RuPaul's Drag Race Season 13 |OT| oh, ya'll wanted a twist, ehh!?

[Royalan]

This season's batch of queens strikes me as a more amateurish bunch than the average Drag Race season, and it's bothering me.

I mean, looking at the roster and their ages, it's not really a younger group than normal. But the level of polish and professionalism seems pretty low overall. I don't get the sense that very many of these queens have a fully developed concept for their drag.

Not a lotta queens in this bunch that I'd bother to see in person. Which makes it so perplexing that Ru is keeping them all around for so damn long.

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I've noticed this for a few seasons now. And I wonder how much social media plays a role.

I was rewatching some of the older seasons at the start of quarantine, and I noticed that while a lot of the looks from the earlier seasons would be considered pedestrian by today's standards, the average queen up to about season 7 I'd say was a lot more well-rounded in their capabilities. And that's probably because back then, if you wanted to get noticed as a drag performer, you had to have a name. Which meant you had to come up in pageants, which often meant you had to be part of a house. Or you could come up in the club circuit, doing gigs. But that meant that you had to get booked, which meant you had to be somewhat talented with a crowd. A lot of newer queens on the show seem to really lack these fundamentals. And my working theory is that a lot of newer queens have reverse engineered the drag circuit by building a social media presence based largely on aesthetic, and then using that to break into the business.

I dunno, and it's not all bad. I think social media has brought awareness to and helped a wider range of drag get representation on the show. And that's always a good thing. But, yeah, a lot of these girls just aren't entertaining, and lack that "drag professionalism" that you would find in queens who really had to "pay their dues" to get a spot in the business. So much of what constitutes "popular drag" these days is just aesthetic (and I remember a time when "aesthetic" was an insult for just the pageant queens, just sayin...)

 

[Deleted member 83599]

I've noticed this for a few seasons now. And I wonder how much social media plays a role.

I was rewatching some of the older seasons at the start of quarantine, and I noticed that while a lot of the looks from the earlier seasons would be considered pedestrian by today's standards, the average queen up to about season 7 I'd say was a lot more well-rounded in their capabilities. And that's probably because back then, if you wanted to get noticed as a drag performer, you had to have a name. Which meant you had to come up in pageants, which often meant you had to be part of a house. Or you could come up in the club circuit, doing gigs. But that meant that you had to get booked, which meant you had to be somewhat talented with a crowd. A lot of newer queens on the show seem to really lack these fundamentals. And my working theory is that a lot of newer queens have reverse engineered the drag circuit by building a social media presence based largely on aesthetic, and then using that to break into the business.

I dunno, and it's not all bad. I think social media has brought awareness to and helped a wider range of drag get representation on the show. And that's always a good thing. But, yeah, a lot of these girls just aren't entertaining, and lack that "drag professionalism" that you would find in queens who really had to "pay their dues" to get a spot in the business. So much of what constitutes "popular drag" these days is just aesthetic (and I remember a time when "aesthetic" was an insult for just the pageant queens, just sayin...)

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Excellent observations.

There definitely is a divide, and it has become more evident as the show progresses. It's nice to have the playing field leveled a bit, but it's true that the gauntlet of proving oneself through pageants, the club scene, and the house structure is conducive to building well-rounded queens.

It sucks that Tamisha got kicked off so early, because the generational divide between her and nearly all of the other queens was interesting and warranted further screen time.

 

[Deleted member 278]

I don't know what about Kandy deserved a double shantay. That lip sync wasn't even that great.

 

[ToTheMoon]

I really liked the episode a lot. Great challenge, and I feel like the cast has finally built some likeable chemistry between them. It definitely makes up for the mediocrity that was last week's episode.

It actually feels right to me that Kandy stayed. I haven't always been the biggest Kandy fan, but she's grown on me, didn't do that badly in the challenge, and had a really good lip sync. If she had stayed over Symone (who did worse in the challenge and about the same in the lipsync), it would have felt like they were keeping Symone purely for her track record instead of anything she did this episode.

When Ru was about to announce her verdict, I actually said "Double shantay?", so...I guess it just seemed right to me, lol.

Tina didn't deserve to be in the Bottom, even if she fluked the end. I thought she was Top, she carried the entire thing. I would have put Eliott in the bottom instead.

Happy to see Rosé finally getting her win.

