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Welcome to the werkroom, where some things are as predictable as a sudden lip sync twist! Join us as we look at the most reliable clichés and recurring themes that sashay their way onto every season of RuPaul’s Drag Race. From design challenge sewing struggles to suspiciously convenient double shantays, these moments are practically written into the script. Get ready to cringe, laugh, and nod along in recognition as we delve into the undeniable patterns of this iconic competition series!
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00:00This is you, at four years old, what do you have to say to little Christopher?
00:07Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're talking about the most dependable tropes,
00:11cliches, and recurring themes throughout 18 seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race.
00:16I'm very, very upset that I was not on the top. I'm surprised and annoyed.
00:26Fighting Over the Lineup
00:28Several seasons task the queens with comedy or live performance challenges.
00:32Generally, the mini-challenge winner gets the dubious privilege of assigning the order they take the stage.
00:37There is no room for complaints. Nobody set you up. Everybody got what they wanted.
00:42If you suck, you suck. Sucks to suck, as my grandma used to say.
00:47Inevitably, there is tension about where they end up in the running order.
00:50Whether it's nerves or just plain ego,
00:51they become utterly convinced that their success lives and dies by who they go before or after.
00:57I know she is not liking that spot.
00:59Especially going after Sherry, that's a hard spot to feel.
01:03Speak now, because I don't want people to come back and tell me things are shady later.
01:06I'm okay with my spot.
01:07I think this is good.
01:10Okay.
01:11Call us naive, but isn't it how funny they are that determines whether they do well?
01:15Every position seems to have just as many drawbacks as it does advantages.
01:19We're grateful for the drama, but it does feel a little petty and repetitive at this point.
01:24You're right.
01:24I did put myself after you because I'm not very confident in a roast.
01:28So I didn't want to go behind one of the stronger players.
01:31So thank you.
01:31As a friend, I would never do that to you.
01:33So thank you for actually saying that out loud.
01:35Suddenly here, then gone.
01:38Sometimes you're watching a mid-season episode of Drag Race,
01:40and a queen has just kind of been hovering in the background,
01:42shows up and gets a little time to tell us about herself.
01:44You know, when I came back from college,
01:46my parents actually found a picture of me in drag.
01:49That's how they found out.
01:51They basically sent me out of the country,
01:53because they were like,
01:53you need to get away from your negative influences.
01:55Any longtime fan knows that this is not a good sign.
01:58If editors are finally giving an under-the-radar contestant some backstory,
02:02that, they're probably going home.
02:04Examples of the sudden airtime curse are season 5's Honey Mahogany,
02:08season 11's Mercedes-Eyman Diamond and Sugarcane,
02:11and Robin Fierce in season 15.
02:13I basically don't talk about religion,
02:15and the reason why it's really hard,
02:18especially in this country where people like,
02:20when something happens and, you know,
02:22involves a Muslim, it's like,
02:24oh, they're terrorists, you know.
02:25Although this has gotten somewhat better
02:27since the show has moved to a 90-minute format,
02:30there are still a lot of different characters in a season.
02:33Sad as it may be,
02:34some queens just don't figure into the grander narrative
02:36until their elimination.
02:37The judges said that Silky overshadowed me in the last challenge,
02:40so for this week, I have to make sure that I'm going in as a wrecking ball,
02:44and if I feel like I'm doing enough,
02:45I need to do more.
02:47Fan favorite misses the finals.
02:49I love you and respect you so much,
02:53and thank you for seeing something special in me.
02:59America's next drag superstar and the season's fan favorite
03:02are not always synonymous.
03:04There's a common thread with many season's most lovable queens.
03:07Their wings get clipped right before the finale.
03:10Classic examples of this archetype include
03:12Latrice Royale,
03:13Benda LaCreme,
03:14Katia,
03:15and Chi-Chi Devane.
03:16It's a knife in the heart,
03:17the back,
03:18the ass.
03:19It's a hurting feeling
03:20to know that you've put your all,
03:22and
03:23it didn't pay off.
03:25Miss Vanjie and Susie Toot
03:26are some of the more recent examples,
03:28but they all have something in common.
03:30All of these beloved contestants
03:32were eliminated in either fourth or fifth place,
03:35just barely missing the finals.
03:37It happened so much
03:38that it almost makes us scared to even have a favorite.
03:41Thank you so much.
03:42You are about to see some big things
03:44from Lil Susie.
03:46I promise you that.
03:48The Queen Who Can't Sew
03:49This is a tale as old as time.
