Downton Abbey is done. The Olympics are over. What a perfect time to keep my television viewing habits going and start RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 6! Yay! Who needs to get up off the couch?
Ru is setting us up to believe that there’s some sort of horror/slasher movie theme this season. Whatever. After watching this first episode, I can report that there were no references to blood or horror at all. We’ll see if that holds up for the season.
And speaking of seasons, we’re treated to our first twist of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 6, and it’s a really smart one. You know how, you’re watching a reality show and at first all the contestants all blend together into a draggy bitchy mishmash & you can’t tell one person from another? Well does RuPaul have the solution for you! Just introduce HALF of the girls in the first episode so you get to spend a little more time with them. Then spend the 2nd episode of the season introducing the 2nd half of girls. Don’t be jealous of her boogie. And don’t be surprised if other reality shows don’t follow suit. I’m looking at you Project Runway!
What follows is then a pretty typical season debut show – introduce the girls, get their superficial reactions to the other girls – and make Mike Ruiz shoot their first photo shoot while doing something dangerous/outfit destroying. Although, come on does NO ONE see the fun in jumping into a big foam filled TV? I would do that WITHOUT being on a reality show. Far less dangerous than the tank of water, where one could legit drown, like last season. Those girls should be throwing some serious shade at the Season 6 girls.
Before we go further, let’s meet these first 7 contestants, shall we?
- Adore Delano (or Danny Noriega for those of you that watched season 7 of American Idol. Seacrest!)
- April Carrión – Latin, so cute. Seems a little vapid, but that could be a language issue. She calls herself a cross between Bjork and Coco Rocha.
- BenDeLaCreme – a bit retro & ditzy. Terminally delightful, as she puts it, and hilarious. I’m in love already.
- Gia Gunn – Comes across as an Asian mega-bitch. That assessment will probably hold up, but we’ll see how this season goes. Her entrance purse – a pair of hula hoops with a fabric pouch in between them – is faaabulous.
- Kelly Mantle – a veteran queen who’s done a bunch of acting work. She claims she will not recite her IMDB page like some OTHER queens we’ve met.
- Laganja Estranja – A little too much reliance for that fall-down move. Knows Adore Delano, so we’ll see how that plays out.
- Vivacious – the club kid all grown up. Makes her entrance with a second head on top of her head. Her leap into the TV Pit of Foam isn’t pretty, but that head makes it faaabulous.
Ooh, and according to the RuPaul’s Drag Race season 6 page, next week we’ll meet contestant that was in Australian Idol. Will there be some kind of singing challenge perhaps? Aussie vs. American throwdown? I also assume this means Adore Delano will stay around until week 3 at least to make a little bit of that drama happen.
The American Idol tie-ins don’t stop there folks! This week’s first guest judge is Adam Lambert! Glambert Nation! Squeeell! Please tell me no one out there is still under the delusion that he’s straight? We’re past that now, right?
The first runway challenge is to create an outfit that is their interpretation of a TV show. As the mini-challenge winner, Laganja Estranja was in charge of pairing the other girls with a TV show. Of course some girls are happy with their selected show, like Gia and the Kardashians and others are disappointed, like April with Duck Dynasty.
Another unhappy queen is Adore Delano. She wanted The Golden Girls soooo bad. But alas, her frenemy sticks her with Honey Boo Boo. Waahhh! Let the complaining continue!
Naturally, April does really well with Duck Dynasty. Adore on the other hand creates a sparkly mess. It’s bad but Honey Boo Boo isn’t exactly the epitome of style, so she’s still safe.
BenDeLaCreme wins this round with a fun campy dress that she could sell to the judges, complete with a small cheesecake.
Bottom two: The 2 vets – Kelly Mantle and Vivacious. While neither queen did well in the challenge, I’m expecting some serious performing chops in the lip synch for one’s life. Sadly they’re kind of blah. I mean, Vivacious, you were a club kid. You should be busting this out. Maybe it’s the editing, I don’t know but the energy seems really low for both of them.
In the end, Kelly Mantle should just recite her IMDB page cause she’s going home. It’s for the best really as Vivacious is definitely the more unique of the two. And now that we’ve seen the first 10 minutes of next week’s episode, we know that the 2nd batch of queens also has a club kid in the mix. Hmmmm…. 2 club kids. 2 former reality singing show contestants… I wonder what other pairings are in this mix of contestants on RuPaul’s Drag Race? Only time will tell. See you next Monday.