RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 18 Ep 9 Recap

0:00Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to the RuPaul's Drag Race Rucap here on R-H-A-P. We know reality TV. I'm one of your host, Beth Dixon, joined by Amann Adwin as per usual, and we are excited to break down season 18, episode nine of RuPaul's Drag Race. Woo, drama, drama hit. And I am excited for the production value that came out of that drama. And Amann, I cannot wait to discuss it with you. How are you doing this week? I'm good. Yeah, this week was a lot going on. I don't know what is going on with this season, I mean, it is still on curveball, after curveball, after curveball. And I feel like I have no idea

1:00which way we're headed. And it's exciting. So, yeah. I think it's so interesting. So, obviously, if you're listening to us for the first time on episode nine of this season, welcome, we're excited. But spoiler full, we're going to jump right out here. And I mean, the big headline of this episode is this spoiler, which is mama versus daughter going home. And I think, you know, this season, for the exception of like maybe one or two people still left in the competition, I think anybody is viable for the crown at this point. And so when you start seeing, you know, the kind of queens that are starting to leave that, you know, a few weeks ago, we saw Vida and then my gosh, Mia and we have Athena who leaves this week. I guess your last name should not end with an A, Aman. Yeah, that's what it's looking like. And it's all the great things, like we were talking about how like this is an older cast. We were really excited about that. And like all of the older ones

2:01are leaving. It's just like, damn, like we're kind of arriving back at the same place that we've been at, which isn't, you know, necessarily a bad thing. It's just, it's just interesting that, you know, so many queens with so much staying power and long careers have sort of like not been able to make it work during this season of drag race. And I echo everybody that is like, what the fuck does Kenya have on RuPaul? Because not that she deserved to be at the bottom. This time, I think she was just, she was just fine. But it's like, she's been here for this week. I'm like, yeah. And Mia all went before Kenya. That is crazy. Well, Kenya does end with an A, so she's probably next. Yeah, we'll have to go through. Who else in the class? So we are Neenie Coco. Now she's safe. Darlene Mitchell. Now she's safe. Do you see safe? Do you see safe? Jane. Don't say Mike. You see Mike is Kenya is literally

3:02the last. She's the last day. So you heard it here first, folks. This is the curse of the A as the last name for season 18. So we may see Kenya go next. But Amon, what did you think overall about again, we have this incredible, you know, lip sync of mother versus daughter, which we'll get into in a little bit. But we also have a ruse call that is like a little bit about Annie, based off of the musical Annie, but also bringing in kind of like this Vogue house. And I generally kind of liked the plot, so to say, quote unquote, even though it was a very thin plot. I liked the idea of it. But what did you think about the ruse call in general? I liked it. I kind of want this to be an actual reimagining of Andy, like a queer Annie, where she like, you know, was an orphan in NYC and she finds her family, her chosen family in the bar room scene. I feel like that'd be a pretty fun story to tell, actually. So I liked it. I think music wise, I think I prefer, I still prefer last year's

4:06ruse call. Yeah. Last year's so good. Wicked Wizard of Oz, whatever it was. Wicked Ways of Oz or something like that. Yeah. Yeah. That was fun. I still listen to before Dorothy from time to time. And but yeah, I did enjoy this. I did think that it gave a lot of people a chance to shine. The only role that I was like, I would try to avoid at all costs was probably definitely the, I forget who Mimi and discord played, but those ones seemed okay. Even though they got great critiques, that one seemed to be the death trap for me and all the other ones seemed to have something they could actually do. You have to have a queen who is truly in touch with the 90s and how grunge and hip hop culture where they overlapped because that was such a weird role because you would, they're, you know, choreographing it very, like how are they the favorites of the mother? Like, yeah, I don't, I mean, this was so weird. It was like, oh, we're going to do a hip hop choreography with heavy metal vocals. So how do you mix that, right? So there's a lot, there was a lot there,

5:14but I generally was like with you on that, that I was like, that would be not the one I would want to go for because you could easily go too far on the hip hop and not get the, the sense of the character in the, in the song, or you could go too heavily into the song and the characterization and not hit the choreography, right? So yeah, and plus you had Nini and, uh, and discord doing that, which was interesting, interesting combo, but I'm with you. Those were the two roles that I would have stayed far away from. Among what were they thinking allowing Jane don't to grab the Miss Hanigan role? Girl, I, I mean, it felt like one of those situations where it was like, she's probably going to kill it, but I don't think that I could do it either. And like, I think the only person that may have been able to pull that off, maybe Darlene. Mikey and Darlene, I think, but Mikey was so perfect as Franny, but I know. But yeah, I mean, that was, that was certainly a choice. Yeah, we're definitely like T and her up for a win. And I like, editing wise,

6:17I feel like I kind of predicted that was what was going to happen because, you know, in the beginning of the episode, she's been, they went, you know, they did the rundown of the scoreboard and who has wins who doesn't. And she was like, it's time for my second win. I need this to happen. And then as soon as she got that role, I was like, well, I just don't understand how you don't choose the what, like, why nobody wanted to fight for the drunk. Everybody can play drunk. It's like the one thing that everybody feels confident, even when you're joking with your friends and being like, like, like, like, that's all. And it's not a lot of choreography. So if you're like not, if you're not a choreographer, you're drunk. Yeah. Oh my God. It's just, there's so much about this past that I find so interesting. And like, why Darlene would go for the dog and then do relatively nothing with that part? Like, she look cute and she did the choreography and everything, but it wasn't like, oh my God. I mean, I just generally felt like there wasn't an excuse this time to not do something with characters. They gave juicy characters. But what they, I meant juicy characters,

7:22not juicy, the queen, their characters, all that they did. I just, I think it's just very interesting to see that, like, not a lot of people went for characterization. They just went for, can I hit the choreography and sing that? Yeah, yeah. That was that I found that to be the biggest flaw with most of the performances. So I was kind of surprised that RuPaul kept harping during the judging that like we're splitting hairs because all of you did a magnificent job. I was like, hey, I think that there may be like one or two, but there were certainly some parts that were kind of just like fine. It was just also interesting because they were like, we're splitting hairs. They'd be like, Kenya, you had all the energy and everything, but you weren't crisp with your words, but, you know, we're splitting hairs. I'm like, but if this is a hair that you've been splitting with her, there's no hair left. There's no hair. It's just split ends bitch, like cut it, get a cut, you know? But that's the kind of thing that I think is interesting, right? Because Kenya,

