- 4 hours ago
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:09This is too much.
00:11This is too much.
00:14Hi, I'm Jason.
00:15I'm Brian.
00:16And welcome back to Workroom Weekly, episode nine.
00:21Season 18, episode nine.
00:23Oh my goodness.
00:24This might have been the best episode of the season yet.
00:27Just pure entertainment value.
00:29I felt like I bought my Broadway ticket and I got my money's worth.
00:33Yeah.
00:34A lot of girls really shined this episode, which is really good to see.
00:37So this was following Mia's elimination, which you said you were at a gay bar and watched
00:43this episode.
00:44And you said the crowd was shooketh when they saw this happen.
00:54Yes, I watched it live and I was at Exley in Williamsburg.
00:59And people were surprised it wasn't Kenya.
01:02Yeah.
01:02There was a little bit of a gasp slash groan.
01:05Yeah.
01:06I hope Kenya is feeling the love though, because she's such a great queen and thank God they
01:11kept her for this week.
01:12I know.
01:14There's some producer pulling the strings, knowing that the Rusical had a part that was
01:18made for Kenya.
01:20Like, that's what happened.
01:21Yeah, I'm so grateful for it.
01:23It was so much fun.
01:25So, yeah, Mia goes home.
01:27Obviously, like we said last week, part of the Florida alliance is slowly breaking off.
01:33You know, obviously, Juicy and Athena were very close to Mia.
01:36Kenya was a good friend of Mia's.
01:38So, the energy is definitely being felt with her absence.
01:43She was thrown to the gators.
01:44Yeah, she was for lunch.
01:47And I think they go back to the workroom and they talked a little bit about, I guess,
01:51Rue asked Juicy.
01:53She's like, okay, we're eight episodes in at this point.
01:57Who are you?
01:58Like, who are you as a queen?
02:00Which is a very dreaded question no one wants to get.
02:04Obviously, you know, we know she's an incredible dancer.
02:07She's got this really spunky personality.
02:09But there are moments where Juicy has kind of fallen throughout these past few episodes.
02:15What was your kind of thoughts seeing this from Rue?
02:18I love it when Rue Paul brings the therapy session.
02:20It's like free of charge.
02:22Like, who are you?
02:23Existentially, like, what are you doing on this planet?
02:26You know?
02:26And it's really tough to hear because what we've also seen the other side of it is that drag queens
02:31come in with,
02:31like, a prepackaged catchphrase.
02:33They're like, my entire thing is yellow.
02:36Like, whatever it is.
02:37And, you know, Juicy didn't do that.
02:39But I feel like I know who Juicy is, you know?
02:41She's a spunky, you know, fun dancer.
02:44And, you know, I think we're just, at this point in the competition, we're getting nitpicky.
02:49Yeah, yeah.
02:50How do you feel about it?
02:52Who are you?
02:53Who are you?
02:54It's like, girl, yeah, make me reflect internally.
02:57Like you said, I think Juicy, from the Meet the Queens, I knew who she was.
03:02And I think she's lived up to that expectation.
03:05Did I think she was going to be an incredible seamstress, an incredible actress, an incredible singer?
03:10No, no, no.
03:11And she's lived up to that expectation.
03:13But we knew she was going to come in.
03:15She was going to bring the energy.
03:16She was going to bring the performances, the dancing.
03:18And she's done that.
03:19I also think her runway looks have been gorgeous.
03:22Yeah, she's done some amazing outfits, too.
03:24She paid to create these looks, you know, it was worth every cent.
03:28Yeah, to get that question in that Celia Cruz outfit, I'm like, babe, she's delivering.
03:32She's delivering.
03:32So, I don't know.
03:33And I think that just got Juicy into her head going into this episode.
03:37But, like we said, the win distribution is interesting.
03:42So, Juicy is one of the two queens who has two wins, her and Nene.
03:46And then you've got Mikey, Athena, and Jane, who have one win.
03:50And then you've still got the no-win trio of Darlene Discord in Kenya.
03:55Justice for Darlene.
03:56I know.
