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00:30Well, it do take nerve.
00:38It's your girl Anya Nerve, your current reigning drag superstar.
00:42Since we made a splash last season, the world has gotten a little more shady.
00:47So it's time for the 14 new queens to light up the stage and compete for the crown.
00:51Are you ready to meet the queen?
00:53Let there be light.
01:00Athena Dion.
01:30Briar Blush.
03:17Darlene Mitchell.
05:20Jane don't.
06:20Juicy Love Dion.
06:50Senia Pleaser.
07:37Mandy Mango.
07:51Mandy Mango.
07:53Mandy Mango.
08:27Mia Starr.
09:13Mikey Meeks.
13:00I'm kidding.
13:01I can't.
13:02You don't know where I can fit my hands.
13:04My name is Athena Dionne.
13:07I am the queen of Miami.
13:09The queen of Mykonos and the Greek glam goddess of season 18.
13:13Dionne should sound familiar because my little rat.
13:15because my little rat, I'm sorry.
13:17My beautiful daughter got on the show before me
13:20on season 16, Morphine Love Dion.
13:22And there's another one on this season with me too.
13:24Juicy Love Dion.
13:26I'm a very fertile mother.
13:27I have a lot of drag children.
13:29This uterus, honey, she's been put to work.
13:34Listen, I am the mother of Miami
13:36and I've been doing drag in that city for about 16 years.
13:40So everything I've learned on those streets,
13:42I'm bringing to the main stage
13:43and there are some cutthroat bitches coming from Miami.
13:46And I'm here to slay, to show my gorgeous, gorgeous drag,
13:50my goddess presence,
13:52and just to bless the other contestants
13:54with all that is Athena Dion.
13:56Athena Dion lives at like the crossroad
13:59of luxury and glamor.
14:00My style is, it's a mixture of like good old fashioned,
14:04drag, drag mixed with couture, glamor,
14:08a touch of a heavenly essence, you know,
14:10something to that effect.
14:11I mean, I am a goddess after all.
14:12So I think I do infuse that into my drag.
14:15You know, I'm inspired by a lot of celebrities.
14:17If we're going to talk celebrity-wise, Mother Cher.
14:19Do you believe in love after love?
14:22Celine Dion, my namesake, you know.
14:25Personally, my mother is a big inspiration of mine.
14:27She was the draggiest drag queen in my life growing up.
14:29So, um, this is all her fault, to be honest.
14:36You know, I think my motherly personality,
14:37I think all my experience will help me the most
14:39in this competition.
14:41I've been doing this for a really long time.
14:42I know the girls will underestimate me
14:44because I do look very young.
14:46I look like one of the youngest girls on the cast, actually.
14:48So I don't think they know that I've been doing it for so long,
14:51but I am a very tight package full of wisdom and knowledge,
14:56just like the goddess Athena.
14:57You want me to expose myself?
15:02If I tell you my signature scent right now,
15:04every little cross-dresser across the country
15:06is going to go out and buy it,
15:07and it's not going to be mine and mine alone anymore.
15:09Do you want me to really spill the tea?
15:11Okay, I'll give you this.
15:12I do have all of Cher's perfumes.
15:14She came out with a line of perfumes from every decade,
15:16from the 60s to the early 2000s,
15:18and depending on my mood, I will wear those.
15:19That's not my signature scent, though.
15:21I'll do this.
15:22I'll tell you the brand of my signature scent,
15:23but I won't tell you which one it is.
15:25My signature scent smells like a powerful bad-ass bitch,
15:29with hints of oud and wood as well.
15:31She's a woody queen.
15:32It's by Mancera,
15:35but I'm not giving you which one it is.
15:37Back off, bitches.
15:40Baby, I've been doing my big one, honey.
15:41I've been doing my big one since 2009,
15:42so it only gets bigger, better, and faster,
15:45and longer, and stronger.
15:46And everything else, all of the above, honey.
15:48D, all of the above.
15:49I have been America's next drag superstar.
15:52I'm just here to pick up the check and the crown.
15:55Snap, snap, snap, honey.
15:57I want to cross my leg, but that sounds like a lot of work.
15:59I designed this look.
15:59I designed all my...
16:00I'm going to try to sit back just slightly,
16:01so I can get a little...
16:03I got it.
16:03So we got full body on this?
16:05If I just sat down and didn't talk at all,
16:07you'd probably think, like, oh, little lady.
16:09I just can't stop.
16:10Like, I just have, like, the gift of gab.
16:16My name is Briar Blush,
16:17and I'm from Boston, Massachusetts.
16:19The Boston trait that I'm bringing
16:20is deep-rooted self-loathing and being a huge f***hole.
16:26I am Boston's pinup princess.
16:28I'm like the it girl of any time or place.
16:30The thing about Briar Blush is that her drag is timeless,
16:34retro-feeling, but modern.
16:36It's like I exist on my own timeline of history.
16:41Okay, so there was a really beautiful doll,
16:44photographer, artist, and she had a doll named Briar
16:47that she would photograph.
16:48And I thought that name was so actress mother.
16:51And I just liked that it was androgynous.
16:53Beautiful girls with androgynous names to me
16:54are, like, really, really c***.
16:57I love that vibe.
16:58I consider myself a creative.
17:01And my style comes from everything
17:04that is really important to me.
17:05I was really goth as a teenager.
17:06I was really into Turner Classic movies.
17:08I was really into people like Dita Von Teese,
17:11Nancy Sinatra, love Jane Birkin,
17:13love Sophia Loren, love Priscilla Presley,
17:15there, and all those things kind of congealed
17:18into the life form that I am.
17:19So Briar's not alternative.
17:21She's not not alternative.
