Top 10 Cringiest Moments From RuPaul's Drag Race
#10: MacBitch
“Macbeth” is one of Shakespeare’s most famous tragedies so it’s pretty fitting that “Macbitch” is also considered to be one of “Drag Race’s.” This reinterpretation of the “Scottish play” was performed by Kennedy Davenport’s team in the Season Seven episode, “ShakesQueer.” While Max managed to pull her team through their performance of “Romy and Juliet,” Kennedy’s team never seemed to get theirs off the ground at all. There was line fumbling, wooden acting, multiple missed cues, and Pearl seemingly struggling to not bump into the scenery. A stunned Michelle and RuPaul could barely contain their horror. During Rehearsals, Ru even described it as “Drag Race’s” worst “car crash” in seven seasons.
#9: Shannel Eliminates Herself
Talk about digging yourself a hole. One of the staple questions contestants on “Drag Race” are expected to answer is: “which of your fellow contestants deserves to go home?” This drama-stirring tradition began all the way back in Season One but, to this day, no-one has given quite such a shocking answer as Shannel. By the sixth week in the competition, Shannel felt frustrated that her skill and beauty wasn’t being rewarded enough by positive critiques or challenge wins. So, when asked, she nominated herself to go home. Shannel’s diva moment became super awkward when she actually ended up in the bottom two alongside Rebecca Glasscock, and was then eliminated.
#8: Coco Montrese’s Talent Show Dance Routine
The stakes could not have been higher when the highly anticipated first episode of “All Stars 2” dropped. The first category was… “All Star Talent Show Extravaganza!” - with all ten returning queens expected to wow a live audience, the judges, and their fellow All Stars in a variety show-style performance. The brief was to bring your best talent to the main stage, so when Coco Montrese - who is not known for her dance skills on the show - revealed hers was going to be a dance routine, painted eyebrows were raised. Coco admitted she knew it was a risky choice. Embarrassingly, that risk didn’t pay off. Though she looked the part, her vintage Hollywood number fell flat.
#7: Alaska’s Meltdown<
The higher you get, the further you fall. In “All Stars 2,” former Season Five contestant Alaska slayed the competition every week… until the semi-final came along. The challenge for the episode was for each queen to give a female member of their family a drag makeover and then “vogue the house down” on the runway. Though confident she’d pulled off another win, the judges critiqued Alaska for not putting enough effort into mother “Hawaii’s” look. After finding herself at the bottom for the first time, Alaska threw what can best be described as a tantrum; even desperately offering a $10,000 bribe to top two contestant, Detox, to save her. Not a cute look.
#6: Roxxxy Andrews’ Roast Hosting
Despite floundering a lot in “All Stars 2,” you have to give Roxxxy Andrews props for her perseverance. Her comedy chops, though? Those we can’t excuse. For “Revenge Of The Queens,” the contestants were asked to pair up and perform stand-up comedy in front of the judges and a live audience filled with the bitter faces of “Drag Race” past. Left without a partner, Roxxxy was given the job of hosting, a job that unfortunately proved too difficult for her. After tripping over her opening jokes, she decided to resurrect her “Tasha Salad” character from Season Five. It was funny… for about a minute. Then all we got were embarrassingly cheesy salad puns.
#5: “Do I Have Something On My Face?”
There are two cardinal rules to follow when interacting with Mama Ru on “Drag Race:” One, always make her laugh during Snatch Game, and two, never talk back to her. In the the fifth episode os season seven, Ru dropped by to give Pearl and Max some advice while they prepared jokes for the “DESPY Awards” challenge. After Ru gave Pearl a note about working on her personality, Pearl took offence to the implication that she didn’t have one. Ru attempted to clarify that her criticism was meant as encouragement but Pearl argued it had the opposite effect, leading to this excruciating stand-off between the two.
#4: Mimi Imfurst Lifts Up India Ferrah
Okay, so there’s also a third cardinal rule to follow on “Drag Race.” It’s one that you’d think would go without saying though: [RuPaul: “Drag is not a contact sport”] The shocking moment that lead up to that infamous quote from Ru happened in Season Three. After the workout video challenge in “Totally Leotarded,” India Ferrah and Mimi Imfurst landed in the bottom two; India for her lack of energy and Mimi for the exact opposite. In the Lip Sync For Your Life, Mimi desperately gave it her all to stay in the race. After trying to block India from view, she made the inexplicable choice to throw her competitor over her shoulder. India was not pleased; and neither was anyone else.
#3: Phi Phi O’Hara & Coco Montrese’s Comedy Routine
Roxxy Andrews wasn’t the only one whose comedy routine failed to impress in “All Stars 2.” Phi Phi O’Hara and Coco Montrese were partnered up for the stand-up comedy challenge in “Revenge Of The Queens.” Rather than stick to a conventional stand-up format, the pair chose to do more of a “Saturday Night Live”-esque character study, which Katya hilariously described as an: [“Off-off-off-off-Broadway theater production of Hookers At The Point”] Though Coco’s self-deprecating joke about using “cheesy chips” to do Phi Phi’s make-up was worthy of a chuckle, the whole skit felt out of place and was very uncomfortable to watch. To top it all, Phi Phi also failed to leave the show gracefully by rejecting Alyssa’s consolation hug.
#2: Valentina Refuses To Remove Her Mask
Valentina’s exit from Season Nine of “Drag Race” might just be the most controversial elimination in the show’s herstory so far. After impressing the judges week after week, Valentina’s place as a frontrunner in the competition seemed assured. That perfect track record was broken in episode nine when she wound up in the bottom two with Nina Bo’Nina Brown. Fans were left gagging when Ru interrupted the Lip Sync For Your Life to ask that Valentina remove her outfit’s mask, and then horrified when Valentina refused. Ru was not impressed, especially when it became clear Valentina also hadn’t learnt the lyrics properly. It was a brutally embarrassing ending to Valentina’s time on the show.
Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
Joslyn Fox Asks Cher’s Mom About Her Almost-Abortion
The “Good Morning Bitches” Team Don’t Know How To End Their Interview With Naya Rivera
William Narrowly Avoids Vomiting On The Runway
#1: Alexis Michelle & Farrah Moan’s Michelle Visage Roasts
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In Season Nine, the remaining eight queens were tasked with a daunting challenge: to roast the most judgemental of all “Drag Race” judges: Michelle Visage. While some queens struck comedy gold, two routines were so rocky that we just couldn’t pick between them. Despite coming off as a sweetheart, Farrah Moan decided to go for the jugular with some insult comedy. Unfortunately, she forgot about the comedy part and the audience forgot how to laugh. Expectations were higher for Alexis Michelle, whose visual gag concerning Michelle Visage’s least favorite color, green, immediately flopped. Between that and the offensive slurs, it was nothing but crickets from the audience. Unsurprisingly, she and Farrah ended up Lip Syncing.