03:57This doesn't feel right.
03:58We've had such a great Darlene season.
04:00Yeah.
04:00And did not have a win in there.
04:01But I can, like, close my eyes and I see Darlene's beaming smile and goofiness.
04:05And I just love it.
04:07I know.
04:07As long as she's still along for the ride, I'm okay with it.
04:10But, yeah, so that's where we're kind of at going into this episode.
04:14So, we get a mini challenge this episode with our good friends over at Grindr.
04:19The challenge is called Grindr.
04:22I hardly know her.
04:24It's essentially where the girls are going to have to be answering most likely questions.
04:29And then the queens vote.
04:31And then whoever matches the majority of the vote gets a point.
04:34We get some yellow briefs.
04:36Some yellow Grindr briefs on the pit crew this week.
04:39I know.
04:40You get a little bit more, you know, bulge action.
04:43Still not what I want.
04:44Still not up to standard.
04:45There's something Grindr.
04:47I know you've got headquarters in New York.
04:49Like, come in.
04:49Let's talk about these Speedos.
04:52You are a gay dating app.
04:54Yeah.
04:54Let's get a little more scandalous on it.
04:56That's my big takeaway from this.
04:58I mean, it was all in good fun, this challenge.
05:01Athena got dragged.
05:02Athena did get dragged.
05:03It was the Athena drag fest for the first half.
05:06They were asking her, saying, who would lie about their age?
05:10Who would hook up and drag?
05:11Who would lie and say she's verse?
05:13Athena, Athena, Athena.
05:15Athena is the catfish of the season.
05:17Yeah, quite literally.
05:18But I think the big question at the end was, you know, everyone had to answer who they think
05:23was going to go home next.
05:24And pretty much everyone voted Kenya, including Kenya herself.
05:29And then there was two votes for Discord.
05:32Obviously, these are the two queens who have no wins.
05:35And Kenya also lip synced for her life the previous week.
05:38So I think that's also, it's not shady because it's also accurate to what just happened.
05:43Recency bias.
05:44You know, people are just thinking about what's been performed recently.
05:47So that was the mini challenge.
05:49And then going into our maxi challenge, obviously this week was the Rusical.
05:53So exciting.
05:55Fanny.
05:55Fanny the hard knock ball.
05:58Play on our good, beloved musical Annie.
06:01But, you know, we get a little bit of Paris is Burning.
06:04We get a little bit of Cat's the Jellicle Ball.
06:06Yes.
06:06You know, legendary homages.
06:08I love it.
06:09I'm so into it.
06:11So I was very excited going into this challenge.
06:13Oh, this was, I'm going to say it, the best just script, concept, music of a Rusical that
06:21we've seen on all drag franchises.
06:23Really?
06:24I think it was just, you could lift it and put it on stage.
06:28Yeah.
06:28I mean, we've had some great, you know, I thought the Peter Pan one was fun.
06:31Like, we've had some really fun ones, like in recent memory, but this was so good.
06:36Yeah.
06:37Yeah.
06:37The New York Times would give this a five-star review.
06:40Thumbs up, baby.
06:40Um, I, like you said, there was so many parts that felt almost perfect for each of these
06:46girls.
06:47You know, you had Athena taking on a mother figure.
06:50You had Kenya doing this incredible MC.
06:52You had Jane doing this, like, vaudevillian character.
06:55Yeah, Carol Burnett sent up.
06:57You had Darlene paying a dog.
06:58So, you know, everyone had a role that was almost specifically written for them, which was
07:03really fun.
07:04And Mikey f***ing Meeks.
07:06I know, I know.
07:07We'll get into it.
07:07Oh my God.
07:08We'll get into it.
07:08But, um, but the one, the one, uh, kind of dis, uh, the one dispute we had from it
07:14was between Mikey and NeNe in terms of who was going to play Fanny, the titular character.
07:21Um, and...
07:22You just wanted to say titular.
07:23You know, maybe.
07:25Um, and the girls kind of go back and forth.
07:28And at one point, Mikey is like, I'll give it to you.