03:52Inevitably,
03:52during the first design challenge,
03:54a queen reveals that she can't sew.
03:56Do you sew?
03:57I'm smart in a lot of other ways,
04:00but when it comes to fabrics and needles and stuff,
04:04I'm just not as,
04:07what's the word?
04:10Proficient.
04:11Proficient, yeah.
04:12Maybe this was a surprise back in season one or two,
04:14but this show's been on for almost two decades.
04:17You know you're gonna have to make at least one outfit when you apply.
04:20Why not take a few classes
04:21or figure out how to at least create the illusion?
04:23I wasn't gonna be the one to show up on RuPaul's Drag Race
04:26not knowing how to sew.
04:27Before I came here,
04:27I bought myself 25 sewing classes,
04:30so I prepared for this.
04:31I'm gonna make something fierce out of these materials.
04:33It's almost as if the show casts a queen or two
04:36who specifically couldn't stitch their way out of a paper bag
04:38just for the drama.
04:40Honestly, we're grateful.
04:41Otherwise,
04:42we would have never gotten iconic fashion moments
04:44like Lala Ri's bag dress.
04:45I've added the purse on my head
04:47because I want them to focus on like the head up
04:49when they kind of look past the construction
04:51of the actual outfit.
04:53And it gives me like this whole Grace Jones vibe.
04:55The musical theater queen curse.
04:57I am so excited.
04:59The sound of Ruzik is obviously based on the sound of music.
05:02I am cast as Mariah, the lead.
05:04How do you solve a problem like Mariah?
05:06You don't, bitch.
05:07You're stuck with me.
05:08Whatever vendetta RuPaul has against theater programs
05:11all across America should be studied.
05:13Imagine it.
05:13You train for years.
05:15You take your art very seriously.
05:17You might have even appeared on Broadway.
05:19But as queens like Jan, Alexis Michelle,
05:21Marsha, Marsha, Marsha, Rosé, and Plasma have found out,
05:25there's just no winning for a musical theater queen
05:27on Drag Race.
05:28Alexis Michelle, to misquote Liza Minnelli,
05:32you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.
05:36Thank you so much.
05:38Rosé and Plasma managed to win a few challenges,
05:40but it still felt like they had no real shot.
05:43Or she'll just shove you in safe purgatory
05:45until she decides it's time to put you out of your misery.
05:49Jan, tonight you ruled the world.
05:53You are safe.
05:56And we join the other girls.
05:58Trade of the Season.
05:59Every season, there's at least one queen
06:02who gets more attention for her looks out of drag.
06:04Arguments among the queens have even started
06:06over who is the trade of the season.
06:08Cameron is definitely the trade of Season 10.
06:10And I mean rough trade.
06:12The kind of trade that'll throw you on the wall
06:13and you'll be like,
06:14oh, I think I'm into it.
06:15Yeah, but for sure, he's it.
06:17The term has murky roots,
06:19but it existed as early as 19th century England
06:21and describes a straight-passing,
06:23ruggedly masculine, working-class gay man.
06:25So to see a bunch of drag queens
06:27catfighting over which one of them is the most trade
06:30is already absurd enough.
06:31Trade is just a masculine-looking gay guy.
06:35I thought trade was, like, people you, like,
06:37think are attractive enough to have sex left.
06:39No, that's not what I thought.
06:40Trade is that slight bit of danger, too.
06:43In recent seasons, queens have fully arrived on set
06:45to tell us they are the most gorgeous one out of drag.
06:48It has to stop.
06:49I am a dancer.
06:50I do a lot of very high-energy number.
06:54And I am your Filipina goddess.
06:56Yeah.
06:57Convenient double shantés.
06:59For the first time in drag race history,
07:01no one is going home tonight.
07:05For every incredible lip-sync
07:06that saves both bottom queens,
07:08there are so many that feel manufactured and unearned.
07:11Completely meh lip-syncs have resulted
07:13in a double save for the queens
07:15that, frankly, would have been better used elsewhere.
07:17Most of the time, it feels like RuPaul
07:19just saving a queen he liked
07:21despite her lip-sync performance.
07:23Candy, candy, wait!
07:27Stop.
07:32I'm not ready for you to go.
07:34A convenient double save feels all the more inauthentic
07:37because every season has a set number of episodes
07:39before it even begins filming.
07:41A double shanté is most likely factored into the schedule,
07:44even if they aren't pre-planned
07:45to save specific contestants.
