she landed in the bottom two. I mean her wig was a bit off in terms of time-frame, but not totally; and I loved her soup can. Her personality might not be supersweet, but that is the look she's been selling all season, so it was apt. I would have put Bebe in the bottom with Shangela. Hopefully Aja comes back. Weird to only see three in the hoods...

  • Love 8
CaioF

CaioF

Also, on more thing: I find ridiculous the comments that Michelle and Carlson are giving to Ben Dela. Its basically: Dont come to the show and do your 100% every week otherwise we gonna get bored and will start to judge you on harder criterias than other queens. Can you imagine if all queens preparing to make into the upcoming seasons take that comment to heart? We could have a bunch of queens holding themselves... One  think is to adivice a queen on not to coast, other is give this lame advice to someone that is in a competion on a entertainment tv show. Just be glad Ben was there to save some episodes while suposed to be seasoned queens are struggling to make a impact with the viewers.

  • Love 8
rozen

rozen

(edited)

This is probably one of those challenges that was on the list of potential MCs, and the queens had varying levels of preparation for it. It looks like Shangela literally had maybe a half bolt(?) of *one* kind of fabric. And she then proceeded to sew it exactly to her proportions w/o taking into account that the fabric she selected had no stretch. I don't get these queens who swear up and down they totally learned how to sew before coming on the show, but don't know how to put in a zipper! That would have at least given her a chance to squeeze into the thing. She's lucky, bc if the bottom had been anyone but Aja I think she'd be out.

Trixie sewed that jumpsuit like a boss, go Trixie! And her can was perfect. Oh gosh, is this the start of her ru-demption storyline? It looks like they are also giving Bendela a fake speedbump of 'failing to give 120% every week'. Final two?

Do white queens have a religious obligation to give weirdly frenetic performances to soulful songs? Bebe's version may have seemed boring, but it fit the song. Learn from Sasha! She knew that scissor kicks were not appropriate for dramatic and emotional songs. 

Edited by rozen
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Sile

Sile

(edited)

I've been pretty happy with the eliminations so far (I really like Chi Chi, but it was getting painful) so, while the comeback is generally a chance for me to get a favorite back, I won't be looking forward to any of them returning.   Not having Milk and Thorgy have a chance does soften the blow a bit, though.

I don't really have anything against Aja, other than wondering why she was an all star the very next season after she put in an atrocious performance (I really wanted to see Trinity K, Bonet).  I do agree she has upped her game, but boy Aja was the very defintion of trying too hard.  Sideways pink hat, check.  Brooke Shield eyebrows, check,  Pink poodle cut, check.  Wait, where's the pink plastic slave collar???  Oh, there it is hiding under my pink faux fur jacket! check. 

I also hope we've heard the last of "sis".  I know a lot of people like it as a new term, but to me it will always be reserved for old men and country rednecks.  My grandpa wasn't a redneck, but his family was originally from around the Ozarks, and he used to call all females (regardless of age) Sis.  Blake Shelton also uses it quite a lot on The Voice when he's talking to one of the women.

Edited by Sile
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CaioF

CaioF

(edited)
13 minutes ago, rozen said:

Do white queens have a religious obligation to give weirdly frenetic performances to soulful songs? Bebe's version may have seemed boring, but it fit the song. Learn from Sasha! She knew that scissor kicks were not appropriate for dramatic and emotional songs. 

 

There are some true to that (but not only for white queens) but ´The Boss`` is not a emotional/dramatic song at all.. The songs is pretty much a disco dance tune that requires some level of energy and attitude.

Just look a Diana performing it:

Edited by CaioF
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Sile

Sile

(edited)
26 minutes ago, CaioF said:

There are some true to that (but not only for white queens) but ´The Boss`` is not a emotional/dramatic song at all.. The songs is pretty much a disco dance tune that requires some level of energy and attitude.

Just look a Diana performing it:

 

 

I really thought Bebe would be stripping off the robe to reveal a disco jumpsuit much like that video.  I think it's likely that she was unfamiliar with the song and just went with the Ross "look", which she nailed. 

Not that Trixie put up any roadblocks.  Who learns that they will be performing a Diana Ross disco tune and thinks, "Hey, that sweet little pink and white gingham playsuit I brought will be perfect for this!  Now where did I put my Dolly wig with the side bows and my white Beatle boots?"

As soon as they took the stage and the song was revealed all I could think about was poor little Kenya Michaels looking like a little sprite dancing around and trying to compete with a pregnant Latrice Royale doing Aretha Franklin.  I was all about Latrice that season, but it still seemed a bit like shooting fish in a barrel. Ba dum bump!

 

ETA And just to show that I'm not all about the Trixie hate, I give her the line of the season for calling Pearl a semi- tranquilized? conscious? twink from Brooklyn.  I loved it so much that I can't even remember exactly how she put it so I'll leave it to someone who hasn't already deleted it from their DVR to add it to the library thread.

