11 of Drag Race’s most ‘unhinged’ moments, according to fans
RuPaul”s Drag Race fans are sharing their favourite ‘unhinged’ moments from the show’s herstory. (BBC)
After 15 years on our TV screens, RuPaul’s Drag Race has certainly had its fair share of chaotic moments.
There’s BenDeLaCreme writing her own name on the elimination lipstick in All Stars 3, Ginny Lemon walking off stage mid lip-sync on Drag Race UK season two, and the time Jaida Essence Hall was crowned via Zoom call thanks to a global pandemic.
Thanks to a viral post on X/Twitter, Drag Race fans from across the world are reflecting on some their favourite ever truly “unhinged” moments from the show’s long and winding herstory.
We’ve selected the best of those wild, fan-favourite moments for your viewing pleasure. As season 16 of the US edition and season two Drag Race UK vs The World continue to bring us unbelievable gags and goops, let’s take a moment to thank those queens who paved the way.
Gia Gunn’s entire existence on the show
Season six and All Stars 4 icon Gia Gunn may have been seen as a villain of sorts, because she had absolutely no qualms about telling her fellow queens what she thought of them.
More than four years after she was last on our screen though, and we miss her deeply – so much so that we’ve come to realise that her dragging her competitors wasn’t shady, just hilarious.
These two moments – when she told Courtney Act that she “coughed like a man” and assured Trinity The Tuck that she wouldn’t be playing Caitlyn Jenner in the Snatch Game – are absolute highlights.
This hilarious gaffe on Drag Race Thailand
The moment in each episode where the queens find out which of them will be in the bottom and lip-syncing for their lives is always the most intense. That’s why this Drag Race Thailand season two blunder, in which contestant Srimala accidentally sets off the musical tone on her magic wand prop as host Pangina Heals is about to deliver the result, is so hilarious.
“We are not filming a sitcom, bitch,” Pangina laughs. And while that’s true, it’s still very, very funny.
Jan being saved – and then eliminated
In one of the most brutal eliminations in Drag Race herstory, the famously ‘safe’ superstar Jan was sent home after initially being told she was safe – Moonlight and La La Land style.
After Jan wound up in the bottom two alongside Pandora Box, lip-sync assassin Alexis Mateo was told to reveal which queen the group had voted to send home. Initially, she pulled a lipstick with Pandora’s name on it, and Jan consoled her competitor. Alas, Alexis then chaotically revealed that she had a second lipstick: this one with Jan’s name on it, as the vote had been tied for the first time.
Trinity K Bonet, who had won the week’s challenge, was then told to reveal which queen she voted to get the chop, eventually leading to Jan being sent home. Wild.
Daya Betty deciding to eat a dragonfly?
Drag Race season 14 had many an unhinged moment, from the deeply unnecessary “It’s chocolate” twist, to every single queen bar one ending up in the bottom two as a result of the Snatch Game challenge.
Yet it was this random moment in the werk room, in which contestant Kornbread offered to give fellow queen Daya Betty $1000 dollars if she, ahem, ate a dragonfly, that had the fans on the edge of their seats.
Reader: she ate the dragonfly.
RuPaul constantly nearly dying from laughter
If there’s one thing RuPaul knows how to do, it’s nearly pass away from laughing too hard. Of course, there’s the infamous moment when season 13 star Utica revealed, and then retracted, the admission that she’d smoked weed before – following which Mama Ru nearly lost her vocal chords from howling too hard.
Yet there are other moment’s in the show’s history – like when All Stars 2 winner Alaska said the only thing “fake” about her was her leg, before she pulled it off and threw it across the room; or when Jessica Wild simply decided to call Tatianna fat during the reading challenge on season two – that should equally go down in the show’s herstory.
Michelle Visage deciding to get her breasts out
Michelle Visage might be part of the Drag Race furniture now, but when she joined the judging panel back in season three, she still had a lot to prove. So, when she offered a critique of Alexis Mateo’s botched latex breastplate, she decided to show an example of what proper breasts looked like.
“Those aren’t breasts, these are breasts,” she yelled, and the rest, as they say, is herstory.
RuPaul seemingly mispronouncing Jimbo’s name
Now, this seems to be a black and blue dress situation, as I can frankly only hear “Jimbo” in this RuPaul voiceover. However some fans online believe that when RuPaul was enlisted to announce the All Stars 8 winner as a guest judge on Canada’s Drag Race season three, she mispronounced her name as “Timbo”. Thoughts?
Serena Cha Cha fighting with everyone on Earth
Now, every Drag Race fan knows that the real drama happens backstage in Untucked, but never has that been truer than when it comes to season five.
Just two episodes in, and contestant Serena Cha Cha – who would go on to be eliminated that same week – decided to pick a fight with pretty much every single queen in the cast.
It did not end well for her. As a wise woman once said: “B**ch! Sit your ass down and shut the hell up b**ch!”
Aubrey Plaza giving the best ever guest judge line
Purveyor of deadpan comedy and star of The White Lotus Aubrey Plaza made history with one single line when she appeared as a guest judge on All Stars 2.
Asked by RuPaul how she felt about being a judge on the panel for the day, she dryly responded: “This is the greatest day of my life. I’m killing myself tomorrow.”
Chad Michaels fighting with one of the makeover guests
Now, the Drag Race girlies are obviously known for fighting among each other. Very occasionally, they may even talk back to the judges. Yet fighting with one of the guests brought in as part of a challenge? Practically unheard of.
That’s exactly what happened when, during the makeover challenge on season four, Sharon Needles’ “DILF” took so-called shade slightly too far, and told Chad Michaels to “get the f**k off” his runway. Obviously, she bit back. Awkward.
Michelle Visage calling Nina West a ‘big girl’ – and then carrying on
Look, the runway package Nina West brought to season 11 was certainly an acquired taste. It favoured camp silliness over high fashion, and that’s OK, but Michelle Visage wasn’t always a fan.
When the 45-year-old drag star wore a viking-inspired look for the “All That Glitters Is Gold” runway category, Visage opted to tell her exactly what she thought of it – and what she thought of West’s big shoulders, big chest, and big everything.
That time RuPaul had one too many espressos – and a coffee enema
During the season 14 design challenge, RuPaul wanted to tell the contestants that they didn’t have to “reinvent the wheel” when it came to creating their looks. Instead, she said: ssklsjfdfkslklfkdjsofjdsoifjdskl.
The unrivalled disarray of a six-way lip-sync
After being unimpressed with one of the groups of queens performing in the “Diva Worship” acting challenge in season 11, RuPaul declared that an unprecedented six queens would be lip-syncing for their lives – at the same time.
Scarlet Envy, Ra’Jah O’Hara, Honey Davenport, Plastique Tiara, Shuga Cain and Akeria C Davenport took on J Lo’s “Waiting For Tonight” as guest judge Troye Sivan looked on in horror, with wigs flying everywhere and one queen leaping off the stage and squirming around the floor.
Eventually, Honey Davenport – the squirmer – was sent home.
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