17:22I'll put it that way.
17:24I remember really early into my drag career,
17:26I performed some whack goth song
17:27at a hip-hop night, made a total of three dollars.
17:31And I was like, damn, I can't even get
17:32a Wendy's four for four.
17:34And this other girl in the dressing room
17:35hands me another dollar and goes,
17:36here, that's my tip for you.
17:38Now you can get one.
17:39Isn't that beautiful?
17:39I was so shocked that she felt bad
17:41and gave me a dollar.
17:43I love horror movies.
17:44Body horror, but I also like suspense.
17:46Like I was a fan of the original Nosferatu
17:48and the French version.
17:49I've seen all of them and I loved them.
17:52Actually, I will say the new Nosferatu,
17:54he was so hot.
17:55They gave him like too much sex appeal,
17:57to be honest.
17:576'7", like tall, mustache, deep voice,
18:01has a property, clearly has money to spend.
18:04But can I tell you something?
18:05Sometimes when guys are so tall,
18:06like when they're like hit like 6'4",
18:07and above, they start to slouch in a way
18:10that's like kind of hot to me.
18:11Because you're like, oh, you're so tall.
18:13Like, oh, that must be so .
18:14I'm like 5'5", so it's like.
18:20There is nothing anybody could ever say to me
18:22that would throw me off like of how I feel about myself.
18:25It's a double-edged sword that I both don't care
18:27what anyone says, but I also don't care at all.
18:29Like, and it's sometimes becomes a problem.
18:32My big one, sure, I'll do my big one.
18:35Why the hell not?
18:36Why the hell not?
18:38I'm America's Next Drag Superstar because...
18:43I claim it as my destiny.
18:47Cluck that.
18:48Oh, um, my signature scent is definitely mozzarella sticks
18:52with ranch.
18:53I may smell good during the number,
18:55but you're probably going to recognize
18:56the smell of mozzarella sticks.
18:57My name is Sierra Miss, and I'm the shape-shifting superstar
19:05of Indianapolis, Indiana.
19:06Indiana is known for bad politics and a lot of corn,
19:11so I'm leaving those at home,
19:12and I'm bringing good drag and creativity to the competition.
19:15I don't think that the culture from Indiana influences
19:18my drag tastes or aesthetic necessarily.
19:20Those are rooted really in like my childhood love,
19:23superheroes, comic books, sci-fi, fantasy,
19:26all of the things that I would draw as a kid.
19:31I don't know.
19:31I am pretty strange,
19:32so like picking the strangest thing is really weird.
19:35I think Tony the Tiger is attractive.
19:41I am going on 32 years old,
19:43and I still love Power Rangers.
19:44I mean, I'm a sucker for the classics
19:46because I'm a millennial.
19:47I realized I was different when I had a crush
19:49on both Kimberly and Tommy,
19:51but I think that In Space or Lost Galaxy,
19:54for the nerds out there,
19:55but those are kind of like fabulous seasons,
19:57second to Mighty Morphin.
20:02I mean, Tommy Green is the bad boy,
20:03but Tommy White is like so fierce.
20:05When he comes down from the ceiling
20:06and like the ray of light,
20:07that's drag.
20:09That's drag.
20:10And then they were like,
20:11they shared a Zord together,
20:12and I was like,
20:13that's kind of hot.
20:14Off camera, we'll talk about it.
20:16In drag, I embody every comic book superhero
20:20that I ever had a crush on.
20:21I am X-Men characters.
20:24I am just jumping out of the pages of a comic book.
20:26I get to be that superhero badass strong woman
20:29who is both feminine, sexy, soft,
20:32but also could absolutely beat your ass.
20:34Will I do my big one?
20:36Um, like in the toilet?
20:40Um, sure, I'll do my big one.
20:42Yeah, why not?
20:43Okay, girls.
20:44Yeah, move aside.
20:45I'll do my big one.
20:46Will I do my big one this season?
20:48I'll do my huge one.
20:52I am America's next drag superstar
20:54because not only does she have to look good
20:57and I look incredible,
20:59she has to have something important to say.
21:01Life is chaotic and crazy in this world
21:04is messed up right now.
21:06And we, as a country, as a people,
21:08as a queer community,
21:09deserve a drag superstar
21:11who is not only fierce,
21:13who is not only wonderful to look at,
21:15but can champion equality, diversity,
21:18and stand up to all of the f***ed up
21:21that's happening in this world.
21:22We need a superhero,
21:24and Sierra Mist is your superhero.
21:29I will not be shablammin'
21:33or twirlin' around the stage anytime soon.
21:36Oh, are you not a shablammer?
21:37Oh no, that's a long way down, girl.
21:43I'm Darlene Mitchell,
21:44and I am from Los Angeles, California.
21:45I was born and raised in a small town in Indiana, actually.
21:49So I'm a transplant.
21:51How I describe myself is a little country,
21:53a little c*** in a whole lot of camp,
21:55because I definitely like to include this, like,
21:57Midwestern country, like, through line.
22:00Darlene's aesthetic is very, like,
22:02boxed wine, cigarette after cigarette.
22:03You know what I mean?
22:04Like, very much that woman.
22:05And I'm kind of, like, the exact opposite of that.
22:08When they find out that I'm, like,
22:09a long time sober and, like,
22:11pretty chill and easy, you know,
22:12easy to get along with and pretty sweet,
22:14that they're kind of like,
22:15whoa, this is a turn.
22:19The very first song that I ever performed to
22:21was Rihanna, S&M.
22:22I was the door girl for free on a Tuesday.
22:28They were like, do you know what?
22:29Like, do you want to, like, do a number?
22:31And I'm like, yeah, for these five people.