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I can see this. I think part of it is that Elliott's biggest problem was that he's an awful singer, and...that's something that some people just have to deal with. Tina made a clear performance error, and it's fine to critique that, but it's generally a bad look to criticize people for something that's kind of just innate to their person (and even worse to send them home on it).

 

[Atlantis]

Also, not that there was any doubt, but this episode just cements UK's Drag Race's superiority.

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The nipples are the eyes of the face.

 

[Majora85]

I've noticed this for a few seasons now. And I wonder how much social media plays a role.

I was rewatching some of the older seasons at the start of quarantine, and I noticed that while a lot of the looks from the earlier seasons would be considered pedestrian by today's standards, the average queen up to about season 7 I'd say was a lot more well-rounded in their capabilities. And that's probably because back then, if you wanted to get noticed as a drag performer, you had to have a name. Which meant you had to come up in pageants, which often meant you had to be part of a house. Or you could come up in the club circuit, doing gigs. But that meant that you had to get booked, which meant you had to be somewhat talented with a crowd. A lot of newer queens on the show seem to really lack these fundamentals. And my working theory is that a lot of newer queens have reverse engineered the drag circuit by building a social media presence based largely on aesthetic, and then using that to break into the business.

I dunno, and it's not all bad. I think social media has brought awareness to and helped a wider range of drag get representation on the show. And that's always a good thing. But, yeah, a lot of these girls just aren't entertaining, and lack that "drag professionalism" that you would find in queens who really had to "pay their dues" to get a spot in the business. So much of what constitutes "popular drag" these days is just aesthetic (and I remember a time when "aesthetic" was an insult for just the pageant queens, just sayin...)

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This is likely exactly why a lot of people are preferring the UK show at the moment. I know some people in this thread don't like the constant comparisons between the two so I'll try to keep it brief and not overdo it but, essentially, it's because the UK scene is still very heavily focussed on building a name for yourself in pubs, bars and clubs. As you say, getting booked.

Lip-syncing is not really a thing in UK drag, on the whole. Nor is the pageant scene, which is why the runways and the lipsyncs on the UK show aren't always up to the standard of the US show. There are exceptions, naturally, and this is becoming less true as Drag Race influences the UK scene too, but UK drag is generally more about hosting, live performance, comedy, charisma. The ability to hold a room, essentially. This gives the UK cast a vibrancy and energy that more recent US seasons don't always have when half the queens are self-professed 'fashion queens'.

What I think is true on both sides of the Atlantic though is that the very young queens tend to be so heavily influenced by Drag Race that they start feeling homogenised and overly studied. They grew up watching the show, their drag has been innately shaped by the show and while it's great that they get such positive exposure at such a young age, their drag feels so heavily influenced by what Drag Race considers good drag (as we all know, being a good drag queen is not necessarily the same thing as being good at Drag Race) that it can feel lacking in personality and authenticity

 

[Jugendstil]

This is likely exactly why a lot of people are preferring the UK show at the moment. I know some people in this thread don't like the constant comparisons between the two so I'll try to keep it brief and not overdo it but, essentially, it's because the UK scene is still very heavily focussed on building a name for yourself in pubs, bars and clubs. As you say, getting booked.

Lip-syncing is not really a thing in UK drag, on the whole. Nor is the pageant scene, which is why the runways and the lipsyncs on the UK show aren't always up to the standard of the US show. There are exceptions, naturally, and this is becoming less true as Drag Race influences the UK scene too, but UK drag is generally more about hosting, live performance, comedy, charisma. The ability to hold a room, essentially. This gives the UK cast a vibrancy and energy that more recent US seasons don't always have when half the queens are self-professed 'fashion queens'.

What I think is true on both sides of the Atlantic though is that the very young queens tend to be so heavily influenced by Drag Race that they start feeling homogenised and overly studied. They grew up watching the show, their drag has been innately shaped by the show and while it's great that they get such positive exposure at such a young age, their drag feels so heavily influenced by what Drag Race considers good drag (as we all know, being a good drag queen is not necessarily the same thing as being good at Drag Race) that it can feel lacking in personality and authenticity

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Excellent post. I don't have anything to add but I think you've hit the nail on the head regarding the difference between the two shows and how they're being received.

 

[TheChits]

I've noticed this for a few seasons now. And I wonder how much social media plays a role.

