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Get ready for some serious shade! Join us as we look at times queens on RuPaul's Drag Race pushed the boundaries of fair play. From design challenge rule breaks to unsportsmanlike conduct and even full-blown sabotage, the competition can get fierce, and sometimes, a little dirty. See which iconic moments had judges and fans alike gasping as these queens navigated the fine line between strategy and outright bending (or breaking!) the rules.
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00:00Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're exploring the times when queens on RuPaul's Drag Race broke
00:10all the rules, and not in a good way. Cheating here could mean an official rule break that
00:15resulted in punishment, or the Drag Race version of unsportsmanlike conduct.
00:19Well, since Jules wants to play the game, let me play too.
00:27Corazon, Drag Race Philippines
00:28Design challenges tend to throw many queens for a loop. That is exactly why we love watching them.
00:46When Drag Race Philippines Season 1 contestant Corazon walked the runway in a dress she brought
00:51from home, it was a clear violation.
00:53Sobrang nakakabagets yung outfit ko, like sobrang colorful, sobrang masaya. I have some flowers
00:59on my back, I have some ribbons. Sobrang happy ko habang naglalakad ko, feeling ko bata ako.
01:05Host Jigli Caliente did not mince words on this rule break. She was offended on two fronts. Not only
01:11did Corazon not make the garment, Jigli was appalled that it was clearly an Herve Leger
01:16knockoff. Corazon admitted the rule break immediately.
01:19As a contestant, you know that you're only supposed to use undergarments. Technically,
01:24Daya and Dresna, if you didn't make it here, unless it's your undergarment, I have to take
01:32that into consideration, judging you.
01:35It landed her in the bottom two, and she became the second queen to leave the season.
01:40Raja, RuPaul's Drag Race
01:41Fans believe Season 3 to be one of the most difficult challenges in the show's history.
01:46A lot of that had to do with the multiple design challenges, including the iconic hairball,
01:51where the queens were challenged to construct entire garments out of wigs.
01:55No fabric was allowed.
01:57Ru wants to see something that's just gonna wow him and, you know, take him to another,
02:02like, another realm, really. And I definitely feel a lot of pressure. I am about to lose my mind.
02:09Yara Sofia and Shangela spent the untucked getting to the bottom of Raja's skirt.
02:12Yara insists it's tulle fabric and not wig lace, as Raja told the judges.
02:18That's a tulle fabric. Everybody saw it.
02:21Of course you have a wonderful shape. Of course it's tulle.
02:25Shangela couldn't let it go. She interrogated Raja as soon as she came into the room.
02:30Turns out Raja actually did use tulle, a fabric, on the look that was supposed to be entirely made of wigs.
02:36Miss Raja admits that she did use fabric on her dress.
02:41Boo! I am not the fool!
02:44Let no one ever think that I don't see every trick in the book that these girls have coming.
02:48Mimi I'm First
02:49RuPaul's Drag Race
02:51Like any sport, drag race has its own set of rules, even if they go unspoken.
02:56When two queens are in the bottom two, lip-syncing for their lives, they have to pull focus.
03:01Don't leave me this way
03:04I can't survive
03:07I can't stay alive
03:10There's a long and hilarious tradition of queens pulling focus from their fellow bottom queens.
03:15Unwanted physical contact feels like a huge no-no.
03:19When Mimi I'm First picked up India Farrah and literally carried her back to the stage, it was a huge moment.
03:25What the hell is she thinking? You can't be lifting up drag queens.
03:28I was honestly scared and all I could do was scream.
03:32Get her out of me!
03:34Not only was it disrespectful, it also effectively made her competitor unable to perform the challenge.
03:40It was sabotage through and through.
03:42Me I'm First
03:43Drag is not a contact sport.
03:49Gabbana and Star
03:50Drag Race Belgique
03:51The Belgian spin-off isn't particularly well-regarded among fans.
04:04Its second season's most famous moment was a brief incident of cheating caught on tape.
04:09Season 2 contestants Star and Gabbana decided to go through the judges' notes while they were away from their desk.
04:15The moment they realized the camera is still recording is hilarious.
04:18It's come to my attention that some of you have taken care of the jury's absence to read our notes.
04:25Wait, wait, wait, wait.
04:28For the competition itself, it feels like a non-event.
04:32Host Rita Baga just warns everyone that a repeat offense will lead to disqualification.
04:36If we take you again once again, you're disqualified automatically.
04:41No, but seriously, are you crazy or what?
04:43Are I clear?
04:44Clear.
04:45The fraudsters are not our friends.
04:47As far as cheating goes, this one is so blatant, it's actually kind of impressive.
04:52Hormona Lisa
04:53RuPaul's Drag Race
04:55The queens of Season 17 of the flagship franchise were fiercely competitive.
05:00Lexi Love and Hormona Lisa had some behind-the-scenes drama involving Hormona's look for the challenge.
05:04I have been designing sewing for a lot of my life.
05:07I used to do costumes for theater.
05:10So my goal is to win this week and prove that I am worthy of being saved.
05:16The prompt called for only materials in the workroom to be used when constructing their garments.
05:21Hormona had covered her dress with her own rhinestones.
