The Winner of RuPaul's Drag Race Season 9 Is...

Chris here. The ninth season of RuPaul's Drag Race came to a close last night with the series's most dramatic conclusion ever. At last week's reunion, Mama Ru teased that a sudden death lipsync battle would crown America's Next Drag Superstar from our beloved top four. This curveball was another shakeup from the show's formula, and feels like how the winner should have been chosen all along. While past seasons' crownings have been dull slogs to awarding an obvious winner, this kept the competition alive until the very second - and gave us two all-time great lipsync performances from the ultimate champion.

Trinity Taylor was the randomly selected first queen and chose Peppermint as her opponent, pitting a potential frontrunner against underdog lipsync assassin. But that meant leaving besties Sasha Velour and Shea Couleé to duke it out...

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RuPaul's Drag Race - Season 9 Reunion

Chris here, with a quick RuPaul's Drag Race check-in! By now I'm sure you've seen our Mama Ru is on the cover of Entertainment Weekly! If you wanted some bonafide proof that the cult show is now firmly in the mainstream, look no further. And don't forget that this season was actually still produced by Logo before the move to VH1 - expect season ten and the inevitable All Stars 3 to be huge.

This was was the reunion before next week's finale crowning, and each of the queens were in peak gorgeousness. But honey did this rehash make up for every single complaint that contestants about a lack of shade over the entire season. While most Drag Race reunions have been forgettable in later seasons (remember the unfiltered days of Tammie Brown daring to shade Ru herself?), this one ended with a bang.

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RuPaul's Drag Race S9E12 - Final Fourgy Four

by Chris Feil

We're almost to the finish line! This week, RuPaul's Drag Race brought the feels for an emotional runway but also at the thought of eliminating one of these queens. I don't know about you, dear readers, but I feel more affection to each of these four than any final four (maybe) ever. Everybody say "LOVE"!

Taking a clear lead from All Stars popular final rap single challenge, the queens all have to write their own verse to a remix of RuPaul's "Category Is". Between rehearsal, the girls each guested on Ru and Michelle's podcast "What's the T?" and all its ad-friendly earnestness - all that Squatty Potty and Ru didn't take a minute to talk about Squarespace? Quelle surprise!

But the real story to this final competitive episode was to spend some real quality time with each of the queens before the crowning finale - it was really about giving each queen the chance to sell themself. The runway found each queen in peak form and pulled on our heartstrings as they spoke to their child-selves about their own journey. Once again, the show proved its worth in showing all different kinds of stories within the LGBT community, the competition itself at its most and least significant with all these queens have faced. How in the hell can one of these queens be sent home?

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RuPaul's Drag Race S9E11 - Category Is: GAY

by Chris Feil

Happy Pride Month, everyone!! This week’s episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race was perfectly timed to the start of Pride season with gay extravaganza ball on the runway, and lots of streamers, glitter, and puppets! Andie MacDowell giving us Magic Mike XXL white wine realness!

But like Alexis Michelle’s bowl of Beautiful Turquoise Embellishments, this episode became a miss with lots of unfulfilled promise, particularly on the runway. Some queens had a significant misstep on the runway and others lacked the wow factor we expect from a top five competitor. Meanwhile in the workroom, we got a lot of dismissive interview quotes to amp up an air of contentiousness that wasn’t really there. Less an extravaganza than a passable week. Some of that manufactured cattiness probably comes down to a group of queens that genuinely get along, and the eased frustrations in the room now that Nina Bo’nina Brown was sent packing.

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RuPaul's Drag Race S9E10 - The New Ru Crew

by Chris Feil

After last week’s shocking fall from grace and resulting elimination for Valentina sent the RuPaul’s Drag Race fandom into such a tizzy, it’s a relief that this episode was largely all love.

For all the quibbles and bitching among fans of the show and the drama that inevitably comes between contestants, the show always comes from the heart. From the cruelest villains to the most resilient champions to the sad queen learning to accept herself, Drag Race loves every competitor who crosses its gates. Its a major reason why it elicits such a passionate response.

But Drag Race’s love extends far beyond the competition, and this episode showed us a little bit more of Mama Ru’s extended family. Past queens have mentioned in interviews how tight knit they become with the crew as well as their sister queens, but this challenge allowed that affection to be featured onscreen: for this season’s makeover challenge, the queens had to dragify a crew member.

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