Edited by Sile
Grammar and spelling fails
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Egg

Egg

I was not feeling Trixie's outfit, as even if it was impressive that she made it, and it fit the era, it wasn't special. For the ball looks, I demand fashion. I thought actually that BeBe and Aja looked the best for the second looks, followed by Kennedy, although the editing meant that I wasn't surprised to see Aja in the bottom. If the soup can mattered, I wasn't feeling BeBe, since I thought her can was the most basic. The bar viewing party I was at in Oakland at least appeared to agree that Trixie's outfit was underwhelming.

I'm okay with the outcome, since I think Aja never delivered anything truly mesmerizing, although she did majorly redeem herself from Season 9. I never, ever thought I'd be rooting for Aja!

I think my favorite part of the whole night was Bendela naming her soup "all-purpose soup." I don't know where she comes up with this shit. It's so basic, but still clever somehow?

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Xazeal

Xazeal

(edited)

I'm actually a big fan of this type of challenge, I just wish they wouldn't call it a ball. At this point when we hear "ball", we expect a pure fashion-focused challenge with three looks. But this, the Kitty Ball from season 7, and the princess challenge from season 9 are broader challenges that test both your fashion and your ability to come up with a strong concept/character. I love it, but... Don't call it a ball.  

I feel like I'm much more positive on this season than most of the online fanbase, because I'm really digging it. It's not blowing my mind, but I really like these queens. Aja has been a standout and I'm sad to see here leave, but I feel like Shangela is vital to this season whether you love her or hate her. 

I've been saying this for a while, but this episode sealed it for me: Trixie is our underdog winner, a direct response to the backlash Alaska received for being deemed too predictable and a bit arrogant. People expected the same from Trixie (I sure did) and they're deliberately giving us the opposite. 

As for the results of this episode I largely thought they were bullshit, but at this point I'm perfectly fine with watching RuPaul's Drag Race not as a reality competition, but as a scripted variety show. 

 

ETA: I'd also just like to give some props to Aja - after calling Valentina out at the reunion, she is now practicing what she preached, scolding and blocking fans who are coming for Bebe with racism and death threats. The queens this season have been really good about supporting eachother on social media, even Milk. 

Edited by Xazeal
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vixenbynight

vixenbynight

2 hours ago, Xazeal said:

ETA: I'd also just like to give some props to Aja - after calling Valentina out at the reunion, she is now practicing what she preached, scolding and blocking fans who are coming for Bebe with racism and death threats. The queens this season have been really good about supporting each other on social media, even Milk. 

I think after what happened after the last season, there was no way that the drag queens could continue to be silent, not help support their fellow drag queens AND not call out their fans for their unruly, juvenile, racist and over the top hate. It continues to get worse with each season and I just do not get it.

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CheetaraThunder

CheetaraThunder

(edited)

I understood Kennedy being kind of frustrated with Ben’s logic: especially since his way of eliminating, puts Kennedy at risk. But, it is the fairest way to go. And if Kennedy has a problem with it, then fucking perform better and don’t be in the bottom.

I would have put Shangela and Kennedy in the bottom, with Kennedy leaving. Kennedy can be funny, but I also feel like he is such a sourpuss/buzzkill.

I will say Dela’s soup Can was my favorite runway look, and is voice over to go with it was hilarious and the best. Plus, Ben responding to Kennedy with “duh, I’m tired. I’ve won a million challenges, cause I worked fucking hard” was brilliant.

Edited by CheetaraThunder
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CaioF

CaioF

5 hours ago, Sile said:

ETA And just to show that I'm not all about the Trixie hate, I give her the line of the season for calling Pearl a semi- tranquilized? conscious? twink from Brooklyn.  I loved it so much that I can't even remember exactly how she put it so I'll leave it to someone who hasn't already deleted it from their DVR to add it to the library thread.

I heard ´´sedated twink from Brooklyn``.

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Ananayel

Ananayel

7 hours ago, rozen said:

This is probably one of those challenges that was on the list of potential MCs, and the queens had varying levels of preparation for it. It looks like Shangela literally had maybe a half bolt(?) of *one* kind of fabric. And she then proceeded to sew it exactly to her proportions w/o taking into account that the fabric she selected had no stretch. I don't get these queens who swear up and down they totally learned how to sew before coming on the show, but don't know how to put in a zipper! That would have at least given her a chance to squeeze into the thing. She's lucky, bc if the bottom had been anyone but Aja I think she'd be out.

I thought I heard Ru say they had a wall of fabrics to choose from, but I could be wrong. Shangela probably just ran out of time to redo the whole deciding/cutting/sewing process from the beginning, and just went for the glue gun.