07:47Jackie, shanté, you stay.
07:59No one is going home tonight.
08:02What would you say to Little?
08:04Once the finalists of the season
08:05stand on the main stage
08:06for their final judging session,
08:08RuPaul trots out baby pictures
08:10and asks the finalists
08:11to process their childhood trauma live on stage.
08:14Here's a photo of you as a little bitty boy.
08:17Now, if you could time travel,
08:20what would Kennedy Davenport
08:22have to say to little Ruben?
08:24Begun in season seven,
08:26it's ostensibly an opportunity for the queens
08:28to honor their growth as artists and as humans.
08:31As beautiful as it is
08:32to get to know some of these queens better,
08:34with each passing year,
08:35it becomes more uncomfortable.
08:37It doesn't matter where you're from
08:39and how you grew up,
08:40the neighborhood you grew up in,
08:42that has nothing to do
08:44with how far you can go.
08:46It's either a really painful moment for them
08:48or just another pageant question
08:50they've had years to prepare.
08:51Drag Race is a reality competition show,
08:54not a culty wellness retreat.
08:55At best, it's completely maudlin.
08:57At worst, it's downright manipulative.
09:00And you don't have to worry so much
09:01about if your mom is proud of you
09:03or if your dad is proud of you,
09:06because you're proud of yourself.
09:09Early out Asian queen.
09:11Jiggly Caliente.
09:12May I call you Jiggly?
09:14Yes.
09:15Good.
09:16Because after your time here,
09:17you'll be on a first name basis
09:19with millions of fans.
09:22Now, sashay away.
09:24This is one of the more unfortunate
09:26but strangely prevalent recurring themes
09:28across the series.
09:29Frequently, Asian queens are among
09:31the early outs in their seasons.
09:33This wouldn't be so obvious
09:34if the show didn't have so few in its cast.
09:37Old school Drag Race contestants
09:38like Jiggly Caliente, Vivian Pinay,
09:40and Gia Gunn
09:41all left the season before the halfway mark.
09:43J-j-j-jia, my pet.
09:46Make no mistake.
09:47I love you from head to toe.
09:51Now, sashay away.
09:54The trend seems to have only gotten stronger
09:56in recent seasons.
09:57Kimora Black, Yuhua Hamasaki,
09:59Rakam Sakura, Kimora Hall,
10:01Ura Mayari, Joella,
10:03and season 18's Mandy Mango
10:05are the more recent examples.
10:06In some cases,
10:07they were the only Asian contestants
10:09on their season.
10:10Whether it's a casting issue
10:12or something deeper is unclear,
10:13but it's a disappointing theme nonetheless.
10:16I'm really sad.
10:16I'm really disappointed.
10:17But I hope I represented for my Filipinas,
10:20my Filipinos,
10:21my Filipinexes.
10:22To the people back home,
10:24I'm so, so grateful to have you in my life.
10:27Before we continue,
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10:42The Delusional Edit
10:44Living the fantasy is a big part of drag.
10:47Confidence,
10:47even unearned confidence,
10:49can be an asset.
10:50When it comes to me
10:51and living in my world
10:52in this little coconut head that I got,
10:55it's a lot of fantasies.
10:57And when I feel the fantasy,
10:59it is my reality.
11:00Take any winning queen's
11:02most ridiculous, boastful moments
11:03and you could clip them together
11:05to make her look unhinged.
11:06But sometimes,
11:07the gap between a queen's confidence
11:09and their overall placement
11:11in the competition
11:11earns them the dreaded Delusional Edit.
11:13From Lucy LaDuca's insistence
11:15that many challenges count as wins
11:17to Laganja Estranja's
11:18put on eccentricity,
11:19this trope has given the show
11:21some of its juiciest moments.
11:22I think that I did extremely well
11:24in this challenge
11:24and I think that I carried
11:27a lot of the scenes that I was in.
11:29Lucy, if you think you're perfection,
11:32there might be a case
11:33of drag delusion, girl.
11:34But it's also pretty telling.
11:36Once a queen starts getting
11:37the dreaded Delusional Edit,
11:38it's a pretty sure thing
11:40she is not taking the crown.
11:41However, some fans might call it
11:43one of the show's
11:44most exploitative editing tropes.
11:46Max, are you okay?
11:47So I can quite be called
11:51overnight sensation.
11:54I took advantage of the moment.
11:56Which of these drag race tropes
11:58would you most like to see sashay away?
12:00Tell us in the comments.
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