S10.E10: Social Media Kings Into Queens

[Delete]

I'm a Kameron fan, but I was surprised she got through this week.  I was broken-hearted to see Monet go home. Ultimately, she made a mistake by going backstage during the lip sync battle. I hope they bring back Monet in another season because the talent is there, but it just wasn't her time. 

I'm over Eureka and her loud mouth. Bitch thinks she is the second coming of Divine. She wishes. 

I was gobsmacked over the transformation of Miz Cracker's make-over dude. He looked like he was born to be a drag queen. Absolutely stunning, and a well-deserved win for Cracker. 

Ru sure loves  Asia. This is the second time during the work-room chat that he was positively gushing over Asia. I don't know if it's a confidence boost thing or overt favoritism. I like Asia, and she has given some solid advice/suggestions to the other queens. She definitely takes over a mentorship role and is almost motherly with her advice. 

I like Aquaria's aesthetic, but not sure if I want her to be the winner.  At this point, I'm not really sure who I want to win, but definitely not Eureka. 

[Temperance]

Aquaria was my least favorite in the beginning, but she's really grown on me. At first she was so seemed too into herself, but she's softened a bit and she's grown on me to the point where I like her.  I thought she should be in the bottom this time, but nothing personal about it. 

One of the most interesting parts of Untucked was how Aquaria, Kameron, and Monet thought about themselves. Monet and Kameron were both happy about their performance and said so.  Aquaria actually had the earbuds in her ears listening to the song. I respect that. It proves she's capable of either being unhappy with the perfomance she gave or realising the judges weren't happy.  

[Juneau Gal]

My problem with Aquaria winning the whole shebang, should that happen, is that I think she is not ready for it yet and indeed it would be a disservice to her. With Aquaria’s inflated sense of self, to win Drag Race would/could make her less willing to grow and evolve; an “I’m already all that so why change” effect that will in the long run make her tedious and stale. Yes, she may be the future of Drag according to RuPaul, but what happens to prodigies is that the rest of the world catches up and very often the hot thing of the minute is left in the dust. She’s got more maturing to do. 

Just my two cents......and with my opinion and $4.45 you can get a grande iced mocha, no whip. 

[HunterHunted]

4 hours ago, vibeology said:

Eureka's reasoning behind pairing up Aquaria and Kingsley was gross. She called it a hardship in untucked to be paired up with a black person. Fuck off with that. Like, I get that it's a competition and you don't want to make things easy on your competitors but the youtubers are guests and if Aquaria hadn't been up to the task it would have been Kingsley who looked bad in front of a very big audience. Props to Aquaria for having learned to do makeup on black people. I didn't think Kingsley's outfit was good but the makeup looked beautiful.

It's bad, but I get it. I'm a Black woman and boy do I get it. There are tons of makeup artists and hair stylists who have allegedly been trained to do Black makeup and hair and will make you look like a straight clown. There's a reason a lot of Black actresses end up doing their own makeup and wig work; it's because trained professionals often don't know what they're doing. And it's not inconceivable that Eureka would think Aquaria would have similar problems doing makeup for a Black person because Aquaria has already shown herself to be young and kind of oblivious. At the end of the day, it's a competition. I just think there was a slightly more diplomatic way for Eureka to express that strategy, but not that the strategy is invalid.

17 minutes ago, Juneau Gal said:

My problem with Aquaria winning the whole shebang, should that happen, is that I think she is not ready for it yet and indeed it would be a disservice to her. With Aquaria’s inflated sense of self, to win Drag Race would/could make her less willing to grow and evolve; an “I’m already all that so why change” effect that will in the long run make her tedious and stale. Yes, she may be the future of Drag according to RuPaul, but what happens to prodigies is that the rest of the world catches up and very often the hot thing of the minute is left in the dust. She’s got more maturing to do. 

Just my two cents......and with my opinion and $4.45 you can get a grande iced mocha, no whip. 

