Drag Race Down Under

[Solaris]

7 minutes ago, FrogLenzen said:

I feel like there's a leap being made from "not crowning a contestant to be the first drag race superstar to represent the RuPaul's Drag Race franchise for an international region" to "never be allowed in polite society again."

 

 

Playing devils advocate for a brief second.  I don't condone anything Scarlet has done, but we as society are extremely quick to jump on anyone for anything.  I think his point was what would Scarlet have to do to make amendments.  Looking at Alaska who has sincerely apologized for her blackface issues, and other racial things she has done. I believe something like that might be a start.

[Guest]

Wouldn’t donating to local organizations be somehow mocked or described as not genuine anyway by some, perhaps even many of the same folks here? This is something with no end in sight. 
 

It was probably silly to even respond, but the constant negativity and piling on wears on me. I’ll just continue supporting my favorite and call it a day. 

[Deeee]

This show has been the biggest disaster. Scarlet is a disastrous and racist individual. Karen is beyond boring and should be called into question for a racist past. Art Simone should have never come back.

 

Elektra Shock being eliminated despite carrying this season? Robbed underdog.

Really hoping Kita Mean pulls out a win to at least bring the season to a close in an acceptable manner.

God this is so bad.

[Deeee]

I also want to second @Elliott in finding Scarlet completely and totally unlikable before I heard any of the discussion surrounding her racism. 

[Zoey]

I think it’s sad that there’s no way for her to recover a fan base based on her past actions. She was the clear winner of the season and had somewhat of a watered down Aquaria edit and I fully expected her to win until this all this came to light. I don’t see them being able to justify crowning her after the backlash the show and Scarlet have received. I’ve fast forwarded so much of the show and I’m so uninvested because of the fact 99.9% of the judging hasn’t made sense to me… at all.

 

I do wonder what she needs to do to seem genuine in her apology though. I don’t feel as if her posting a video apologising was done to save face but maybe the timing wasn’t great and she wasn’t as prepared as someone else would’ve been. It’s easy for me as a white girl to say this because I’m not directly affected by it and it isn’t for me to accept the apology. I think she did seem remorseful. I just wish she had educated herself so that she could make a difference in her future but I guess she’s still growing and we can’t expect it all at once. We’d only be saying how fake and unauthentic she was then. It’s sad but she can’t win either way.

[FrogLenzen]

Well part of the issue is that there is a super limited timeframe from us being introduced to Scarlet to the finale. I didn't even know who Scarlet Adams was two months ago, and now this week a producer will press a button for either "Scarlet wins footage" or "other queen wins footage." Why should people expedite their """forgiveness""" just so she can win the show this week? It puts a weird deadline on the whole issue which is still fresh to a lot of people.

 

It seems a little preemptive to say that Scarlet will never recover a fanbase and will never be allowed in society again and will never be forgiven and is cancelled forever. I don't know what will happen. But I don't think she should win the show this week and be given $100,000. I feel like that's perfectly reasonable. 

 

It is very possible that she wins anyway, and she will likely have an uphill battle to climb to gain favor from certain fans or communities. But it's up to her how she acts. There will be plenty of opportunities for her to show with her actions and not her words that she understands why people are mad (or doesn't) and cares about remedying it (or doesn't). She will never please everyone, but she can decide whether to try (or not). I'm doubtful, because she has known she was in the running to win the show since February and I don't think her actions since then have been of someone who cares what other people think or who is giving weight to these concerns. 

 

But hey, personally, if she wins I feel like that's a golden opportunity for her to use her prize money toward something admirable.

[totes4totes]

Scarlet's white. She'll be fine. Too many of you are using too many words to feel sorry for somebody who's done blackface.

[Zoey]

34 minutes ago, totes4totes said:

Scarlet's white. She'll be fine. Too many of you are using too many words to feel sorry for somebody who's done blackface.

The only thing I feel sorry for is Australia.

[Guest]

48 minutes ago, Zoey said:

The only thing I feel sorry for is Australia.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, FrogLenzen said:

It seems a little preemptive to say that Scarlet will never recover a fanbase and will never be allowed in society again and will never be forgiven and is cancelled forever. I don't know what will happen. But I don't think she should win the show this week and be given $100,000. I feel like that's perfectly reasonable. 

What are we trying to evaluate here? For me, I choose my favorite based on how talented I believe them to be which in this show, different challenges weekly are used to weed out the strong from the weak. How do you look in drag and how is your makeup and how does that progress over the course of the season? And yes, if you're handsome out of drag, I like that too, but that comes after everything else.

 

[*Lily]

[Elliott]

21 minutes ago, *Lily said:

 

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Even my husband, who notoriously hates spoilers, looked up the result when he woke up because we refused to watch a Scarlet win.

[Elliott]

Thinking these are my final rankings of the season:

1. Anita Wig'lit - Her elimination was total BS. Still not over it. The way that her, Kita and Elektra could've been the F3 >>>>
2. Kita Mean - Was rooting for her 100% of the finalists so glad she got it. We really dodged a bullet there.
3. Elektra Shock - The judges did her dirty.
4. Art Simone - Default ranking.
5. Etcetera Ecetera - Default ranking.
6. Maxi Shield - Default ranking.
7. Jojo Zaho - Honestly the true winner of the season because she got to dip out first and avoided all the shenanigans that occurred.
8. Karen From Finance - Iconic drag name. Mediocre (at best) drag race run.
9. Coco Jumo - No.
10. Scarlet Adams - No.