I was rewatching some of the older seasons at the start of quarantine, and I noticed that while a lot of the looks from the earlier seasons would be considered pedestrian by today's standards, the average queen up to about season 7 I'd say was a lot more well-rounded in their capabilities. And that's probably because back then, if you wanted to get noticed as a drag performer, you had to have a name. Which meant you had to come up in pageants, which often meant you had to be part of a house. Or you could come up in the club circuit, doing gigs. But that meant that you had to get booked, which meant you had to be somewhat talented with a crowd. A lot of newer queens on the show seem to really lack these fundamentals. And my working theory is that a lot of newer queens have reverse engineered the drag circuit by building a social media presence based largely on aesthetic, and then using that to break into the business.

I dunno, and it's not all bad. I think social media has brought awareness to and helped a wider range of drag get representation on the show. And that's always a good thing. But, yeah, a lot of these girls just aren't entertaining, and lack that "drag professionalism" that you would find in queens who really had to "pay their dues" to get a spot in the business. So much of what constitutes "popular drag" these days is just aesthetic (and I remember a time when "aesthetic" was an insult for just the pageant queens, just sayin...)

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This is 100% truth.

 

[Kino]

I've noticed this for a few seasons now. And I wonder how much social media plays a role.

I was rewatching some of the older seasons at the start of quarantine, and I noticed that while a lot of the looks from the earlier seasons would be considered pedestrian by today's standards, the average queen up to about season 7 I'd say was a lot more well-rounded in their capabilities. And that's probably because back then, if you wanted to get noticed as a drag performer, you had to have a name. Which meant you had to come up in pageants, which often meant you had to be part of a house. Or you could come up in the club circuit, doing gigs. But that meant that you had to get booked, which meant you had to be somewhat talented with a crowd. A lot of newer queens on the show seem to really lack these fundamentals. And my working theory is that a lot of newer queens have reverse engineered the drag circuit by building a social media presence based largely on aesthetic, and then using that to break into the business.

I dunno, and it's not all bad. I think social media has brought awareness to and helped a wider range of drag get representation on the show. And that's always a good thing. But, yeah, a lot of these girls just aren't entertaining, and lack that "drag professionalism" that you would find in queens who really had to "pay their dues" to get a spot in the business. So much of what constitutes "popular drag" these days is just aesthetic (and I remember a time when "aesthetic" was an insult for just the pageant queens, just sayin...)

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All good points and very true. It doesn't help that producers seem to give considerable favor to queens who already have significant social media followings.

Drag race is very much at a point where it's cannibalising itself thanks to all the reasons you listed, and the viewing experience is suffering as a result.

 

[Znazzy]

God, I'm getting so sick and tired of this season. I thought the episode was entertaining up until the point that Ru announced she was giving Kandy a second chance, and then it just soured the whole thing for me. The favoritism/fix for Kandy is so blatantly apparent and I hope it's backfiring on them.

 

[Zero315]

They just don't care about showing their hand anymore. They read Tina for filth but she honestly did better than Kandy, yet I feel like Kandy didn't get anywhere near as harsh of a critique.

 

[AlexMeloche]

Guys, the show has always been like that. Still not worse than Kenya Michaels being brought back "just because."

 

[SpaceBridge]

I've noticed this for a few seasons now. And I wonder how much social media plays a role.

I was rewatching some of the older seasons at the start of quarantine, and I noticed that while a lot of the looks from the earlier seasons would be considered pedestrian by today's standards, the average queen up to about season 7 I'd say was a lot more well-rounded in their capabilities. And that's probably because back then, if you wanted to get noticed as a drag performer, you had to have a name. Which meant you had to come up in pageants, which often meant you had to be part of a house. Or you could come up in the club circuit, doing gigs. But that meant that you had to get booked, which meant you had to be somewhat talented with a crowd. A lot of newer queens on the show seem to really lack these fundamentals. And my working theory is that a lot of newer queens have reverse engineered the drag circuit by building a social media presence based largely on aesthetic, and then using that to break into the business.

I dunno, and it's not all bad. I think social media has brought awareness to and helped a wider range of drag get representation on the show. And that's always a good thing. But, yeah, a lot of these girls just aren't entertaining, and lack that "drag professionalism" that you would find in queens who really had to "pay their dues" to get a spot in the business. So much of what constitutes "popular drag" these days is just aesthetic (and I remember a time when "aesthetic" was an insult for just the pageant queens, just sayin...)

