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Tag: Drag queens

No wind beneath one queen’s wings on ‘Canada’s Drag Race’

Lemon, right, tells “RuPaul’s Drag Race U.K.” alum Crystal her fortune on “Canada’s Drag Race.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

SPOILER ALERT: IF YOU KEEP READING THIS YOU’LL FIND OUT WHO LOST AND WHO WON ON EPISODE 6 OF “CANADA’S DRAG RACE.”

I don’t need a crystal ball — or a drag queen called Crystal — to tell you this much: the competition is getting more serious on “Canada’s Drag Race.”

“This is not RuPaul’s Best Friend Race, I am not here to make friends anymore,” declared Lemon — understandable considering that four of seven queens had just voted her most deserving of sashaying away.

Luckily for Lemon, the judges didn’t pay them heed. It was BOA who got the boot after losing the lip sync to Ilona Verley — coincidentally, the queen the other three contestants deemed deserving of an exit.

It was also BOA who inspired Lemon’s unfriendly sentiments after telling Lemon she was not genuine and too quick to vocalize her love of herself. 

Sour lemons, er, grapes?

Rita Baga does “denim on denim on denim” on the “Canada’s Drag Race” runway.
PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

If I were the remaining queens I’d be looking out for Rita Baga. The Quebec queen has now won three maxi-challenges and could run away with — or is that “s’enfuir avec”? — the competition.

I’m not gonna lie: this episode was a bit of a come-down after the high of last week’s Snatch Game. Also, it didn’t have enough Brooke Lynn Hytes in it. It began with an improv mini-challenge. The queens had to play psychic hotline operators and give tips to a mystery caller: Crystal, the Newfoundland-born queen who was the first Canadian to compete on “RuPaul’s Drag Race U.K.”

And if you’re thinking, “Oh shit, Priyanka playing a fortune teller? After last week’s Miss Cleo disaster in Snatch Game?” I have good news: she didn’t suck. She also didn’t win. That would be Lemon. I found Jimbo and BOA funnier, not to mention ruder, but I am here for Lemon’s leopard print ensemble.

Anyhoo, the not especially Canadian maxi-challenge involved the queens splitting into teams and making law firm infomercials.

Lemon and Priyanka paired up as a variation on personal injury lawyers; in their case, “pussy protectors.”

Scarlett BoBo and Ilona, who are nicknamed the “sissies,” were sort of like divorce lawyers, but for sissies who wanted to split up. Hey, no one said these commercials had to make sense.

Rita Baga, BOA and Jimbo shoot their infomercial with the help of a couple of of pit crew members.
PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

Rita, Jimbo and BOA were the B.E.L.L.E.S (Bitches for Enthusiastic Lady Lawyers Entertainment Services), helping litigate against rude bachelorettes who invade drag shows. They were inspired by real-life experience. Rita said she once got a finger up the anus from a bride-to-be. First off, who does that? Second, ewwww.

As the girls were putting on their drag and sharing drag bar spectator horror stories, BOA revealed that she was once beaten unconscious, sexually assaulted and robbed by someone she brought home. “There’s violence in the queer community and it needs to stop,” she said. The other queens gave BOA shoulder squeezes and sympathy. Priyanka commended her for speaking out and educating other drag queens.

And then it was time for the runway, “Canadian Tux-She-Do,” i.e. lots and lots of denim, and the competition was back on.

Jimbo, a.k.a. Creature from the patch lagoon, on the runway.
PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

Jimbo once again outdid herself with a patchwork jumpsuit that covered her from the top of her head to her soles, which the judges loved. (“Creature from the patch lagoon,” quipped Brooke Lynn Hytes.) But it was Rita who took the win with a punk-inspired skirt and jacket ensemble whose pieces unzipped down to a bra and girdle.

Rita’s edge seemed to come from how much the judges loved her bilingual performance in the commercial, but — while I really liked Rita’s look — Jimbo got robbed on her outfit alone, plus she was also a standout in her commercial.

Scarlett BoBo goes big and doesn’t go home on the “Drag Race” runway.
PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

Compliments must also be paid to Scarlett BoBo. Loved the jacket; loved the little touches like the denim choker and denim heels; loved the neon yellow nails.

Now for the not so good looks. Ilona’s jumpsuit was boring, despite the cutout ass. Lemon’s outfit was too much and not enough at the same time: too many elements, not enough finishing. Brooke rightly called it a mess.

As for BOA, I didn’t mind the raggedy wings as much as the judges did. Brooke said they looked “half-assed and cheap.” Guest host Tom Green said BOA’s outfit looked exactly like the one he wore as “the wind” as a kid in a church play and proved it by calling his mom and having her send a photo.

(As an aside, I love how the queens gasp and cheer whenever a Canadian celeb they’ve probably never heard of is announced as guest host. Tom Green was a good sport, but could he have bedazzled his jeans or something?)

And Priyanka? I didn’t love the look, but the jacket seemed just as well tailored as BoBo’s and the thigh-high denim boots were kind of fun.

She, Scarlett and Jimbo were all declared safe, while Lemon escaped the bottom thanks to her commercial, which was my favourite out of the three.

BOA’s denim wings were not a hit with the judges on “Canada’s Drag Race.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

That left Ilona and BOA to lip-sync to Alessia Cara’s “Scars to Your Beautiful,” and you know the rest.

“This has been an amazing experience,” BOA told the judges. “You guys have been so good to me. I’ve learned so much about myself, and I’ve made so many amazing sisters and friends, and I can’t even explain how grateful I am for this opportunity.”

