Hi Ugly!
It’s me, Bussy!
And welcome back to my channel.
Today is finally the day you’ve all been waiting for.
Trust me - I’ve seen the comments and the DMs.
Today We’ll be breaking down the TRUTH about drag race España and addressing questions
like:
How does España compare to other international seasons?
Is the judging fair?
And what DID i think of those first couple of episodes?
We’ll also be spilling a little bit of tea about that controversial elimination.
At the end of today’s video I’ll be answering the question: “is this season worth watching?”
Let’s jump right in.
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Drag Race España follows the international formula we’ve seen from the likes of Thailand,
UK, Holland, and Down Under.
10 Queens and 8 Episodes.
Canada, strangely, was the only international season to premiere with 10 episodes.
However, while bite-sized, some of the recent international seasons have not been easy to
chew: especially in the judging department.
Canada’s Drag Race was universally criticized for unfair and unprofessional judging… and
for favoring contestants like Rita Baga.
They should have used their judging skills better, maybe.
They were also accused of favoring certain contestants like Rita Baga.
In my opinion, though, the bigger problem was they tried to split judging responsibilities
equally between three people instead of just choosing one primary host.
As for Holland, which was the next international season, It seemed like they tried to fix what
they messed up with Canada by placing a little more emphasis on Fred, who was the main host.
But it felt like they still wouldn’t give Fred enough power.
Rupaul would still pop up from the World of Wonder Basement to do challenge and runway
announcements - in english, no less.
And don’t get me wrong, I loved Fred & Nikki as judges on that series.
But they too, made nonsensical decisions like pushing aside fan favorites like Sederginne
and Chelseaboy.
Now we’re dealing with the dumpster fire that is Drag Race Down Under.
I think we all Ru and Michelle’s presence would fix the judging problems of these international
seasons, but ironically I think they’re the problem here.
Ru brings back queens like Art with no explanation.
Scandals have been mishandled.
And then Michelle will tell queens like Elektra they had an amazing performance in the talent
show, but then puts her in the bottom for a messy wig.
The placements in almost every single episode of this season have just felt like a complete
crapshoot.
World of Wonder just hasn’t been able to get it right lately, regardless of Ru and
Michelle’s presence.
So naturally, I think lots of people were wary about Drag Race España - even me - but
this season might just be exactly what the franchise needed….
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Lets start today’s analysis by breaking down our judging panel.
Instead of Ru we’ve got Supremme de Luxe, a drag scene staple who’s been doing drag
for over 20 years.
She’s released music you can find on her youtube channel and has been involved in theatre
since the age of 13.
Unlike the Canadian and Dutch drag race spin-offs though, Supremme is is truly the primary HOST.
She does all of the video announcements and workroom walkthroughs complete with brightly
colored suits.
She even borrows Ru’s famous *silence* clap to end deliberation on the panel and assert
dominance.
Situating Supremme as the supreme in this series was the correct decision.
I think A reality TV competition series like Rupaul’s Drag Race needs a voice of truth
to fall back on.
Someone to make the final decisions.
And, While Supremme plays that role well, I think she also works really well with the
other judges on the panel.
First, there’s Ana Locking, a fashion-designer who co-founded her first fashion label in
‘97 and has put designs into Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Madrid every year since ‘08.
But she’s more than just a designer…
I also think she’s an excellent and compassionate judge.
For example, in episode 1 she compliments Hugacio gloves for making surrealist mostions
and compares the overall look to designs by John Galliano for Margiela.
And then we have The Javiers: Blonde and Brunette.
Javier Calvo and Ambrossi both started in the spanish film industry as actors and now
actually work together as film, television, and stage directors.
Oh and they’re also dating.
Together they have worked on the film adaptation of the musical called La Llamada and also
they worked on a biographical series about La Veneno which is on HBO Max.
The producers made sure to emphasize their importance early on.
For example, in Episode 2, the main challenge was a musical number and the runway was based
on a tribute to La Veneno.
We see this expertise come into play when blonde Javier was critiquing Inti.
He praises her runway for being a beautifully accurate historical metaphor and is able to
critique with credibility her performance in the main challenge by saying she didn’t
have enough umph when performing on stage.
Basically What I’m getting at is - these judges know their shit.
They aren’t there to mock the contestants or show off how gay and sassy they are.
They’re just there to give professional opinions and to help the queens grow in the
competition.