I like Aja tons more this season than her last, but she's still nowhere near the remaining queens' level. More than anything, I think it was that lack of depth to her drag knowledge, coupled with the completely off-brand soup, and the slight miss on the outfit that put her in the bottom. I couldn't even discern a design on Bebe's since the colors were so drab. The whole can challenge was kind of stupid though.

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CaioF

CaioF

26 minutes ago, Ananayel said:

I thought I heard Ru say they had a wall of fabrics to choose from, but I could be wrong. Shangela probably just ran out of time to redo the whole deciding/cutting/sewing process from the beginning, and just went for the glue gun.

 

They had a bunch of fabrics from Mood and wigs from another sponsor. So no, this wasnt one of those challenges the queens know ahead of time/were called to be prepared.

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Couver

Couver

Agree with everyone that something was lacking in this episode. It felt flat. I think the challenge this week had potential but the execution wasn't great. I thought the soup cans would be more like the Pride boats they had to make a few seasons ago. Some of those were dreadful but some of them were fantastic. The soup cans just felt boring. Even Trixie's wasn't funny to me. It was just correctly branded.

I thought BeBe destroyed Trixie in that lip sync. The song was a bitter fit for the outfit and style BeBe was channeling. Trixie's outfit was way off and she was just all over the place with her dancing.

I know it's hard to re-create the drama of the mirror reveal from AS2 but this HandMaid's tale reveal isn't working for me. It just feels like they latched onto it because the show is so popular. It doesn't even look like there is any drama involved in the reveal next week. Just Ru revealing returning queens and them walking through the door like always. I thought there would be some pay off to this storyline. I guess the suspense is in who is returning.?

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BloggerAloud

BloggerAloud

11 hours ago, CaioF said:

Also, on more thing: I find ridiculous the comments that Michelle and Carlson are giving to Ben Dela. Its basically: Dont come to the show and do your 100% every week otherwise we gonna get bored and will start to judge you on harder criterias than other queens.

Michelle loves doing this to queens that are doing well for some reason. She pulled the exact kind of comment on Acid Betty and it's so strange and just shit stirring to shit stir.

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Kaboom 2.0

Kaboom 2.0

7 hours ago, TresGatos said:

I loved seeing Ru dressed as Andy Warhol. That was my favorite part of the entire episode.

Watching last night it struck who Trixie's drag reminded me of - Madam from Waylon and Madam fame. Now I want to see her as Madam on a Snatch Game.

I would pay to make this happen. With Ben as Waylon? 

Love love love finally seeing Tituss Burgess as a judge, finally! I like Shay, it's residual PLL love from when the show was still good, but she didn't have much to offer here.

I'm feeling a bit underwhelmed at this point even tho I'm loving the return of Bebe and Ben slaying left and right. The Handmaids twist better be a good one. 

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Fake Jan Brady

Fake Jan Brady

26 minutes ago, marsha said:

yeah, this episode had deep layers of fuckery that was so obvious is was on 'valley of the dolls' level of "oh god, it really doesn't know how bad it is!" aja was this season's 'neely o'hara' character and fuck you that she gets cut out of nowhere. girl. no.

Neely O'Hara got cut because "The only hit that comes out of a Helen Lawson show is Helen Lawson, and that's ME, baby!"

  • Love 5
MaryWebGirl

MaryWebGirl

On 2/23/2018 at 1:03 AM, Xazeal said:

I've been saying this for a while, but this episode sealed it for me: Trixie is our underdog winner, a direct response to the backlash Alaska received for being deemed too predictable and a bit arrogant. People expected the same from Trixie (I sure did) and they're deliberately giving us the opposite. 

Trixie was realllly leaning into the "OMG I suck! I thought I would kill this! I'm having a breakdown!" stuff on social media this last week. Reposting memes, responding to a tweet by Kim Chi that said she was loving Aja and Ben with "I'M FUCKING TRYING OK"--it all just points to an underdog finalist/winner storyline to me.

I also think Kennedy should have been in the top two with Trixie. I didn't see a problem with her can, her outfit was my favorite of the looks, and her makeup was amazing. 

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stormy weather

stormy weather

20 hours ago, goodbyeglittergirl said:

Not cool, and points toward a Ben-elimination that will be unfair and suck. 

Not only would it be unfair and suck, it would be absolutely preposterous since Ben is obviously one cut above the rest, to the point that sometimes I feel she even tries to hold back a little to give others a chance to win the challenges.

BeBe in the top two?? For real?! I don't find her funny, I think she's a bit one-dimensional and I really didn't like it when she was asked if she had made her outfit by herself and she said "yes" when actually Aja helped her out. Shangela's face when she looked at Aja in that moment was everything. BeBe's making it all about herself, not even letting Aja get a word in when they talked before the elimination, and that's not cool. Last week I thought she was gonna be the next one to go home, and instead we had to say goodbye to poor Aja who, in my eyes, really redeemed herself in this All Star season. 