8:24for all intents and purposes probably should have been harsh more harshly critiqued on that. But I also like, and untucked and in the edit, they're like, oh, yeah, Kenya was in the top. I was like, was she? Because like, I don't, I don't necessarily, and I, I almost felt like discord almost was in the top. Like, Kenya and discord could have been in the bottom or in the top. It was just so weird with how they were judging them this week. Yeah, it was. I mean, maybe, maybe just one of those things were like, if you're there in person, it registers a little differently. I do, I did agree with what, what is that guy's name? Benny Bonko. No, not Benny. Although he was great. Jamal Sins. Jamal, thank you. Oh, my God. We got to search just like, having a photo of Jamal Sins. I'm turning into RuPaul. Oh, I hate it. That one right here. Yeah, yeah. I talk like I was telling this one right here. What's his name? James. Thanks. And then Mona is like, bitch, I just want

9:27all started. Oh, man. I agree with what he said about like how her voice was the most appropriate for that, you know, MC role. Like, it really, you could, she was really channeling, you know, all of the great, you know, masters of ceremonies in the ballroom. Like, I was, I was, I was hearing big Frida in there, you know. Yeah. Yeah. So I think, I think that that was maybe like what really got them going because I feel like it did sort of set the stage. Like, Jamal just kept saying how as soon as they, you know, walked on the stage, like, you know, we were invited in to the world that she was like, helping to establish. So I get it. I still don't know if it's top. I think maybe just safe. Yeah. I agree. And I thought that I thought that she did a safe job. I thought that Darlene and Nini were, were good for safe as well. I felt like discord was safe.

10:30I genuinely don't think anybody was on the Mikey Jane level. So like, no one else should have been on the top, I've been in. Yeah. And then the bottoms, we have Juicy and Athena, who are obviously in the bottom. And then question marks with discord, apparently, maybe in the bottom. Yeah. But it's a, I think that this was overall, I think they did a good job. Like, I wasn't like cringing at anybody being awful. I also wasn't cringing so much at the songs and such. And I do want to just, like, point out, I do want to just, like, just do a little shout out and say that obviously Gabe Lopez, who was a part of who was that? Who was he? He was, I think he was the one of the keyboards with Leland when they were like the mixing machine. He passed away recently. And so I do like that they gave a little, first of all, I was even thinking about at the time. And I

11:33forgot that he had passed away. Like, I saw it as like a headline that came by really quickly. And then I was like, oh my gosh, they're giving them such a good amount of camera time. And then I saw that flash at the end. And I was like, oh, wow. So I just wanted to put out there that, you know, we're feeling bad about Gabe's loss. But thankful that they really showcased, I felt like they showcased him more than they normally, it's only on Leland, but I felt like they actually gave him a little bit more camera time. But yeah, no, I thought that I thought that everybody did well. I also, Aman, did you clock that they actually broke down some of the questions we've had about the musical for a long time about like, are they pre-recording these lyrics? And like, does anybody sing live anymore? And like, how long do you have to do all this stuff now? They actually wanted to do that this time. Mm-hmm. They gave us a little, a little, a little sneak peek into how this shit goes. They said, Aman and Beth are just going to be asking the same effing questions every season, unless we just give them, okay, so we have to record

12:34this. And this gives us our chance to like lay down what our choices are that will help inform everything else. And I'm like, thank you. That's all we've been asking for. Right. Yes. What do we feel about the little Nini versus everyone for the casting? Okay. Nini, girl, I love that you're like, I'm writing on a high and I want to bring this to the runway slash main stage. Let's also be mindful of what our skillsets are. That's all I've got to say. I was, I was kind of like, I was kind of shocked about like what had happened because I was watching and you know, she was going back and forth with Mikey about like, oh no, I wanted, I want to know. And then Mikey comes around and is like, okay, well, like, do you really want it? And then I went to go like put something in the microwave, fully thinking that Nini had gotten it. And then I come back and then it's Mike, I was like, wait, what happened? What was all of that? What was all

13:34that for? You know what I loved about that is that we get a little bit of Mikey being like, I'm comfortable that I could play literally anything and steal the show, which is exactly the energy you should have. Even if you have the smallest part, if you have the discord Nini part, then you should be able to try to come up with a character that's going to steal focus, because that's really what the name of the game is with this, right? But Mikey knows that she's confident in it. So she was just like, whatever, I don't have to be franny like as much as I would love that. And I think that that level of confidence and then all of a sudden realizing because Mikey's going, I don't think Nini knows how much singing is in this. I think all of a sudden everybody looking at her and people had vocally said, Mikey, I think all of that is like really swimming in her head. It is apparently very easy to get underneath Coco's skin and into her mind. Yeah, we're definitely starting to see a little bit of the chink in the armor. So I'm wondering if this is going to like blossom into a bit more of a storyline for her, where she's just so focused on how she is like appearing to everyone else and appearing to the judges. You can just tell

14:41that she's very hyper aware of placement and what's going to get her to the top and how she should play everything and how to be strategic about this. And it's great. You just got to let go on the God. You have to just rely on your strengths. And yeah, show up and do what you can. You're a great designer. You know how to turn a look like a move. A good mobile moving and such. I think it is it's very funny too, because we also get the origin. This this episode of Nini has a gun. Nini has a gun because people are catching for a straze from her all the time. I love this little bit of like behind the camera lore that we get with them. What a great head phrase for a season of just like inside jokeness. Nini's got a gun. Nini's got a gun. Very American. Yes. But I genuinely I think that that what a great little character insight that we don't always see.