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This 100%. Sone of these queens started doing drag because of Drag Race, that's how young they are. I'm not saying that you can't be a talented young drag queen, but if you're claim to fame is make up tutorials on YouTube and Insta follower counts I question how well you'll do on stage.

in regard to kandy, I wonder if some producer is looking to her as the new Vanjie.

 

[Pluto]

How many episodes will this season have? 8 have aired and only 4 queens have been eliminated so far, that's ridiculous, in the beginning I didn't mind no eliminations to get to know everyone a little bit better but I kinda expected a double elimination within the first few "real" competition episodes.
Season 3 is the longest so far with 16 episodes and after episode 8 it had eliminated 7 queens and was down to 6. This time we're going into episode 9 with 9 queens.

 

[metalslimer]

Yeah holy shit no one has been eliminated. Now I'm going to have to watch some God awful snatch performances from some of these queens who make it.

 

[OrangeNova]

How many episodes will this season have? 8 have aired and only 4 queens have been eliminated so far, that's ridiculous, in the beginning I didn't mind no eliminations to get to know everyone a little bit better but I kinda expected a double elimination within the first few "real" competition episodes.
Season 3 is the longest so far with 16 episodes and after episode 8 it had eliminated 7 queens and was down to 6. This time we're going into episode 9 with 9 queens.

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16 episodes total

 

[Deleted member 3896]

Imagine keeping Kandy but sending Tamisha home.

 

[metalslimer]

Imagine keeping Kandy but sending Tamisha home.

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For a mediocre lip sync too. I dont hate Kandy as much as I did earlier but if we are being real Kandy should have gone home numerous times by now. I dont think I've ever been impressed by her in a challenge even last week.

 

[Pluto]

16 episodes total

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That means if they eliminate 1 queen per season from now on we're down to 3 after episode 14, 15 will be the reunion and 16 the finale. Feels too long, with one less no elimination episode at the start and no double shantay they could have done the usual 14.🤷🏼‍♂️

 

[TheChits]

Imagine keeping Kandy but sending Tamisha home.

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This is one of the more egregious examples I can think of when it comes to production favoring/saving a queen. It is really souring the season for me

 

[Deleted member 83599]

Guys, the show has always been like that. Still not worse than Kenya Michaels being brought back "just because."

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lol that was so wild

This show is so dumb.

 

[Deleted member 3542]

Yeah holy shit no one has been eliminated. Now I'm going to have to watch some God awful snatch performances from some of these queens who make it.

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In my head, there's no way on Earth Kandy will have a good Snatch Game. She has one gear and no variety.

But the Judges will love her energy and she'll be safe.

I can predict the future, and the future is Kandy.

There's certainly a few others that will be awful in it. Then again, in this week's UK Snatch Game the favorite totally blanked in it so who knows. Some "guarantees" could fail miserably.

 

[Bradbatross]

I think Mik, Rose, and Symone are safe picks to do well at Snatch Game. Elliott, Utica, and Denali probably do poorly. Kandy, Tina, and Olivia could go either way

 

[Shizuka]

Just watched the episode. Kandy should've gone home.

 

[Dandy Crocodile]

The entire lipsync I was thinking "They're gonna do a double save aren't they"
Then it ended and I was very pleasantly surprised.
Then the real ending happened.

 

[Jeremy]

Is anyone watching Slag Wars? I saw that Bob is doing recaps. Worthwhile?

 

[Shizuka]

Is anyone watching Slag Wars? I saw that Bob is doing recaps. Worthwhile?

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It was fun.

 

[OrangeNova]

Wait, is there no episode this week?

 

[Deleted member 864]

Wait, is there no episode this week?

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Nope, just the Covid special.

 

[OrangeNova]

Nope, just the Covid special.

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Boooo.

I'm sure the Covid special is nice and really cool for how they kept safe... but I hear enough about covid every day, this show is my escape from all that

 

[Kino]

Is anyone watching Slag Wars? I saw that Bob is doing recaps. Worthwhile?

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I'm watching it. The show has better challenges than drag race...

