Hi Ugly!
It's me, Bussy!
And, welcome back to Hot or Rot!
It feels good to be back.
Today we’ll be ranking the drag race down under talent show performances and reviewing
the "How’s your 'head'piece runway looks."
By the way - for all my gen z babies - the ‘how’s your head’ recurring joke on
drag race is actually a reference to El Vira herself.
[El Vira Clip] Elvira: Ow!
Man: Oh my gosh!
Elvira, I'm sorry.
Are you alright?
Elvira: Yeah, I think so.
Man: How's your head?
Elvira: I haven't had any complaints yet.
Man: Excuse me?
What’s that you ask?
How’s MY head?
Horny!
And, guaranteed to make you finish.
It's gonna be a bumpy ride today, so make sure to fasten your seatbelts.
And make sure to stay tuned until the end of today’s video if you wanna see my special
talent.
Now… let’s get started.
First up, It's Karen From Finance.
Her talent today was balloon animal.
Period.
The producers, I think, were trying their hardest to give Karen a storyline this episode
and landed on the “stepping outside of your box” one.
And By that I mean that in the workroom today, Rupaul asked Karen to "Sex it up" a little
bit.
And our drag race veterans will know this is nothing new.
Ru is always asking queens to do things they don't normally do, which is great.
But I’m not really buying that Karen challenged herself or stepped out of any kind of box.
I think she just wore the outfit she was originally planning on wearing in the first place.
And, her character already kind of plays with that "Sex" element.
Anyways so Karen hits the stage, appearing to “take his advice” and she wore nipple
tassles and a harness.
*Gasp* And, walks around the stage for about thirty seconds and then finally makes a singular
balloon animal.
Three, four or five might have been impressive but just one?
Overall I thought this was really lackluster.
Michelle said it best- "That's it?".
Karen's talent show was full of ROT air tonight.
On the runway though, I was like who in the cindy lou hoo is this?
Oh my god!
This was amazing.
A gagatronda.
A full gag, if you will.
Maybe even a gagged bound and chained.
*Gasp* I love this.
This is that crazy campy character that Karen From Finance is at her best.
And this is also what I was talking about though with her character already kind of
playing with "Sexy" elements in her drag.
She often has those little svelt body cutouts.
She already kind of toes that line.
Oh, the places you'll go if you're the producers favorite.
This look was HOT!
Next up: She’s getting stuffed… and i’m jealous.
It’s Art Simone.
Her talent was... eating?
Basically...
Basically she walks up to a table of 3 plates of food.
The first one she eats, the second one she throws on the floor and the third one - *gasp*
it's empty!
Whatever will she do?
Of course, she put her fist in her mouth.
[---] is a talent indeed.
Not everyone has the wherewithal or gape to accomplish such a feat.
Okay, on a real note; Art I love you to death I really do but what the hell was this?
Like, I was sitting there waiting for a punchline but it just never hit me.
Maybe there was some sort of deep social commentary about capitalism and eating the rich?
Or maybe not.
Saying it out loud like that really makes me think - Maybe not.
As it was, it was my second least favorite of the night.
It was a ROT!
But good god on the runway!
And I'm gonna be saying that a lot tonight because this was maybe the best runway of
maybe all the international franchises, a lot of the US seasons.
Headpieces off to ya, gals.
It was *choking* amazing.
And Art's, specifically, was killer!
But not like in the Asia O'Hara sense - more like in the metaphorical sense.
She says she’s giving us “Gumnut Baby Realness” and I was like "What the h___
is that?".
So I went on over to a little Youtube Channel called The Rory Show (TheRoryJohn).
He does these little reference recaps for runways which are amazing; he taught me about
the Gumnut baby children's books, which I guess are really popular down under.
They're about these - well - "Gumnut Babies".
Literal personified "Gumnut Babies" of the eucalyptus tree.
Named "Snugglepot" and "Cuddlepie" - which I absolutely hate.
But, thank you Rory for the reference check.
Back to Art's runway - I think what really made it special was the attention to detail
here.
The tattered edges, the sheerness, the cage skirt, and of course the apparently cat toys
she used to construct the headpiece.
Art can turn a look.
She has yet to fail to live up to that name.
This look was HOT!
Next Up…
Abra, Kitabra, Meanakazam.
Kita mean’s talent was: MAGIC!
And here I was thinking witches only existed in London and Waverly place.
I was living for Michelle’s reaction shots to the beginning of this performance.
I felt the same way; it took a while to warm up okay, that's not a secret but I think she
really came through at the end.
She had like 3 different outfit reveals that happened by magic!
And the funny thing was - so were the judges.
I think Ru even gave it a, "Wow!" despite hating magic.
But then the critiques came around on the runway and they were like "The Outfits look
cheap!", "Fabric was bad"!
"Bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh" And I'm like, wait a second - what's happening here?
It's a campy magic drag show done by a man in a wig not New York Fashion Week.
So why are we all of the sudden focusing on these arbitrary details?
Probably for storyline, which we'll get to here in just a second.
I thought the talent show was HOT!
In fact, it was my second favorite of the night.
And on the runway, the slayage continues.
She was giving me cyberpunk ravergirl barbarella fembot realness.
It pulled in so many amazing references and looked stunning on the runway - PLUS she gave
us a light show with the hair.
I think Kita Mean has been one of the most consistently impressive queens in this competition.
She’s always got something up her sleeve or in her moon boots.
This look was HOT!
Kita Mean ate this episode up, but the judges still put her in the bottom.
Here’s my little conspiracy theory:
So - the producers have been driving this Elektra vs. Scarlet storyline for the past
three or four episodes.
They were probably dying to have them lip sync against each other but Scarlet did way
too well this episode for that to happen and I think the producers realized it was gonna
be now or never.