15:42I think we've seen shades of it, but this idea that maybe she's maybe a little shadier and doesn't even realize that she's being shady that she's just trying to say something that she thinks is on everybody else's mind. But no one else is saying it out loud. She is. I've been that person a lot in my life. That just like the Nini has a gun thing that's reminded me of a TikTok that I saw recently where it's like it shows it's like in the UK and it shows like someone walking down the street with a coffee and then you hear a gun shot and they're like oh my god. And they start running and then it's like in America in person walking with a coffee and he just heard gunshots and they just keep walking and just like oh no it's true though it's so sad. Anybody want a 37 year old woman coming to live with you in another country? Hit me up. No that that uh I'll tell you the Nini had a gun thing really really really got me this year

16:45got me together. We also had the grinder I hardly know her mini challenge where I it just felt like let's jump on grandma and everybody was yeah that we get her together real quick. Yeah I love that Kenya had to vote for herself that she was like I mean I knew it was I knew it was going to say that shit I'm planning to win. Okay I love that I love that own it where it like armor bitch because that's the only way that you can say and guess what she was one of the stronger people this week so he knows how to pick yourself up I want to give her a lot of props for that. Yeah. So yeah so we have the musical uh the musical um by the way uh both discord and Kenya are the ones that won. I like that they had to split a $2,500 dollar. It's like bitch if you don't just drop $5,000 like come on now. I'm just like you why don't they each get $2,500. No you're all going to get $1,125. What the fuck? Come on now.

17:55Man God forbid they had that like with a game like that did they not assume there would be people who could feasibly share the win. Like I just I don't know that you didn't want it like do a tie break or question or some shit. Come on now. I know I also got to say the titles for everything this week between uh Franny the hard knock ball uh that was cute whatever and then Grindr hardly know her or the runway being beige against the machine. I just want to give 10 out of 10 for the the turn of phrases for the very funny. I like it. Spring is here and there's a whole new way to chie at Starbucks that's made perfect for you. Choose your sweetness style it up or keep things light at a touch of pistachio a hint of strawberry or vanilla or make it a spring classic with lavender because this season there's endless ways to chie at Starbucks. Let's go through each of the queens for this week and talk about their runways

19:01as well as how we generally felt like they did if we haven't already kind of discussed them. And we're going to start off with Mikey Meeks. I love this look because I feel like it's very different from what we've seen from her. Normally she doesn't nor does she show an off a lot of like midriff or something or like you know she doesn't even have a skirt right. It's like all legs. It's like a little swimsuit kind of moment. I love it. It looks so good. I like that they keep saying it looks like the interior of a Lexus or something. That's like sure. Yeah. Must be nice. I don't know what that's like. I was like yeah. You're assuming everyone at home. I'm like okay great. Yeah, no, I enjoyed this look too. I thought that it was just so sleek. I love the slicked back hair. I feel like the makeup was just like a touch harsh. Maybe she needed a little lightening up. I feel like it's like very very very heavy but not only the good dragway.

20:02But other than that, yeah, I thought this was a very well put together simple yet exquisite look. And honestly, I feel like Mikey should have won this week. I enjoyed Jane don't but I really feel like Mikey really stepped up to the plate. There was a lot going on for her. She had the most vocally demanding number. She had choreography to boot. She had so much time on stage. I just feel like there was just much more work that went into her part. And I don't think that she should have won just because it was more work. She should have won because it was more work and she did it. Whereas with Jane, yes, she was great. But I just don't think that it was as demanding as a role. As Mikey's was. I also think too that Mikey had to do something really hard, which is as a shorter queen with Darleen, who I think is the tallest in the cast, having to outshine and keep

21:08the focus on her rather than the towering dog next to her. I think that this is where I truly feel like Darleen could have done more because you are who she is fighting against for attention. And instead, I think Darleen just leaned into, man's best friend. So I'm going to let my partner have the scene. No, that not when you're on RuPaul's Drag Race. It's always about outshining. She had done like I would have loved when she's all curled up like this. What if she had had like a leg bow and or something, you know, like just like do random things a little bit more, a little bit bigger. But Mikey had all the disadvantages other than the fact that she was singing at the time. And so I really want to commend her for that. And I think that her vocals were incredible. Boy, isn't it great when you watch people who say I didn't ever pursue this because I didn't think I'd be good enough. And then you hear that. And they smash it. Yeah, it's just just

22:09great. I felt very happy for her because I've definitely been there where like, you know, all through high school was like, I was determined. I was like, I'm going to be on Broadway. This is like my my life's dream. I can't wait to do it. And then to get a little older, you start, you know, you're not the biggest fish in the pond anymore. And you're surrounded by people that are just super, super talented. And it's hard not to compare yourself, even though comparison is the thief's joy. And you kind of just get discouraged. And you think, yeah, you're not, you're not good enough. But really, no, it's not. Yes, yes, you have to have raw talent, but it's also about your drive. It's about your ambition and like a pinch of luck. You know what I mean? Like you just got to keep, if it's if it's something that you want, you keep going for it and you hone your craft. Even if you're not having the success that you want in the moment, continue to practice, continue to hone your craft. Don't let anybody take your gift from you. You know, so I'm glad that she got that that affirmation from the judges. And I hope that she, you know, because like, I mean, look, like RuPaul's drag race is creating Broadway stars now. Like, we found out like regularly

23:12employed on Broadway. Bob is on Broadway right now. Bob on Broadway. He's he's he's been on tour with Madonna. Exactly. We're going to see like in the next like two to three years. I know that Harriet's I've been live in concert is going to be a Broadway show. I know it is going to be. So it's like girl, like listen, I will be a veteran edition too. If they hold open auditions, I'm coming Bob. Okay. Um, this is where we go Rob Sesternino. Let's get a man in touch with Monet. And then with Bob, thank you. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm going to start sending the sibling rivalry podcast. Just a bunch of spam emails with me just doing the reading scripts and I love I hear here we go. It's what we're doing from here on out. You know, down in the comments, you know, we're going to tag Monet. We're going to tag Rob. We're going to say, come on, get them on a meeting with with Bob's team and go, how can he be involved? Let's do yes. Yes. Yes. No, no, no, I love it. Um, I think, you know, the other thing about Mikey that I think is I'm going to say something very controversial, I think in the Drag Race lore. I don't care.

