Listening to Race Chaser, I picked myself up, turned the world on its tail and decided to review the epic second season of RuPaul’s Drag Race! My Lord, this season had some epic queens, the first ever Snatch Game, the first ever reading challenge and some timeless quotes such as “Bitch, I am from Chicago” and “Your insides are dark and nasty”. I simply loved this season and I always find myself going back to re-watch it. The sponsor this season is NYX Cosmetics, and the grand prize is 25,000 dollars. We are stepping it up from season 1 with the prize money and the Werkroom looks like an actual workroom! It was a season when immunity saved some queens’ asses! Now immunity is just a word for the drag herstory books!
Season 2 was when we knew this show was going to take over the world. It had some of the best Untucked moments, the bitchiest remarks and the least amount of filters. Back in 2009, things weren’t so PC and it was the reality TV we all signed up for! We had 12 queens, which was another big plus…pun intended!
Jessica Wild was the only queen that was selected from an online voting poll. She had such a charm to her, an unforgettable charisma and the fact that her English was poor made her very endearing. She is Puerto Rican and she did bring the flavour this season. She would have been a great contender for Miss Congeniality, but the fact that Nina Flowers, Miss C from season 1, was also Puerto Rican might have been seen as a pattern for this title. Jessica shone in the Rock Chick challenge and was the first one to play RuPaul in the Snatch Game. It made us laugh, but for all the wrong reasons. It took huge balls and she made it memorable! I am very curious to see her back on a future All Stars! I am sure she has more to show!
Jujubee is one of the most memorable queens on Drag Race for a number of reasons! First off, she got into the top 3 without ever winning a main challenge. Secondly, she won the first reading (mini) challenge with her epic line “Legendary you think you are….legendary? More like legs and dairy!” aimed at her bff Raven. Thirdly, she is a lipsync assassin that sent home the likes of Sahara Davenport, Tatianna, and Pandora Boxx. And last, but not least, she is the reason why later seasons would only be allowed a 2 drink limit in Untucked, following a drunken but amazing lipsync to Black Velvet against Sahara. She graced our screens again in the first All Stars because we needed our Juju fix! She is funny and gorgeous, and fun fact…her boy name is Airline! Let that sink in for a moment!
Morgan McMichaels is now known as the hardest working queen in the game and she is a badass! She is very rock and roll and Chad Michaels’ drag daughter. She won the first challenge of the season and she had an epic fight with Mystique Summers Maddison in the first episode of Untucked. See? I told you these early Untucked episodes were something to write home about! At the time, RuPaul praised her lipsync skills by having one of the tightest ones in the history of the show. The song was Two Of Hearts and she sent Sonique home. Morgan is one of the most memorable queens and I was so happy to see her back on All Stars 3! On the flipside, her Snatch Game is never to be spoken of ever again!
“I will whoop your fucking ass! Bitch, I am from Chicago!” is one of the most memorable quotes on the show and we have Mystique Summers Madison to thank for that! She didn’t shine as much on her season, being on the bottom in 2 out of the 3 episodes she was on. She was very vocal regarding her representing the big girls and she made a thing out of the “2 piece and a biscuit” gig! She was known for her splits, but they got a bit old the second time. In the episode where she got eliminated, she wore the same outfit on the main stage as she did in the maxi challenge, calling it “mall country”. Uhm, that did not fly with the judges and the other queens. Sorry about it!
Say it with me: Nicole Paige Brooks from Atlanta, Georgia! We only got two glorious episode of miss Brooks, but she is one memorable queen! She is a dad and has a heart of gold! She was the first queen to answer RuPaul’s infamous “Who should go home tonight?” question with a “Send them all home.” and it was epic! Unfortunately, she was the one to be sent home. I felt she really wanted to be friends with Raven, but her feelings were not reciprocated. Too bad. Another epic quote of hers was “It’s just malicious, just gay faggotry.” and I live!
Pandora Boxx was an absolute doll on her season and let me tell you something: she should have won Snatch Game with her hilarious Carol Channing impersonation. She was Miss Congeniality and always seemed to be thiiiiis close to a win, but never actually getting it. She is a fine actress and an amazing comedian, but Santino hated her runways. She had an unfortunate run on All Stars 1, but I will cover that in a future blog post, because there is a lot to cover. She absolutely deserves a redemption, because the show has never seen a sweeter queen than Pandora and I am waiting for a future All Stars featuring her. She is so loveable and her exits on both Season 2 and All Stars 1 were uncalled for!
