Hi everybody it's me, and welcome back to Hot or Rot and today we'll be reviewing the
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premiere of Canada's Drag Race Season 2. We were introduced to a dazzling new workroom. Seriously,
maybe the best across all the franchises so far; it's incredible. 12 new queens,
one of which has already injured their knee, and two new judges: Brad Gorski and Amanda Brugel.
In today's episode our queens had to create an out check couture look screaming premiere party
eleganza using unconventional materials left in a coat check and fabric from the
fabric land wall. And just to keep things fresh and interesting for y'all,
I’ll be ranking the looks today from Rottest Rot to Hottest Hot.
We’ve got a lot to break down but before we get started I do want to quickly let y'all
know that I have officially relaunched my merch shop at bussyqueen.com. That's right,
brand new merch. And for the next two weeks to celebrate the relaunch of my merch store I’ll
be giving everyone 10% off every purchase when you use the code BUSSYQUEEN10LAUNCH.
Now let's get started. First off with my least favorite look tonight Cynthia Kiss.
Cynthia is serving us this like little 70s disco diva darling look on the runway.
It immediately gave me flashbacks to Kind’s disco diva runway from the design challenge,
and uh, not good ones. And it's not that this is a terrible look – I think from the waist up she
looks gorgeous – it's just that I didn't catch a single unconventional material from the coat
check closet anywhere on this look. I just felt that this was very low effort from her.
Because if her plan was to just serve a fierce look with none of the coat check items then
I think the look itself needed to be 100% perfect. The pants part of the outfit were just really
confusing for me – they're giving me like baggy pajama bottoms – and I’m not really sure why, but
they're covering her feet like entirely with so much extra fabric that it's like piling up on
the ground – very strange. Cynthia I’m sorry my dear but to this look i'm sending a Rot.
Next up she's not a seamstress but she's no stranger to glue. It's Eve 6000. I have to say
i was pretty tickled hearing her say that she was going to be bringing the best looks to the
runway this entire season, and then we saw this: I will say I love the aesthetic that she was going
for here that old Hollywood glamour starlet just getting into the car with her big sunglasses and
driving off into the sunset darling. Very Little Edie-esque if you will, but I have the same issues
with Eve's outfit as I did with Cynthia’s. I didn't catch any unconventional materials and
the outfit itself just was not finished. The actual dress line was really sloppy – I
don't even think it was hemmed. It was just a bit messy. Considering her inability to sew,
it really may have behooved her to take a comedic approach to this runway kind of like OCN did,
because had she come out and like, let's say moth eaten looking fabric all torn up like she had just
pulled it out of the closet, you know 40 years past her prime, then maybe she could have really
turned something fun out. But the critics reviews are in! That's me. And this look is a Rot. I do
also want to give her special praise for posting an updated version of this look on her Instagram
which looks absolutely perfect, but we're not done here. We can't quite move on from
Eve without discussing the little breakdown that she had after hearing that she was safe. On first
watch I was like oh girl what are you doing? Like the dramatics – the theatrics of it all
falling off the stage as she's like bawling her eyes out? But on second watch I was like
oh she's kind of really smart because every second on reality TV counts and she knew
exactly how to bring that camera focus back to her in a time where she kind of needed it. Plus
let's not pretend like we don't love drama over here on this channel. Well played Eve.
Next up, pull out your protractors, it's Gia Metric. I will be calling it a couple of entrance
looks and Gia’s is one of them because it is absolutely stunning, intergalactic superstar,
brilliant. I used to always be scared of aliens as a kid, but if this is what they look like?
Gia won’t you come over here and abduct me sometime? And the main challenge though Geo went
from Hot to Rot at light speed. The biggest issue I have here being that this look is just kind of
boring. Especially considering what we saw Gia walk in with and the category being premiere
party eleganza. She does get points though for the outfit being well constructed and I do
think this was more of a safe outfit than bottom two, but here we are. I think the easy way for
Gia to have spiced this look up would have been to make it look more like their promo look which
it already kind of did – just lacking the special little elements like the shoulder detail that made
the promo look so exciting and fresh feeling. And also girl where was the unconventional
materials? Like maybe one of them was the pendant around their neck? Not sure but Gia,
this look is a Rot. Next up it's her party and she can cry if she wants to. It's Ocean Aqua Black and
I feel like half of y'all watching this will be surprised that Ocean is this high on my list and
the other half will be surprised that she's not higher, but keep listening. In the mini challenge,
Ocean hurts her knee so she decides to lean into this like girl that partied too hard drunken mess
type of look, which is not a bad idea. I think the dress that Ocean made was actually very well done.
You can tell she's not a stranger to sewing and I loved the cape detail coming off of the back.
Plus the character that she played up was undeniably fun. However I don't like how
she integrated the red solo cups throughout her outfit – it just looked messy and unfinished?