[FrogLenzen]

@*Lily I had that EXACT gif in mind when the show ended. Great minds.

[Guest]

Overall, Kita is a nice person. That much is clear so I can’t say anything too negative. I’m obviously not super pleased with the result at all and think it’s a bit of nonsense, but not everyone needs a crown to go out and conquer. 

[*Lily]

8 hours ago, Elliott said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Even my husband, who notoriously hates spoilers, looked up the result when he woke up because we refused to watch a Scarlet win.

 

I did the same.

 UK doesn’t get the episodes til Sunday but I had to check the result first because of a certain someone won I wouldn’t have bothered watching.

[*Lily]

On a general note I will just say that I’m SO glad Down Under wasn’t just an Australian season because the New Zealand girls saved this season

[Elliott]

21 minutes ago, *Lily said:

On a general note I will just say that I’m SO glad Down Under wasn’t just an Australian season because the New Zealand girls saved this season

[FrogLenzen]

29 minutes ago, *Lily said:

On a general note I will just say that I’m SO glad Down Under wasn’t just an Australian season because the New Zealand girls saved this season

The scene of kita and Elektra by themselves glaring at everyone else after Anita went home was already pretty iconic, but after the finale it is now a legendary moment in my book 

[Deeee]

Kita Mean 

So happy that her win was able to at least end the worst season of Drag Race on a positive note. She is so genuinely good-hearted and that came through in every second of the season, which made the juxtaposition between her and Scarlet Adams in the finals so hilariously awkward.

 

There is no point in even discussing the shenanigans or the people of this season even further. Kita Mean, Anita Wig'lit, and Elektra Shock saved this season. THANK YOU NZ. Let's hope the next season is vastly different. LOL.

[Solaris]

So Kita really stole this last episode, in a big way.  My favorite is still Karen from Finance but after that verse and that STUNNING final runway, Kita earned that win.

 

 

1.  Karen from Finance - messy verse, but I find her very likable and a consistent standout throughout the season.

2. Kita Mean - really stepped up at the end of the season, I went from not enjoying her to her being one of the only likable people left

3. Art Simone - I love so many of her runways, but she was pretty meh in the challenges all season.  I am happy she came back into the competition!

4. Scarlet Adams - Yea she got poopooed on this season, there is no need for me to rail on her.  Unfortunate situation to come to light.

 

 

 

Anyway my final rankings:

 

 

1. Karen from Finance

2. Elektra Shock

3. Kita Mean

4. Art Simone

5. Anita Wig'lit

6. Jojo Zaho

7. Maxi Shields

8. Etcetera Etcetera

9. Coco Jumbo

10. Scarlet Adams

 

Overall, I am sure there will be a second season of the show.  There really shouldn't though!

[Zoey]

I thought Karen slayed that final lip-sync and I loved her final runway. I think she proved why she made it all the way to the finale and really shone.

 

01. Karen - She had my favourite look and I loved her lip-sync for the crown. She actually came across as really polished in the final episode. I loved the growth.

02. Kita - I didn’t live her final runway. I found it to look messy but it was still better than 90% of the runways we’ve seen this season. I thought her verse was boring!

03. Scarlet - Stripping and then bouncing on the stage wasn’t entertaining. Her weakest episode of the entire season and she was called out for blackface. 

04. Art - No thank you. The most mediocre queen I have seen on any season. No high points in her entire journey. Just constant mediocrity. 

[FrogLenzen]

Still not over this:

 

[*Lily]

1. Elektra Shock - She really kept the season watchable to me. An underdog journey who deserved better from the judges. Lip-syncs were always on point!

2. Anita Wig'lit - Deserved better! Did a great job up until her (far too soon) elimination.

3. Kita Mean - The right choice to win out of the top four, she had a great final.

4. Maxi Shield - Her "Absolutely Everybody" lipsync still lives in my mind rent-free.

5. Etcetera Etcetera - I thought they were a fun addition to the season, and also thought they were a breath of fresh air with how they stood up and handled the racism discussion in the werkroom.

6. Art Simone - Honestly if she didn't come back I might even have her higher. Her first 2 episodes were a fun ~journey but after she was brought back I just was kinda underwhelmed.

7. Jojo Zaho - I don't really remember much of her, that being said she dodged a bullet from this season!

8. Karen from Finance - Honestly kinda iconic that she coasted through the season with a pretty horrible run lmao. By the end I enjoyed her a little more, but she had more underwhelming moments than good.

9. Coco Jumbo - Wanted to enjoy her more, feel like she never quite broke through. And also some #yikes Insta posts from last year which were disappointing to see.

10. Scarlet Adams - I echo a lot of the thoughts that have been said in this thread so I won't add much more. Separating the performances from the person, she was a strong competitor but I think it's understandable why I will personally not be a fan of hers.

 

Edited June 20, 2021 by *Lily

[*Lily]

Also I did not know of Rhys prior to the show but I thought he was a really great judge and good contribution to this season!