 

[Jonnykong]

I don't know why they couldn't have just kept this covid episode as a seperate thing to watch out of your own choice and air the usual weekly episode, like they did in the UK 🙄

 

[lenovox1]

I don't know why they couldn't have just kept this covid episode as a seperate thing to watch out of your own choice and air the usual weekly episode, like they did in the UK 🙄

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Who? VH1?

Because Drag Race does good ratings and they don't have much original content this year because the only things they film are Love & Hip Hop and Black Ink?

 

[dreams]

Yeah, super annoying that they couldn't just do it like DRUK did it, but I guess what lenovox above said is true... Gotta make that dough I guess 🙄

 

[Kanhir]

Guys, the show has always been like that. Still not worse than Kenya Michaels being brought back "just because."

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Ditto Carmen. It was even more egregious with Naysha Lopez because it was literally episode 3. It also had the side effect of putting Laila in the bottom of the season ranking, which was undeserved after that iconic first lip sync.

 

[CloseTalker]

Ditto Carmen. It was even more egregious with Naysha Lopez because it was literally episode 3. It also had the side effect of putting Laila in the bottom of the season ranking, which was undeserved after that iconic first lip sync.

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Currently watching that season, and this was such a bizarre move. Naysha did almost nothing to stand out enough in episode 1 to justify the bizarre double-sashay and return.

 

[Dandy Crocodile]

Still sad about Laila
She's fierce. In the tip of my list for All Stars

 

[Gradon]

Currently watching that season, and this was such a bizarre move. Naysha did almost nothing to stand out enough in episode 1 to justify the bizarre double-sashay and return.

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They just hated that lip sync so much they sent them both home and they needed an extra person for the acting challenge the next episode so they brought back Naysha.

The worst part was them trying to make it exciting being like "omg who did Rupaul call to come back??????? Is it a previous queen????? Oh it's just Naysha"

 

[Red Liquorice]

I thought Naysha was brought back because basically she was a well known pagent queen outside of the show and was thought to have gone too early.

Kenya looked fierce.

Carmen was a strong contender and this was the first time they'd brought an eliminated queen back this way, so maybe they didn't want to rock the boat by bringing back someone who left too early as it could look unfair?

That's all I've got.

edit - I still love Kenya's "La Traaaaans Bear" bit and say it pretty often lol.

 

[VPplaya]

It is insane how long this season is being dragged out, especially given how many other seasons/spin offs will be airing this year. I like that they all get a good amount of screentime in the first few eps, but after that they really should start dropping like flies. A double save after just 4 eliminations is absolutely ridiculous, especially for Kandy. Makes matters worse that there isn't even a regular episode this week.

 

[Wilsongt]

Are they really going to make AS6 streaming exclusive? They can fuck off with that nonsense.

 

[OrangeNova]

Are they really going to make AS6 streaming exclusive? They can fuck off with that nonsense.

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Paramount+ doesn't seem to be coming to Canada, so will it be OutTV or Crave here I wonder.

 

[Kanhir]

Are they really going to make AS6 streaming exclusive? They can fuck off with that nonsense.

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Thankfully the new streaming service spam is mostly US only, so I assume it'll be WOW+ as usual for Europe.

 

[Jonnykong]

So is it 100% confirmed we don't have a normal episode this week?

 

[Kanhir]

So is it 100% confirmed we don't have a normal episode this week?

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Yes. The corona special is listed as episode 9, airing at the usual time, and there are movies before and after.

 

[AlexMeloche]

Interesting documentary, even though I would have preferred to see it after the finale.

I was surprised they had sent their audition tapes before COVID. I though it was during the pandemic.

 

[Gradon]

Interesting documentary, even though I would have preferred to see it after the finale.

I was surprised they had sent their audition tapes before COVID. I though it was during the pandemic.

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They didn't have a covid break midway like UK did they?

It's interesting they did this documentary but yeah kinda baffled they just aired it mid-season.

 

[AlexMeloche]

They didn't have a covid break midway like UK did they?

It's interesting they did this documentary but yeah kinda baffled they just aired it mid-season.

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Nope. They got their calls and had to prepare their looks during lockdown.

 

[wars]

I miss S12 sm.

 

[jinkx]

This must be one of the worst seasons of drag race ever, which is a bummer because s12 had such a talented cast. I thought it could never get any worse than Season 8 and All Stars 5, but here we are...

Bad challenges, awful cast, favoritism of certain queens

Fortunately we have UK