Alright Mary: All Things Rupaul's Drag Race

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the Gregg’s, the UK is giving us another season of drag royalty competing for potential superstardom once the show airs. This week we’re breaking down our first impressions of all 12 queens (well, 11 plus familiar face Ronnie Green), based largely on their Meet the Queens videos and very subjective evaluations. As per usual, we plan to be wrong (sometimes we even confuse past Dragula contestants for cancelled YouTube makeup artists) and look forward to falling in love with each of them in a couple weeks’ time. Patreon: www.patreon.com/alrightmary Email: alrightmarypodcast@gmail.com Twitter: @alrightmary Johnny: @johnnyalso (Instagram) Colin: @colindrucker (Twitter) Web: www.tasteofreality.com/alright-mary/ www.alrightmary.com  

Hey Mary! We’re dropping this mini episode to catch you up on what’s to come on our Patreon feed this month, as well as everything we’ve posted from the past month on both our Sister Mary and OnlyMary’s levels. August was a month of brackets, broken hearts and, of course, what gays quote. September is going to be spooky and British, and at the OnlyMary’s level, it’s already getting a little naked. Become a Matreon at patreon.com/alrightmary to get access to new episodes plus 200+ episodes in the archives! Sister Mary/$5 USD: 1 bonus episode every week (including Drag Race UK Season 3!) OnlyMary/$10 USD: 2 bonus episodes every week! (includes deep dives into Drag Race, gay stuff, our personal lives) Patreon: www.patreon.com/alrightmary Email: alrightmarypodcast@gmail.com Twitter: @alrightmary Johnny: @johnnyalso (Instagram) Colin: @colindrucker (Twitter) Web: www.tasteofreality.com/alright-mary/ www.alrightmary.com  

The final four are putting the C.U.N.T in “country” this week for a classic All Stars finale. There’s not much left to discuss or do except to learn more choreography from Jamal Sims, have a 30 minute consultation on stage with Ru in Michelle, and write and record verses for a new Ru song. (Can you guess what it’s called?) While it was anyone’s race by the end, Kylie Sonique Love Hewitt Michelle Gellar Lange brought the most twang to her track, a subversive look on the runway and an ascended mastery of self in (Gu)Ru’s eyes, nabbing both an herstorical win for the series and all that “money honey.” Patreon: www.patreon.com/alrightmary Email: alrightmarypodcast@gmail.com Twitter: @alrightmary Johnny: @johnnyalso (Instagram) Colin: @colindrucker (Twitter) Web: www.tasteofreality.com/alright-mary/ www.alrightmary.com BetterHelp Promo: betterhelp.com/AlrightMary (discount code: AlrightMary)

While it takes a real cunning linguist to say the name of this week’s episode, the Top 5: Part 2 queens deserve snaps all around for this storytelling challenge. Ginger, now doing almost too well in the competition, is given the “too polished” note while Eureka’s triumph over trichinosis finally nabs her a win (and with that lip sync win, a total of $25k just under the wire). Ra’Jah very briefly forgets her place (and later half her look, in a genius runway), Kylie rises up by sitting and Trinity sees the writing on the wall before she even gets on stage.  We discuss who really won that lip sync, whether or not we want more cutthroat voting, why Drag Race is not Survivor, body types in the gay community, The Masked Singer, and being in the closet about having a Drag Race podcast. (Also, somewhere in the second half of the episode we need a moment to just vent about dumb people, but eventually we get back on track.) Patreon: www.patreon.com/alrightmary Email: alrightmarypodcast@gm

Crunch crunch, munch munch, Silky Nutmeg Ganache is here to eat the competition for lunch. The infamous game within a game is finally here–a weekly lip sync showdown between eliminated queens that very quickly becomes Silky’s unstoppable rise to potentially compete again with the Top 4. (Who, by the way, in a meta twist, spend the entire episode watching Drag Race with us. Ra’Jah provides great commentary throughout.) Along the way Serena squats, Jiggly pops and Yara strums. Scarlet looks the part, Jan breaks the stage and Pandora gives it a fair shake during Silky’s clearest victory lap. Will Eureka’s mom’s Life Alert be the lucky charm she needs to bounce back into the workroom, or was Silky finally caught with her pants around her ankles in that last lip sync? We have no idea, Mary. Patreon: www.patreon.com/alrightmary Email: alrightmarypodcast@gmail.com Twitter: @alrightmary Johnny: @johnnyalso (Instagram) Colin: @colindrucker (Twitter) Web: www.tasteofreality.com/alrig