05:24Lexi called it out, leaving Hormona to spend much of the morning painstakingly pulling her own rhinestones off her dress.
05:31This morning, I arrived with a beautiful, finished gown.
05:35But after Lexi calls it out, I am ultimately told that I cannot have any of my own stones on my gown.
05:42She was salty about it, and Lexi seemed awfully satisfied with herself.
05:46Suffice it to say, she probably didn't call it out just because she's such a rule follower.
05:51It's not personal, it's just drag.
05:55Hormona Lisa absolutely broke the rule.
05:58Arrietty
05:58RuPaul's Drag Race
05:59She saw an opportunity to actually tell a joke and become a villain, and she took it.
06:05As in, she literally took two of Jules Sparkle's jokes.
06:09Since Jules wants to play the game, let me play two.
06:15So I'm taking a few of her jokes.
06:18How fun.
06:19Arrietty fully confessed.
06:21She even gloated about throwing Jules off her game.
06:24To be fair, it was the villain's roast, and Arrietty was bombing hard.
06:28I'm not going to make a fat joke about Mistress, because Mistress is already a fat joke.
06:34Oh my god, she stole my jokes.
06:39While we're not totally sure if plagiarism is actually covered in the Drag Race handbook,
06:44it's absolutely a potential career ender in the professional world.
06:47Meanwhile, earlier in the same season, it was revealed that Arrietty and Anya Nerve spray-painted
06:52one of Lexi Love's ball looks, though they claimed it was accidental.
06:56I will say, I accidentally sprayed blue, and I apologize.
07:00I did not know that it was your outfit.
07:03It was just right here, and I didn't know.
07:05I apologize.
07:06I'm so sorry.
07:07Gottmik, RuPaul's Drag Race All-Stars
07:09During the ninth edition of All-Stars, fan-favorite Gottmik killed it during the season's roast.
07:15And Jerry, you look really scared right now, but do not worry, girl.
07:20I am not going to stand up here and badmouth you, because clearly God already has.
07:24But as good as her jokes were, they sounded a little familiar.
07:28It turns out she had cribbed and reworked some jokes by stand-up comedian Nikki Glaser.
07:33Jewel, I do not want to badmouth you since God already did.
07:38No.
07:39But this wasn't a simple case of coincidence.
07:42Gottmik admitted she rewrote Glaser's jokes,
07:44and even hinted that she wasn't the only plagiarist on the show.
07:47She was just the one who got caught and admitted it.
07:50If plagiarism isn't technically against the rules,
07:53it is wild that Drag Race wouldn't at least consider the potential legal headaches reason enough to forbid it.
07:59Next up, we have Nina West.
08:01And girl, for real, your run in hairspray was truly the best you could do.
08:07Miss Kim Hwe, Drag Race Thailand.
08:09In the Thai franchise, rule-breaking is taken very seriously.
08:13Season 2's Miss Kim Hwe found that out the hard way.
08:16In episode 6, it was revealed that she broke a rule regarding bringing new or found items into the workroom for a runway design.
08:23The offending item was the scooter she used in her presentation for the previous week's Hollywood-themed runway.
08:29When Mocha Diva was eliminated, she decided to air her competitor's cheating as a parting gift.
08:34In your costume is not allowed.
08:38And with that wing of scooter, that's the last episode.
08:42From Team Boy, there's no scooter in this room from the very start.
08:45It did not go over well for either of them.
08:48Mocha got dressed down by host Pangina Heels, but ultimately, she was right.
08:53Kim Hwe broke the rules.
08:54She gracefully accepted her disqualification.
08:56The Dutch franchise's second season was controversial for a few reasons.
09:18The elimination of fan-favorite Kedeminaj was bad enough.
09:22But Vivaldi's season-long rule-breaking didn't endear viewers either.
09:25Halfway through the season, it was revealed that Vivaldi had a secret cell phone with her.
09:30But that wasn't all.
09:41She used it to arrange for runway looks to be delivered to the set.
09:45These are both a clear violation of the drag race rules.
09:48It led to an all-out argument between Vivaldi and castmate Vanessa Van Cartier.
09:52Ultimately, and controversially, Vivaldi was not disqualified from the competition.
10:05It has come to my attention.
10:35She is the blueprint for Drag Race rule-breaking.
10:50Willem only showed up to stir the pot and make a name for herself.
10:53She did both.
10:55Her shock elimination was handled awkwardly on the show.
10:58The official story was that her husband visited her at her hotel while the show was filming,
11:02breaking the rule of no outside contact.
11:04In other words, you were receiving conjugal visits from your husband,
11:08and unfortunately, that was a violation of the rules.
11:11Visiting makes it sound like we were visiting, and there was no talking.
11:15But there was way more to it than that.
11:17Her cheating wasn't a one-time event.
11:19It was a build-up of multiple offenses.
11:22Willem has since detailed her unrepentant flouting of rules,
11:26including leaving the hotel the queens are sequestered in,
11:29calling out unfair treatment from the production team,
11:31and stealing from set.
11:33Oh, the conjugal was the story that we all decided to go with.
11:37Yeah, and it was easy, and it was true.
11:39Yeah.
11:39Where do you stand on rule-breaking in the Drag Race franchise?
11:43Tell us in the comments.
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