And the winner is… RuPaul’s Drag Race season nine finale recap
Spoilers ahead!
The finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 9 has now aired and the new American drag superstar has been named.
The season offered up a lot of twists and turns, from Miss Peppermint coming out as trans and recounting a time she was detained in Russia to Eureka being let go after suffering a knee injury during a challenge.
The finale itself was a surprise as four, rather than three, contestants were put through: Sasha Velour, Trinity Taylor, Shea Coulee and Miss Peppermint.
The season wrap-up saw RuPaul throw shade at Donald Trump, as well as some of the queens who appeared in the season. Including Valentina, who now has an unfortunate bad lip-sync reputation.
Mama Ru sat down with all the finalists before they lip synced against each other for the title to talk about their time on the show.
She also delivered special celebrity messages to each of the queens.
Miss Peppermint was up first and she received a moving video message from a long time friend, Laverne Cox.
“You have been my sister for so many years and that has made it that much sweeter watching you shine and showing the world that being a trans woman is not incompatible with being the next drag superstar,” Cox told the finalist.
“Shanty you shall always stay in my heart.”
She was also visited by Wintergreen – the drag persona of Sarge, a crew member who was dragged up by Peppermint for one of the challenges.
Sasha Velour came next and was given a message from Katy Perry who expressed her love for the queen’s high fashion drag.
She told the crowd that she knew her drag “is a little bit different” but she believes “that is the future of drag”.
Shea Coulee was next to sit down with RuPaul, and she opened up about the difficult time she had during filming due to losing her dad and sister in the space of a month to cancer.
The queen was delivered a congratulatory message from Black Chyna, who she impersonated on the series.
Trinity “the tuck” Taylor was the last to talk to RuPaul and the pair joked about her resting bitch face throughout the season, as well as being “the body” of the show.
She was given a message from SNL’s Bobby Moynihan after the cast did a sketch based on Drag Race.
Trinity went head to head with Miss Peppermint in the first battle of the night.
The two lip synced Stronger, by Britney Spears. Trinity whipped off the skirt of her dress to reveal the bum she has become famous for.
However, Peppermint won the challenge as her short Roman-gladiator-esque get up transformed into a stunning ball gown.
Sasha Velour and Shea Coulee were up next and they battled it out to So Emotional by Whitney Houston.
Sasha in true Velour style she had exploding roses coming from her gloves and wig winning her the battle.
Another Whitney Houston song, It’s Not Right But It’s Okay, was the final song that Miss Peppermint and Sasha Velour had to perform to win the crown.
It was a tight battle but Sasha Velour was awarded the crown and staff making her the next top drag queen.