24:20Not this doesn't mean that I don't think that they're talented. But I don't personally care. For Courtney act or adore's voices, singing wise, especially when we go back to the musical, that particular musical, everybody made this huge deal because they're both good singers. I hated that musical. I didn't love me. I was getting like, come on. What was their musical again? Is that the one on the plane? No, that was season eight. No, that was season seven. It was the one where they, um, they had the, the good and the bad girl. And so, uh, adores the bad one after she drinks the fish oil or something or they have like different kinds of drag queens. They have like the comedy queens and the look queens and like, I need just, I need to rewind season six. Yeah. First of all, that is always a good idea. There's never a bad thing with it. But I have to say that Mikey, to me, the reason I brought that up is like, I think that she had a way better Broadway voice that was more

25:25pop Broadway that we're seeing now than what we saw in season six, 12 years ago. So I just want to, I truly think that this is one of the best vocal performances that we've had on the show. Yeah, for sure. Well, we have Brandi next or Brandi Brandi. Brandi, that's what it was. Brandi, not an art. Brandi, the dog instead of Sandy. Um, and darling was safe. I thought that she looked so adorable as Brandi. Like, I loved the makeup and this kind of like, like, team, I don't know, like, it didn't kind of almost feel K-pop. Like, I don't know, like, it was like a K-pop look. I don't know. It was really cute. I thought she did a really serviceable job. She didn't steal focus enough for me to put it up, but she was nowhere near the bottom. And I love this runway look. I love, she is so interesting to me. Like, she'll come out with

26:26something like this that I'm like, okay, I could see this being like a runway in high fashion. And then the next week, I'll be like, oh, that looks like it was at a cookout, at a fourth of July party, you know, like over and over. You know, she's so interesting with how she does her makeup and everything too. So I think, look, I think that she was perfectly safe in every way this week and happy to see her around for next week as well. I think, yeah, I think she needed to lean a bit more into the disdumb bitch does not know that I can fucking talk. Like, there were, there needed to be more of that. Like, I needed to like rise up because like the payoff where Fanny actually does acknowledge, oh my God, you can talk. Like, I feel like that needed to be a bigger moment than it was because she was just kind of just like just going along with the fact that like Fanny just wasn't listening to her. So I feel like if there was a little bit more characterization in that area, she would have been able to pull focus a little bit more and, you know, just have a bit more fleshed out performance.

27:30But I think that she was fine. I agree. I think she, I think she accomplished what she needed to accomplish. I think that the character was established enough to be a significant part of the show and a part of Fanny's journey. This look I love. It's so it's so cartoonish. It's so like women's of color. It really, it looked like a pop out book. It just pops out at you. Yeah. And it's just so like you just, you just, you just, you just want to look at it. You just want to, you just can't stop looking at it. It's just so, it's just so fun. Don't you think she kind of looks like if the Cynthia doll from Rugrats had a mother doll that came out. Yeah. Cynthia's mom. I can see kind of reflecting who Angelica's mom, like corporate CEO woman. It's like that Cynthia's mom is, looks like this. I, that's what I'm getting. Yeah. I think her neck is cut just a little bit. So maybe just a little more neck, but other than that, oh my god, it's on my tower banks. Let me see your neck. I need your neck. Wish your neck. I lost my neck in a tragic accident. Oh,

28:34okay, we're going to do a neck runway. It's like, I don't have a neck. You're really headless neck is like. Oh, God. Next up, we have Kenya. Please are a man. Start us off. What did you think about Kenya this week? Yeah, I, um, I guess before I agree with the judges, I felt like she did do a good job of establishing the scene and bringing us into the ball. Um, I do like this look. It feels as though it's missing something though. And I don't quite know what it is. I feel like there needs to be something. I don't know. And then it's like a very big critique, but I'm not, you know, I'm not a fashionista. So I can't really put it into words. I just feel like there is a piece that would just set it off. But I, I really love the woven, swirl type thing that she has going on with the body. So I think it's just absolutely lovely.

29:37And the hair, it look, I mean, it looks like her real hair looks like it's growing out of her scalp. So it's just, I think that it's a beautiful explosion of hair. I mean, I loved an on talk when she was like, this is the size, just like huge planet. I, I love how she looks this week. This is, um, far and away, I think the best that she's looked on the runway. Um, I've loved, I love she glows. Yeah, you can tell she was excited to bring this one to the runway. I'm so happy that we got to see this from her. I understand what you mean about the missing thing. And I almost don't think that it's missing something as much as like the lines, especially for bigger queens, when you're trying to use different lines of material and color to help with the illusion of the body, it's hard when it's like swirly like this, right? On a bigger body that already has some sorrows and curves going on, right? So what we have is like a relatively flat

30:38top that comes down at an angle. And then we don't really, and then we have the slit that comes up, but we don't have anything on that other side to like counterbalance that. Yeah. Almost feel like if she had like a swoop, you see how like under the big part, there's like a little swoop that's on her hip. If they had that over on the other side, I think this is what that would have been even better. Yeah. A little swoop, the counterbalance, the big one on the shoulder on the opposite side, let the slit be the thing on that side of the body on the other side. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's what it is. I don't like, I mean, we're all for asymmetry, but sometimes you still need like a little dose of symmetry in some areas. Yeah. I thought that she did really well in the challenge. I did pick up that there were a couple words that weren't crisp, but she knew what she was doing. She brought the energy. I don't necessarily agree with her completely stealing the focus from juicy. Yeah. I didn't agree with that either. Because juicy was out here ducking and diving and

31:42all the flips and shit that she was doing. Like, I mean, yeah, sure, maybe we know that we can, we can come to expect that from her, but like, I still don't think that she was completely washed out. No. If anything, what ended up happening was I was actually watching juicy and listening to Kenya. So I felt Kenya's energy. And I watched juicy because how can you have someone do like a handstand, you know, that was crazy into into a split and then flip on over. She added that in there. They did not choreograph that. I was about to say Jamal Simpson sitting there like, bitch, I did not have it. No, that's the thing. Like I genuinely, and I, I feel like the judges, I think intentionally are not explaining what they mean by like, we don't see who you are kind of thing. And the same with what they said with Athena because I genuinely think like, we got the character from Kenya. So let's break it down in a way that like, juicy can understand. And so

32:44juicy is actually next. Let me just move over to her. It would have been easier for that to say, yeah, like when you moved up the skirt or whatever, you turned into one of those girls that was like, I'm not letting you see all the goodies for free. Like one of those things that like, that's a point of view. Other than that, it's just you doing the dance moves without necessarily having a swagger, a point of view. Who is this girl? She's like, I'm a shake my ass in your face, but you don't actually get to see it. So hold on. Who do you think you are? Like I own all the power, right? Is she kind of bratty? Is she somebody that is gonna tease you? Or is she somebody who's gonna give it away? Like, what is it? Right? And I don't, and I know what they were saying with that, but I don't think that they're like explaining this to someone who is clearly very affected by this because of her background, which we're learning a little bit more about with her being, you know, addicted to drugs and having rehab issues and these kind of things. So yeah, there's a lot about yourself

