Merry Sis-mas, Hunties…
‘Twas the week before All Stars, when all through the werk room, every drag queen was slaying, in their Christmas special costumes. We were blessed with good tidings this year with the first (and hopefully annual) RuPaul’s Drag Race: Holi-Slay Spectacular! The one-episode-special saw queens of seasons past compete for the title of the first ever “Christmas Queen” on the main stage.
Right off the top, we are sleighed with some fabulous holiday entrance lewks. Trixie Mattel was the first in the werk room in a dazzling white snow bunny ensemble. She was followed by Latrice Royale, Eureka O’Hara, Mayhem Miller, Sonique, Kim Chi, Jasmine Masters. By the time Shangela entered the werk room in a head to toe Christmas tree gown, we all came to the conclusion that if Shangela came all this way, AGAIN, and didn’t leave with a crown, Christmas would be cancelled, for real this year. All of the queens looked incredibly festive, and we were sure in for a holiday treat. A lot of the holiday special included jokes and callbacks to past seasons with a holiday twist. Ru appeared from the stairway and announced that not only were we watching the first ever Christmas Drag Race Spectacular narrated by a tiny Ross Mathews in elf attire, but the whole episode would be filled with musical numbers in the form of songs from RuPaul’s newest Christmas Album (now available on iTunes).
The special’s mini challenge saw the queens in a dance competition, pairing up with members of the pit crew who were dressed as sexy reindeer. Mayhem Miller took the mini-challenge with a stunning dance number with her reindeer, winning Ru’s grandmother’s secret cookie recipe. Later on, while the queens were doing their makeup, they reminisced about their fondest holiday memories. They then broke into a musical number, which had all the queens dancing on stage in festive pajamas. This turns out to be a dream sequence, but we’re all better people to have witnessed it.
Next up it was time for a fun (albeit slightly out-of-theme) choreographed 1980s themed dance number. The queens came to sleigh, even choreography-challenged Kim Chi pulled out all the stops to make sure she popped on the stage. As we all know, no episode of Drag Race is complete without a sickening runway, and we weren’t disappointed. Category is “Non-Denominational Christmas Eleganza”, and we’re here for all of it. Each queen brought a stunning holiday look to the runway. From Eureka’s take on the 1996 Holiday Barbie, or Sonique’s sickening gingerbread woman suit, we were not spared any festive outfit inspo that we can later use to liven up all the work parties we dread going to.
As the judges deliberated, high compliments were paid to each queen, and at this point, we know exactly where this is going, and how it will probably end, but we’re going to continue watching anyways, because there is a tiny version of Ross Mathews dressed as an elf, and he is counting on us. Meanwhile, backstage the queens broke out into a good old-fashioned Christmas sing-along around the piano. After musically calling the queens back to the stage, Ru announces that the girls will be split into pairs, and lip sync against each other for the Christmas Queen crown. The pairs were as follows:
Sonique vs. Mayhem
Jasmine vs. Shangela
Trixie vs. Eureka
And finally Latrice vs. Kim Chi
After delivering stellar lip-synching, Ru announced through holiday cheer, that all the ladies would get a crown this year! But wait, that’s not it, it’s not over yet! Ru then announces that he and Michelle Visage will actually be lip-synching for their lives, while the queens judged. After a quick costume change, Ru and Michelle (with the help of some super-flexible body doubles?) finish the show off with an explosive performance to yet another one of Ru’s new holiday songs, and honestly, it slaps. Just like any other religious experience, the special ended with, and amen. The Christmas Queens special was a fun kick-off to the holiday season, a break from the usual competition, and a nice pre-game for the start of All-Stars 4 on December 14. And like the Rockefeller tree lighting, it needs to become an annual holiday program. Santa that’s my only wish this year…
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