Why RuPaul’s Drag Race season 9 was the best so far…

It’s the best talent show that’s ever graced our TV screens. Fabulous drag stars strutting around a stage in the most outrageous outfits and make-up. Not to mention the sassiest judges of TV history (or herstory for the true fans). Yes, RuPaul was back with the 9th season of Drag Race and it was one of the most memorable yet.

Phoebe Brown is a super-fan of the VH1 and Netflix show. “Me and all my friends are obsessed with it,” she says. “And we loved season 9!”

Poppy Bell is another super-fan of the talent show, but thought it had a rocky start. “Some of the Queens this season thought too highly of themselves,” she says. “Which caused them to fail at the beginning, but they soon got put in their place and I still legit thought it was the best season with amazing queens! They had by far some of the best challenges.”

From the incredibly creative make-up by Nina Bo’Nina Brown to the constantly beautifully face of Farrah Moan, the make-up has been to die for. Not to mention the spectacularly weird creations from Sasha Velour and the always wonderful outfits from Valentina. Not forgetting those peachy bums or “cucu” that came to us from Cynthia Lee Fontaine and Trinity Taylor.

First timer to the show, Dónal Murray-Ferris has been sceptical about Drag Race in the past. “I was expecting it to be overly camp and nasty,” Dónal says. “But I was pleasantly surprised that it was actually a very nice show and I loved how much they cared for each other and their back stories.”

The season was full of glamour, beauty, but most importantly, drama! We all remember that tragic episode when one of the favourite Queens of the season; Valentina lost her place in one of the most dramatic lip syncs yet.

Javid Omoomian and his partner love watching the show, and this was one of their most memorable moments. “The best scene yet has to be when Valentina refused to take her mask off and was kicked off because she didn’t know the lines,” he says. “It was probably the best twist in all RuPaul’s so far. She was firm favourite until that point.”

Remember that moment Alexis Michelle shaded the other Drag Queens during the reading task, but couldn’t handle it when directed at her? A couple of the reads were based around her weight, which she claimed she was sensitive about and called them out on going too far. But Ru pointed out that she read the other Queens too, so if you can’t take it, maybe you shouldn’t give it.

And surely no one forgets the time a Drag Queen thought she was too good to lip sync… No? Forgotten? That’s the story of Charlie Hides. The most dramatic moment from her time on the show was her exit, when she stood resembling a block of ice refusing to fight in the lip sync. She’s claimed since that she had a broken rib, but if Willam can dance around in a corset whilst holding her sick down, Charlie can lip sync to Britney Spears.

It wasn’t all sassy drama though, as some of the Queens had stories that could make even the iciest of hearts ache.

We learnt about Sasha Velour’s story fairly early on. Her bald drag Queen style comes from losing her mother to cancer. As she lost her hair, Sasha decided to show the world how beautiful bald is, and boy did she show us!

Shea Couleé talked about her story during the final show. Before she began filming season 9, she lost her father to cancer. If that wasn’t heart-breaking enough, she then lost her sister to cancer a month later. Her mum was at the final cheering her on, and she absolutely did her family proud.

Peppermint’s story was more inspiring than sad. She was the first Drag Queen to begin the show openly as a transgender woman. In the final, Ru explained that being a Drag Queen has no gender, and as Peppermint’s smile lit up the room, the sense of acceptance she received showed a warm side of humanity that we don’t see often.

After two incredible lip sync battles, Sasha and Peppermint were the final two competitors. Their performance against one another was easily the best lip sync in the history of Drag Race.

Jemma Gallagher is another fan of the show, and she thought “Sasha Velour killed both lip syncs!”

Sasha seemed a popular choice, with Poppy also being a fan. “My favourite queens were Trinity and Sasha.”

Ms Velour did come away with the crown, and she was the rightful winner for Phoebe and her friends. “We were all totally happy with her,” she says. “We voted for her on twitter using the hashtag and we were relieved that Trinity didn’t win.”

After watching the whole season, Dónal found the show to be much better than he ever anticipated. “I don’t know if it’s because Sasha was so steeped in the history of drag and she brought extra substance to the show,” Donal explains. “But I loved how it reflected LGBT history. It was a lot more than just a man chucking a dress and heals on. I actually think I’ve learnt a lot by watching it.”

The season 9 winner, Sasha proved to everyone that weird really is wonderful and bald truly is beautiful.

Written by Hannah Parker

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