33:48that you're missing when you go through those pivotal things. And so I feel like I know it makes good TV, but there's a part of me that's like, could you maybe break this down so that she gets it? Yeah. Because now you're just doing harm, otherwise. Yeah, no, I agree. It's, and it's, excuse me, it was I'm not shocking to hear, but more so just surprising to hear about her struggles with addiction and everything because looking at her, you would never really know. She's, she's sprightly, she's spry, she's looks like she's in good shape. So she takes care of herself and she probably is now. So you would never look at someone and be like, wow, like that person was like in the gutter. And it seemed like it got like really, really bad at points because she was talking about how Athena was there for her, like through the worst of it. And there was a point where even Athena almost reached a breaking point where it was like, girl, I don't know what to do for you anymore. Like it has to come from within. You have to be the one to make the decision that you've had

34:49enough and that you want better for yourself. So I'm glad that she has seemingly come so far from where she was. And I think I totally get the identity crisis of it all, not knowing who you are, especially with queer people. Like we spend so much time in the closet as young folks. We spend so much time hiding and running because we're afraid of what people are going to say about us, how could they want to treat us? If they're going to continue to love us, that that kind of shit follows you into adulthood. And if you don't work through it, they're going to have a very hard time understanding where you like where you fall in the world, like what are the things that you enjoy? What are the things that you like? What is it that makes you you? And it's not the outside influences that have been plaguing you for so long. So she's young. She has time to figure it out and to fall into her body, to fall into her space, to fall into her mind. And I hope that this competition is something that helps her

35:56hone in on her identity because it can be very hard. Like people lose themselves on these shows all the time. So I hope that she's able to, you know, still have counsel. I'm sad that she is losing someone that is very important to her in this competition because I know that that's like that's got to be tough. But in a way, I'm like I'm also very, very proud because she's like you fought, like you didn't you didn't let the relationship that you have with Athena take you out of here. Like you did what you had to do. You sent her home. She's going to be okay. That's your mama. She's going to be fine. You know what I mean? And that's I feel like, you know, as a drag mother, like that's what you should want. Like I'm not a drag mother. So I don't know, but like I feel like, you know, like any other parental relationship you want that for your kids. You want your kids to like, fucking shine. So yeah, I just um this was a this was a rough week for her. She's been going through it. She's been going through it. And I just hope that she's able to hold some peace. I thought that this look was beautiful. The second picture has really given me

37:00Coco Montries during that that lip sync. Yep. The Paula Abdul. Like I was Paula Abdul herself. And yeah. She and Coco had a lip sync where they're both pointing the lips to that song. Yes. Yes. I didn't see that. Oh, guys. See that. I first of all, beautiful words about juicy and, you know, the journey because I so co-sign and everything that you said there. I think that the blessing and the curse that will follow her in life is that she's gone through this so early. And that either is either like I said, it could be the blessing that helps you to you've already reached the lowest part of your life. So even if you hit pitfalls in the in the future, they're not going to be as deep as what you've already climbed, climbed yourself out of. So you always have that. But the and also you've you learn much more about who you are and what things you will just literally

38:01rather die than give up. Yeah. And those are you only experience those in times of darkness. And it that ends up being a form of the light that you bring. I'm moving forward, but obviously the curse is this is something that she'll deal with for her entire life, you know, just like many addicts and all different kinds, whether it's, you know, food or drugs or alcohol or whatever. Yes. Exactly. All of these things are addiction sugar. Like it's caffeine. Like everything that is a crutch to try to get by, right? So obviously we hope that there are healthier crutches that she's done. And I like that she is somebody who clearly is very empathetic and very emotionally intelligent and really relies on her community. And I I what I see is a young person who knows her worth to a certain level. Yeah. knows that she's got something fierce and knows

39:02that she's something, but doesn't quite know the depth at which she's allowed to own it. Yeah. And I think that that is the whole mystery of life. At what point do we allow ourselves the permission to own the things that even if they rub some people the wrong way, they're the best things about us. Yeah. Right. Yeah. So I have full faith that this elimination is not going to be the thing that drags her down. If anything, she's going to feel so much more emboldened to bring Athena with her. Bring it home, girl. Bring it home. And I love how Athena went out with this, where she basically said, as long as juicy still in the competition, I'm in the competition. If juicy wins, I win. Like that, that was real. Yeah. I really felt that. In terms of her, I didn't think that she was awful, but I definitely understood with the with the judges for saying, and then with this look, I love the top. I hate the bottom. I love. There's just something about the before it turns into kind of like the the trumpet mermaid part

40:06of the skirt. It just feels like an awkward length in that middle area. Like it's elongating a part that's not really elongated for her. And I think it's the lines again, like kind of similar to how you were talking about Kenya's like the fact that it's like vertical on the top and then it's which is to horizontal. It could be that and it just messes up my eyes, but I love the color and the sheen. I love the dimension of like the different like I don't even know what you would call them like folds or refles at the top. Like I think it's so cool. And she looks so gorgeous with the makeup and like the little fascinator on the ear and everything. And just that middle part of the dress is just weird to me. But I otherwise really, really like this. She's been she's she's got quite the wardrobe for somebody that is so young like her family is pulling through for honey. Those deans got together and say, we are going you are not going to go on this stage in the bears. Yeah, you're going to go be a star. Oh, okay.

41:10This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Listening to this podcast, smart move. Being financially savvy. Smart move. Another smart move. Having State Farm help you create a competitive price when you choose to bundle home and auto. Bundling. Just another way to save with the personal price plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Covered options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state. One consistent color for every job. My lows pro rewards members get a 20% paint discount on future purchases after paint annual qualifying spend reaches $3,000. Plus order eligible in stock paint and paint supplies by 2 p.m. for free same day delivery by 8 p.m. Improving is easy and lows. Excludes spray paint and misting. More exclusions terms and additions apply subject to change details of lows.com slash terms. Same day delivery validants elect zip codes subject to driver availability details of lows.com slash same day delivery.