Which then again is kind of what she was going for so that's kind of hard to critique, but I would
love to have seen her put as much effort into the red solo cups as she did into the dress. But hey,
at least she used unconventional materials in an interesting way, unlike the previous couple
of queens that we've looked at so far. So for that i think she deserves a ton of credit. Plus
Ocean is literally the life of the entire cast. Every time she was on the screen I was laughing.
Entertaining as hell, and seeing her go home this early just wouldn't feel right so let's all
say a little prayer for her knee, shall we? All that said the Ocean temperatures may be rising,
but not enough for me to call this look Hot. It's going to be a Rot for me.
Next up, Beth. Best entrance look great. I love the like barbie kind of print that she
did with her name all over that coat and I just thought she looked stunning when she walked into
the work room. But her challenge look wasn't the Beth but it also wasn't the worst. I think Beth
did an amazing job using some of the coat check materials like for example the black solo cups
all over the corset, which all of the judges praised. And I did like the umbrella detail on
the bottom of the mermaid skirt that she made, even if it was a tad shoddily constructed. Like
Beth was out there taking risks that nobody else did on the runway, and just kind of got
punished for it. But then as I was listening to all the judges talk amongst themselves,
I did start to understand their perspective. They were really focusing on her confidence level
and they are making a TV show, so I do understand that they're going to be keeping the ones with the
biggest and loudest personalities that are going to entertain the audience watching.
Because as cool and interesting as her look was on the runway there
was a palpable lack of confidence so I am going to leave this look at a Warming Up.
Next up take a look at her big pink hat it's Adriana on Adriana’s Instagram, she detailed,
thank you by the way the way, that this outfit was made. Which, I feel like we really
missed in this episode. I feel like typically while we see the runways we hear confessionals
of the contestants talking about what they used to make the look.
I don't know what happened there. She says the hat was made with an old party city hat layered with
foam the bra and old t-shirt. The sleeves are poncho's glued to elastic bands and the skirt
is from the fabric wall. My favorite part of this look is the skirt – I think it fits her
immaculately and just is the chef's kiss of the look. The hat too is interesting – the whole
thing is kind of giving me this like housewife walking through her vineyards in California vibe.
And I didn't like the way that she placed those soda can tops throughout the outfit on the bra
and skirt and then dangled Mardi Gras beads around those places – those elements just made this whole
look feel a little bit rushed for me. I think it would have made a lot more sense for her
to take apart the beads and bead the waist of the skirt – kind of like she did the hat for example.
As presented, I am going to leave this look at a Warming Up, but I think with some small changes
girl, very close to a Hot. Also I love the drama of her like wiggling into the work room.
Next up, Kimura Amour. She is our carnival queen and she says the deep throat chartreuse
and as soon as we see her on the screen walking the workroom she does live up to that carnival
descriptor giving us some fabulous huge hair and wings that make her look like a phoenix rising
from the ashes. In the challenge my feelings were a little more mixed though. Stylistically,
I think this look is kind of a Rot. It looks a little dated and the bulkiness of
the top and bottom kind of take away from the dramatic shape that she's created. That said,
I really appreciate the craftsmanship put into this look. The time that it took to
just show those little napkins and paper pieces and create what she created? Girl,
she was probably working long long long hours after everyone else was finished. And I also
have to praise the fact that the entire outfit is created from unconventional materials. And on top
of all that the way she sold it on the runway; the bounciness of it, the way it all held together,
props to your mama. She's giving us this 80s campy life of the party fantasy and
I kind of lived for the presentation. So I’m gonna give this look a Hot.
Next up Suki Doll. She had I think inarguably the hottest entrance look of the entire cast
like [ __ ] are you joking? What is that – that is insane! There are these like tropical snake
looking hair twists all over her wig and the discs providing that crazy shape to the dress making
her look like a UFO girl – wild unidentified fashionable object. Love it. Also quick conspiracy
theory time – are Canadian drag queens all like intergalactic aliens? Gia, Adriana, and Suki
all looking intergalactic? I don't think it's a coincidence. And as for what she did on the runway
she proves that she lives and breathes fashion. The interesting thing about this look though I
think is that I loved it when it first came out and I was like oh, she's gonna win. But then the
more I saw it the less I loved it. For example I didn't love seeing the corset through that middle
cutout of the dress and seeing her trip on it did kind of make me side eye it a bit more,
and then when she was just standing on the stage receiving critique, it didn't look like a whole
lot. Like she really needed to be moving to make this dress look beautiful. On top of the fact
that, as Brooke called out, there really was not a use of unconventional material, besides
maybe on the headpiece. But maybe that was just enough. Suki, I am going to give this look a Hot.
Next up, the other Jenner. I mean gender. It's Kendall. On the runway she says she is serving as
Dida Von Tis. And she is – meets Madonna con bras meets Cats. Meow. I’ve gotta say I love how she
used all these different textures to create this look – it's crazy. I just love the juxtaposition
of the caged top and like the long solid skirt and it really is the subtle little details for
me too because the studs on the shoulder straps – they did not go unnoticed. I think it's a really
visually interesting outfit that both screams out couture and party eleganza. This look is Hot.
