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RuPaul's Drag Race: Ladies, Tramps, Hussies, And Starrbooty
Recap and Commentary by RTVC Senior Staff Writer Jacob D.
February 9, 2010
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Previously on RuPaul's Drag Race, 12 new queens gathered and began the competition to be, "America's Next Drag Superstar."
Inspired by one of RuPaul's favorite movies, Gone With The Wind, the queens participated in a Civil War inspired photo shoot and made outfits out of curtains.
On the runway, the queens strutted their stuff and Morgan McMichaels was named the overall winner in the week's tasks. Sahara Davenport and Shangela Laquifa Wadley, both friends from before the show, were left in the bottom two and had a lip sync battle to RuPaul's, "Cover Girl."
In the end, RuPaul eliminated Shangela.
We are now down to 11 queens and are ready for a new set of tasks. Who will be told to sashay away this week?
The queens arrive at the workroom where they are soon delivered a new 'She Mail.' RuPaul gives some cryptic clues over the TV screen including lots of attitude-laden phrases and something about, "making it rain."
Ru then joins the queens in person and sets for them the mini-challenge of turning a lady into a tramp. Say what? Out come some dolls and the girls are told they will be turning little RuPaul dolls into hussies. Interesting! The queens are also told to pair up and they do so as follows:
-Nicole Paige Brooks & Sonique
-Raven & Morgan McMichaels
-Sahara Davenport & Pandora Boxx
-Tyra Sanchez & Jujubee
-Tatianna & Jessica Wild
-Mystique Summers Madison, working by herself due to the odd number of queens
The queens get ready, get set, and go, rushing to make their Ru dolls trampy and trashy. Tyra immediately grabs all of the available materials so that she and Juju can have their choice of fabrics. Nicole tells us that what she'll miss most is her son. Soon, only 10 minutes are left in the challenge and the girls rush to get finished.
Mystique first shows off her doll, "ShaQuanda," complete with teased up hair and shredded black clothes. Think Halle Berry's, "Catwoman," but with less clothes and no mask. Tatianna and Jessica present, "Wild Whore," a doll with big hair, thick makeup, a booby-exposing top that would make Lil' Kim proud, and a short bubble skirt. Sahara and Pandora give to Ru, "Shafreeforall," a doll with hideously overdone makeup, barely there top and skirt, and hideous leggings. She's also carrying a green sequined bag and is missing a show. Well, Ru did ask the queens to go for trashy.
Sonique and Nicole present, "Cynthia," whom I would say is more tacky than trampy. The makeup and hair are bad, the outfit, with right breasts hanging out, is an asymmetrical yellow and black skirt, and she's wearing boots that come up to the knees. Tyra and Jujubee have, "Cherry," to offer and dang if that's not a miniature Lil' Kim! Wait, micro Kim? Infinitesimal Kim? Somehow, adding any qualifier that means, "small," seems redundant with Lil' Kim. The doll is kinda cute though. Morgan and Raven give us, "Lady Mayhem," and while there's a lot of skin showing on this doll, it's actually more fashionable and couture than slutty.
After looking at the dolls, Ru announces that Pandora and Sahara are the winning team for this mini-challenge. And now, the main challenge is based on one of RuPaul's movies, "Starrbooty." Before you go searching for it, you should first know that it is definitely NOT kid friendly. In the movie, Ru's character works as an undercover hustler and the queens will be getting in touch with their inner Pussycat Dolls. Also, the queens will be working in groups and as the winners of the challenge, Pandora and Sahara are automatically anointed team leaders. Here's how the selection process goes down:
Pandora's Team- Morgan McMichaels, Sonique, Raven, Tatianna, Nicole Paige Brooks
Sahara's Team- Jessica Wild, Jujubee, Tyra Sanchez, Mystique Summers Madison
Ru further tells the queens that a couple of burlesque performers will give each group pointers on how to work it, sexy-style, and that each group is responsible for their own looks. Sahara immediately begins making decisions, deciding that everyone will be wearing the same fabric whereas Tyra keeps piping up with blunt opinions such as saying the chosen fabric is, "shitty." Tyra, who wants to be in Pandora's group with the 'skinny pretty bitches,' loudly asks why she was not chosen by Pandora, rubbing her team the wrong way.
On the runway, the queens are greeted by Anne-Marie and Blue of, 'United Pole Artists,' and are supplied with poles for dancing. As if they would be for anything else. By the way, "United Pole Artists?" Are the strippers of the world uniting for some cause unknown to us non-stripper peoples? The real girls show all the fake girls some sexy tricks and there's a lot of hilariously shocked expressions.
The girls ask for volunteers and Mystique steps up, followed by a handful of other queens who all seem to be doing well. Well, except for Nicole. She's just gaunt and awkward, despite her saying that her persona, Nicole, is sexy. When it comes to Tyra, she decides not to step up and says that she learns by watching, not by doing and copying other peoples' ideas. In the workroom, Tyra continues to air her opinion, saying that the queens don't have to be too trashy and that pole dancing is 'ho-ish.'
On the runway, Pandora's team try to work out a routine with the pole and Raven tells us that Pandora isn't doing much as team leader. Raven volunteers Morgan as choreographer, who steps up, and Pandora tells us she was shutting down because everyone was talking too much. When it's Sahara's Team's turn, Tyra continues to refuse to participate, saying she's putting the routine together in her head as she watches. When Sahara's team returns to the workroom, they grab some of the fabric that Pandora's team had been using for their costumes and there's a big confusion about who said what to whom about which and where.