22:33So I was like, you know what?
22:34S&M, hit it.
22:35I had the time of my life.
22:36Ooh, my biggest inspiration.
22:38My favorite person in the entire world is Dolly Parton.
22:42I have a Dolly Parton shower curtain.
22:45I'm engaged.
22:47Is Dollywood the honeymoon?
22:48I don't know. We'll see.
22:49Bring back more mall drag.
22:52These designers, get them out of here.
22:55Bring back the $5 bin.
22:57I want the idios bittiest little slutty jean skirt,
23:01you know, little spaghetti strap tank top.
23:04Give me a little butterfly necklace, you know,
23:0695% alcohol perfume.
23:09Like, I want, I want the dollar store on heels.
23:12Give me mall drag.
23:13One trend that I feel like I would definitely have to chop
23:16is the rock hard solid sculpted wigs with the rhinestones all over.
23:21Chop.
23:21Even though I might own a couple.
23:25See, here's the thing.
23:26I don't know if I suffer from drag delusion.
23:29I'm aware that some of my tastes, you know, are not popular among the room,
23:33but I'm not saying that it's, you know, the best or that it is, you know,
23:38better than anyone else's.
23:39It's just, I'm sticking to my guns.
23:40You know, like I feel very glamorous in this $5 thong and tank top.
23:45Like in hard front mullet.
23:47Like, I'm sorry you don't think so, but it's not stopping me.
23:53This season, I am doing the big one.
23:55You're going to see Darlene Mitchell all the way to the end, honey.
23:59We are taking that crown and we are doing it in a pair of jean shorts.
24:04And we're going to go back to that mall drag.
24:06Mall drag taking over the world.
24:08I'm America's next drag superstar because I feel like I offer a fresh perspective.
24:13You know what I mean?
24:14And it's time to shake it up.
24:15Let people know that this is something that is fun and it's self-expression.
24:19And it's just pedal to the metal.
24:21Like I'm just like ready to rock and roll.
24:24Oh my God, I can say whatever I want.
24:25I can just lie about who I am.
24:27I've been doing drag for 15 years and I am the most beautiful woman on earth.
24:32Are we playing two truths and a lie now?
24:34I'm a virgin.
24:38Oh my God, I am Didi Fuego and I am from Monterrey, Mexico.
24:44But I currently live in New York City.
24:46Should I do it in Spanish?
24:53That is so stupid.
24:55I am bringing the high excellence in talent from New York City.
25:01New York is a hard seeder to make it in and I've made it.
25:04Oh my God, I think I just found my light.
25:08Didi Fuego is fashionable.
25:11She is beautiful.
25:13She is stupid.
25:15And she's very handsome.
25:20I make my mixes.
25:20I make my clothes.
25:21I didn't make all of this, but I'm involved.
25:24Because I am what?
25:25Too poor to hire anyone.
25:27So in this competition, what's going to help me the most is that I can do everything.
25:33I'm not saying I'm tens across the board, but I'm like a nice 7.5s at everything.
25:38I can give you talents of all kinds, makings of all kinds.
25:43And there's nothing I can do badly except maybe like, like throw a ball.
25:47Because I have like a weird arm thing from birth.
25:49Like I can't connect this arm to my body without hurting.
25:53Like I just can't.
25:54And I can't like open my arms.
25:57Like I'd be a really bad like server and be like.
26:00That's like as far as it goes.
26:03Do I have any hidden talents?
26:04No, if I have a talent, I am going to monetize it.
26:06I can dance fine and I can also give you a little comedy.
26:09And what I usually do is I'll have a reveal or two or three.
26:12So while the girl is doing the split, which we've seen before,
26:15Didi Fuego is pulling out all the stops elsewhere.
26:18She's a production, honey.
26:19My fan base.
26:21Oof, I have so many tens of them.
26:23Do they have a name?
26:24I don't know, we should come up with one.
26:25Like my Flamers, my Fuegitos, Didi's BB.
26:31I need to work on them.
26:32As soon as I get fans, I'll let you know what they're called.
26:34So far they're called my mom, my dad.
26:38I'll have to find a name for them when there's more than four.
26:40I'm America's next drag superstar because I am Mexican, American, queer,
26:47Middle Eastern, and from New York.
26:49I'm the president's worst nightmare.
26:51And I look like one of his future wives.
26:53But America needs someone like me to bring us together.
26:56To set the record straight.
26:58If you are rooting for me, you are rooting for America.
27:00Crown the Latina!
27:01The corona will be mine.
27:04Mine!
27:05Also, you know, because I have big teeth, a small waist, and small eyes.
27:11So I'm ready to go.
27:13I already have my all-stars teeth, but I'm not planning on going.
27:15I'm going to win this one.
27:16I might have been born just plain white trash, but Fancy was my name.
27:24What is that from?
27:26Fancy by Reba McIntyre.
27:28You've heard that song.
27:30You've heard Reba.
27:31You know her.
27:37Hi, I'm Discord Adams.
27:38I'm from St. Pete, Florida.
27:40See, it's hard to say because I grew up doing drag in Ohio,
27:42and then I moved to Chicago, and then I moved to St. Pete.
27:45So I'm just kind of bringing Discord to the show.
27:48I'm not really bringing like a specific, you know,
27:50city type of representation to the show, I wouldn't say.
27:52I would describe myself as a high-fashion punk rock maximalist.
27:56I want to wear everything.
28:00If you haven't noticed, I always say like,
28:02when I look in the mirror, instead of taking one thing off,
28:04I want to put on two more necklaces and like three more bracelets.
28:07I want it to look like if a Transformer was a church.
28:12Like I'm a church that's on fire, but I'm like a human.