07:32And NeNe then is like, no, actually, maybe I'll, I won't take it.
07:37And she, she's kind of, she's, she's done this before.
07:39They, you know, referenced it when they were in the girl group, or in the, in the talent
07:42show.
07:43Uh, sometimes NeNe kind of second guesses herself and then she gets kind of frantic and
07:47it's just like, no, you're great at what you do.
07:50Just do it.
07:51And if someone wants to give it to you and you want it, take it.
07:53Also, NeNe was the one with laryngitis just a few weeks ago.
07:58Yeah.
07:58Yeah.
07:58She was the one sipping hot tea.
08:00Couldn't get a single verse out.
08:01I don't, I think she started to, when it was offered to her, I think she went, oh no, I'm
08:07being sabotaged.
08:08Yeah.
08:08I'm not as good of a singer as I think.
08:10And they even auditioned for it and, you know, did the voice and Mikey had more of a, uh,
08:14believable voice according to Jane.
08:16Yeah.
08:17Yeah.
08:17Yeah.
08:17And then, yeah, Mikey crushed it.
08:19Speaking of the, the voice.
08:21So we go into the recording session and that's kind of when we start to hear the girls who
08:25are really excelling, you know, Kenya is crushing it.
08:28Jane is crushing it.
08:29Mikey is crushing it.
08:31Oh my God.
08:33And then you've got Athena who is giving her Horton hears a who, Lorax, cat in the hat,
08:40ass voice.
08:41Um, I don't know, you know.
08:44It's not her strength.
08:45I think this is just, you know, they kept saying Dr. Seuss.
08:48Yeah.
08:50And it's not good.
08:51I know.
08:52I know.
08:52And then we go into choreography and Athena is still kind of on the struggle bus.
08:58I'd like to hear Athena just sing a song that we all know, like, oops, I did it again.
09:02She'd be like, oops, I did it again.
09:04I played with your heart.
09:05Yeah.
09:06Yeah.
09:06It's like, where are we going?
09:07Yeah.
09:08Uh, yeah.
09:10And then you've got like Nene and Discord.
09:11They're doing the running man in the choreography.
09:14Um, so I didn't know where we were going to go into the final cut with these rehearsals.
09:19Um, but it absolutely delivered.
09:22So when we're talking about the actual musical, who were your standout performances?
09:27I mean, I loved obviously Mikey, but to me, Jane would have gotten the Tony nomination.
09:34Yeah.
09:34You know, Mikey just really crushed it.
09:36And she did, as they, as the judges said, she did the most.
09:40Yeah.
09:40She did the most.
09:41She had the most songs.
09:41She carried the show.
09:43But boy, oh boy, Jane don't.
09:45Jane did.
09:46Oh.
09:47Do you think she gets exhausted by consistently whooping everyone's ass every week?
09:52Like, they said, eight weeks in a row you've been in the top.
09:55It's like, the girl has to go see a chiropractor for carrying the season on her back.
09:59Like, that's insane.
10:01This was Jinx Monsoon level talent, you know, just next level.
10:06Yeah.
10:07It's truly wild.
10:08And, you know, she's, like I said, it was a character that felt like it was written for her.
10:13She's so natural.
10:15She's doing physical comedy.
10:17She's doing different voices.
10:18She's playing drunk, but not in that annoying way that we've all seen in every high school production of Guys
10:23and Dolls, you know?
10:25Yeah.
10:25Like, she's just crushing it.
10:27Yeah, absolutely.
10:28And like you said, Mikey completely exceeded my expectations.
10:32I mean, this voice is so incredible.
10:37And just, like, physically, she was such an adorable Annie.
10:40Like, I think just her presence on stage, like, I'm so glad she got to play this role.
10:44And we mentioned it before, but we got to give props to Kenya.
10:47I mean, Kenya in this MC role.
10:51I mean, Kenya's voice is meant to be on a ballroom track.
10:54I hope she releases something after the season on finale night.
10:59Like, we need a track on iTunes.
11:03The category is.
11:04Yes, yes.
11:04Yeah.