That and Aquaria seems to be completely delusional when she's screwed up. There are challenges when she's clearly been in the bottom, but when they talk about it afterwards, she's said it didn't happen. She's too immature to win it at this point.

[ladle]

I disagreed with both the tops and the bottoms this week.  I love me some Cracker and don't begrudge her win, but I really thought Eureka had this one.  And I thought Aquaria deserved to be in the bottom instead of Monet-- whom I will miss dearly!! 

 

Also, one of the guys (Asia's, I think?) looked so much like Darren Criss that I kept seeing him as Andrew Cunanan -- and it really freaked me out! 

[filmfan2480]

17 hours ago, tpplay said:

I've never posted here before, which is weird because I've watched Ru Paul since the first episode of the first season.  Huh.

First, and I guess this is a wildly unpopular opinion, I ADORE Kameron.  I thought she totally out lip-synched Monet (and don't get me wrong - I cried when Monet was eliminated.)

But I absolutely agree that Monet should not have been in the bottom to begin with.  Aquaria should have - and Kameron deserved to be, how much I love Kameron not withstanding.  I 

And Monet did look stunningly beautiful.  But let's face it - you can't make a partner taller. So whatever M. Visage was talking about - !

I'm happy for Kameron though.  I can't help it.  I LOVE her. 

I have to agree.  I don't know why ... but I really like Kameron.  She's wayyyyyy low-key.  But she knows how to turn it on for lip synchs.  She CAN be funny.  And her winning challenge was well-deserved.  She's very professional and, I think Ru respects that.

[JakeyJokes]

I wonder if next week's storyline will feed into 3 Southern Queens vs the New Yorkers.

I was very sexually confused during the trade challenge and that is okay.

Lizzo started her career in Minneapolis, so when my viewing party wasn't screaming every time the dish went out (we missed an entire segment), we were screaming for her.

[lexington11]

20 hours ago, beartrash said:

 

Finally, I had to mute whenever Frankie Grande spoke.  He couldn't stop being "ON!"

 

I'm just glad that RuPaul mercifully didn't give him/Eureka the lion's share of the camera time, because that would've made this episode even more unwatchable. Only good part about Frankie's appearance was seeing the look on his face when Ru announced that Cracker and Chester were the challenge winners...very reminiscent of his reaction when he was so sure he was getting the fan favorite prize on BB, only to hear that he wasn't even in the top 3 vote getters. 

Back to the contestants, I'm rooting for anyone except Eureka to win, because I've never been a fan of those people who insist on always being the center of attention, and Eureka is one of those that I'd avoid like the plague if I knew her in real life.

Edited May 25, 2018 by lexington11

[theatremouse]

Aquaria does this head-shake thing all the time, and it's really getting on my nerves. I don't know why. It just annoys me. I did not understand the looks she was going for with her partner and thought for sure their performance was worse than Monet and Tyler's. 

I had no idea who Chester was before this but dude looks super familiar. I don't think I'm thinking of him though, but that he looks like someone else. I just can't figure out who.

The 13 Reasons Why judge seemed sedated.

[Kaboom 2.0]

Thanks for making me feel old af, Drag Race, I had no idea who any of the social media influencers were with the exception of Grande, and when he was paired with Eureka I almost changed the channel. I just cannot with him. Thank the heavens that it seemed like the editor(s) decided not to focus on him that much.

Also did not know who the guest judges were but Lizzo was too cute! 

First Mayhem, then Monique, now Monet and her sponges have sashayed away. Still like Cracker (and Miz Cookie needs to return, like Sarge did a few seasons ago!) and Asia, Kameron's ok too.

Miss Vaaaangie...

[CaioF]

I was thinking who Miz Cookie reminded me and now I know: Mariah Balenciaga! A blonde/white version of her of course. 

[Dewey Decimate]

Monet's green leotard, teased-out hair and knee boots were serving Barbarella realness. God, I wish I had hair like that.

Kameron really killed the actual lip sync portion, but I will miss Monet's sponges.

