- 4 months ago
Shantay, you stay confused! Join us as we count down our picks for the most baffling judging moments in Drag Race herstory! From questionable critiques about pronunciation to contradictory fashion feedback, these moments had fans screaming at their screens. When did the judges' decisions leave you gagging... and not in a good way?
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00:00Ginger Minj, congratulations. You're a winner, baby.
00:06Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the moments when the judging
00:11on Drag Race was giving buffoonery, riggery, and straight-up tomfoolery. For this list,
00:17we're focusing only on Drag Race in the U.S.
00:19So, I don't think it's too avant-garde. I don't think it's avant-garde enough.
00:23It looks like I should hang you in my backyard and beat you with a stick.
00:26Number 10. Naomi's Boat Don't Float
00:30To commemorate the show's 100th episode, the queens of Season 8 were tasked with giving
00:35their best version of a design challenge from a past season.
00:38Ladies, over the past 99 episodes, I'm sure you've yelled at your TV.
00:44Girl, I could've slayed that challenge. Now it's your chance to prove it.
00:49Naomi Smalls got the Pride Float theme from Season 4.
00:52The show provided her with a huge boat-shaped costume to wear around herself.
00:56How am I going to carry that on the runway and still walk as fierce as Naomi Campbell?
01:01It's like the thing that covers up the only thing I love about my body is my legs.
01:05Naomi is petite already, so giving her this huge prop that will swallow her up and make
01:10it hard for her to walk was already some prime Drag Race riggery. But then, the judges actually
01:15had the nerve to critique how she looked trying to drag the thing down the runway.
01:18The Pride Float was beautifully decorated, but it became really cumbersome.
01:22And I almost saw you thinking, ugh, I have to get back in that boat and strap it on.
01:28It's not like she brought it with her. The show gave it to her. What was she supposed
01:31to do?
01:32Number 9. Aja's Pop Art Critique. It's the critique that will live in infamy.
01:38That was the day we experienced Francisgate. Or is it Fransgate?
01:42I was trying to go for, like, a Cher, like, meets, like, Francis Jolie.
01:47Francis who?
01:48Francis Jolie.
01:49You mean Frans Jolie?
01:51Is that how you say it? Frans Jolie.
01:53Oh! I just learned that right now.
01:56Aja stomped back to the Drag Race stage and really proved herself. But her shimmering disco
02:01look didn't impress the judges. They seemed to have a huge problem with her mispronunciation
02:05of Frans Jolie's name. She got no points for the reference, even if she used it well.
02:10Just weird looks from RuPaul and Michelle Visage.
02:12For the hair, I was just trying to go in kind of, like, a Bridget Bardot, like, uh...
02:16Well, she's 60s.
02:18I'm all over the place right now with my references.
02:20Frankly, some of this show's best moments have been mispronunciations.
02:24Where would we be if Alyssa Edwards knew how to say most words?
02:28Y'all send me home? It was rigged.
02:31Rigamorist, girl! It was rigamorist, girl!
02:34Who's Morris?
02:37Rigamortis!
02:37It honestly felt like Aja was simply the next scheduled queen to go,
02:43even if they had to quibble and complain to make it happen.
02:46Number 8. The Worst Look?
02:48Santino Rice was a Project Runway finalist,
02:51so he should know something about fashion.
02:53But he told Alyssa Edwards that her look in episode 9
02:56was one of the worst to ever grace the main stage.
02:59Tonight, that dress is probably one of the worst dresses I've ever seen
03:04on this runway in five seasons.
03:07It is such a mess.
03:09I don't get it.
03:09We're not gonna say it wasn't challenging to look at,
03:12but it wasn't even close to the worst disaster to happen on the runway that season,
03:16let alone the entire series.
03:18Serena Chacha's soft sculpture look from early in the season would like a word.
03:22Serena Chacha is a drag scholar.
03:24I feel avant-garde, couture, editorial, like some sort of surreal painting.
03:30I'm giving them something different.
03:32The late and eternally great Jiggly Caliente's baked potato couture in season 4
03:36is iconic for all the wrong reasons.
03:38Let's not pretend some rhinestones and a mess of black tulle is the ultimate fashion crime.
03:42Alyssa, we know you got it.
03:44Your characteristics are funny, you're beautiful, you're the total package.
03:49I'm just not sure if you know how to connect the pieces, you know?