11:05I mean, she's giving, you know.
11:06Billy Porter, watch her back.
11:07It was so incredible.
11:09Like, and just seeing her dancing.
11:11And she just was fully feeling herself.
11:14And I'm so glad this happened after what had happened before.
11:18And, you know, after everyone's saying she needs to be the one that goes home.
11:20Who else could have done this role?
11:21No one could have done this role.
11:23In this cast?
11:23No one.
11:24No one.
11:25You know, and I think, I think there was some, you know, I think she was saved for a reason.
11:30And thank God.
11:30Yeah.
11:31It was just so special.
11:32So I hope Kenya is feeling it.
11:34And she is, you know, going to carry this energy into episodes to come because it was just fantastic.
11:40What a blast.
11:41So then we go into the runway for this week.
11:44Theme is beige against the machine.
11:47I mean, I mean, I got to say, just off the top, this was an absolutely stunning presentation.
11:54As a cast, as a collective, this was breathtaking.
11:59Everyone looked great.
12:00Everyone looked incredible.
12:02Kenya looked beautiful.
12:03Yes.
12:03Everyone looked amazing.
12:05Who are your favorites?
12:07My favorite, Darlene.
12:08Yeah.
12:08Oh my gosh.
12:09There was this cool structural, you know, color block, but it's beige.
12:14I mean, I just, Darlene's been killing it.
12:17And this was my favorite look.
12:18What about you?
12:19She, she looked like a fashion illustration come to life.
12:22Like we use that phrase so often, but it's like the shapes and the proportions just were so whimsical.
12:28Darlene is what?
12:29Six, seven.
12:30Yeah.
12:30So tall.
12:31Yeah.
12:31And so the shoulder pads and everything just looks so cool.
12:33It's just so amazing.
12:34Her makeup.
12:35I loved the like pencil thin eyebrows, the latex gloves, just the details were so fantastic.
12:41Um, she, she is so, no one is doing it like her.
12:46No one is doing it like her.
12:47I mean, there were so many people that I loved in this category.
12:50I mean, I got to give flowers to Juicy.
12:51This, uh, material on this dress.
12:54I know they were calling her like a jellyfish.
12:56It was giving like a betta fish almost, you know, just the, the delicate nature of the sleeves and the
13:02ruching of this dress.
13:03I mean, and just, again, we're talking about like proportions, the way that Darlene's was so stunning because of her
13:08height.
13:09This was so beautiful and juicy because of her height.
13:12And just like the way that the sleeves, uh, you know, complimented, I mean, they were pretty much as big
13:16as Juicy was, but it was just so beautiful.
13:19And she, she just looked amazing.
13:21I loved Jane Doan's look.
13:23Yeah.
13:24But was it beige?
13:25I know.
13:25There was a lot of every other color, but beige.
13:28And so, you know, I was a little bit thinking like, well, Jane crushed the challenge.
13:32Is this going to make her in the top two, but not win yet again?
13:36Because the look is so cool.
13:37It's so stunning.
13:38It's really a, a winner's look.
13:40Yeah.
13:41But it was like mauve and pink and plum and all other colors.
13:45It's a very true to Jane.
13:47Like when she rounded that corner, I was like, oh yeah, like it, it's incredible.
13:49It's, you know, it commands a room and it's very Jane Doan't.
13:54Um, it wasn't like my, it wasn't in my top like three, I guess I would say.
13:59Uh, last one I gotta give a shout out to Nene Coco in this like incredible, uh, just that the
14:06fabric on this again was what got me.
14:08It reminded me a lot.
14:09Do you remember Gigi Goode's button look?
14:12It was the orange outfit she had to make.
14:14It was, it just, it looked so similar to this and it, in such a beautiful way.
14:19I don't know if it was like the briefcase that she had and like the, the high, the high, uh,
14:24thigh high boots with the, the short dress.
14:26She even had like a couple of buttons on it.
14:28I was like, oh, this is like, they look like they could be sister outfits, which was really beautiful.
14:31Um, but yeah, everyone was just.
14:33And was Mikey also serving executive realness?
