TQS StaffThe first time I ever watched an episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race I remember being astonished by the amount of unabashed product placement. I also remember being particularly taken with Ru’s “strutting down the runway” music, Cover Girl from her album, Champion. I downloaded the album and ended up loving it. Then the next album, Glamazon, came along and I got it, and I bloody loved that too.
This week’s Drag Race combines my favourite things: rampant product placement and RuPaul’s albums. Yes, mama! The queens were split into two teams to create infomercials for Champion and Glamazon, each girl acting out their own segment related to a song of their choosing from the records. As much as last week’s wrestling challenge put the girls under pressure to perform, this week you could really see the fear in some of their eyes as they realised they had to be more than just pretty.
I’m feeling a bit sorry for Madame LaQueer this week, as despite winning last week’s challenge, she was last to be picked again for the teams. And her Puerto Rican sister, pint-sized Kenya Michaels, was pretty unpleasant about her, saying that she was letting their country down. It looks like this kitten has some claws. Jiggly got stranded on her own in the mini-challenge too, as nobody wanted to pair up with her. School-yard antics have returned to Drag Race, although thankfully not on the same scale as last year’s Boogers vs. Heathers clique-fest.
The Princess is really starting to get on my nerves; she’s gorgeous as a woman and pretty sexy as a guy, but she has zero personality and zero performance ability. Also: Milan. Now from week one, there was something about her which didn’t sit well with me and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. This week, however, she just outright pissed me off, stealing the leadership away from Kenya and overruling her on pretty much every decision, blaming Kenya’s “language barrier”. It’s a real shame that the backstage antics can’t have an effect on the eliminations, as I would love to see this bitch sashay away as soon as possible.
On the flipside, Latrice Royale continues to be flawless. She is hilarious, she is gorgeous, and she is a genuinely nice person. Sharon Needles continues to be tremendously creative and an excellent performer. And Chad Michaels continues to be surprisingly lovely and flawlessly Cher-like. The biggest surprise this episode came with this week’s Lipsynch for your Life – who knew Dida Ritz could turn a performance like THAT? Werk!
My only criticism of this episode is the criminal, and I mean genuinely criminal, underuse of Glee’s Amber Riley as a guest judge. I wanted to see some full on Mercedes attitude as she read those queens to absolute filth on the runway, and sadly it didn’t happen.
If RuPaul’s music got you going this week, remember the three most important words from this episode; available on iTunes. 
Words by @badlydrawnroy