Granted, we’re only 3 episodes in and anything could happen….
But I’m crossing my fingers because so far this panel is looking HOT!
Concerning the Cast, though… hmm… i don’t know...
Just kidding.
They’re [____] phenomenal.
And they came to COMPETE!
Yes - we do have to address the type casting.
Okay, that happens in literally every season of Drag Race.
But, I think thats okay because you kind of have to do it to create dynamic reality TV.
For example, we have Arantxa Castilla La Mancha, the less polished charismatic underdog.
Can she grow enough to win this competition?
And Carmen Farala, a polished frontrunner - but, is she more than just pretty?
Then there’s Dovima, the cold fashion-loving villain.
But can she break out of her icy exterior?
And of course, Dovima’s foil and rival in the season, Sagittaria, our little fresh faced
bubbly fashion queen.
And guess what?
They were roommates…
Then we’ve got our Artsy queen, Hugacio The experienced campy queen, Pupi Poisson
Inti, the independent thinker.. we’ll come back to her in just a minute.
And then two really polished queens who I think are serving as wildcards in the competition:
Killer Queen and Drag Vulcano.
Oh- and the big personality, The Macarena.
Let’s dive into the episodes and talk about our HOTS and ROTS.
The premiere of España is essentially a tribute to the very first episode of drag race ever:
they start with a photoshoot and then for the main challenge and runway have to create
an outfit out of unconventional materials.
I think it’s a really great way to get a take on the queens’ personalities and also
see how they work.
In the top this week we have Hugaceo, Carmen, and Sagittaria.
The top two, I completely agree with.
Hugacio’s got this sad surrealist clown thing going on, and carmen is selling pure
Versace sex.
While both deserving, Hugacio gets the win.
And This felt really refreshing because I feel like we haven’t seen the artsy queen
win a design challenge in a while.
At least on the US seasons.
For example if i were drawing parallels between US seasons 12 and 13, I’d say that Hugacio’s
look aligned more with the likes of Crystal Methyd and Utical.
Both of whom lost to the simpler, more clean cut looks from Gigi and Gottmik, who’s I
think were more similar to Carmen’s look.
In the bottom 3 we have Pupi, Dovima and The Macarena.
I was fine with this, but I do kinda want to point out that I think it’s not total
coincidence that Sagittaria and Dovima were basically placed opposite of each other.
You know, being roommate rivals and all.
Remember, Drag race always built-in storylines and these are two characters that they don’t
want us to forget.
Cause my initial thoughts were that Dovima would just be safe.
I think standing there, lined up with all the other queens, she doesn’t really stick
out as one of the worst.
In fact when she’s just standing there I kinda like it.
She’s giving me like bondage witch realness.
However, she did trap herself in a net and literally could not walk on the runway.
So i can understand that justification for bottom two.
Concerning our other bottoms, The Macarena’s was easily my least favorite.
It was very ugly; the material looked very cheap and there was just nothing forward-thinking
about the look which was actually kind of shocking considering she walked in in that
giant sailor moon-esque kind of costume.
Pupi’s is also bad.
Its very bad.
But she at least had a clean vision for what she was doing.
Anyways, Dovima and Macarena lip sync and we say “adios” to Macarena.
Overall though, an excellent episode.
10/10 as far as premieres go.
And even though I was happy to see Hugacio win, my hottest hot goes to Carmen.
Moving into episode two, we’ve got the “Divas” girls group challenge and a runway tribute
to La Veneno.
I’ve got one thing to say: Gurlllll.
That divas challenge?
Maybe a little questionable.
But let’s start with the positives.
I think the second group, made up of Killer, Sagittaria, Killer, and Carmen were clearly
better than the first but both groups were lacking choreography and autotune.
I was like girl WHERE is the autotune?
I got the feeling they wrote their lyrics, raw-dog recorded them over that track and
performed them all in the same day.
For example, it seemed like some queens didn’t even know their own lyrics like Sagittaria
and when they weren’t performing queens were just kind of randomly vibing in background.
But since there were issues like that in both groups, I really don’t think it was any
of the queens’ fault.
It just kind of seemed like they didn’t give them enough time to rehearse.
However, I think the runway really saved this episode.
It was a tribute to the spanish LGBTQ+ icon, La Veneno.
