Holi-Slay Spectacular

[OnceSane]

Quote

An extraordinary holiday-themed episode filled with jaw-dropping surprises, eye-popping fashions, and epic performances choreographed by Todrick Hall.

Airs December 7, 2018.

[Keywestclubkid]

And that was an hour I’ll never get back

[Omeletsmom]

Seriously.  What the hell was that?

[Psycho Suzy]

That wasn't what I was expecting at all. I was expecting a competition, but this was like a RuPaul variety show. It was still enjoyable though, because I love all the queen so much. Did not recognize Sonique, completely new face, but boy is she beautiful. I loved Shangela's Frostula dress; that was genius. Well, all-stars starts this week so that's something to look forward to. I wish Kim Chi was participating.

[Keywestclubkid]

Don’t call it a competition for holiday queen then not crown a queen that’s the rub of it tho. they promoted it like it was competition  when it basically was a variety show to promote a holiday cd that no one is gonna buy 

[Lovelylv]

I was so confused lol 😂 I set my DVR and everything hum delete (I need space) lol Jasmine Masters must’ve been busy with AS4 because that whole performance was hum...they must have gotten a look a like cause her ass was wearing that thing over head the whole time lmao 

[futurechemist]

Good - I like campy drag and this was as campy as can be.

Bad - all the drag queens were essentially interchangable and their personalities didn't come through.

WTF - random reaction shots of Ross Matthews as an elf.

[Glade]

I came for the queens, but just got a poorly lipsynced autotune infomercial for 'Rupauls Low-Rent Christmas' instead.  It wouldn't have been hard to give us a real holiday themed competition (at least as good as S3EP1), with multiple runway looks and special twists, etc. and Ru could have featured a single from her crappy album and Shangela could have won her crown for real.  I don't think the judges (or the queens posing as judges) were even there watching these lipsyncs, it was green-screened in.  The just love to bring the pointless. 

[ClareWalks]

That was cheesy AF but I enjoyed the Werkroom entrances. Always a fun part of season premieres.

[futurechemist]

The more I think about the special, the more I dislike it.  My husband was convinced that Ru and Michelle had stunt doubles during most of their lipsync.  When we could see their faces, they were dancing slowly.  And whenever they were doing acrobatic moves, they were conveniently facing away from the camera.  Drag Race always struck me as 1 of the more "real" competition shows - the contestants are being more real and the producers aren't scripting as much as other shows.  But this special felt more like a scripted sitcom than an actual episode of Drag Race.  Here's hoping All Stars feels real.

[ClareWalks]

11 minutes ago, futurechemist said:

The more I think about the special, the more I dislike it.  My husband was convinced that Ru and Michelle had stunt doubles during most of their lipsync.  When we could see their faces, they were dancing slowly.  And whenever they were doing acrobatic moves, they were conveniently facing away from the camera. 

Yes, absolutely, that was the gag, LOL

[beartrash]

80% Painful, especially the Ross Matthews interstitials.  100% Infomercial.

I did enjoy the 80s outfits and getting to see Shawn Morales, though

[Gabs66]

At least it was a nice change from watching the news off and on all day. Halleloo.

[djlynch]

This felt like Drag Race doing a parody of itself, which is really a step too far considering that the real thing does so much to make fun of itself. I would have preferred a more standard drag revue type holiday show with some skits between songs to link them together, rather than whatever the hell this was with a fake competition but real backstage drama.

5 hours ago, beartrash said:

I did enjoy the 80s outfits and getting to see Shawn Morales, though

Definitely the best looking of all the regular Pit Crew guys, although I'm going to need the Instagram handles of some of the dancers they had on there. Particularly the one with the hairy chest who I only saw in the mini challenge.

[Dandesun]

It was 1000% better than that Green Screen Christmas nonsense. Look, I've been You Tubing old Christmas specials, especially the variety show ones, so this fit right in with what I've been watching and enjoying with no irony. They did the entrances and the runway and they did some lip synching and stunt dancing. I'm fine with all of it.

I just didn't get Jasmine Masters with her head wrapped up in gold gauze. But, okay, whatever... we had fun with it in my house.

And then All Stars 4 starts this Friday so that's when competition happens.

There was a joke I made with some friends basically saying that RuPaul was going to make as many shows as necessary for Shangela to get a crown. And then I joked that she'd keep losing... so Ru would keep coming up with shows and crowns. The Valentine Crown! The Easter Crown! The May Queen Crown! The Fourth of July Fireworks Crown! The Arbor Day Crown! The National Cookie Day Crown!

[DisneyBoy]

Can anyone be so kind as to link me to where I can watch this online (outside the US)? I tried to find it on YT but had no luck. Sounds like a fun show...

[ClareWalks]

55 minutes ago, DisneyBoy said:

Can anyone be so kind as to link me to where I can watch this online (outside the US)? I tried to find it on YT but had no luck. Sounds like a fun show...

It came bundled with All Stars 4 on iTunes!

[TheLukeP]

Y'all, this was fun... it was a shlocky cash-grab, for sure, but it was campy drag fun... What isn't fun?  A messy queen. Any hopes I had for Jasmine Masters and AS4 just went right out the window. https://www.gaytimes.co.uk/culture/116291/jasmine-masters-reveals-which-queen-made-her-walk-off-drag-race-early/

 

Also, can I just say I LIVED for Mayem's Krampus lewk.... THOSE HOOVES!!!  The Mug! That basic Beyonce body-suit.... 

[buttercupia]

I was entertained. Any time drag queens are on my TV, I'm happy. Kim Chi was a delight and it was wonderful to see Sonique again.  

4 hours ago, TheLukeP said:

Also, can I just say I LIVED for Mayem's Krampus lewk.... THOSE HOOVES!!!  The Mug! That basic Beyonce body-suit.... 

That was my favorite look of the night. totally amazing.

[DisneyBoy]

On December 10, 2018 at 4:41 PM, ClareWalks said:

It came bundled with All Stars 4 on iTunes!

I mean a site or service I don't have to sign up for (like YT)...

EDIT: Found it on YT, thought it was dumb and fun. Ru's album ain't so hot (though I like the Merry Christmas Mary and New Years songs) and I found it enormously tacky that the whole episode was so focused on it.

Did the queens get a WOW budget to get outfits together for this? I think on a regular season of Drag Race they foot their own bills costume-wise (which is why Willam getting shafted for All Stars just before it started was especially ugly) so I found myself wondering if they were also expected to bring their own looks for this, even though there was no money to be won.

Mayhem, Sonique, Eureka, Shangela and KimChee had the best runway looks, I felt. Jasmine's head bow business was a huge fail. Looked ugly and added nothing. I wasn't too impressed with Trixie for aping Monet's splits fake-out gag during the lip-synch, but whatever. It was bright and colourful and a welcome distraction from life's challenges. I seriously doubt this will become an "annual" thing, though, Ru. Even this barely stretched to fill its running time.

Edited December 12, 2018 by DisneyBoy

[Kaboom 2.0]

On 12/11/2018 at 1:02 PM, buttercupia said:

I was entertained. Any time drag queens are on my TV, I'm happy. Kim Chi was a delight and it was wonderful to see Sonique again.  

That was my favorite look of the night. totally amazing.

ITA. Don't even care that it was 45 minutes of shilling Ru's new Christmas cd, I was just so happy to see many of the queens again (sure, even Shangela and Jasmine, shrug) but especially Latrice and many of the Pit Crew. Sonique looks so good and happy! And Mayhem slaaaaayed in her Krampus realness look. Looove her!