And then she left them the way she came in: laughing. “I didn’t come here to make friends, I came here to make lasagne,” she said.

Next week, the top six are part of a pageant, the first in “Drag Race” her-story, Brooke says, and the runway looks particularly glam — except for one queen, who really disappoints the judges. Until then …

CBC Gem series ‘Queens’ spotlights the queens of Toronto

Jada Shada Hudson as drag queen Paper in the comedy series “Queens.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Queens

There’s suffering for your art and then there’s shivering for your art.

Toronto drag queen Jada Shada Hudson recalls doing the latter while shooting the CBC Gem series “Queens,” which debuts today, June 19, back in December.

“It was really, really, really chilly,” Jada said about the outdoor shoot. “And my outfit was not really winter. There were some girls, they were wearing scarves and mittens and everything, and I am there in a plastic jacket. But it was so fun to be a part of this project.”

“It wasn’t so bad that first day of filming when it was so freezing and I got to just lie around in that fur jacket,” joked her co-star, fellow Toronto queen Champagna.

“Whenever we were shooting outside everyone came rushing back into Crews (Church Street bar Crews & Tangos) to warm up,” added Justin Gray, who created the series. “Shoes came off because their feet were wet and hairdryers went to their feet, so it just smelt like warm, warm socks.”

Gray, a.k.a. drag queen Fisher Price, fell into drag performing a few years back after taking a breather from trying to break into the film and TV industry. And the more he performed, the more “little fun ideas” he started getting about the people and situations he encountered. “And then it snowballed into wanting to write this silly, campy whodunit … By taking myself out of the film world for a little bit I kind of found myself right back in it,” he said, chatting on a Zoom call with Jada, Champagna and their “Queens” co-stars Allysin Chaynes.

The six-part series takes place the day of the fictional Miss Church Street pageant in Toronto’s Gay Village. Someone is trying to sabotage the pageant, putting obstacles in the paths of the various contestants. In the case of Paper, Jada’s character, it starts with a visit to a strip club followed by a trip to the emergency room.

For Naomi, played by Allysin, a visit to the mall to exchange a bronzer ends up with her getting locked in a makeup store during a gas leak. Luckily, she has a bottle of wine and her insecurities to keep her company.

Allysin spent 13 hours shooting that scene overnight at a mall. Then she and Justin grabbed a few hours sleep, put their drag on and headed to the Beaver, their home bar on Queen Street West, for a show.

“We really honestly don’t know how we did it,” Justin said. “We shot basically a feature film in seven days, including multiple lead actors, several locations and dealing with winter weather as well.”

Besides the three queens I talked with, the show also stars Toronto drag performers Baby Bel Bel, Ivory Towers, Quick Lewinsky, Lucy Flawless and Lucinda Miu.

Allysin Chaynes as drag queen Naomi in the CBC Gem series “Queens.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Queens

“It was such a fun thing to be a part of and such a cool thing to put your name on, and have yourself represented in a very interesting part of Canadian queer history,” said Allysin.

“It’s also a testament to a drag performer writing a show about drag performers starring drag performers,” she continued. “Justin really understands where we’re all coming from story-wise in terms of what he’s written, but can also understand how much each of us has been honing our individual public personalities over however long we’ve been doing drag.”

Allysin came to drag out of art school, OCAD University to be precise, where she had been using drag makeup as part of her practice. Champagna was looking to vent her creative energy after finding limited success as a queer, male actor. Doing drag, “all the doors started opening,” she said. And Jada, who sings and dances, had been performing as a man in talent shows in the Village but got talked into trying drag after losing a contest to a drag performer at Crews & Tangos.

Her drag name is borrowed from two Black performers she admires, actor Jada Pinkett Smith and singer Jennifer Hudson. Champagna’s flowed, if you’ll pardon the pun, from “a really drunk-ass night” with friends and, yes, champagne. And Justin picked his after being in a Codeine-induced haze in a hospital waiting for surgery and spotting a kids’ Fisher-Price play phone.

Champagna as drag queen Elaina in comedy whodunit “Queens.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Queens

Allysin shares her name, a play on 1990s grunge band Alice in Chains, with “a five-foot-tall Romanian porn star. I think I’m beating her in Google results now, which is really exciting. And hopefully this show helps more. My life’s goal is just to outrank her on Google.”

All the queens were excited to share “Queens” with the world. Besides checking it out on CBC Gem, you can go to pridetoronto.com as part of its Pride Month “Feature Fridays” for a special screening of “Queens” and panel party with the cast beginning tonight at 9 p.m.

“I’m intensely proud of the crew and cast that we have together for this project,” Justin said. “It filled me with so much happiness to have a heavily LGBT, POC crew as well as having seasoned veterans that have been working in Canadian television for years now that were strong allies and really pulled all the strings they could to make a lot of things for the show possible.”

“Justin won’t say this about himself … but we could not have asked for a better script, a better series or a better showrunner,” added Allysin. “It’s refreshing to have a queer series, and especially a queer series about drag, that is not necessarily about each one of our personal hardships or upbringings or adversities that we face. It’s us being viewed as people who work in a job and have experiences.

“It was a dream to work on,” she said. “We got to wake up every day and get paid to go hang out with our friends and say funny things written by one of our friends.”

Note: If you’d like to read more about “Queens,” go to thestar.com to read my Toronto Star interview with the cast as well as Brooke Lynn Hytes of “Canada’s Drag Race.”

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