After a while, Ru comes in to check on the queens and when asked, Pandora says she hasn't felt like a good leader because of all the strong personalities on the team. As RuPaul says, "What? Strong personalities in a drag competition?!" Shock and awe! With Sahara, Sahara feels she's doing a good job, but Ru points out that Tyra is off napping on a couch. Ru asks what she's done so far and Tyra says she finished her outfit in five minutes so she took a break. Ru reminds her that she's being tested on her individual performance as well as how she interacts with her group. Before leaving, Ru tells everyone that they will perform at Dragonfly, a club, in front of a room full of men.
The queens head to the club, all decked out and ready to go, where the regular panel of judges are joined by guest judges Kim Coles and Dita von Teese. Ru says that the team who makes the most money will be safe from elimination and the highest individual earner from the team will be the overall winner. There's a twist though, in that there will be two ways to make money: the dance routine and selling cherry pie gift certificates, courtesy of Cafe Audrey, on the street.
Sahara's team is the first to man the streets, for lack of a better term, while Pandora's team takes the stage. Morgan totally has Christina Aguilera hair, circa her 'Dirrty' phase. Sonique busts out some athletic moves and is the first to do a solo. She gets a good response, as does a sassy Pandora. Raven seems to just be floating along though, not really putting much effort into her performance. On the street, Juju is surprised to see Tyra step up and get the peoples' attention while Sahara seems to swoop in and steal a sale from Juju.
Onstage, Morgan does a fantastic job in her solo, pulling off some great moves, while Tatianna flirts with the audience. Nicole is just awkward as heck.
The teams then switch and Nicole is loud from the start. Raven again doesn't seem to put much effort into the task while Sonique seems to be getting rude with people. Tatianna is a tad grossed out with Morgan's over-sexual flirting, but doesn't seem to be doing much better with her sweet approach. Team Sahara takes the stage and have a lot more energyt han Team Pandora. I would say their routine is better. Jessica gives the first solo and gives it her all, she does! Mystique does some booty-bumping and split-jumping. On the street, Team Pandora is not cleaning up, so to speak. Back onstage, Juju is adorable in her solo and Tyra is fierce while Sahara uses her dance background.
The girls head back to the workroom and prepare for the main runway presentation. As stated previously, Kim Coles and Dita von Teese will join the judging panel this week as guests. The queens are all decked out in their high class glam and Sonique is the firs to walk the runway, looking very fresh and lovely with curly hair, great makeup, and a black dress with a nude-illusion and corset top. Jessica walks out in a jewel encrusted dress wit layered tulle at the bottom and Raven goes for simple fierceness with a long tight black dress with low cut top.
Sahara looks fantastic in a sparkly blue gown while Pandora has a yellow and black floral print with bands around the waist. Jujubee walks out in a curve hugging peach dress and Nicole Paige Brooks goes for a black corset dress. Mystique Summers Madison shimmers brightly in a fabulous gown while Morgan McMichaels goes for a business-woman style look. Hmmm, she looks a lot like Debi Mazar this week. Tyra has a sheer tight dress with jeweled netting collar and Tatianna closes with a backless purple gown and short hair.
The queens gather on the runway where RuPaul announces that Sahara's Team performed the best of the two groups and Sahara is the overall winner. This leaves Pandora's team, which includes Pandora, Morgan, Raven, Sonique, Tatianna, and Nicole, are the bottom group and one of them will be eliminated. The judges didn't really like Pandora's outfit in the runway judging while Sonique did well on the burlesque stage, but was rude to people on the street. Dita felt Nicole looked the most like a woman while Santino gives her stage performance poor marks.
With Tatianna, the judges loved how she performed on the burlesque stage and note that Raven didn't make much money. With Morgan, RuPaul asks who she thinks should go home. Morgan answers that Tatianna is the weakest while Tatianna gets out by Ru for going with the safe answer and picking the immune Morgan. Nicole says to send everyone home while Raven picks Tatianna because she doesn't think Tatianna really wants to be a star.
Now it's time for the judges to deliberate. Nicole brought in the least amount of money and Raven wasn't far behind. Raven didn't bring it on stage, but did on the runway and the judges want more. Tatianna is gorgeous, but didn't know how to hide her disadvantages. Sonique was a tad fake and Pandora didn't really stand out, despite being a high earning girl. Nicole got lost in the shuffle and that's death in this competition, according to Kim Coles.
Decisions have been made and it's time to let the girls know what's what. Morgan earned immunity last week so she's safe. Sonique is safe, but not before being told her attitude on the street was a problem. Nicole brought in the least amount of money and is up for elimination. Pandora is safe and Raven is put in the bottom two with Nicole. This means that Tatianna is also safe, though RuPaul tells her she needs to sharpen her claws.
With Nicole and Raven as the bottom two, they are up for elimination and have one last chance to lip sync for their lives. This week, the song is En Vogue's, "My Lovin (You're Never Gonna Get It)." Nicole looks cutesy and girly, but Raven brings some real sass and fierceness, doing unique tricks such as using the whole runway, various hand motions, and even pulling out one of her bra pads to mimic wiping sweat away from her brow. After the performance, RuPaul saves Raven and Nicole Paige Brooks is the second queen to be eliminated.
Coming up on RuPaul's Drag Race:
The queens have a set of tasks with a country theme and Kathy Najimy and Tanya Tucker show up as guest judges. See ya there!
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