And just to give you a brief idea of her cultural relevance; back in ‘96 she contributed to
over 90 episodes of a talkshow called “Esta Noche Cruzamos El Mississippi” which was
hosted by a man named Pepe Nevarro which reached like 8 million viewers.
And yes I know i million views doesn’t sound like THAT much because that’s one fifth
of what like ONE Mr. Beast youtube video gets but I wanna remind you that’s a large number
for televised programs.
And, this number would have been like a fifth of Spain’s entire population back in ‘96.
So, for her to be telling her story and living her life out loud and in the open in the public
eye like that, was immeasurably good for the queer community at that time and through today.
In conclusion, La Veneno: We Stan.
As far as what the queens wore, Some of the queens like Pupi and Dovima wore recreations
of La Veveno’s iconic outfits, while other queens like Vulcano, Inti, and Carmen took
their runways to more artistic places.
And Technically speaking, this was supposed to be a “Tribute” runway, and I think
there is room for debate about the nuance of exactly what a tribute is, but personally
I think a good recreation definitely falls under that umbrella.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?
In the top this week all things considered, we have Carmen and Pupi.
Concerning them, I definitely agree with Carmen.
She was a standout from her Divas group and that runway is immaculate.
Stunning.
Instantly iconic.
On her instagram, Carmen writes that her tribute honors La Veneno in multiple ways.
The naked body is representing La Veneno’s vulnerability to the public eye.
The crown, representing her status as a queen.
And the snake wrapped around her body represents a couple of things.
Primarily of course that “La Veneno” means like poison or venom girl and then also that
a snake sheds its skin: much like how La Veneno had to shed her skin to become her true self
in the end.
So like, this was not only deep thoughtful, and artistic but just amazing to look at.
As for Pupi though: I have more neutral feelings.
I think it was a little bit It was difficult for me to evaluate these performances overall.
I think because a lot of the lyrics kind of flew over my head as an english speaker.
But I can definitely agree that she was the most charismatic and professional of her group.
As for her runway, pupi wore an outfit that was a recreation of an outfit that La Veneno
wore on a talkshow after her return to the public eye following a stint in prison.
The similarities are striking.
I think this is definitely HOT!
As for the bottom queens: we have Vulcano, Inti, and Arantxa.
And yeah; all of their performances were lacking… fuego.
Worse than her performance though Arantxa’s runway was just confusing.
I was doing research online and I was like this doesn’t make any sense or represent
La Veneno in any way that I can tell, but Vulcano’s outfit who she lipsynced against,
was “Que Wow”.
This [__] heard tribute and she went there.
She became the tribute.
She is literally a shrine for La Veneno.
And the outer shawl that she was wearing at the beginning of the runway was actually a
tribute to La Veneno’s biography book cover.
Anyways, it turns out its kind of difficult to lip sync in 12-inch platforms.
And, Drag Vulcano is sent home.
And concerning that elimination, I will say its really interesting to see such a polished
queen get sent home against someone who presents as a relative newbie.
However, we’ve kind of seen the same thing over and over from Vulcano.
While her looks were undeniably stunning, it’s just like she’s copy and pasting
themes.
We’ve got 12-inch platforms, bodysuit, cape, headpiece.
And if there’s one thing I’ve really been getting from these episodes, its that these
judges are really looking for these contestants to step outside of their own boxes - which
she hadn’t.
My hottest hot of the episode - DUH - Carmen!
And moving into episode 3… we have some drama, some controversy!
Things are starting to get heated.
In the main challenge our queens are put into pairs representing stereotypes - i guess of
spanish culture?
We’ve got Abeulas, Pilinguis (hookers), Glamorousas, and Chungas.
To model for a magazine cover, run on a treadmill and also do an improv skit.
And on the runway, queens wore looks representing their roots.
Inspired of course by Supremme’s wigs.
This, again, I admit, was another challenge difficult for me as an english speaker.
I think mostly because of the nuance of what these stereotyped groups of women were supposed
to represent.
For example, Chungas, the stereotype given to Pupi and Hugacio was confusing for me because
they just translated that to, “Nasty Girls”?
Which doesn’t really have any cultural connotation, as far as I know, in english.
And then they were just kind of dressed like punk goths.
My favorite pair was actually Abuelas, which was given to Aranxta and Killer Queen.
They only placed safe, and I would say that they were a bit robbed but they also had the
worst runways of the entire group.
Killer’s was trying to do ten things at once, and then Arantxa’s was a little “cheesy”.