The Trade photo shoot was effing hilarious. That and the what-am-I-sitting-on mini challenge have the 12-year-old in me cracking up.

Grande's plastered-on smile at "Safe?" had me relishing memories of an Overwhelming No to apple pie for you.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I loved when Ru was on the runway and started cracking up just THINKING about saying, "Vanjie, Vanjie," and Michelle knew exactly what was going on to the point that she said, "DON'T DO IT!" as Ru was trying to hold back the giggles.

On 5/24/2018 at 6:05 PM, Dani331 said:

Yeah I get it. They are now catering to younger viewers.  I'm 37 and not really here for the teenage angsty shows... 

 

On 5/24/2018 at 7:36 PM, HunterHunted said:

[Aquaria's] partner has 3 million YouTube subscribers, almost 900K Twitter followers, and over 400K Instagram followers.

 

This is exactly why Ru chose this week's makeover subjects and guest judges. Whether or not everyone here on the forum knows who these people are, they have huge followings. Miles, the male guest judge, is not only on one of the most popular shows on Netflix (ETA: Nielsen released ratings for S2 of his show 13 Reasons Why and according to them, 6 million people watched the first episode the first three days that it was available and 75% of the viewers were under the age of 34) but he also has over 3 million followers on Instagram. If having these people on the show brings any of their followers to the show, that increases the ratings.

Like it or not, no matter how much we like the show, the network needs it to have good ratings so that they can charge higher rates for commercials. That's just how tv works for non-subscriber channels. Not only that, but a lot of the people on this week's episode have followers in the target demographic of 18-34 years old.

Although I'm particularly not a fan of giving fame whores like Frankie Grande any air time, I felt about this group of guests the way I do about tv shows that have those episodes with a very obviously product placed car - if this is what it takes to pay the bills, keep the lights on, and keep this show on the air, then so be it!

On 5/25/2018 at 12:57 AM, 7-Zark-7 said:

Kameron is a stealth performance assassin: Her Cher, her pep pill popping old woman, and now her two lip syncs have been fan-fucking-tastic! I am loving how she keeps seeming so low key off stage and then puts others to shame onstage. No one expected her to get this far, but she deserves to be here.

As for Monet, I don’t think anyone should walk to the back of the stage unless they’re prepared to do an Olympic level gymnastics floor exercise program all the way up to the front. Then again, she could have gone back there and dragged Aquaria up front where she belonged.

Ha, yes to all of this! Kameron doesn't have a big personality 24/7 like, say, Eureka, but that's not a problem for me. I have loved the moments when she really got to shine in the challenges (like her Cher impersonation).

Some performers are not on all the time (see also: Frankie Grande) which is great when you're actually performing but it can be grating to deal with for more than a few minutes at a time. For that reason, I find people like Kameron more interesting because he isn't just putting on a costume and some makeup and going onstage. Some performers are naturally outgoing and loud and gregarious and those are the performers who are being themselves onstage. For people like Kameron, going onstage means switching on a part of yourself that's just for performing. I like seeing the contrast between Kameron the person and Kameron the performer.

On 5/25/2018 at 1:27 AM, Mayberry said:

The MVP to me this episode was Miz Cookie- that guy cracked me up! He was fully living for his drag and I was laughing when he started singing "Happy Birthday Mr President" onstage and Lizzo was trying to stop him. It's also cool seeing how the guys change when they're in drag and you see how their personalities change, esp when they're backstage and seeing their queen in trouble or safe/winning.

 

This is the thing I love the most about the makeover episodes. It's always awesome to see non-drag queens come in kind of tentative and nervous and then work it when they get on the runway.

I used to teach an ongoing six week beginning dance class for adults. At the end of each class we would do a little Soul Train dance line where each person got to come forward for a few seconds (for as long as they wanted). I taught this class for years and the first week, everyone was kind of shy. Some people were reluctant to do it at all so they would come into the circle and scurry out as quickly as possible. By the third week, everyone was into it. By the last week, people were staying in the middle of the circle doing all kinds of show off solos. I loved watching their confidence blossom and seeing people come out of their shells. Makeover week always reminds me of that.