28:14Who's to say?
28:16I would say growing up, there was a really big punk scene where I lived.
28:20So throughout high school and all of that,
28:21I was really involved in going to shows.
28:23In the punk scene, it's all very DIY.
28:25So you're making your jackets, making your clothes.
28:27You can see a lot of the music that I listened to in my drag style.
28:32The Dead Kennedys, Rancid, the Sex Pistols,
28:34a little bit of classic rock, so like Aerosmith.
28:37I channel like a mixture between like Lady Gaga and Mick Jagger.
28:40The first song I ever performed in drag was Teeth by Lady Gaga.
28:43I looked like my makeup was far too pale.
28:47I looked like a zombie Cher stomping around in a bra and panties.
28:52I felt fierce, but like when you look back on it, it's very funny.
28:56I'm just weird.
28:58I can't touch velvet.
28:59If I touch velvet, my fingers cry.
29:02And then I have to like lick them to like reset the feeling.
29:05That way I don't feel the velvet anymore.
29:07It makes my fingers feel like dry,
29:08like it's sucking all the moisture out of them or something.
29:10Similar to like microfiber. I don't want to touch that either.
29:13I don't know. Ask my fingers.
29:14Not me. I would love to be able to put on a velvet dress.
29:17It's just awful.
29:19If I could bring back one trend in drag, it should be makeup.
29:22The girls stopped wearing makeup for a while.
29:24We need more blush, more eyeliner, more lip liner.
29:27Like we're drag queens, like look like a drag queen.
29:31What is trending right now in drag?
29:33I think we're on the right track right now.
29:35I think, oh, but like, I think like if you want to wear nothing,
29:38at least make it look good.
29:39But I hate when the girls just like tie like a shoestring around their nipples.
29:42And they're like, look how fierce I look.
29:43Look how fierce I look.
29:44It's like, no, like, like, put on some stuff.
29:48Will you do your big one this season?
29:50My what?
29:51Will you do your big one?
29:52What's that mean?
29:52Um, okay.
29:56Yeah, I'm absolutely gonna have my big one this season.
29:58I mean, look how fierce I look.
30:00Hello.
30:01I'm America's next drag superstar because I am bringing punk rock to the main stage.
30:06I am bringing a sense of fashion that the girls have not seen before.
30:10And I just want to be an advocate for like the underdog and an advocate for people
30:15who are getting treated poorly in this country.
30:18We need drag queens who are going to say more about what's happening instead of saying less.
30:22Oh yeah, get the fog in there.
30:25Really cover up that skin texture, baby.
30:27Oh yeah, baby.
30:28I want it to look like you're seeing me like you just took a fat vape rip.
30:33That's, that's where I look my best.
30:39Hi, my name is Jane Don't.
30:41I'm 32 and I am from beautiful Seattle, Washington.
30:45What is drag like in Seattle?
30:47Um, really good.
30:49I don't, I feel like we're having like a Seattle moment.
30:51You know, my sisters Bosco and Irene just came through and stormed all stars.
30:55Irene and Bosco are two of my best friends and um, two of my mortal enemies.
31:01Historically, alternative drag is kind of the thing in Seattle.
31:05Like that's, I started as like a real weirdo.
31:06Not like now where I'm a beautiful glamorous woman.
31:08I think I'm, I'm standing in that legacy very strong.
31:11I'm a lawyer by day.
31:12I have a nine to five.
31:14I'm a wife, a mother, a woman of God.
31:16Um, but there is something wrong with me, clearly.
31:21Ah, you know, here's the thing about my drag name.
31:23It's not that fun of a story.
31:24I just used to smoke a lot of weed in college.
31:27I don't do that anymore because I get too scared.
31:29I think legal weed is way too strong.
31:31One time while I was really high, I just thought of the name Jane Don't.
31:33I was like, if I ever do drag, that's the name.
31:36And I literally, I've never thought of like another drag.
31:38Like it, it really, it was that.
31:39That was my great American novel.
31:40It was that, it was a beautiful burst of creativity.
31:43And ever since then, I've been extremely, um, yeah, just, just boring, sort of flat from there.
31:48Never come up with anything else.
31:50What did you think when you first saw Elaine Jane?
31:51I am the first Jane.
31:52She's plain.
31:52I understand that naturally you don't want to call her plain because it's a crazy name,
31:56but that's not my problem.
31:57But also I would get her hate mail online sometimes.
32:00Like people would tag me on tweets and stuff.
32:01And I'm just, you know, I'm at brunch, minding my business.
32:06What kind of drag do I do?
32:08I want to say conceptual, but I feel like when you say you're conceptual,
32:10people just like think you're going to kind of look ugly.
32:13So, uh, just good.
32:15Can I say good?
32:16I do good drag and, and sexy drag.
32:21Hot.
32:22You gotta right now.
32:23What's your signature scent in drag?
32:25Oh my God.
32:26What a good question.
32:27Is this new?
32:28First of all, half these bitches do not have a signature scent.
32:30I think I might have brought the most perfume to the competition.
32:33My signature scent, it's, it's by a, I'm going to be a douchebag again.
32:37Sorry.
32:38It's, uh, it's called Ode Protection.
32:41So the like top notes are really floral.
32:43It's like jasmine.
32:44There's a blood accord, which is like synthetic blood smell, like civet,
32:48or like animalistics in fragrance.
32:49You smell like a really, like a really wealthy.
32:53I bought it for her.
32:54I love fragrance.
32:55I will talk about fragrance.
32:55Like we could do, we could do two hours of that alone.
32:58Will I do my big one this season?
32:59Yeah.
33:00Why not?
33:01That could be fun.
33:02That's like what the kids are saying, right?
