Are you fully gagged? After a season of may highs and lows and a stable of queens that might not have been fully ready for prime time, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” pulled out an epic finale that shocked everyone in attendance and showed “Lip Sync Battle” how you can slay without choreographed dancers and big sets.
Note: Spoilers ahead. If you have not watched the season finale you have been warned.
Attending the finale in person was an incredible experience. Recorded two weeks ago, the audience was hyped for just a traditional reunion finale with interviews, some performances and RuPaul announcing her choice as America’s Next Drag Superstar. We had no idea that the show would flip the script and the queens would be lip syncing for their life in a sudden death elimination. The queens knew though. They had learned about the change in the finale, that was based on a VH1/Logo executive suggestion almost a month earlier. They were prepared, the audience was, well, shook. Although by the time the finale aired most viewers already knew the twist and had a week to prepare or it. Of course, they couldn’t be prepared for everything.
Peppermint’s wig and outfit reveal blew the top off the Alex Theater in Glendale in person. It pretty much did that on TV as well. Trinity Taylor seemed unprepared for Peppermint’s twist and that didn’t translate in the broadcast.
AHHHHHHHHH!!!!! @Peppermint247 @RuPaul @michellevisage @vh1 @rupaulsdragrace #DragRace pic.twitter.com/FViqmLlZZu
— World of Wonder (@WorldOfWonder) June 24, 2017
When Whitney Houston’s “So Emotional” was revealed as the second lip sync song the assumption was this was the sort of track that was right up expected winner Shea Coulee’s alley. Moreover, the dress Sasha Velour had chosen seemed wrong for the song, but she proved the audience (who was behind her from the beginning) wrong. From our seats it seemed that once Sasha pulled her wig off and the flower petals fell the audience rose to their feet Shea sort of faded. Like Trinity, this night was not what she expected.
????? Make it rain @sasha_velour!!!! #TeamSasha #DragRace pic.twitter.com/YQqup7gccO
— RuPaul’s Drag Race (@RuPaulsDragRace) June 24, 2017
At the end of the six hour taping what mattered most was that “Drag Race” had its best season finale ever, a true competition that proved an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program is well deserved. It also provided a transcendent winner, Sasha Velour, who has the opportunity to continue drag’s increasingly speedy march into the mainstream. A phenomenon that former winners Bianca Del Rio, Alaska Thunderfuck and Bob The Drag Queen have been an integral part of. Could Trinity, Peppermint or Shea have achieved that as well? Possibly, but Sasha has a unique style that hasn’t been seen in a winner before. She may go far.
OMG! YAS! @Peppermint247 @sasha_velour @RuPaul @michellevisage @vh1 @rupaulsdragrace #DragRace pic.twitter.com/84YSLSgFeU
— World of Wonder (@WorldOfWonder) June 24, 2017
That being said previous finales were 90 minutes and at an hour the production cut out a ton from what was recorded that night. Hopefully someone at VH1 or Logo can make an argument to go back to the special longer episodes they have had in the past. And, if you are curious what the producers of the show thought check out my podcast recorded just two days after the finale and reunion programs were recorded.
Now here are 12 things you didn’t see on the eventual broadcast.
Valentina fans were in the house
As expected, the “fan favorite” winner get the loudest applause when the queens first walked out onto the stage. However, during the production there were a number of starts and stops during that into with all the girls standing on stage waiting for the next shot, etc. During that time the crowd, a large portion of whom paid to be in attendance, started shouting “Valentina! Valentina! Valentina!” like it was a political rally. This went on forever and was fun and awkward at the same time. You could tell a number of the final four queens were visibly annoyed at it while Valentina blew kisses to the crowd. If you don’t think that led to their salty comments during the reunion, which was filmed the next day, I’ve got a condo in Trump tower to sell you.
No mask tonight! @AllOfValentina @RuPaul @michellevisage @vh1 @rupaulsdragrace #DragRace pic.twitter.com/8m6AgN10Sr
— World of Wonder (@WorldOfWonder) June 24, 2017