Sagittaria and Pup are a great top two though.
I think they were both standouts of their little groups that they had.
Plus their runways were both phenomenal.
Sagittaria did what I guess an American audience would see as like Crème brûlée or Flan.
And Pupi’s was a strawberry tree on top of her head.
These were definitely the best looks served by each of these queens so far in this competition.
I would have been fine with either of them taking it, but Sagittaria does win.
Dovima and Inti also had really great runways, but poor challenge performances.
On the runway, Dovima doing an homage to La Diada de Saint Jordi - who is a knight in
Catalonian folk tale that had to defeat a dragon to save his princess.
And the rose that Dovima is carrying grew out of the blood from the slayed dragon.
It’s gorgeous.
And then Inti’s runway is inspired by Diablada at Carinval in Bolivia.
She says this look is something her people, the indigenous population of the area, would
have worn to scare away settlers.
And, there’s no denying it not only IS beautiful but is also a beautiful statement.
Even the judges “ooh” and “aah” over it when she hits the stage.
Ultimately, though when it comes down to the critiques, Ana starts critiquing Inti for
doing too much on the runway.
Inti doesn’t receive this critique well, and she kinda says something to the effect
of, “Damned if I do, Damned If i don’t.”.
I can understand from like, a fashion perspective, what Ana was trying to say about their being
a lot going on with Inti’s look but at the same time it was a look that was important
to her culture so it’s kind of hard to critique something like that from the same way that
you would critique a classical fashion runway.
In my opinion, I think they could have just focused the critique purely on Inti’s challenge
performance and still had plenty of reason to put her into the bottom.
Both Dovima and Inti have been struggling to break out of their shells.
Based on the critiques, it’s clear both of these queens would have been in the bottom
but Inti makes the decision to leave the competition before she lip syncs.
In my initial reaction to this, I was shocked and kind of annoyed.
I was like, “ahhh”, Inti I really wanted you to lip sync.
‘Cause on one hand, Drag Race is a competition.
I think contestants should be prepared for the reality of receiving negative critiques.
And then I thought about it for a while and kind of realized - you know what - this is
her art.
And I think art should be uncompromising.
It’s clear she felt the judges weren’t seeing her and I can definitely understand
her wanting to exit the situation before she gave the judges another chance to judge her.
So, at the end of it, yeah I respect her decision.
Plus she made great TV.
I think this is an exit from Drag Race that is never gonna be forgotten.
And, this is where some post show drama comes in.
The truth, if you will.
Inti has posted an updated version of this look, I guess you could say, with less clothes
on under the cape covered in blood.
On Twitter someone replied to this look basically saying, “I liked your original but this
one with the blood is cooler”.
And Inti replied to that saying, “If you only knew…”
She also tweeted, but has since deleted, something along the lines of “it will be four years
before I can tell you all everything” - possibly referring to her contract?
I think it’s safe to say there’s definitely some like bad blood concerning her and the
show, or like her and the producers, or something.
‘Cause these tweets are kinda spicy.
But like- what do they mean?
I don’t know.
Possibly that maybe her original idea for this runway wasn’t approved and she had
to change it and then they didn’t end up liking what she changed it to?
So that’s why she got frustrated?
Or maybe there’s something even deeper.
I don’t know; I’m just speculating based on what I’ve seen online.
So she leaves.
And Dovima lip syncs by herself, joining the likes of Sister Sister and Jaida Essence Hall.
I kind of have a feeling this is just the beginning for Dovima.
And Inti.
Oh - and my hottest hot on this runway goes to Dovima.
As for my final thoughts, I’m LOVING Drag Race España.
This is the first international season I feel has really cracked the code.
I guess they talked to Sasha Belle.
I think they have it all: Phenomenal judges, an excellent cast, and great storytelling.
Is it worth watching??
Absolutely.
I don’t know that i’m gonna have time to episodically hot or rot every episode from
this season.
I may do some more videos on the topic, but I definitely will be reacting to every single
episode and uploading those reactions to my Patreon.
So, if you wanna see my raw uncut reactions and watch along with me, then you can watch
on my Patreon at Patreon.com/BussyQueen - That’s my members only website where you get tons
of exclusive Bussy Queen benefits like early access to my videos, exclusive videos, access
to the Bussy Queen Discord server and more.
See ya there!
I wanna say thanks to you for watching this video and also give a special shoutout to...