Instead of herself, Mama Ru chose a picture of a cute little baby to tease the girls about the mini-challenge. See? Weird.
The first thing that came to my mind while watching the RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 7 premiere last night at The Vic Theatre in Chicago was that this season’s crop of queens all have dental insurance. The second thing that came to my mind was that this season is going to be incredibly different, mostly because there aren’t any super-famous queens like Bianca Del Rio, Chad Michaels, and Courtney Act that were more or less household names before appearing on the show.
Which, at this point, seems like a huge handicap. The show has continuously raised the bar each season with the caliber of talent, so the premiere episode itself seemed like production was phoning it in. Of course, that is just my opinion. You can be the judge when RuPaul’s Drag Race returns to LOGOtv on March 2nd at 9pm. But until then, here are my seven spoiler-heavy reasons why the upcoming season will be very peculiar:
Reason #7 – SASHA BELLE IS SUCH A SLOPPY WRECK, SHE’S ENTERTAININGLY… DIFFERENT
The runway challenge required the girls to be nude (more on that in a bit), but Sasha came out with a black bra. We got to watch the first episode up until RuPaul chose the bottom two and when Miss Belle was declared safe, the whole crowd booed and screamed ‘What the fuck!?’ in shock. Later on during her live performance, she lip-synched to Beyonce’s dominatrix remix of “Crazy In Love” from the 50 Shades of Grey soundtrack while wearing a rainbow suit with pink cheetah print eyebrows. I’m sure she is great, but she’s definitely this season’s Jiggly Caliente with a first class ticket on the Hot Mess Express.
(Photo/Buzzfeed)
Reason #6 – THE NEW GINGER PIT-CREW HOTTIE IS… DIFFERENT
We loved when Santino Rice got his pink-slip, but not Shawn Morales or Simon Sherry-Wood, both of whom will not be returning this season for our viewing pleasure. Instead, they’ve been replaced by the sexy ginger Bryce Eilenberg. Ain’t he cute? It’s about time our redheaded brethren get their time in the limelight.
Reason #5 – THE CHALLENGES ARE GOING TO BE… DIFFERENT
Like I said before, the first main challenge required the girls to be nude on the runway. It’s a cool concept, but almost seemed to me like they’ve run out of ideas. The mini-challenge, however, was a Fashion runway show that had the queens showcasing their Spring and Fall collections. Hopefully there’s more like that in store. Can they please bring back the wrestling challenge? I mean, c’mon.
Reason #4 – BYE, SANTINO! CARSON & ROSS ARE ALREADY… DIFFERENT
As I mentioned before, Santino Rice of Project Runway fame got booted from the judging panel (he’ll return for one episode as a guest judge) and has since been replaced by Carson Kressley from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and TV personality, Ross Mathews. Already, in just one episode, they’ve shown that they have the chops to be great judges. I think Ross and Michelle will butt heads throughout the season. Watch for Michelle’s side-eye to celebrity guest judge Kathy Griffin, too.
Pearl Liaison at the Chicago premiere party. (Photo/Seattle Gay Scene)
Reason #3 – MISS FAME AND PEARL ARE… DIFFERENT
Quite possibly the only queen to come into this season with an already established social media fan base, Miss Fame serves couture and elegance better than most queens in all previous six seasons combined. She paints for the back row and can stomp the runway, but the nail in her coffin might be her lip-synch abilities, if she’s ever plopped in the bottom two. Elsewhere, Pearl is an eye-catching queen not just for her ability to serve face like her sister Miss Fame, but for her handsomely good looks out of drag. Easily the most attractive man this season. She also doesn’t lip-synch to Top 40 songs, which I love.
Reason #2 – VIOLET CHACHKI IS… DIFFERENT
This girl is definitely going to be the villain, since every season needs one. It’s an archetype that needs to be filled for a story to progress and be interesting and she certainly fits the bill. Aside from that, she’s extremely talented with her looks, her lip-synch, and her entire package. To say that she’s going to go far in the competition would be a severe understatement.
Trixie Mattel lip-synching to soundbites from “Scary Movie” at the Chicago premiere party. (Photo/Seattle Gay Scene)
Reason #1 – TRIXIE MATTEL IS… YUP, YOU GUESSED IT: DIFFERENT
Initially, I didn’t pay too much attention to her. I thought, “Oh, the token super campy queen of the season.” But after watching her perform, seeing her interact on social media, and witnessing her hilarity during the first episode, I have high hopes for Miss Mattel. She’s a breath of fresh air among a sea of snooze-worthy queens this season. Her expert mix of camp and specificity doesn’t go unnoticed.
RuPaul’s Drag Race returns to LOGOtv on March 2nd at 9pm ET.
About the Author: Brad Gilligan