Ooh baby, this week’s Drag Tots extended promo/design challenge really ended with a boom clap of a lip sync, and reigning assassin Kameron Michaels had something to say about it. We kick things off this week diving into the end of the episode, when both queens did the best they could with what they were given, which was also a running theme for this challenge. The PTSD flashback to junior high of a mini-challenge mostly knocks Moody K Bonet off her axis for a bit, but bossy, messy, gassy, shady Eureka laughs it off and gives us big BSA energy all the way into Untucked. We discuss our own cartoon characters, the meaning of Mexicatessen, school play trees, Untucked music, expectations for the forever teased game within a game and some All Stars 6 superlatives of our own. Drag tot ziens! Patreon: www.patreon.com/alrightmary Email: alrightmarypodcast@gmail.com Twitter: @alrightmary Johnny: @johnnyalso (Instagram) Colin: @colindrucker (Twitter) Web: www.tasteofreality.com/alright-mary/ www.alrightmary.com

Six celebrity Snatchelorettes try their luck at love and improv in this week’s perennial gauntlet of a challenge, Snatch Game (of Love). After Phyllis Diller and Dolly Parton play verbal volleyball over Whitney Houston’s head, Eureka serves extra helpings of a Divine that’s just fine, Ra’Jah lights up as LaToya and Pandora’s Kim Cattrall leaves us Samantha Jones’ing for more. While there was a lot of pop art on the runway, most of our fashion talk this week is about Cheyenne Jackson from the bare ankles down. We also have some strong feelings about Broadway singers doing mainstream albums, some brief climate control confusion, probably unpopular opinions on the lip sync song and a Last Chance Lip Sync you’re just gonna hate. Patreon: www.patreon.com/alrightmary Email: alrightmarypodcast@gmail.com Twitter: @alrightmary Johnny: @johnnyalso (Instagram) Colin: @colindrucker (Twitter) Web: www.tasteofreality.com/alright-mary/ www.alrightmary.com BetterHelp Promo: betterhel

This week’s girl group challenge takes on an activism twist with inspirational lyrics about self-love and positivity. (Okay, this may not be that much of a twist for a Drag Race song.) Jan takes the self-love note and runs with it, all the way to the bottom, joined by Pandora and her two left feet. The real twist comes when Mrs. Mateo shows up with not one but two lipsticks in her titty, for a melodramatic conclusion to Jan’s pitchy peaks and valleys run this season. Well, until the game within the game, but we already have our predictions for who’s gonna win that. RuPaul loves a bombshell, Zaldy brings some much-welcomed fashion expertise to the judges panel, Freddy gets fingered and Trinity bugs out on the runway–and pulls into the lead with a much-deserved second win. Patreon: www.patreon.com/alrightmary Email: alrightmarypodcast@gmail.com Twitter: @alrightmary Johnny: @johnnyalso (Instagram) Colin: @colindrucker (Twitter) Web: www.tasteofreality.com/alright-mary/ www.alrightmary.co

It’s already time to say “adios” to a fabulous season of Drag Race, but not before putting the Top 3 through the usual finale paces. We have less to say about the reunion than we do about the final challenge this week, and even then it’s mostly thirsting over Carmelo Segura. Killer Queen kills the challenge, Hugaceo and Arantxa steal the runway and Carmen wins the competition before the lip sync is even over with a brilliant wig reveal that left us dripping. We also discuss the merits of Ricki and the Flash as a future Matreon, make a surprising discovery about A League of Their Own, and answer the question on everybody’s lips: is Charlotte Rae still alive? Patreon: www.patreon.com/alrightmary Email: alrightmarypodcast@gmail.com Twitter: @alrightmary Johnny: @johnnyalso (Instagram) Colin: @colindrucker (Twitter) Web: www.tasteofreality.com/alright-mary/ www.alrightmary.com

This week’s supersized ooky-spooky acting challenge casts the queens as witchy women from the world of Ryan Murphy–including some unfortunate typecasting of Jan as Leah Michelle, a perfect Pandora Crawford, and a lovely Lange from Kylie Sonique. (But how does it compare to Michelle’s?) Angela Bassett turns up to share some radiant wisdom over Skype, Ra’Jah gets misdirected to drop the voice, and A’keria is cursed with three times in the bottom. Kylie’s boobs win the lip sync, but Jan’s overalls adjustment wins the episode. Patreon: www.patreon.com/alrightmary Email: alrightmarypodcast@gmail.com Twitter: @alrightmary Johnny: @johnnyalso (Instagram) Colin: @colindrucker (Twitter) Web: www.tasteofreality.com/alright-mary/ www.alrightmary.com   BetterHelp Promo: betterhelp.com/AlrightMary (discount code: AlrightMary)

