Another Top 10 Worst Snatch Game Performances on RuPaul's Drag Race
For this list, we'll be choosing the embarrassingly terrible celebrity impersonations queens have done for the Snatch Game challenge on any season of “Drag Race” or “All Stars.”
Snatch of the day? We think not. Welcome to MsMojo and today we’ll be counting down our picks for another top ten Snatch Game fails on “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”
For this list, we’ll be choosing the embarrassingly terrible celebrity impersonations queens have done for the Snatch Game challenge on any season of “Drag Race” or “All Stars.”
#10: Chi Chi DeVayne as Maya Angelou
Season 8’s edition of the Snatch Game saw Chi Chi DeVayne do an impression of Eartha Kitt, or rather, Eartha Kitt as Catwoman as a real cat. The strangeness of it had RuPaul laughing, but for all the wrong reasons, and the same could be said for Chi Chi’s “All Stars” Snatch Game performance, too. Chi Chi seemed out of her depth on this season and it really showed in this episode. She chose to play celebrated poet, Maya Angelou, which was really just a rehash of her Eartha Kitt, but even less polished. Not only did Chi Chi not have any answers for Ru’s questions, but she couldn’t even spell Maya’s name correctly. To make things worse, we’d already seen Monét X Change do Maya Angelou on Season 10.
#9: Jessica Wild as RuPaul
The first ever Snatch Game in “Drag Race” herstory had few standout performances, but we’ll always remember Jessica Wild’s, uh, wild RuPaul impression. First off: The outfit. The wig looked as if RuPaul had been standing in front of a wind machine for too long. Then, there’s the performance itself. There was absolutely no hint of RuPaul’s voice or mannerisms in there, though Jessica did make an effort to remind us of the host’s “supermodel of the world” branding, much to the displeasure of the other contestants. Luckily, because Jessica is such a sweetheart, this almost falls into the “so bad it's good” category, rather than just plain cringey.
#8: Max as Sharon Needles
Queens doing impressions of other queens rarely seems to work out well in Snatch Game. Max proved this point very well in Season 7 with her impersonation of Drag Race royalty, Sharon Needles. Sharon is, of course, known for her spooky persona, but there’s a lot more to her than just white make-up and Halloween costumes. Snatch Game is all about creating a recognizable caricature, and while Max did have a recognizable Sharon look down, the voice was totally wrong. And, from what was aired, it didn’t seem like she had any jokes prepared outside of empty references to creepy things. It’s a strange choice for Max, particularly when, after watching her Snatch Game audition tape, it was clearly the weakest of her options.
#7: Gia Gunn as Jenny Bui
After her lackluster Kim Kardashian performance in Season 6’s Snatch Game, Gia Gunn needed to redeem herself when she returned for “All Stars 4.” Originally, she planned on finding redemption by playing Caitlyn Jenner, but Trinity The Tuck fought her for it. Gia settled on her back-up: superstar nail technician, Jenny Bui, which turned out to be a terrible decision. While Manila Luzon got away with her stereotype-laden Barbra Streisand impression because she was hilarious, Gia’s lack of good jokes made her deliberately offensive performance super uncomfortable. To make matters worse, she kept cutting off Latrice Royale. Bui herself found the impression so bad, she called Gia out on Instagram for misrepresenting her Cambodian heritage as Japanese.
#6: Detox as Ke$ha
From Lady Gaga to Beyoncé, there are just some pop stars who are hard to make funny. Detox learned that with Ke$ha in Season 5’s Snatch Game. Despite describing the singer as a friend of hers, Detox was unable to draw much insight or humor out of her characterization. Though, with her frizzy hair and hungover acting, she did manage to tap into the wild child persona that the singer projected through her branding at that point in her career. Unfortunately, Detox didn’t take it anywhere near far enough, coming off as half-asleep rather than a party animal. The lowlight was when, perhaps in desperation, Detox decided to have a bathroom break on the stage floor. We admire the risk-taking but… really, girl?
#5: Milk as Julia Child
As Jinkx Monsoon showed with her standout Little Edie impression in Season 5, as long as you can make a celebrity entertaining, it doesn’t matter if they’re not that well known. The problem is, if you can’t make them entertaining, they’ll crash and burn, as Milk did in Season 6. The oddball queen chose to portray television chef and cookbook author, Julia Child, a fairly obscure figure for a significant portion of “Drag Race”’s younger audience. Though Meryl Streep’s take on the French-cuisine expert in “Julie & Julia” gave Milk plenty of material to work with, as Bianca Del Rio bluntly put it:In an episode of strong performances, Milk’s underwhelming one simply faded into the background.
#4: Tatianna as Ariana Grande
Tatianna had an incredible comeback in “All Stars 2.” Her All Star Snatch Game performance, however… not so incredible. Like we said before, some pop stars, as much as love them, just aren’t easy to make funny. Apparently, Ariana Grande is one of them. We were impressed at how spot-on Taitanna’s visual presentation of the pint-sized singer was, but other than her high vocal range and donut-licking, Tatianna had very little material to work with. Things deteriorated even further when she was asked a question by RuPaul, and floundered to think of a punchline, resulting in her completely breaking character in the end. It was a far cry from her winning Britney Spears impression in the first ever Snatch Game.
#3: Brooke Lynn Hytes as Celine Dion
Brooke Lynn Hytes was untouchable throughout much of Season 11. Then, Snatch Game came along, and suddenly she came crashing back down to earth. As a nod to her Canadian roots, Brooke Lynn picked iconic diva, Celine Dion to impersonate. It seemed like a safe choice for her, but unfortunately things nosedived immediately during the actual challenge. Brooke Lynn barely looked, sounded, or acted like the pop superstar. The only things she had to make the character recognizable were a slew of “Titanic” references and an accent that sounded more Jamicaan than French-Canadian. It was a shoddy performance that almost tanked her flawless run on the show.
#2: The Vixen as Blue Ivy
Season 10’s Snatch Game unexpectedly became the battle of the celebrity babies when Eureka O’Hara and The Vixen decided to be Honey Boo Boo and Blue Ivy, respectively. While Honey Boo Boo’s huge personality made for the perfect Snatch Game performance for Eureka, Blue Ivy doesn’t really have a big, public persona, leaving The Vixen with nothing to work with. We can’t for the life of us figure out why she thought it would be a good idea to play her, and, judging by her performance, neither could The Vixen. Combined with Asia O’Hara playing a weirdly stern version of Blue’s mother, it made for an almost unwatchable viewing experience. Apparently the Snatch Game Beyoncé curse runs in the family!
Before we unveil our top picks, here are a few honorable mentions.
Farrah Moan as Gigi Gorgeous
Vanessa Vamjie Mateo as Danielle Bregoli
Trixie Mattel as RuPaul
Yvie Oddly as Whoopi Goldberg
Monique Heart as Maxine Waters
#1: Jiggly Caliente as Snooki
Jiggly Caliente’s run on Season 4 of “Drag Race” was a bit of a hot mess in places. And nowhere was she messiest than in the Snatch Game. Jiggly chose to take on “Jersey Shore”’s Snooki, a similarly messy reality star who you’d assume would be perfect for the challenge. It’s not that Jiggly didn’t put the effort in, either. She had a decent look and a bunch of props with her. In fact, if she’d just stayed in her seat, she might have skated through. Instead, in an effort to match the already out-of-control energy in the room, Jiggly “smoshed” her way through the bottom row of queens. She’s since become synonymous with everything disastrous about Season 4’s Snatch Game.