42:11There's a world where legends race across city skylines. Romance blossoms in glittering ballrooms and there's magic around every corner. It's a world known to many as Great Britain. You've seen the action on screen. Now visit the real star of the show. Visit Great Britain. To discover more go to tripadvisor.com slash Great Britain. Speaking of the Dion family, let's move over to Athena Dion who has what is normally the daddy war bucks roll that is now the mama. What do they call it? Mama money bucks or something like that. Something like that. Big bucks. Big bucks. Big bucks. I first of all, I'm just going to start off by saying love this runway. Love. It is so campy, but also so fabulous and so beautiful. Love, love, love, love, love.

43:15In terms of the performance, this was this is the thing about the judges when they cut to the judges. She won that bad. Okay. Now, were they correct in that she could have been giving more of a character? Yeah. 1000%. But they kept cutting to Michelle. She was like. Yeah, they were really the editing was really trying to sell us that she was doing the worst. Yeah. And I don't think that I don't buy it. It was a little disjointed. I, but like you said, I agree that there wasn't enough because she spent a lot of time on stage. And she didn't utilize that time the same way that Jane don't they like they kept they kept cutting the camera to Jane Don and every time she's doing something different. She's she's either taking a drink or she's like dancing drunkenly in the back or she's like she's reacting. Like acting is reacting, right? And I feel like a lot of the time Athena, it did look like she was

44:16like in her head. She's like, okay, so what do I have to do next? Like I got to do that part. Okay, like what are the lines next? Like what's the next move? Okay, all right. You could you could just see the the wheels turning. So yeah, definitely I agree with her being in the bottom, but again, I mean, and they did say, you know, you know, we're splitting hairs. So it definitely wasn't as bad as the edit would have us believe, but there was definitely just not enough. You got to you got to give us more like you're supposed to be like you're you are the you are the mother of this of this ballroom, right? Like you got a bitch like you need to be more of a presence. I mean, it was a bit of the wardrobe. So like I feel like her outfit was kind of understated. Like I feel like she needed like a little bit more of like a, I don't know, it just need to be bigger in my opinion. I honestly think like the issue that she and so many people had, and I we got to see them be with Jamal Sims as a choreographer and with Leland and Gabe for the vocal portion, but we didn't get any insight as to whether or not they got direction, right? Yeah. And that is in my opinion,

45:16the most important thing when it comes to musical theater, because it doesn't matter if you're a bad dancer or a bad singer, it matters if you're a bad actor, because if you if you can only sing, we are not going to understand how this is progressing a storyline if you're just singing. If you're just dancing again, we don't see how it's progressing a character or a storyline. And so when you have someone like her who is just basically blank face and trying to be like, I look the part because I'm normally this person. No, you got to give us more C and X2's day, you know what I mean? Like you have to be able to, okay, maybe this is someone who is constantly making sure everything is in the right place. Maybe she's constantly asking for people to fan her or something like, there's got to be something that you're doing. And while that's easy for the Jane Don't character, because she can just be drunk and drinking and whatever,

46:16you have to come up with what is the thing that keeps your character busy or is something that you were doing or bringing or what is the like default setting that you have for this character that you can use to play with it a lot and then a little give us levels, right? If you just didn't do that, but I also don't know, I don't think they're given direction on that unless Jamal doing that with his choreography and we don't see it. Yeah, it reminds me, um, well, I can my day when I was, when I was in high school and we did susical and I got cast as Horton, which is still crazy to me, like my little skinny minis as a big ass elephant, come on now. They literally had to put like, they had to put wiring in the costume. I had no business being important. Anyway, but there's a, there's like in the beginning of act two for Horton, he's like in a cage on stage for like, a good like, I want to say like 20, 25-ish minutes. Yeah. And I had to learn a lot about like,

47:19because I was just so used to coming on stage for my part, saying my lines, being animated, woo! And then walking off. Yeah. But then I was just like there the whole time I was like, and our director was like, I'm on. What are you doing? I'm like, what do you want me to do? I'm just sitting here in a cage like, okay, but you're in a cage. You're in captivity. Like, what does that do to you? Like, what's going on in front of you? Can you react to that? Can you do this? Can you do that? And I was like, wow, like acting is like so, acting is reacting. You really have to be in the moment. You have to let external stimuli, you know, affect you. So it's in, you know, you're never, if you're on stage, that is, you are, you got to be giving it to us. Okay, you don't have to pull focus. You just have to be giving something, right? And I feel like she just, there wasn't enough of that from her. We did. There's just a quick side story. I've been taking improv classes and there's a man in my class who I love and he's so nice. But he tends to say things more stoically monotone like just in general. So when he's responding to things, it doesn't necessarily have this emotional impact, which sometimes makes it instantly funny. And then other times it's

48:24just kind of like, oh, it's so hard to get something out of you to play off of, right? And we had this one time where we were having scenes where randomly our teacher would go, okay, now Beth die. Do a traumatic death of some sort right now. And then like in the middle of the scene, I'd go, no, and have to die. And in this particular scene, I was playing his son. And he literally went, oh, okay. Not yet. And our teacher went, pause. Let's assume that your son dying is a bad thing. Let's see how you feel about that now. And she went, okay, and they went, all right, play anyway. Oh, no, my son's dead. Oh, no, our table. It literally was, oh, no, my son's dead.

49:27That I just like, bitch, give us something. Racking up on the ground, because I was like, you know what, that is he's not trying to be funny that way. But it was so funny. I just shout out to Alex, you're amazing. Anyway, but yeah, I think I think Athena, unfortunately, I think she also kind of sacrificed herself for for juicy. I think we kind of get the hint of that, but she really didn't give anything in the lip sync. I think she'd kind of resigned that. Yeah, just as juicy, I want you to pull this out. And there was no, there was no space for her to move in that in this look. Like I was thinking, are you going to take this, is there a tarot way? Like what's going on? But yeah, she kind of just, you know, it was a very sort of like minimal muted performance. And you know, it really was a sweet moment where you know, because I think this is like a sort of like a drag race first where like, you know, someone like, yeah, from the versus daughter sitting on the lap, ending it. And like there wasn't like no strong finish. They were both just crying together. It was a very, very nice moment.