Next up, they came into the workroom ready for battle, it's yithia. This like pink warrior armor
fantasy that Pythia is serving is pink perfection. It's brilliant and very memorable and in the main
challenge Pythia is like so totally like serving an amazing look. She's totes giving me like a
Romy and Michelle fantasy. My favorite detail of this is that you can see the underwear through
the dress, which is a really smart way to give a nod to that era of fashion that Pythia was
referencing. Plus I don't imagine it was easy to rouge that dress the way that they did.
I think Pythia really proving here that they have a fine-tuned handle on how to create a
garment. On Instagram Pythia does say that the sequin fabric came from the fabric wall
and that the cow print accessories were in the coat check room. And why I think the
whole thing is totally fabulous and Hot – it may be worth noting that Pythia did not take
risks with those unconventional items like some of the other queens did.
Next up it’s Icesis Couture. Another queen with a jaw-dropping entrance look. Icesis I
think immediately proved to everyone that they did not come to play in that look. And in the
challenge Icesis continues to live up to the couture name. When I saw this coming
down the runway [ __ ] I was choking, I was gagging, I was dying, living, dying again,
and being resurrected. It's really really amazing what Icesis did here. I love this because she not
only managed to create something extremely visually interesting, but also on theme and
heavily using the unconventional materials. The primary ones she used being tickets,
but I think what shocked me most was like how in the world does she have time to create the collar,
do all of the ticket skirt detailing, and do things also like put a pocket on the side with the
tickets on the skirt. I was kind of shocked that judges even had the nerve, the gumption, and gall
to suggest an improvement to this look because it was so stunning. Icesis, this look is Hot couture.
And as much as I loved Icesis’s look, I’ve got a rave on Stephanie’s even more. She created her
gown out of like paper flyers backed with fabric from the fabric wall and the second
I saw her hit the runway and see the way the gown was moving and the light, I was literally
transported to another dimension. It looked like dragon scales and like it was almost a living,
breathing piece of fashion. And to further justify Stephanie’s dress being number one for me,
despite Icesis winning and my patrons also voting for Icesis as Hottest Hot,
I think Stephanie deserved the win just because she was slightly more on theme in my opinion the
theme was premiere party eleganza and she served a gown, which just felt slightly more elevated for
that type of event, or like what I would expect to see at an event like that. But
I definitely was not mad to see the win go to Icesis. Concerning the bottom two though,
the judges made Beth and Gia Metric lip sync and as you know since you just watched my video,
that's not the bottom two I would have chosen, but I do understand why the judges chose those two.
Ultimately I think they wanted to test Beth's confidence – was the issue that
they saw on the runway purely, uh, a one time thing? Or was it going
to persist in other areas? The easiest way to check that – being of course to
see her lip sync. And I kind of think that judges wanted to light a little fire under Gia’s butt.
Undoubtedly they know that Gia is going to be a tough competitor in the competition,
but the look Gia creates tonight just didn't showcase that star power.
And I did react to their lip sync over on my Patreon at patreon.combussyqueen,
which is my members-only website where my Patreon family gets exclusive member
benefits like early access to my videos, access to exclusive reaction videos,
access to the busy queen discord server, and more. Click the link in the description of my
video to help support the channel and join the family today. See you there!
But yeah the lip sync was an easy call for me, I think Gia Metric totally swept. Beth,
I don't think even truly knew all the lyrics to the song, and I think spent just a tad too
long laying face down on the runway doing the crybaby. So Beth does go home, but I was actually
more surprised to see them not do a surprise elimination or disqualification, if you will,
of Ocean because of her knee injury. It looks really serious, like more so than
Victoria's did on Drag Race UK 3. God, I would hate to see her go but it wouldn't surprise me
if she has to take a little trip to the hospital and never be seen again. That said, the cast of
the new upcoming spin-off Ru Paul's Drag Race injured knee edition is looking pretty good.
And I did already tell you that my hottest entrance look went to Suki Doll
and my hottest runway tonight went to Stephanie Prince. My patrons voted for
Suki Doll and Icesis Couture, respectively. But let me know what you thought about all
this down in the comments below. Who was your favorite look? Who should have been
in the bottom two? And what is going to happen with all these knee injuries?
And as always I want to say thanks to you for watching this video and give a
special shout out to ~lark, Angel, Ataluta, Cyrus, Felicia, Goaty P,
JaredRocks, JayBea, Joseph, JPinDallas, Laura, Matthew, Maxxie LaWow, Ms. F Nealy, ogDaboose,
Ro_Chambeau, ScoobySnacks, Sehler, Steven, Thom Jaco, Tom Young, Topher, Triton, and Wealie, who
are all supporting me at my Bussy Queen Collector Tier on patreon.com. See you later, love you bye.
(unintelligible slurring)
Shine on, no shiny’s today, thank you. Ba-bye.