33:04They're doing, yeah.
33:05What is, what is, what would be like the definition of doing your big one?
33:08Having an impactful moment.
33:10Oh, I'm going to have several of those.
33:12I am America's Next Drag Superstar because I think that it's time that a nice lady was crowned.
33:20Let's do our big one.
33:22I could put my leg behind my head, but I actually physically just can't show you right now.
33:27I can't show you that I can do that.
33:29Just believe that I can put my leg behind my head.
33:31I can believe that.
33:32You can believe that?
33:33You think I'm flexible?
33:34Oh.
33:39My name is Juicy Love Dion, and I'm from Miami, Florida.
33:44The only special part of Florida.
33:46South Florida, best part of Florida.
33:48And you could tell them I said that.
33:51One of my drag mothers is here.
33:52My drag grandmother.
33:55She hates when I say that, so I won't say it too loud.
33:57My name is Athena Dion.
33:58She is also the mother of Morphine Love Dion, who is also my mother.
34:02The family tree is like all over the place, okay?
34:04It all started back in the day.
34:06I was a senior in high school, and Morphine Love just scooped me up and said,
34:10You're going to be in my next drag number.
34:13Snuck me into the club, and like from that day I was born, and then she introduced me to Athena.
34:17And Athena was like, okay, Morphine.
34:19It's like when someone has a kid too young, and like grandma has to take care,
34:22but then grandma becomes a mama.
34:24Exactly.
34:26I feel like I'm very like Latina.
34:28I give you like all that Latina sexiness, vibe, the beauty, the gorgeous face.
34:33But mix in like a little club kid, androgyny, always playing on that line of like, you know,
34:39abstract, but still and sexy.
34:41I used to be very, very, very, very like punk, always in black latex, red latex.
34:46But now I'm going more like couture.
34:48I want to feel more elegant.
34:50I had someone say to me one time, a gorgeous older Greek man say,
34:53You are not punk.
34:55You are gorgeous.
34:56You are elegant.
34:57And I have had those words in my head forever.
34:59So I'm sticking to it.
35:00I'm sticking to that gorgeous, elegant poise, but with a little twist, you know?
35:09YSL East Saint Laurent Libre.
35:11That is like, that smell is me in drag.
35:18It smells like a princess.
35:20It smells like maybe I was just with my boyfriend and my perfume and his cologne mixed.
35:25Libre is, yeah, it's that girl.
35:30It's that scent.
35:31It smells like me.
35:32Smell Libre and you'll smell juicy.
35:34Okay, what's the strangest thing about this?
35:39Strange?
35:41I don't know.
35:42I don't think I'm strange.
35:43I'm not like Briar.
35:44Briar is very strange.
35:45Briar is a very strange individual.
35:47Okay, clock it.
35:49You'll see.
35:49One time she did come up to me and she goes, smell my finger.
35:53Listen, I had to go.
35:57One trend I would like to get rid of, mono booty.
36:00Yes, you're padded, but if you don't have an ass crack in pads, I'm sorry.
36:03It looks crazy.
36:04It's one butt and you have a g-string on and there's no indentation.
36:08That is criminal.
36:11Baby, I've been doing my big one.
36:14I'll do my big one.
36:14I'll do my big one and then I'll do it again.
36:16I am America's next drag superstar because you've never had a girl this sickening
36:23and gorgeous and stupid and funny and with this much of a lack of references and
36:33this good of a dancer and this Latina and this Cuban before.
36:41My god, I improvised it.
36:42I'm an improv queen, actually.
36:44I'm really good at improv.
36:47I think I have a very good voice.
36:49Like, I have a really good announcer voice.
36:51So I can really project my voice.
36:52Like, are you ready, drag fans?
36:54Let's do this.
36:55I'm doing Meet the Queens here on season 18 of RuPaul's Drag Race.
36:59Tune in only on MTV.
37:02Yeah.
37:03I say that I'm like a Barry White mixed with Lizzo.
37:05I love that.
37:09I am Kenya Pleaser all the way from South Carolina,
37:13bitch.
37:13South Kakalaki, bitch.
37:14They are going to gag to see my ass on this show.
37:18That's that little boy from the church.
37:20That is going to be crazy.
37:21It's going to be crazy.
37:22Hey.
37:24The number one trait from South Carolina that I'm bringing is my humbleness.
37:28Being from the South, bitch, you always have to be humble because that's the only way
37:32you are going to succeed in life.
37:33If you're not humble, bitch, you won't get .
37:35You all what you eat.
37:38And I eat kindness.
37:41The drag that I do is, I'm going to lie, bitch.
37:44I'm going to say it's big, bitch.
37:45I'm big.
37:45No, it's sexy and it can be your auntie at the same time.
37:48Very much that type of tea.
37:49And I like older things like the 80s, 90s, different things like that.
37:53And I love to mix everything into one and cultivate it with old school drag that meets new school.
37:57It's like I'm decorating my jewelry and everything.
37:59And I got my little brothel outfit on, like a little whorehouse in Texas.
38:02But it's still sexy, you know?
38:04Honey, one thing that you can get and bet your bottom dollar, bottom, from Kenya Pleaser is,
38:11bitch, I'm going to kick that mother leg until it touches my forehead, honey.
38:14My leg could go, oh, oh, .
38:17And just imagine a big girl doing that.
38:18It's like a gag.
38:20If someone were to play me in a movie, I want it to be Shirley Ralph.
38:23I don't want them to do CGI like they did Will Smith in that one movie.
38:26I want Shirley Ralph to play me right now.
38:28Singing does not pay the bills.
38:31I want that Shirley Ralph to play me, bitch.
38:33That's from Sister Act.