14:35Yes.
14:36She had the latex, uh, outfit.
14:38Just everyone was hot.
14:40Yeah.
14:40Everyone was hot this episode.
14:41I mean, here's the thing.
14:42Beige is a very Kardashian color of the moment, you know, and they all leaned into just this beautiful, beautiful
14:50aesthetic.
14:51It was so fantastic.
14:52There's no miss, there was no Mrs. Oh wait, Athena.
14:56Oh God.
14:57What?
14:58I, you know, she says, you know, the old adage, you know, Coco Chanel, take one thing off.
15:02She's like, I put everything on.
15:03And it's like, it looks like she fell into a safari and came and was pulling the grass and like
15:10everything.
15:10I mean, it was, this was, I think, unpleasing to the eye.
15:14Yeah.
15:15It just was real.
15:16It was the only miss, which is crazy because it still was super creative.
15:21Yeah.
15:21You know, she's swinging for the fences on this one, but she's in the past, she's had such, uh, polished,
15:28you know, uh, sophisticated looks.
15:31And this one went too crazy for me.
15:33Like, yeah, not, not a fan.
15:35It was not, it was not the moment.
15:36I want to, I want to lift everyone up and say this was an incredible category.
15:39Um, but that was not my favorite.
15:41Um, so, so then we find out that our, uh, top two of the week are Mikey and Jane.
15:49It makes so much sense.
15:51Um, and we find out that our winner is Jane.
15:55Yes.
15:55Second win.
15:56She's finally in the two win club.
15:58Kind of crazy that she didn't have another winner.
16:00I know, but, uh, an incredible run nonetheless.
16:03Stephanie Miller, runner up.
16:05Stephanie Miller, you still crushed it.
16:07We love, um, and then we immediately find out that our bottom two this week are Juicy and Athena.
16:14Mother Daughter.
16:15This is the moment that the producers have been waiting for since they watched those audition tapes.
16:18This is the, the, what they've been concocting backstage for weeks and weeks.
16:24They said, don't even, I don't even want to drag it on.
16:27Y'all are in the bottom.
16:29Get ready.
16:29And the song wasn't a dance song.
16:31No.
16:32So we had call me when you break up Selena Gomez, Benny Blanco, which we forgot to mention.
16:36Benny Blanco was the guest judge this week.
16:40This man, do you think he had his dirty feet, uh, under the judging table?
16:44You think he had dogs out?
16:46He had a bag of Doritos he was reaching for under the table.
16:48Yeah, uh, I thought this was really interesting because you can see in this, I, to me at least, Juicy's
16:55not giving 100%.
16:56She doesn't do any flips.
16:58She doesn't do any tricks.
17:00I think she knew what she was up against and she didn't want to mop the floor with her grandma,
17:08you know?
17:08But she did still, still gave a great performance.
17:11She still did a walkover split.
17:13Did she?
17:14I, I mean, or I, I dreamt it.
17:17Yeah, I dreamt, I hallucinated it.
17:18But they had this kind of emotional moment.
17:20Yeah.
17:21And it's funny, the song is about getting back with an ex.
17:24Yeah.
17:24But they re, they reinterpreted it as drag mother daughter that I'm the one you call when, when something is
17:31wrong.
17:31Yeah.
17:32And Benny kind of, there was a moment where he was like, is there something I miss?
17:36What the is going on?
17:37Is there, is there something I don't know?
17:39He's literally like.
17:40So there's like straight guy in the room being like, is this a gay thing that I don't understand?
17:45Yeah.
17:45He's literally like, he's like, does my music move people this much?
17:49It's like, no, Benny, you don't.
17:51The song peaked at 75 on the charts.
17:53And he's like, it's like, wow, I, I really do touch listeners.
17:56I really do.
17:57I, I, I touch generations.
17:59Um, I, I was waiting for like, I was fully expecting like a Raven jujubee dancing on my own moment
18:06where they just stand there and cry into each other's arms.
18:09Which we, you know, we did get this like endearing handholding moment kind of singing to each other.