Edited May 30, 2018 by ElectricBoogaloo
Added link

[Jesse]

Frankie Grande being on this week seems like enough of an excuse for me to tell @Victim Noises how much I laugh at your user name/picture every single time!!

On 5/25/2018 at 3:57 AM, 7-Zark-7 said:

Kameron is a stealth performance assassin: Her Cher, her pep pill popping old woman, and now her two lip syncs have been fan-fucking-tastic! I am loving how she keeps seeming so low key off stage and then puts others to shame onstage. No one expected her to get this far, but she deserves to be here.

Yeah, I'm glad we've seen enough stellar performances from Kameron, because she was clearly not cast for her workroom personality!

The meta conversations between the YouTube people and the queens were fascinating, I thought -- Cracker all in her head working stuff out, Kameron off to the side where she can focus and not clown around. 

[Gothish520]

13 hours ago, Kaboom 2.0 said:

Thanks for making me feel old af, Drag Race, I had no idea who any of the social media influencers were with the exception of Grande, and when he was paired with Eureka I almost changed the channel. I just cannot with him. Thank the heavens that it seemed like the editor(s) decided not to focus on him that much.

Also did not know who the guest judges were but Lizzo was too cute! 

First Mayhem, then Monique, now Monet and her sponges have sashayed away. Still like Cracker (and Miz Cookie needs to return, like Sarge did a few seasons ago!) and Asia, Kameron's ok too.

Miss Vaaaangie...

You are not alone, I did not know who any of them were, even Frankie. At least I know who his sister is, Lol!

I also thought Lizzo was adorable, will have to check her out on the interwebs. :D

[violet and green]

Am I the only Eureka fan on the planet? Well, no! Kameron Michaels gets her humor and really likes her, also. I am bored by most of Untucked, apart from those two having peptalks, powwows, and D & Ms. 

Aquaria and Miz Cracker to me are still more or less the same person. Loads of style, apparently loads of money for costuming and apparel, excellent make-up skills, overinflated egos, and low empathy. Kind of soulless. Now and then I give Aqua a break, for being only 21, though.

Really sad Monet went home. Talk about short-changed! I thought she should've won Snatch Game, eg. But by this episode, I thought it was probably her time. Still, she looked so beautiful! And her partner was a sweetheart. I will really miss workroom Monet and her jokes and quick wit.

I thought Eureka was hilarious as BJ, with that Larry Fortenskiesque mullet, just hilarious.

[bluvelvet]

Miz Cookie was DEFINITELY  "feeling the fish" as Rupaul said during their pow wow. Wow, what a transformation, she looked gorgeous. For some reason I don't think that will be the last time he may get into drag, he was having way too much fun! Even the voice changed lol

You know, I will give props to Eureka for her talent, she has really had some strong moments throughout the season but I CANNOT with her personality, a bit to much of an attention seeker in my opinion. She would annoy the heck out of me in real life.  Part of me feels that Kameron likes her, but tolerates her on some level, as she was yapping away in his ear I thought he probably just wanted to focus on practicing for his lip sync.

Edited May 28, 2018 by bluvelvet
punctuation

[Fiero425]

1 hour ago, bluvelvet said:

Miz Cookie was DEFINITELY  "feeling the fish" as Rupaul said during their pow wow. Wow what a transformation, she looked gorgeous. For some reason I don't think that will be the last time he may get into drag, he was having way too much fun! Even the voice changed lol

You know, I will give props to Eureka for her talent, she has really had some strong moments throughout the season but I CANNOT with her personality, a bit to much of an attention seeker in my opinion. She would annoy the heck out of me in real life.  Part of me feels that Kameron likes her but tolerates her on some level, as she was yapping away in his ear I thought he probably just wanted to focus on practicing for his lip sync.