38:34I know some of you white bitches don't know that.
38:35So Kenya Pleaser is so stupid.
38:37I wanted it to have a pun name because I think it's funny when a really sexy girl has like a
38:40campy name.
38:41So I was like, oh my god, can you feel your beats?
38:43Can you do this?
38:44Can you do that?
38:45Can you do that?
38:45Can you take it?
38:46Can you take her?
38:47And I was like, wait, Pleaser, can you please her?
38:51Kenya Pleaser.
38:52And do you know people don't get my name when they first hear it?
38:55Like, bitch, what?
39:00My big one?
39:01Bitch, I am the big one, honey.
39:03In the words of Mistress Isabel Brooks, do you a big one, twin, bitch?
39:06I think I am.
39:07I really think I'm bringing something to this competition that the world has never seen.
39:11The Pleaser experience.
39:12The Pleaser effect is in full emotion, girl.
39:14I am America's next drag superstar because I represent all those little plus-sized chunky
39:21dark-skinned boys from small country towns that never had a chance to see yourself on television,
39:26honey.
39:26Those boys who you thought you would never leave your hometown.
39:30You will always be a part of your mothers and grandmothers and going to church and doing
39:34and you want to just be fabulous and gay.
39:36I am America's next drag superstar because I represent those people, honey.
39:40I represent the black community.
39:42Every time I cinch my fat ass into this corset, I bat my eyelashes.
39:47It is a political statement.
39:49And that's why me, Kenya Pleaser, should be the next drag superstar.
39:55My signature move.
39:59Um, sometimes I like to do this thing where I lift my leg up and then I get twirl on my foot
40:04and I do a little kick.
40:05It doesn't really look cute right now, but I promise you with legs like these, it will look cute.
40:13My name is Mandy Mango.
40:15I'm the sweetest fruit in Philadelphia.
40:18The drag scene in Philadelphia is very diverse, very eclectic.
40:21We have our teeny boppers.
40:23We have our mama whoppers.
40:25We have some flippity floppers and some daddy toppers.
40:28The mango part is inspired off the carabao, which is the Filipino mango,
40:33which has recently ranked the sweetest mango in the world.
40:36So I think that says a lot about me.
40:38I'm also fruity.
40:39I'm Filipina and I'm not genetically modified.
40:44I'm a first generation Filipino American.
40:46Growing up has always been strange, trying to figure out if I'm Filipino enough,
40:51American enough, or not enough either on top of being queer.
40:55So drag has really guided my journey in understanding my identity.
40:59My biggest drag inspiration, I would say, would be my mom.
41:02My mom was a pageant queen in the Philippines.
41:05She won best evening gown in Miss Baguio, Philippines, 1987.
41:09And I think she should have took the crown, but that's fine.
41:12We'll talk about that another time.
41:13I would say Mandy was born with my first drag show in college.
41:16I performed to Took the Night by Chelly.
41:19She won the show and she clearly took the night.
41:22Ooh, the strangest thing about me.
41:25I don't like to eat oranges and I've never peeled an orange.
41:28Some people don't believe me and they think that's strange.
41:31I have eaten an orange and I didn't really like it.
41:34So then I just stopped trying.
41:37It just looked like a dollar effort anyways.
41:38So I was like, I'm not going to eat that.
41:40I'll stick to my mangoes.
41:41Do you just literally start peeling the skin with your fingers and your nails?
41:45Do you need to have nails to do this?
41:46I can't do anything with these.
41:49I can't type on my phone.
41:50I can't wipe my butt.
41:52It looks really pretty, I know, but there's things I need to do.
41:55And I'm a woman who likes to do a lot of things.
41:57So nails sometimes get in the way.
41:58I also work as a registered nurse in HIV and sexual health.
42:02I can do vena punctures.
42:04I can do liver elastography.
42:06I can do head to toe assessments.
42:07I can do subcutaneous intramuscular injections, subdermal vaccines.
42:14I have a lot of talents and skills, some might say.
42:20Oh, you want to see my big one?
42:22You want to see the big one?
42:23What other opportunity than to bring the big one for season 18 of RuPaul's Drag Race, okay?
42:29I am America's next drag superstar because I'm sweet, I'm smart, I'm sexy, and I'm credentialed.
42:36I might be a part-time entertainer, but I'm a full-time drag queen.
42:41And if you think that the responsibility of a drag queen ends at the four walls of a venue,
42:46then you are mistaken.
42:47I make sure that I advocate for my community in and out of a show, in and out of the clinic,
42:52because as crew people, we have lives that we celebrate, lives that we get sad about,
42:57lives that we laugh about.
42:59And I want to take care of that for our community.
43:04Every time I could get into drag, I am my mother.
43:07I look at the mirror, I'm like, oh, I'm my mom.
43:09It's so funny.
43:10And the older that I'm getting, I'm acting like her a lot more as well.
43:15It pisses me off.
43:20My name is Mia Starr, and I am from West Palm Beach, Florida.
43:26I bring choreography.
43:29I am a dancer queen, hip-hop dancer queen.
43:33That is me.
43:34Not so much on the technicality side, not the ballet stuff.
43:37Like real hood hip-hop stuff.
43:39That's real stuff.
43:40My style is very urban.
43:42It's very slutty.
43:45I'm a whore.
43:47I love to sing.
43:48I am a singer first.
43:50Like, I did do a gospel album back in 2018.
43:54I released it.
43:55It's, yeah, I love singing.
43:57I don't do it as often now, but that's like where my heart and soul is.
44:02That's my first love.
44:05To be honest, I started in 2008, and I took a 14 and a half year break.
44:11I moved to Los Angeles to pursue dancing.