03:53Number 7.
03:54Jan, the unauthorized winner.
03:57Safe is a bad word in the drag race world.
04:00Jan was declared safe once again after giving it her all
04:03during the All-Stars 6 talent show challenge.
04:05Yeah, you're gonna feel the genesis.
04:08So get into me.
04:09Cause I'm that bitch you wish you could be.
04:13Genesies.
04:14Genesies.
04:15It was a continuation of the Jan, you're safe marathon that happened in season 12.
04:21Look, we get it.
04:22Gigi Goode was great as Madonna, but Jan got arguably better critiques.
04:26You were early Madonna.
04:27Your voice was amazing.
04:30You sounded like a pop star.
04:31And I think all of the choreography was borderline perfect.
04:34RuPaul said it herself.
04:35She ruled the world.
04:37Evidently, Jan has to rule the entire universe to get a win here.
04:40Jan.
04:42Tonight you ruled the world.
04:45You are safe.
04:49And we joined the other girls.
04:50We think former winner Bob the Drag Queen put it best.
04:53At this point, Drag Race is trying to break her down.
04:57And I was not part of the like, Jan should have never been safe ever.
05:01I don't, like, I'm not one of those folks.
05:03This is a systematic attempt to break down her psyche.
05:07This was wild.
05:08Number six, Adore's critiques.
05:10Given that Adore Delano is one of the few Drag Race queens to make music that actually charted,
05:15it's wild that her only variety show critiques were about her look.
05:19It's human.
05:20It really doesn't matter whether it's human or not.
05:21I did it myself.
05:23That shows you've done something.
05:25Because with the outfit, girl.
05:28Michelle Visage took her to task for her appearance,
05:30and Adore was clearly shocked by the harsh critiques.
05:33In fact, it almost sounded like Michelle is minimizing the season six finalist's accomplishments
05:38outside the show to humble her.
05:40We see your stuff out there.
05:41You're doing your thing.
05:42You've got your album.
05:43You're rocking the world.
05:44Only Todrick Hall had compliments, and he was the only one who mentioned the singing.
05:50That's a huge problem considering it was a talent show.
05:54Adore quit the season soon after.
05:56Um, I just don't feel like I'm in it.
06:00It was something different than I thought it was going to be.
06:03I think I need to go.
06:05Number five, Tina Burner's brand.
06:07There were a few moments when it looked like the New York queen was getting a raw deal.
06:11In the last episode, though, she and the other queens were tasked with creating a soda pop
06:15capturing their brand.
06:17It's time to spice it up with burning up.
06:23Now Wednesdays really are hump day.
06:27The judges told Tina that she was relying too much on what they had already seen
06:31and wasn't pushing through.
06:33You know, we get your brand is like fire and red, yellow, and orange,
06:36but you've got to keep tweaking that.
06:37You know, whether it's a designer or a beverage,
06:39they're always doing the new and improved version of the brand.
06:43It's a branding challenge.
06:45That is not the time to completely reinvent yourself.
06:48If she had, they probably would have said it was the wrong time to switch it up on them.
06:52There was no winning this,
06:53and it was evident that they had simply decided it was her time to go.
06:56Tina, my dear.
06:58Thank you for letting the whole world feel the burn.
07:03Now, sashay away.
07:06Number four, Sugar Cane's elimination.
07:08Fans have long criticized the show for picking and choosing
07:11when a team challenge is actually a team challenge.
07:14Sometimes there's a winning team, which exempts them all from elimination.
07:18Sometimes they're judged as individuals.
07:20This season 11 challenge didn't actually have a winning team,
07:23but anyone with eyes and ears knew that Brooklyn Heights,
07:26Nina West, and Sugar Cane had the better showing.
07:28Sugar, shablam, halla, kazam!
07:32And Sugar Cane still went home.
07:40She was critiqued for not standing out.
07:42That's it.
07:42The Magician's production, you weren't bad, but you paled in comparison.
07:47Next to two juggernauts, it was not quite good enough.
07:52Meanwhile, the other team was a mess from start to finish.
07:55They were disorganized, one note, and lackluster.
07:58But sure, Sugar was just middle of the road,
08:01and apparently, that means bottom two this week.
08:03Uh, I cannot believe I'm in the bottom two.
08:07I ain't gonna lie, I am mad as hell.
08:09To me, this makes absolutely no sense.