50:30I really liked it. It wasn't cheesy. It was, it was real. That's what I liked about it the most. And I, and I really also appreciate that there wasn't like a double sachet. You know, it would have been so easy to be like, let's give this a happy ending. I think that it's much, I think it's actually going to be really good for juicy that Athena leaves in the same way that if a juicy left, I think Athena would have been better off for it as well. But I, I don't know how much more we would have seen from Athena. She already came in incredibly polished and grand and all these things. I think she just quite frankly needed the platform. And boy, did she get it? And I love somewhere she, I think it was in Watchapacum when she was talking to Michelle. She was like, I'm a Leo. So I just wanted to be seen. And I'm like, you are definitely an epitome of a Leo. I say that as a fellow Leo. So I think that she accomplished everything that she needed to. I think she had, I mean, she was the topic of every

51:31episode pretty much at some point. So she definitely had a good run on the show. Before we move on, I don't really like this look. Oh, tell me, go, yes. I, it's just a bit too busy for me. Like I agree with Michelle that this is like, it's such a drag. It's such high drag. And I agree with that. But it's just not my cup of tea. I don't know. Maybe maybe the little feather dust with things. He'd be a little smaller for me. I think it's just so, it's so busy. There's so much going on. There's so many textures, so many patterns that I just feel like I like my eyes just don't know where to rest. But I think she looks beautiful, but just not, not my favorite, not my favorite. She, this outfit gives me the rule of thirds. The top up here has all this shit going on. That's the first third. The middle third is the planus. It's to make it. And then the bottom has the different ruffles and such. Right. So I definitely agree with you. I personally find it pleasing because of that. But I also

52:37could absolutely see why that is very busy on the eye. Let's also talk about busy on the eye. This is, I'm sorry, I got to say, I fucking hate this dress. So what is going on? I feel like she also, she got t-peed. Yes. Oh my God. Yes. She looks like somebody was trying to do an at home very quick Britney Spears, Burmese snake moment. You know, like, you know when somebody walks out of the bathroom and they have toilet paper stuck to their shoe, she had all on her dress. That's what this is giving with dress version. This is giving a cat took that toilet roll and then all over your dress with it. I also don't care for the hair that make up this week. I don't know why. I just feel like it's really kind of sort of Mikey. It's like very dark. It's dark. It's heavy. The hair looks like ramen noodles. It's just not. This looks like a very different queen. This looks

53:37like a filler queen from like season four. Like this doesn't look like her, you know what I mean? Yeah, it does look dated. It looks very dated. But in terms of the challenge, I don't know that I could definitively say that discord or nini was better than the other. I'm not quite sure. They were like fine to me. Like, I was like, I would not have been mad if things were switched in terms of like the duos. They were saying like, oh, Kenya and Juicy didn't gel. I disagree with them. They were fine together. Yeah. These two, they jelled, but they jelled because they were both awkward looking as fuck. Yeah. And they were offbeat from some of the dance, like they showed it. I was like, they were like talking about when they were doing the deliberation. I was like, yeah, you guys were like such you guys were in sync. And then they cut to some footage. And like, they're on different beats. I'm like, what is going on? I love. I love. You are on beat for being too white. Yeah. You were offbeat on beat, bitch. You were clapping on the two and

54:41four. Wait, no, one three. I always I always mix it up the wrong way. Give us that down beat, baby. I truly felt like this week. Nini's look is really strong. We're going to get to that in a second. So I do think that that's why Nini is safe. And then discord's in the bottom technically. I put her a safe because I think it was pretty obvious that there was really only a top two in a bottom two this week, but they were like, oh, we got to make it somewhat dramatic. Speaking of Nini, I love this look, especially the effing hair with it. Hair is amazing. Don't you feel like she has like some like really cool David Bowie inspired kind of her at time? It's very, she's got like a bit of an androgynous feel to her. I think it's because she looks great in drag. She's handsome, out of drag. So she just has one of those faces that like can just go back and forth very, very well. I love the look too.

55:43I can instantly tell what it was. I knew that I love that she just did a bunch of jeans and and khakis. I was like, this is fun. This is fun. This is this is fun. I do wish that I was cinched a little bit more on the waist because it does sort of give a bit of like a wide blobby type look to it. So if we just a little tighter on the waist, it would just be a kind of 10 for me. But yeah, I absolutely loved it. The boots are just giving her everything. I love the same pattern on the briefcase. Just just just great. Just great. We always amazing about the boots. I don't know if you clock this or if others at home did. When I was watching her in Untucked, you can see very clearly that her boots are just white boots that have nude stockings on top of them. They're ripped around almost where the heel, like the big platform heel, like in the middle, all the way wrap around to the heel in the back. And they go up from there. So it was very interesting. All of a sudden, I looked and I was like, why did she have spider webs that are, oh, wait, it's it's it's it's like air tights. That's nice. Love the creativity there.

56:49And also showing that you don't need to like spend a ridiculous amount of money on the perfect shade of something if you can just make it look like this. And it also goes with what she's doing up top is to have something that looks a little distressed or whatever the case might be. Right. And then last up, we have Jane Don't, who we know is the winner of this week's episode. I think that we've basically said everything we can say about her performance. It's exactly what you expect from it. I tend to agree with you that I wish that Mikey had one. Just be but this is the other thing too. I wish that Jane did not go for this character because it's again, exactly the character I expect from her. Yeah. I would have loved for her to actually try to be franny. Right. If her and Mikey hadn't switched, I think they would have been very interesting. But I just, I think with this look, I don't necessarily get beige from it. I got brown.

57:54But I love everything else about it. Yeah, it's so very, very extravagant. Look, I feel like, I don't know why, but Jane Don't, and I don't please don't take offense to this. Jane, if you ever listen to this, she reminds me a lot of the same aesthetic of Sherry Pie, which is crazy because you barely saw Sherry Pie because they did a good job of editing her ass out. But just like the the taste level, I feel like it's so similar that the looks that Sherry would bring to the stage remind me so much of like what Jane is doing now. Was like a jinx monsoon twist. Yeah. Yeah. It's just, it's very old school, but high class, high level, just rich, just very rich. So yeah, I enjoy that a lot. Again, definitely deserved to be in the top, but I think Mikey really, really took it home this time around. But you know, it's for

58:58the plot. It's for the plot. We love. No, for the plot of your own Instagram feeds, we have our queen suggestion shout out of the week or drag shout out. This week, we have Bo Day has Instagram at B-A-U underscore D-E-G-A-S. Bo was submitted by Jen Richards, one of our listeners. And I wanted to switch over to a man who's going to just read the little blurb at Jen sent along. So hello, a long time listener, first time reaching out. Hey Jen. Hi Jen. Love the podcast. Listen to every episode. I wanted to share a local queen who was fantastic. Bo Day guys, and I met around 2010 when we were both Peace Corps volunteers in Senegal. We're both from Seattle, and she is now one of the best queens in town. And that's it. I love. Well, as we know, Seattle is a drag