44:14I was able to perform and go on world tours with Britney Spears for her Vegas residency.
44:19Paulina Rubio.
44:20I've been on tour with Rihanna, her loud tour in 2011.
44:24I'm showing my age.
44:25I've been on tour with Camila Cabello.
44:27I'm actually the lead dancer in her Havana video.
44:31So I'm like the Mr. Havana himself.
44:37Spoiler alert.
44:39We're a woman now.
44:42Whoa.
44:43So, yes, it's changed so much, but it's really cool to be able to come back with all
44:48the knowledge that I've learned from the greatest of the greats and now apply that to myself.
44:54I think what's going to help me the most is just being myself.
44:57I can't, you know, look to the left and right and be like, well, damn, I don't have that.
45:00Not to say I don't do it, but I, you know, I try not to do it as often as I see
45:06Athena Dion do it.
45:09The strangest thing about me is I curl my toes when I sleep.
45:14My boyfriend just told me that.
45:16I don't know why, but I crunch my toes all the time.
45:20He's like, stop crunching your toes.
45:22My signature scent in drag is a body mist from Bath & Body Works.
45:27You could get three for three.
45:28It is amazing.
45:30Listen, I know girls, they make fun of me.
45:33But anytime I walk into a room, people, uh, they give me compliments about it.
45:36It's called something gorgeous, like ding, dingham gorgeous, something.
45:41I don't know.
45:43Look, I just look for the three for threes.
45:45I am going to do my big one this season.
45:48No matter who is in my way, y'all gotta go.
45:51I am America's next drag superstar because I am a bad bitch.
45:56Okay.
45:59Oh, who is my biggest inspiration?
46:01I do think Sasha Colby is a really big inspiration.
46:04I mean, to me, she's drag excellence.
46:06And Spongebob.
46:14Hi, I'm Mikey Meeks and I'm from the city, beautiful Orlando, Florida.
46:19My keys.
46:20Get it?
46:21My keys.
46:23Okay.
46:24Highbrow comedy here.
46:26The doors I've opened.
46:29Please take these cat toys out of my hand.
46:31Mikey is my real name.
46:32I just spell it more androgynous.
46:34And I thought I spelled it phonetically because I spell it the normal way out of drag.
46:37In drag, it's M-Y-K-I, but people still don't know how to say it.
46:41But it's Mikey, right?
46:42Not Mickey, not Meeky.
46:43And then Meeks is a nickname that my best friends gave me.
46:45So it's two of my own nicknames put together.
46:47Mikey Meeks, honey.
46:48My full legal drag name is Dr. Michaela Meekerson.
46:53MD.
46:55And the MD stands for mental disorder.
46:56I think of myself as a dynamic theatrical powerhouse.
47:04I do a little bit of everything.
47:05Theater is my upbringing.
47:07I call myself a recovering theater girl because that trauma is in the past.
47:10But I love going for old Hollywood glamour mixed with a little bit of party girl.
47:14So I'm a cross between Ava Gardner and Charlie X Enix.
47:19I think my gut instinct will help me the most.
47:23It's got me this far.
47:24I've always kind of had my eyes on the goal and I get what I want.
47:27And that's not me being cocky.
47:29That's just I know what I can do and I know what I'm worth.
47:32So I just got to keep that and listen to it.
47:34Hidden talents.
47:36No, I'm very obnoxious and I show all my talents.
47:38But I'm very good at Super Smash Brothers.
47:40Is that a hidden talent?
47:41What's the strangest thing about you?
47:45Ooh, I tend to like...
47:48The queens call it powering down.
47:50So like when I'm overstimulated or I'm just like deep in thought,
47:53I look like someone hit my off switch.
47:55I'm just like...
47:58The girls will be like, oh, Mikey's down.
47:59Mikey, power up.
48:00You're powering down.
48:00Power back up.
48:01Power back up.
48:01I think we all suffer from drag delusion.
48:04I think drag delusion is a spectrum and we're all on that spectrum.
48:07Okay, because I'm sure I'm going to look back a year from now and be like,
48:09oops, that's a boot.
48:10Like that's, that's a miss.
48:11I missed something there.
48:12But as for my confidence, no.
48:17But as for my aesthetic, probably.
48:19Will you do your big one this season?
48:21Oh my...
48:24Mistress Isabel Brooks write this question.
48:27Am I going to do my big one this season?
48:28Of course.
48:30I'm looking for a big one after this.
48:32Do your big one, honey.
48:33I am America's next drag superstar because I know my star potential
48:39is ready for that next level.
48:41I have a whole city of people chanting my name.
48:44I hope to make them proud and hopefully a whole new legion of people to impress as well.
48:55Honestly, I know everything about me and there's nothing else you can tell me.
48:58I'm not delusional.
48:59I'm trying to be more delusional.
49:01I'm trying to be like, no, I am the greatest thing.
49:04You can't tell me anything.
49:06To me, what was the question?
49:14Hi, my name is Nene Coco.
49:16I am 29 and I am from Denver, Colorado.
49:19So Nene Coco is not a complicated name at all.
49:22It comes from my out of drag name.
49:24My out of drag name is Nico Nene Coco.
49:28It was very simple.
49:29I feel like my drag is an extension of my out of drag self.
49:32It's not this completely different persona.
49:34So it feels really close to who I am and who I've always been.
49:36I love super sharp, super colorful, very bold silhouettes.
49:41Everything that I wear has to be sparkling and shining.
49:44That is my drag queen must have is a rhinestone.
49:47I love drag that catches the light, gets your attention from the back of the room.
49:51So it's striking.
49:52It's graphic lines.
49:53It's kind of this 2D illustration just brought to life.
49:57The first song I ever performed was Aura by Lady Gaga.