Raven is the face of the season and is one of the most confident queens of all seasons! She has subsequently become Ru’s make up artist because she has the best mug out there and maybe Ru wanted to have her on her team. Since she didn’t get the crown, we should at least give her that, right? Raven had her share of fights with girls on the show, her most memorable one being with Tatianna, calling her all kinds of names mostly behind her back, but denying them to her face. Raven is known as the ultimate runner up, on both season 2 and All Stars 1. But don’t cry for her, she has bigger fish to fry now. She is currently hosting Fashion Photo Ruview and making RuPaul look fierce!
Sahara Davenport may no longer be with us, but she is one queen we will never forget. She passed away from heart failure at the age of 28 and was Manila Luzon’s partner. She was one of the sweetest queens on the show and one of her most memorable moments were her dance skills, being the first queen to walk the main stage en pointe, also wowing us in Snatch Game with her great Whitney Houston impression. She was in the bottom 2 three times and was sent home by Jujubee in the Rocker Chick challenge. She was the one who named Tyra Sanchez “Satan’s baby” following Tyra’s comments about the group she was stuck with. Sarahara’s passing left a hole in the Drag Race family and we miss her dearly. She brought so much beauty and grace to the show and one line from RuPaul that stays with me is “Sahara Davenport, what will people say”? Iconic!
Season 2 was the first time we met miss Shangela Laquifa Wadley and we were were not prepared for her! And she wasn’t prepared for Drag Race at the moment, having gone home first this season to her friend Sahara. Shangela had been doing drag for only 5 months prior to the show and what she lacked for in experience she made up for with her personality. Shangela was so new to drag at the time, I don’t even think she was wearing foundation and concealer, but I may be wrong. Ru teasted we had not seen the last of Shangela, and she wasn’t kidding!
I am going to be dead honest with you and say that I didn’t care that much for Sonique during her run on season 2, but she struck a cord with me during the reunion episode when she came out as trans and I am so happy she got to show who she really was. Her gymnastic skills are out of this world, but she bombed the first ever Snatch Game with a subpar Lady Gaga impersonation. She later returned for the Holi-Slay Spectacular and she looked like a million bucks!
Baby Tatianna was under-baked and her talents were underrated on season 2, but she did have some killer lines that we will never forget. The way she said “Thank you” in the most honest and condescending way gave me life this season. Her runways weren’t her strongest suit, but her beauty back in 2010 was undeniable! Now she is even more beautiful. Look her up! Her legacy this season was being the first ever Snatch Game winner on the show and that is not something to sneeze at. She had some beef with Raven and Tyra and she served us catch phrases such as: “I pity the face that you have”, “Your outsides are gorgeous, but your insides are dark and nasty” and the iconic “I don’t think that you’re seeing that Tyra is a complete bitch”. I could go on and on quoting miss Tatianna, but I will save it for All Stars season 2 when she made an even bigger splash. She is one of my favourite queens who has improved a lot from her season!
And we have a winner, baby! Tyra Sanchez, or the Other Tyra, as RuPaul would call her, snatched the crown and let me tell you…she deserved it! Raven was not robbed! In order to be robbed, you had to have the crown and someone had to take it from you. Check your definitions, hunty! Anyway, Tyra killed it week after (almost every) week, with immunity serving her well in the Snatch Game and the Rocker Chick challenge. Tyra is one of the least known winners to younger audiences, but boy, was she a memorable one! Her track record was flawless, never having to ever lipsync for her life. She got made fun of because of her annoying singing in the Bride episode, but did she win that challenge? She sure did! What Tyra did after the show was questionable. She got banned from DragCon, she leaked Tatianna’s phone number online, she made an RIP post about Morgan McMichaels, though she was well and alive. The fact that their season 2 sister Sahara did pass away, this was highly inappropriate! She later apologized a few weeks ago and wants a clean slate. Let’s hope she gets it.
Season 2 gave us some amazing queens, some stellar drama, epic lipsyncs and the last season of Merle Ginsberg. One of the most memorable queens to this day is Raven and there are a lot of people who would have wanted her to see her as the winner.Let me tell you two things. Number one: she is fine, guys! She is doing Ru’s face for the show. And number two: Raven!
Born Alienated 