Attention seeker you say? What drag queen isn't? Come on! ;-)

[zulualpha]

It’s hard to tell but I do think Kameron and Eureka have a friend connection. An opposites attract kind of thing. Doubtful that both of them make it to the top three imo tho.

They’re many queens this season that would be great to see return on All Stars. Sometimes that’s not the case but this season has queens that are great but maybe just need a bit more experience to really slay.

[Fiero425]

15 minutes ago, zulualpha said:

It’s hard to tell but I do think Kameron and Eureka have a friend connection. An opposites attract kind of thing. Doubtful that both of them make it to the top three imo tho.

They’re many queens this season that would be great to see return on All Stars. Sometimes that’s not the case but this season has queens that are great but maybe just need a bit more experience to really slay.

Some on other sites think it's being set up for Eureka being saved again and again going back to last season! That double save wasn't as shocking to me after seeing their respective performances! It was so shocking to see her lack of confidence early on, but all of a sudden she's back to her ego-centric, loud, and obnoxious self! Is that a formula for winning this show? ;-)

Edited May 27, 2018 by Fiero425

[Eater of Worlds]

23 hours ago, Fiero425 said:

Some on other sites think it's being set up for Eureka being saved again and again going back to last season! That double save wasn't as shocking to me after seeing their respective performances! It was so shocking to see her lack of confidence early on, but all of a sudden she's back to her ego-centric, loud, and obnoxious self! Is that a formula for winning this show? ;-)

Didn't she say she was ameliorating her behavior for The Vixen? Now she's returned to her normal self.

 I have a few questions.  I have the answers I assume are right but I want to be sure. Why does "Vanjie" crack Rupaul up?  What answer was he looking for when he asked Miss Vain "How's your head?"  I once knew that answer but I forgot and i want to double check.

[ClareWalks]

32 minutes ago, Eater of Worlds said:

 

 I have a few questions.  I have the answers I assume are right but I want to be sure. Why does "Vanjie" crack Rupaul up?  What answer was he looking for when he asked Miss Vain "How's your head?"  I once knew that answer but I forgot and i want to double check.

1) because it is hilarious!

2) the standard reply must always be some variation of "no complaints!" I LOL'd when Cracker responded "SO MANY complaints!"

[Fiero425]

9 hours ago, ClareWalks said:

1) because it is hilarious!

2) the standard reply must always be some variation of "no complaints!" I LOL'd when Cracker responded "SO MANY complaints!"

I'd have to agree with Cracker except I don't ask; I know I'm bad! ;-)

[Blakeston]

Personally, I just wasn't that big a fan of Monet's lip syncs. She was funny, I suppose, but her gags felt very gimmicky, and they got old fast. As far as I'm concerned, Kameron was the clear winner here - even if it hadn't been Monet's third lip sync.

[sarahlee]

On 5/25/2018 at 4:09 PM, Juneau Gal said:

My problem with Aquaria winning the whole shebang, should that happen, is that I think she is not ready for it yet and indeed it would be a disservice to her. With Aquaria’s inflated sense of self, to win Drag Race would/could make her less willing to grow and evolve; an “I’m already all that so why change” effect that will in the long run make her tedious and stale. Yes, she may be the future of Drag according to RuPaul, but what happens to prodigies is that the rest of the world catches up and very often the hot thing of the minute is left in the dust. She’s got more maturing to do. 

Just my two cents......and with my opinion and $4.45 you can get a grande iced mocha, no whip. 

Precisely right. I feel like Aquaria would be another - albeit vastly more talented - Violet.

[lexington11]

On 5/26/2018 at 1:13 AM, Dewey Decimate said:

 

Grande's plastered-on smile at "Safe?" had me relishing memories of an Overwhelming No to apple pie for you.

For me, it brought back the finale memories of not being named in the top 3 for America's Favorite Player after being so confident that all his sister's millions of social media followers would make him a lock to win it

[Eater of Worlds]

On 5/28/2018 at 6:16 PM, ClareWalks said:

1) because it is hilarious!