The queens become ladies who chat this week on Pink Table Talk. First things first, can we get an extended cut of Trinity, Eureka and A’keria’s roundtable kiki? While Ginger won fair and square this week, we could watch that team queen out all day. Meanwhile the Jantasy has seemingly ended with a full on Dogvillination of Ms. Sport, who of course we try to defend this week. And ditto Scarlet, who was hardly as uncomfortable to watch as one of her fellow tablemates. Mayhem zips by to challenge Ginger from Finance to a $30,000 lip sync of “Phone.” Miss Minj earns every penny (c’mon, Aunt Peg!) but we can’t help but wonder what Trinity K Bonet might have done. Patreon: www.patreon.com/alrightmary Email: alrightmarypodcast@gmail.com Twitter: @alrightmary Johnny: @johnnyalso (Instagram) Colin: @colindrucker (Twitter) Web: www.tasteofreality.com/alright-mary/ www.alrightmary.com

Our final four Spanish reginas are giving birth to a quartet of rugby player-sized baby queens for this week’s makeover challenge. Pupi’s poison all season has been her rough aesthetic and it unfortunately transfers to her drag daughter, while Carmen’s season-long perfection results in a true “She’s All That” moment for her partner. Sagittaria spirals out of orbit as a non-sewer with two looks to make and Killer Queen is the true winner of the week for getting to personally tuck Fernando. We queen out on Supremme’s goosey charms, the chaotic joy of the final lip sync, Give Me More queens, Envy Peru, and our plans for Season 2 of Drag Race Holland. Patreon: www.patreon.com/alrightmary Email: alrightmarypodcast@gmail.com Twitter: @alrightmary Johnny: @johnnyalso (Instagram) Colin: @colindrucker (Twitter) Web: www.tasteofreality.com/alright-mary/ www.alrightmary.com

Pardon the crunchy audio, we caught up on Skype while Johnny’s on vacation in Mexico this week! Meanwhile our ten remaining superb owls give us a hoot of a halftime show, ranging from a wide-eyed Fergie to a shaky Shakira. While no one was in the red zone, Jan’s goo-goo Gaga and Trinity’s A+ Beyonce were the ones we’d most like to see an instant replay on. We huddle up on some strong feelings about Madonna, sack the notion that the Curse is broken and punt some ideas of who fumbled and who was just given a bad pass. A’keria C. Davenport being in the Bottom 2 was the most offensive line of the episode, but Jessica Wild’s victory dance in the end zone was a true touchdown. Patreon: www.patreon.com/alrightmary Email: alrightmarypodcast@gmail.com Twitter: @alrightmary Johnny: @johnnyalso (Instagram) Colin: @colindrucker (Twitter) Web: www.tasteofreality.com/alright-mary/ www.alrightmary.com   BetterHelp Promo: betterhelp.com/AlrightMary (discount code: AlrightMary)

We’ve seen some one-sided lip syncs before—even earlier this season when Inti quit—but none have been quite as fascinating and even frustrating as Dovima’s decision to just stand there while Sagittaria danced around her and Carmen cried in the safe zone. There are lots of tears this week, including from the judges, as well as Killer’s instinct for kindness, a puppet challenge that was no Lamb Chops, a roast that may have been a little undercooked and a clear path to victory for Farala. Patreon: www.patreon.com/alrightmary Email: alrightmarypodcast@gmail.com Twitter: @alrightmary Johnny: @johnnyalso (Instagram) Colin: @colindrucker (Twitter) Web: www.tasteofreality.com/alright-mary/ www.alrightmary.com  

This week’s episode gave us two long overdue redemptions: Trinity K Bonet won a main challenge and lip sync assassin Laganja Estranja won All Stars 6.  The marketing maxi challenge and re-do’s on the runway are practically afterthoughts to one of the most exciting lip syncs of the series, which we discuss beat by beat, as well as a deeper appreciation of Silky’s rocky road after Season 11. We also come to consensus on who Scarlett reminds us of, present a similar question about Yara, try to solve the mystery of Pandora’s role this season, and continue to query about A’keria. Patreon: www.patreon.com/alrightmary Email: alrightmarypodcast@gmail.com Twitter: @alrightmary Johnny: @johnnyalso (Instagram) Colin: @colindrucker (Twitter) Web: www.tasteofreality.com/alright-mary/ www.alrightmary.com  