08:11Number three, Rakim Sakura's humor.
08:13Queens, you can't be crude here.
08:15This is the main stage of RuPaul's Drag Race.
08:18In her verse for You Think You Know Me,
08:20Rakim Sakura introduced herself and her array of incredible voices.
08:23But most of all, my dazzling 23 skadoodoo.
08:27A high kick to a fart that can send a grown man back home to his mama.
08:30In a nice little kiss.
08:33To many viewers' eyes and ears,
08:35her performance and her fashions were a slam dunk.
08:38But a quick joke about a fart saw her taken to task for being a little too crude.
08:41Your performance was very interesting because you did kind of 1920, see?
08:46And then you went into skat and fart humor, yeah?
08:51Yeah.
08:51Cause, is that, is that...
08:54Yeah, that's part of me.
08:55Then, not two seasons later, the show debuted The Daytona Wins,
08:59an acting challenge based around fart jokes.
09:02I will not be silenced.
09:08I feel very stupid for not picking up on it sooner.
09:12They liked it so much, they did the same challenge the next season.
09:15Ru and Michelle doth protest too much, we thinks.
09:18Number two, Costume-y.
09:20Yay or nay?
09:21Michelle Visage kicked off another round of judging panel controversy
09:25when she accused All-Stars 10 contestant Aja of looking too costumey.
09:29This is borderline costumey for me, and it's mostly Aja because of the wings.
09:34I say drag is a costume, and I love it.
09:38Do you love it?
09:39I love it.
09:40We love it.
09:41Yay!
09:41Aja's graceful and perfect response aside, it begs an interesting question.
09:47Fans immediately remembered Visage's previous comments about this very topic.
09:52She accused season 6's Bendela Krem of the same.
09:55Bendela, my issue is I feel like every time we're hiding behind another costume.
09:59I have no idea who you are, and I want to get to know more of who you are as a person.
10:05It wasn't until Bendela was literally dressed as a fly that she thought they were now seeing the person behind the costumes.
10:11Then at the start of season 7, she had the audacity to ask why costumey was a bad thing on a drag queen.
10:17It was certainly okay when Simone wore a fox costume on stage.
10:21So is costumey a bad thing?
10:23You tell us, Michelle.
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10:40Number 1.
10:41It actually does take money.
10:43Not having the money to buy fabric and all that kind of stuff, I just use what I got.
10:48And that's where I find myself saying, oh, I'm here for the $100,000, you know what I mean?
10:52Chi-Chi Devane had to do amazing things with limited funds.
10:55But her budget was not as big as some of her season 8 castmates, and she said so.
11:00This prompted one of Michelle Visage's more well-meaning, but ultimately insensitive critiques.
11:04So tell me why you're out here in a bathing suit with no corset and a belt.
11:08I don't have the expenses to pay for something like this.
11:12I'm in a bankruptcy.
11:13I just don't have...
11:14Hold on.
11:15You don't need money, girl.
11:16That's never an excuse.
11:18Drag, like any art or craft, can be done on a tight budget if you've got enough skill and ingenuity.
11:23Drag Race used to honor that wisdom.
11:25But even as early as season 8, queens were spending more money on their runway packages.
11:31Many contestants have come clean about how much debt they accrued to have a chance.
11:34Y'all, doing Drag Race is expensive.
11:37Well, on UK vs. The World, I spent 8 grand.
11:40That's a lot of money.
11:41It is, but it wasn't, like, what a lot of people spend now.
11:47If the show did more to curb the wealth disparity among its cast, maybe Michelle would be right.
11:52Until then, money plays a huge part.
11:55Were there times you thought the Drag Race judges were totally wrong?
11:58Tell us in the comments.
12:00Aja, I'm sorry, my dear, but you're up for elimination.
12:03Oh my god.
12:05I feel confused.
12:08I definitely think Farrah should be in the bottom tune.
12:11I know, I ago.
12:12I look for help.
12:16I know.
12:17I love � gep.
12:20Baby.
12:21I'm sorry.
12:22I wish that
12:28I'm sorry.
12:28I don't know.
12:30I do.
12:30I'll know.
12:30What a alpha chuck.
12:31I know.
12:32You're Gefadoss.
12:33I know.
12:34I know.
12:35I know.
12:35I know.
12:36I'll know.
12:36I do feel good.
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