18:14Then we get like, sitting on mommy's lap, Santa, Santa moment with Athena putting Juicy on her, her thigh.
18:21I mean, was I a little weirded out?
18:23Yes.
18:23Yeah.
18:24I was kind of like.
18:25I was feeling a little bit what Betty was feeling, which was like, this was kind of a fun song
18:29about a rebound.
18:31Yeah, yeah, yeah, and instead Rue's kind of like, you know, keeping it together and the girls are, you know,
18:36Juicy's fully broken down at this point on the stage.
18:39Um, so yeah, I think, like I said, this was what we, we, it was written in the stars.
18:44We knew that this was going to happen eventually.
18:47And it turns out that Athena was the one who did not prevail in this and unfortunately was eliminated.
18:55Yeah.
18:55I mean, she did, she did well in the Rusical, but it did not have that same way.
19:01level of talent that everyone else was bringing to the table, just based on her voice.
19:04I hate to say it, but at the end of the day, she didn't really like change her voice to
19:07sound like a woman.
19:10Like, you know, her singing voice really just sounded, it almost went lower.
19:13I don't know, just something missed.
19:16She wasn't giving that like, grand dame mother character that we wanted to hear, you know, that person.
19:23And, you know, it's, I think she's going to look back at it and be like, oh, darn it.
19:26Yeah.
19:27Because it's all there.
19:28Yeah.
19:28And I think even Michelle said, if we'd given her one more week to rehearse this, she would have nailed
19:32it.
19:32Yeah.
19:32And even Rue was like, we're splitting hairs at this point.
19:35This was such a strong performance across all the girls for a Rusical.
19:39And you just got to look at the details and be like, okay, there wasn't really a lot of transformation.
19:44This was Athena in a jumpsuit.
19:47One ticket to Mykonos, please.
19:49I'm in the corner watching you kiss her.
19:52Yeah, unfortunately, she's back, back to the islands.
19:57But Athena, you know, I've enjoyed watching her.
20:01You know, she's, you know, I always love like a mother, a mother coming in, you know, and really showing,
20:08showing the kids how you do it.
20:10And I'm really glad we got this dynamic with her in Juicy.
20:12You know, we're always going to remember this mother-daughter, you know, competing with one another.
20:18It's a really special thing.
20:19And, you know, last week I was watching Mia's interview with Michelle Visage.
20:25And she was like, you know, I reached out to Athena when I wanted to come back to drag and
20:29learn how to do my makeup better.
20:31And, you know, Michelle's like, oh, Athena can paint.
20:33She always looks beautiful.
20:34And then Mia goes, yeah, she didn't help me at all.
20:38I love this moment.
20:39It's like Athena is kind of the bitch of the season.
20:42Yeah.
20:42The grand dame.
20:43And, you know, she also pulled the strings during the Raid of Queen and showed that politics, you know, can
20:51be played on a game like this.
20:52It's not Survivor.
20:53It's not Big Brother.
20:54But, you know, it's not the traitors.
20:56But there is an element of that that she leaned into and gave us some good TV.
21:00Yeah, absolutely.
21:01Well, pour a mimosa out for our Miami brunch extraordinaire.
21:06Pour some Tzatziki.
21:08Yeah, yeah.
21:09Come on.
21:09Let's go get some dips in honor of Athena.
21:12Well, yeah, we're pushing along and episode 10.
21:16And a quick shout out to all the queens in Puerto Vallarta.
21:20Yes.
21:21Oh, my goodness.
21:21It's crazy.
21:22Tina Burner was there.
21:23I mean, you open your feed right now and it's just it's hell in Mexico.
21:27And, you know, we've got this gay resort town that has embraced so many wonderful drag queens, you know, Head
21:33of Lettuce that are down there in the middle of it all.
21:37And, you know, we're watching your stories.
21:39It's crazy.
21:40Yeah.
21:41And we just want to send our love out to those performers.
21:44Yes.
21:45All right.
21:45We'll see you guys next week.
21:46Bye.
21:47Bye.
21:47Bye.
21:48Bye.
Comments