This week’s acting challenge features the filthiest high school in Spain, with an undead Carmen stealing the show with those bananas, a wet and wild Principal Pupi, Sagitarria with a rising moon in Uranus and Hugaceo at her horniest. The runway is a literal art museum that had us saying, “Hello, Dali!” with guest judge Alaska on the judges panel calling most of the shots and certainly helping Pupi finally secure her first and much-needed win. Patreon: www.patreon.com/alrightmary Email: alrightmarypodcast@gmail.com Twitter: @alrightmary Johnny: @johnnyalso (Instagram) Colin: @colindrucker (Twitter) Web: www.tasteofreality.com/alright-mary/ www.alrightmary.com  

If there’s one thing Drag Race isn’t giving us this year, it’s blue balls. We not only got an All Star talent show this week that sent Serena out of the competition and into the game within a game, but we had 36 looks on the runway for the Blue Ball. Yara’s bounce to the top becomes a sag to the bottom when her breastplate does her no favors this week and her tarp dress looks like a tarp dress. Jiggly at least does better than her iconic baked potato couture of Season 4, but that’s unfortunately not saying much and her bedazzled blanket sends her to the bottom two. But is there another queen being unfairly spared? Did Trinity’s hilariously literal crossing guard “STOP” her from landing in the top spot? The true highlight of the episode is an Untucked exclusive meltdown in a parking lot, featuring fuzzy slippers, a looming sunset and a poor PA just trying to keep them on schedule. We also have some STRONG disagreements on a certain Janet Jackson song, but not the

Get ready for another season of redemption, reinvention and in the case of this week’s talent show, repetition, as we kick off another season of All Stars! 13 familiar faces (well, more or less, thanks to fillers and Botox) return to the workroom to not only get their hands on a crown and scepter, that ubiquitous $100,000 and maybe some cash tips for lip syncing along the way, but introduce or re-introduce themselves to an ever-growing Drag Race audience. (Well, so long as they’ve got Paramount+.) That means a lot of performances of new, original songs in the talent show–but at least Scarlett mixed things up with bubbles, Trinity tried to break the bad luck streak of comediennes past and Ra’Jah made a dress, and everyone sweat, in just 60 seconds. Yara may not have been showing off her years of hard work and professional training (hi Jan!), but she jiggled her way to the top as breast in show and duked it out against Coco Montrese to the impossibly heterosexual “Uptown Funk.̶

Whether it’s Down Under, over the border or across the Atlantic, Snatch Game is always one of the most highly-anticipated challenges of a season. Spain not only paired theirs with a reading mini-challenge but a full on ball on the runway, resulting in 21 looks and well over half of the episode dedicated to the main stage. While fave of the podcast and gold star pizza queen Arantxa does end up sashaying away, Killer Queen emerges as more than just the spitting image of Tyne Daly, our love for Pupi hasn’t pooped out and Sagittaria is finally in our orbits. Patreon: www.patreon.com/alrightmary Email: alrightmarypodcast@gmail.com Twitter: @alrightmary Johnny: @johnnyalso (Instagram) Colin: @colindrucker (Twitter) Web: www.tasteofreality.com/alright-mary/ www.alrightmary.com

It’s time for the queens to prove they’re a triple threat–a quadruple threat if you count a football mini-challenge that ends up being the least chaotic part of this episode. In teams of two, they’re selling women’s lifestyle magazines, running for dear life on a treadmill while lip-syncing to “Cha Cha Bitch,” and acting out bizarre mprov sketches that involve slapstick lesbianism and familial phone sex. A hometown roots runway is the final straw for a misunderstood Inti, Supremme divinely intervenes, Dovina and friends have a singalong, Arantxa wears a ham backpack and we tangent into some very heated discussions about pizza. Patreon: www.patreon.com/alrightmary Email: alrightmarypodcast@gmail.com Twitter: @alrightmary Johnny: @johnnyalso (Instagram) Colin: @colindrucker (Twitter) Web: www.tasteofreality.com/alright-mary/ www.alrightmary.com