2) the standard reply must always be some variation of "no complaints!" I LOL'd when Cracker responded "SO MANY complaints!"

I'm deaf so I wasn't sure if "Miss Vanjie" was being said a certain way like stretched out or deadpan or with unusual emphasis or was just being repeated.  I wasn't sure what it was about Miss Vanjie saying her name a few times that was memorable.

[ClareWalks]

8 minutes ago, Eater of Worlds said:

I'm deaf so I wasn't sure if "Miss Vanjie" was being said a certain way like stretched out or deadpan or with unusual emphasis or was just being repeated.  I wasn't sure what it was about Miss Vanjie saying her name a few times that was memorable.

Ah gotcha! She just looked a bit shell-shocked and confused and it sounded like maybe she would say something else too, but it just kind of trailed off. The first one was the most confident inflection. The second one had a questioning tone and was drawn out a bit. The third had this "pause, then shrug" vibe, like "I guess that's all I have to say!" It was also drawn out, like "Miss...Vaaaaangie." There was something so ridiculous about it, like nobody including Vangie knew WTF was going on!

Edited May 31, 2018 by ClareWalks

[slaterain]

Well I will say this for Miss Vangie - no one will ever forget her name!!!

[calpurnia99]

Is this not on tonight?

[Couver]

15 hours ago, calpurnia99 said:

Is this not on tonight?

It's back on June 7. Not sure why there was a one week break.

I finally caught this episode. Devastated for Monet! Mostly because she deserved the Snatch Game win. I hate seeing such a talented queen leave with no wins. Also she had the best talking heads. I don't think she or Kameron won the lip sync. They both re-used moves they have before. But Monet's character connected better with the song. That isn't Kameron's fault though.  Kameron's tricks just seemed thrown in and off from the beat (as did Monet's slide of desperation). I don't see a lip syn assassin in Kameron.

Aquaria has grown on me as a person. She does say some fairly blunt and arrogant things but I do think there is a thoughtful person underneath. She's young and competitive which is what I chalk her arrogance up to. I loved that she wasn't phased by Eureka's attempt to sabotage and that she had experience painting different skin tones. That said she is definitely being protected by the show the same way Pearl was.

I have no issue with Eureka and I find some of her talking heads funny. Also the accent she put on for her trade character was identical to Ryan Kwanten's Jason character from TB. It made me feel all sorts of ways. But with The Vixen not around to provide a counter balance it does seem like Eureka is dominating the show. And I disagree with her that being a returnee is making the judges expect more from her. They've rarely said that as a critique. Their bigger issue last week was that she didn't perform as well as she did on her previous challenges THIS season. And know the ins and outs of the competition is a huge advantage.

Asia is my favorite remaining queen. Her talking heads are funny and she gets people together in a very real and level headed way.

[noveltylibrary]

how dare they skip a week??

[Mahfouz]

Re-watching this season and I was 100% sure that Monet won the whole thing so color me AGOG (AGAG?) when MxC was sent home.

Also really funny to read this forum and see all the "Who the hell is Lizzo" posts. Lizzo occupied the top spot on Mrs. Mahfouz's musician list for quite some time. Mrs. M. even caught Covid at one of her concerts (we think). 

I don't think there was anything wrong with Eureka's strategy. If she thought Aquaria would have a tougher time painting an AA's face that is a legit strategy. Where she really fucked up was in announcing her strategy and how it was implemented. I felt really sorry for Kingsley (I think that was Aquaria's partner's name) who had to hear that as the only black guest he was the "tool" by which Eureka would foist havoc upon Aquaria. People sometimes think that being brash and up-front gives them a pass from being criticized for what they say. "It's not my fault, I tell it like it is".

It's bad strategy not just for the TV show, but for developing fans outside of the show as well. 

 

 

Edited June 19 by Mahfouz
clarification