That said, I'm at least glad that, between the two, Shangela got to stay. I liked them both, but Shangela has performed better in all the challenges so far and she is definitely a more capable entertainer.

I don't see the point of bringing back 3 queens now that there's only 5 left. Are we to understand they're going to start eliminating two queens per episode?

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Corgi-ears

Corgi-ears

9 hours ago, stormy weather said:

I don't see the point of bringing back 3 queens now that there's only 5 left. Are we to understand they're going to start eliminating two queens per episode?

It looks like they're bringing back three queens to compete in the eps challenge -- which doesn't necessarily mean that all three (or even one) will make it back on the show.

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ElectricBoogaloo

ElectricBoogaloo

  • Author
On 2/23/2018 at 3:39 PM, Kaboom 2.0 said:

Love love love finally seeing Tituss Burgess as a judge, finally! I like Shay, it's residual PLL love from when the show was still good, but she didn't have much to offer here.

I was really looking forward to this episode because I love Tituss and, like you, I have residual PLL love/loyalty for Shay. I was disappointed that she didn't say much. The most memorable thing about her role as guest judge was that blonde hair she was sporting. It was still smart to bring her on the show because she was a huge following on social media.

2 hours ago, Mayberry said:

Aja did have a thing where he didn't really have a grasp on what the main challenge was asking for. Whether it was what "Needy Girl" meant for "The Bitchelor" or here where she called herself "sweet" and didn't have great 70s references. I think she was just happy being called pretty by the judges. 

Aja often comes off as clueless because she either doesn't understand what the description is or thinks it means something else. On top of that, she seems uninformed about older stuff (and at this point, by older I mean before 1990). Being young isn't a good enough excuse, especially now that the internet exists. You can find out all kinds of stuff about fashion, drag, and history in general in an instant, which was not true back when Ru was starting out. If you want to be good at something, you need to make an effort to learn about that kind of stuff. But the fact that she interpreted needy in the Bitchelor and thought her brand was sweet tells me that maybe she just doesn't understand. It's like her brain uses google translate and spits out something that is related but not quite the same thing.

  • Love 3
2727

2727

(edited)
11 hours ago, Jesse said:

I'm not surprised when (especially younger) people don't have the depth or breadth of references Ru would want.

Many of the young queens on the show already have established personas and successful careers -- how much historical knowledge that required of them is up for debate. I would also be interested in whether or not Ru follows young/new drag performers on IG or in pageants and clubs. My guess is that he's much more in tune with decades past (his past), so I'd say lack of knowledge cuts both ways.

At any rate, the contestants at whatever age should know what Ru's expectations are for this game, and fair or not, that includes some familiarity with his generation of celebrities.

Edited by 2727
  • Love 4
Amello

Amello

(edited)
3 hours ago, Jesse said:

But how much did they know about pop culture or queer history? One of the things about Drag Race is how broad their background and skills are expected to be -- which is the job of being a drag queen, but I'm not surprised when (especially younger) people don't have the depth or breadth of references Ru would want.

Except, the queens are told what sort of outfits they'll need beforehand so they all went into the show knowing they'd have to make a Studio 54 outfit. Aja just believed she knew what that was and didn't bother to fact check. That said, she still looked gorgeous and it sucked to see her go. I'm torn on whether I want her or Morgan back in the competition.

Edited by Amello
kieyra

kieyra

Continuing my theme of cynicism, pretty sure they had Shangela throw the challenge with the dumb record-disc getup so that she wouldn't have to be the one to eliminate Aja, who is at least something of a fan favorite. Shangela is obviously tight with the producers and running along a pretty specific script.

(I should mention that I am 100% unspoiled, either for proven or disproven spoilers. Right now it seems like it's in the bag for Shangela or Ben (I think Ben would bring the most fan goodwill?), but I could see Ru pulling veto power and handing it to Bebe, who I find pretty dull.)

Stardancer Supreme

Stardancer Supreme

16 minutes ago, kieyra said:

Continuing my theme of cynicism, pretty sure they had Shangela throw the challenge with the dumb record-disc getup so that she wouldn't have to be the one to eliminate Aja, who is at least something of a fan favorite. Shangela is obviously tight with the producers and running along a pretty specific script.

(I should mention that I am 100% unspoiled, either for proven or disproven spoilers. Right now it seems like it's in the bag for Shangela or Ben (I think Ben would bring the most fan goodwill?), but I could see Ru pulling veto power and handing it to Bebe, who I find pretty dull.)

Oh I hope not! The crown should go to Ben or Shangela. Anybody else, I will personally write "Yet Another Rig" Part 2! 

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