And turns out it was never.
So, they went for the emotional sister vs. sister lip sync angle instead.
As with a lot of this season though, the storytelling has not been focused on the right things so
there was no payoff and it didn't even make sense that it happened.
Anyways, next up: She likes the pole and the hole!
Same.
Any Jerri Blank fans in the audience?
Let me know down in the comments.
This maybe, was, one of the most difficult talents that was displayed tonight.
The amount of body strength and coordination that what she did requires is incredible.
And, there's no denying that Scarlet did amazingly.
But I am gonna call her out real quick she made a comment that was like, "Queens don't
really do polls"?
And i'm like - wait a second... are we forgetting that Shea Coulee literally just did a pole
dancing talent show number in All Stars 5?
And i'm not saying that Scarlet can't also do that talent, but I'm just saying like,
Let's not forget about it.
But yeah, you're probably questioning your sexuality after watching this and that's okay.
This performance was hot!
And, my favorite of the night.
And, on the runway....
WOAH!
WOOAHHHH!
WOOOAHHH!!
WOAH!
That was my impression of Tamisha Iman doing Cher.
I have almost no words for this.
This *gasp* wow.
Literally I was watching this and I was just like, "Wow."
"Wow."
"Wow."; this is one of the most beautiful garments to ever grace the Drag Race stage.
I'm not sure if she stole this from Cher's closet or if she threw some pearls on the
stage of Vegas and robbed it from an actual Show Girl but it is amazing.
And you know what they say; "The Devil's in the Details".
This look was HOT!
And Finally, now ya "SIA"; now you don’t.
Get it?
Cause she was eliminated?
It’s Elektra Shock.
So Elektra's talent was interpretive dance.
But her wig needed no translator.
It was SCREAMING for help.
*laughter*
Okay; On a real note - this was probably the second most physically and mentally demanding
of all the talents displayed.
choreographed interpretive dance: that's a skill that not many people have.
And, I think it's also one that kind of hard to appreciate if you aren't familiar with
it.
And, I'm not.
I'm uncultured swine.
But, I still kinda liked it.
I think one of the biggest issues with this though, is Rupaul and Michelle are always
looking for two things: [S___] and comedy.
If you can put them together, great.
But typically they want you to have one or the other.
Elektra had neither tonight.
And I'm not saying I agree with that, I'm just saying that's what the show typically
looks for.
The crazy thing is though is that when they're giving critiques, Michelle tells Elektra she
hopes that Sia sees this performance and casts her for a video.
*record scratch*
I literally could not think of higher praise to give somebody for this type of talent show
thing.
I hear that and I'm thinking - Okay cool - they're gonna definitely put her in the top this week.
And, then they go in for the roadkill on the top of her head.
*laughter*
I do think wearing the wig was a mistake but I don't think it was one that should have
put her in the bottom.
Again, was this a talent show or a fashion show?
It just seriously blows my mind they could give more reward to a singular balloon animal
than an entire choreographed dance.
Even if her wig was thirstier than a jockstrapped twink at pride.
Her talent was lost in translation to the judges but I thought it was HOT...
And my third favorite of the evening.
On the runway, she "Swings" and she scores again.
She's giving me Moulin Rouge, Chicago, Broadway, New York!
Jazz Hands!
I'm living for the camp factor of her putting a literal swing on her headpiece that touches
on her booty.
It's so great.
And I think one of the reasons I love Elektra so much is she reminds me of the older days
of Drag Race when it seems like they would cast more like "Diamonds in the Rough" than
Hollywood ready starlets.
Now, let's spill some quick tea.
Ru asked everyone who should go home tonight: Everybody of course says, "Elektra".
And, I don't know if the regular viewer of Drag Race knows this but drag is highly political
- and I'm not talking about "Rachel Tensions".
There's a whole culture of paying dues, respecting elders, "Etcetera Etcetera".
And often, you kinbda have to "rub elbows" and shake hands with the right people if you
wanna get cast in a show.
It's clear that Elektra is not one of those highly respected elders and the queens are
letting her have it because of that.
They all kind of pretty much say something to the effect of like, "Elektra's not ready
for it" even though she's doing reat in the competition.
The thing is though, Elektra makes good TV.
But, what makes even better TV?
Having a robbed queen.
Elektra is the Miz Cracker, the Katya, the BenDeLaCreme of the season.
Our sacrificial fan favorite lamb who we can all cry about on social media.
And, she was always meant to be that character.
She was never going to win.
But, that's how the cookie crumbles.
Frankly though, I'm a little tired of this cookie.
It's stale, I'm tired of the overproduction.
I'm like, "Girl, can we just have a little bit of naturality on this TV show?".
For the love of God!
Or, the devil.
Whichever you prefer.
But that brings me to my final question/thought for today's video.
Is this season horribly written/produced or is it horribly edited?
In other words, is this season exposing shenanigans that may have happened on other seasons of
Drag Race that the editors knew how to hide, or are they just being so heavy handed in
their production that they don't care about having an actual competition anymore?
Let me know what you think down in the comments.
Regardless though, our queens deserve better.
As I mentioned, Kita and Elektra are in the bottom this week and I posted an exclusive
lip sync and talent show reaction to today's episode over on my Patreon at Patreon.com/Bussyqueen
- you can join my family of patrons for just a couple of dollars a month support the channel,
and get tons of exclusive member benefits.
Click the link in the description to join today.
See ya there!
Our winner this week is Scarlet Adams - no surprise.
And my hottest HOT on the runway is Scarlet Adams.
I also asked my patrons to vote for their hottest hot and they’ve chosen Kita Mean.
And now for
my talent:
I wanna say thanks so much for watching today's video and giving a special shoutout to...
[Patreon Shoutouts]