1:00:02haven in the Pacific Northwest for sure. Obviously, Jane don't also coming from Seattle. We have a huge history of lots of specifically over the recent years. An incredible amount of Seattle drag. So Bo, coming to us from Jen, thank you so so much for the suggestion. Please go ahead and follow. If you have a drag artist that you would like to shout out whether they're a bedroom slash social media queen, if they're a fashion queen, if they're doing advocacy work, if they're in the bars, if whatever you're interested in, please send them our way. You can send us to us as DMs, or you can go into the patron RHEP discord and in the RuPaul's Drag Race channel, you can tag myself or I'm assuming you're in that discord, but you can definitely tag me if you're will check it out every week. Thank you once again, Jen. Yes. All right. So I think, you know, we've touched a lot on the lip sync, but we'll just say very

1:01:09briefly that there was a lip sync that happened where juicy and Athena obviously had to lip sync against each other to the Selena and Benny Blanco. So, oh, what's the song? Call me when you break up. Yeah. And I, I also felt like the song was like putting salt in the book. Call me when you break up. You all are breaking up right now. Shout out to Benny Blanco too. I feel like he was, he was very present as a judge. He just seems like such a cool guy. So many people rag on him for his looks, you know, like saying that he's like not a look or like, but you know what, just me watching him on Drag Race, I can see what it is. So we nas into him. He just seems so just nice and chill and kind and just he gave a shit about like his job as a, as a, as a guest judge. So I just, I found that very, very quiet. I want him to come back for sure. A thousand percent. This is, this is exactly why it's so funny that we

1:02:13have a, like a pole podcast where we go through and we judge looks like who's first of all, who the hell am I to judge looks? I'm wearing a t-shirt, like I do almost every single day, right? I have no sense of fashion for myself or anything like that. These are amazing artists. I genuinely feel like we need to make more people like Benny Blanco famous. I look at UK and like sometimes, you know, like the people that are on TV really earn their spots over there. It's not because they're beautiful or whatever. It's because they're talented or they're really good, they're good researchers. And I kind of hope that in this whatever new world ends up being that Drag Race I think is absolutely a driving force of creating this kind of culture of saying every drag is valid the same with how people naturally occur in the world. So I wish people would stop dogging on other people for their looks and start dogging on people for like being a horrible person. Exactly. Exactly. Because you could be the most beautiful bitch in the world. But if that, if that personality ain't right,

1:03:16if that's only right, get away. Tyra, you know, there you go. I'm at Sanchez, but I think you could also do banks. That's a joke. That's a joke. That's a joke. Why has Tyra, our banks not been a guest judge on Drag Race and after watching this latest documentary, maybe I'm caring to understand why. I'm like, I think all of Ms. J and Mr. J's friends are Drag Race people. There they should. Why they should be on Drag Race. Mr. J and Ms. J. Ms. J has a walker for that reason. Yeah. You was? Yeah. There was, I think it was like what season three for something like that. I missed that at one point. I think it's a bring him back. Oh, agreed. Agreed. Especially now. Now more than never. While the while the going is hot, like, are they filming 19 right now? Summer time, typically, I think. Well, if anybody in production here is this invite one of the J's

1:04:20invite Nigel. Yeah. Well, invite Tyra again, even though I'm sure she's probably the reason why she hasn't been there. She's probably keep saying no, because she couldn't meet her. Or at least give us some tea. Make it fun for the audience at home to know why people are coming home. Yeah, exactly because I mean, this show is basically a spoof of top model. Like, you guys got like a lot of your inspiration from the show. So the fact that she hasn't been on yet is kind of a little weird, but yeah. Oh my goodness. Anything else that we should say about this episode? Is there any other drama or anything like that that we're missing them on? I don't think so. I'm just, uh, everybody left. Who hasn't who hasn't won yet? Just Kenya and discord and darling and early. Yep. Well, they gotta get on the board because what do we have? The final nine or seven now? We're at the final seven now. So with the final seven, Aman, who do you think going into the final

1:05:20seven are the top three? Nini, Mikey, and Jane. Those are my three as well. I would, I have a feeling juicy will end up in the top three. So I would switch out Nini for juicy, I think, if I needed to in terms of who do I think RuPaul is going to reward. But I think Jane is a slam dunk or she's like the best ever fourth fifth place person. You know what I mean? Like I will be really, she has not been safe. She's been in the top every week. And you said Jane don't bottom. Just saying. Oh my goodness. Well, Aman, where can people find you? What are you up to? Hold nine yards. You can find me everywhere at Aman ad win. I am here at Drag Race and over at

1:06:21Bequire. Oh my god. I keep saying quiet at the Diary Room with Matt. We are very, very close to beginning round two. We got we got some great guests to kick off round two. We have I think we have the final episode of round one coming out this week. So check us out on Tuesday. And then we're going to hit the ground running with round two baby. We're getting down. We're getting down closer and closer to figuring out who the best players want to be. So check us out over there. Who is who do you think is going to end up on top over there? I think it's going to we're going to be hard pressed to get rid of Derek and Dan and Will because those are just the the mainstays. I really don't want it to be them because there are some pieces of my soul that don't necessarily believe that they are. I think that they're they might have been at one time. Right. But so much has changed about the game. So I'm hoping that it's somebody a little bit more understated. I really do. But we'll see. I really didn't tell you.

1:07:22We're going to have to have all of you all clock in to the podcast and share your thoughts on their content as well. You can follow me over on Blue Sky at Beth Dash Dixon or on Instagram and Twitch at Augusta Wind 11. I'm just hanging out with a mom doing drag race coverage for now. But we'll of course share if I do anything else with RHP in the meantime or anything else. I want to thank everybody behind the scenes of RHP for all of their support to get this out to your eyes and ears. And it's also the beginning of a new month. We'd love to encourage you to become a patron of RHP where you have access to various different kinds of community channels as well as videos and certain kinds of Q&As with Rob and all these other wonderful fun people. So please consider becoming a patron. Now is the best time to do it in the beginning of the month. Thank you all so much and we'll see you next week. Bye, bye, bye, bye.