50:00I was feeling the fantasy.
50:02I felt so fierce.
50:03I auditioned for this competition with that Lady Gaga song.
50:05And three months later, I won the whole thing.
50:08I killed it.
50:09I made all these other bitches mad.
50:11And I had been incubating in the bedroom a little bit before that.
50:13So performing on a stage, two and a half years.
50:16But experimenting with makeup and learning to sew,
50:18I started doing earlier in the pandemic.
50:20But, you know, how long you've been in drag is no measure of the talent,
50:25skill and things that you can do.
50:27So, you know, when I was in elementary school,
50:31I was the fastest cup stacker in the entire elementary school.
50:35Do you know about cup stacking?
50:36The 3-6-3, the 6-6, the 1-10-1, the full cycle?
50:39Girl, I won a little thing of cups at my elementary school for being the fastest in the fourth grade.
50:44And then I won another thing of cups for being the fastest in the entire elementary school.
50:48None of these bitches stand a chance when I get my hands on some cups.
50:52Okay. Oh, that's my hidden talent for sure.
50:56Up until the day I walked into this place, I was a mechanical engineer.
51:00That was my thing.
51:02I went to college for engineering, got a job.
51:05Super exciting, super inspiring.
51:08Secret Smartie.
51:09Girl, honestly, I hope I don't have a signature.
51:11I hope I don't smell like anything.
51:13My signature scent is no scent at all.
51:15You don't need to smell a thing when I walk by.
51:17You don't need to smell me.
51:18You can see me.
51:19You can touch me.
51:20Don't smell me.
51:21That is not part of my flavor profile of drag.
51:24You don't need to smell.
51:25Will you do your big one this season?
51:28Oh, yeah.
51:29I am squatting on these bitches.
51:32I am on these bitches.
51:34It's going to stink and they're going to hate it.
51:36It's going to smell like so nothing that it's going to stink.
51:39They won't even see it, but I'll be on them.
51:42I am America's Next Drag Superstar because I am a powerhouse.
51:47When I hit the stage, I am a maker and a creative.
51:50Like, I figure out how to do anything and create anything.
51:52If I have a vision, we're bringing that vision to life one way or another.
51:55I'm America's Next Drag Superstar because you can't spell my name without icon icon.
51:59It is written in the name, written in the stars.
52:02Patty.
52:07I'm not seeing it enough, mama, honey.
52:08Baby, you can put a little bloop bloop.
52:10You can put a little something in there.
52:11I'll feel you out.
52:12You know, you imagine how surprised and how sexy you feel.
52:17My drag name is Vita Von T. Star and I'm from Montgomery, Alabama.
52:23Oh, my God.
52:24Montgomery, Alabama, very small city, a red state.
52:28So not a lot going on.
52:29There isn't a drag scene, really.
52:31Yeah, I am the drag scene.
52:34My style is very feminine, but I like masculine traits as well.
52:38I love to show femininity, but still showing power.
52:42A little bit of both.
52:43I would have to say a trait that I bring into my drag is tradition.
52:47I'm very old school.
52:48I like powerful drag.
52:49I like meaningful drag.
52:51I like for my drag to tell a story.
52:54I think what will help me the most in this competition is my skills that I possess outside of
52:59drag, which is designing and sewing.
53:02We're pushing for Miss Congeniality.
53:04I am a helpful queen.
53:05I am a drag queen's drag queen.
53:06Baby, listen, I can't do the stunts and the tricks and the flips and the dips and the splits.
53:12I can't do that anymore.
53:15But I'm going to try to be so captivating on stage because I feel like that's the essence that,
53:20you know, we don't glorify.
53:22But I feel like being captivating is an essence that I would try to use to my advantage.
53:27Bring the people to you.
53:29Well, my names come from the movie To Wong Fu.
53:33I was about eight years old when that movie came out.
53:35And I didn't know what was really happening.
53:38I just know that I was so drawn to the character Vita Boheme of the Manhattan Bohems.
53:43And so I wanted to capture Vita, Vita Von Teese and Diane Carroll all together.
53:49And those women just collectively possess different traits that makes up me.
53:55What's the strangest thing about you?
53:58Coming from a little emo gothic kid.
54:01Oh, I shouldn't say that.
54:03That's a bit embarrassing.
54:05Definitely all black.
54:07Piercings in my ear.
54:08I had contacts called iguana, which were like red and yellow.
54:13I dyed my hair green, blue, red chains everywhere.
54:17I wore handcuffs.
54:18My nails were black.
54:19Fishnet shirts.
54:21Yeah, baby, I did it.
54:22And it still lives in me, but hey.
54:28I will do my big one.
54:30Yes, yes, kind of.
54:33Maybe, sort of, a little, but a lot.
54:38Just enough.
54:40Maybe not enough, but yes.
54:41I am America's next drag superstar because I know my, I know who I am.
54:51I know my superpower in drag.
54:53I know what I could bring.
54:55I just have all of the things.
54:57I'm cultured.
54:58I'm experienced.
55:00Yeah, I am all of the things.
55:01In shady times, let there be light and let there be drag.
55:16This season, 14 new queens will be the light the world needs right now, more than ever.
55:22Wake up, sugar baby, it's the lady boss who paved the way for all the hungry children to get paid on television.
55:29Wake up, sugar baby, it's the lady boss who paved the way for all the hungry children to get paid on television.
55:35Wake up, sugar baby, it's the lady boss who paved the way for all the hungry children to get paid on television.
55:42Don't be afraid to light up the stage, darling.
55:51Find your light.
56:06The crown is for the taking.
56:11They all sparkle, but food will shine the brightest.
56:16Ready, set, glow.
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