Ron Does Stuff

The past week has been jam-packed for me, which is why I haven’t been able to update the blog for so long. But I’ve got free time now! I’ll play catch up with the other shows some other time because I’m going to watch the first episode of Drag Race Philippines season 3 first!

I wasn’t able to finish blogging the previous season for a variety of reasons, but I did finish watching it. Hopefully, that isn’t going to be the case here!

It’s great to see that the Werk Room still looks big and grand and nothing like the small space that Season 1 was. And the queens better be as big and grand as the Werk Room they’re going to be strolling into.

First queen into the Werk Room is 23-year-old Angel and she’s definitely bringing that baklang kanal realness to the competition. And the gown’s not bad considering that she’s a newbie? At least that’s what she says in her introduction.

Second queen to enter is 25-year-old Versex and I can’t quite get a read on her yet. The piercings are great though, I think other than ØV CŪNT none of the queens have done facial piercings? I may be misremembering! Versex is also coming into the competition with a little more experience than Angel. She’s walked at New York Fashion Week, for one!

Up next is 33-year-old John Fedellaga and…that entrance look wasn’t it. At least at first glance! But then we get a closer look and it’s actually more detailed than I thought! Versex thinks otherwise though and I’ll defer to her because she seems like she knows what she’s talking about.

Twenty-seven-year-old Myx Chanel enters literally cosplaying Cardcaptor Sakura and I am gagged? With the roller skates and the sealing wand and everything!

Anyways, Myx Chanel started Drag Race viewing parties here in the country, apparently! I did not know that!

Up next is my personal favorite, Tita Baby! She’s definitely bringing that Tita chic with her but I do worry that she may be a first out because Myx Chanel got more time introducing Tita Baby than Tita Baby had introducing herself. Damn.

Khianna is the next queen to enter and she is literally dressed as Kitana from Mortal Kombat. Like…these queens definitely had the same gay obsessions I had growing up. I still remember Talisa Soto from those 90s Mortal Kombat movies!

Khianna is a pandemic queen and that is one thing that’s becoming clear from the entering queens so far. This may be a battle between younger queens and more established queens in the business.

Versex, again, is shading this new queen entering the Werk Room, which makes me think she is either going to be the villain of the season or she’s going to be humbled and go on a redemption journey. Let’s see!

J Quinn is just an East Asian mix because she’s half-Japanese, raised in a Chinese-centric household, and a big K-Pop fan. Am not feeling the entrance look though, even up close. Sorry!

J Quinn’s outfit looks especially shabby when the queen that enters after her is Yudipota, which is a great name. And she’s branding herself as the aswang of drag and I’m curious to see how that’s going to be reflected on the runway throughout the season.

Zymba Ding, another brilliant name, is up next and she’s Brigiding from season one’s drag daughter! And I gotta say they even look a little related even out of drag! That long wig was especially cunty too.

After Zymba Ding we get Popstar Bench and she really does look a lot like Sarah Geronimo when she’s doing her impersonator gig! From her confessionals, it looks like she’s doing the Derrick Barry storyline for this season since she wants to show who she is outside of being a Sarah Geronimo impersonator.

Then we have Maxie, who most everyone will probably know from Queen of the Universe! And something I only found out recently is that she also was Maxie in the Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros musical! Is she going to be the one to beat this season?

Maxie is also Angel’s older brother, so is this going to be a Sugar and Spice storyline? Which one of them will make it all the way to the end?

Maxie is the last queen to enter because up next is Jolina Slaydangal herself! Like, I grew up watching her on Ang TV! Literal gay icon. She originated chuva choo choo! And these queens just fucking toss her up and down it’s so hilarious! Can Charlize Theron do that? I don’t think so!

Mama Pao finally enters and tells the queens the prizes for this season, which of course includes the P1 million cash prize and I guffawed at Angel saying she’ll get four pussies if she win’s that cash prize.

The first mini challenge of the season is voguing and we get an appearance from some of the queens from the previous seasons! Also the freaking Absolut sponsorship.

WE THEN FIND OUT THAT MINTY AND VERSEX ARE “NOT OKAY”. Damn, Minty seems like she has an enemy on every season of Drag Race Philippines? Anyways the queens start voguing and…well, Aja would probably send some of them DMs let’s just say that.

What we do get from the mini challenge is that Tita Baby and Maxie are going to be the narrators for the season. Or at least if Tita Baby stays long enough. I’m so scared she’s going to be a first out!

That fear is heightened even further by the first Maxi Challenge, which has the queens making a one-minute viral dance video. Tita Baby is not a dancer, by her own admission!

AND THEN THE QUEENS ONLY HAVE FIVE MINUTES TO SHOOT THEIR VIDEOS? LIKE WHAT THE FUCK? Oh this is dark-sided. I don’t think any of the queens are going to end up looking good after this.

Myx Chanel is up first and damn she really does know how to run a tight ship. And I don’t really blame her for barking orders because how do you expect these queens to come up with something great in FIVE FREAKING MINUTES,.

It also makes it difficult to figure out which one of the queens is in danger because the shoot goes so quickly? I don’t know which one of them looks like they struggles because everything happened so quickly? Only John Fedellaga seemed to be in trouble but only because he said so himself.

The next day, the queens ask Khianna what she thought of everybody since she’s the one who’s not from Metro Manila and most of the Metro Manila queens already know each other and it looks like there’s going to be a Versex-Khianna rivalry because Versex is just sniping at Khianna, unprovoked. I don’t know how this is going to play for the Filipino audience.

As the conversation goes on I start to feel bad for Khianna because it really does look like the Metro Manila girls just ganging up on her. This is why we get called Imperial Manila, girls! Like, there’s no need to pile on Khianna just because you don’t get her humor.

And then I roll my eyes when Versex is suddenly “Oh I’m just sniping at you because I like you!” when the pile-on eventually leads to Khianna ending up in tears. Give me a break. I’m sorry but this just put me off of Versex. At least own up to being a bitch.

We finally get to the main stage and it looks like Mama Pao got a new stylist because she is back to serving lewks. It’s not up on her Instagram yet so I just screencapped this from YouTube. And then we find out that she made this herself! You go!

Hometown Realness is the runway theme for this episode and Popstar Bench isn’t exactly bringing the heat, so to speak, as the first one on the runway. Versex, with all of her “I walked New York Fashon Week” blabbing, doesn’t really come out with something spectacular either? Or maybe it’s just colored by my dislike of her.

John Fedellaga’s Mama Mary look was impressive at first glance but after all that mess with Pura Luka Vega I am so scared that she’s going to get targeted by conservatives here in the Philippines. Maxie’s look didn’t look like much at first glance but what made it work for me was the acting afterwards.

Angel and Yudipota also come out with nice looks, and so do Marikina queens Tita Baby and Myx Chanel. It looks like they actually put some thought into what they brought to the runway!

J Quinn was…well, crafty. Zymba Ding’s outfit wasn’t that really impressive on first reveal but then you learn that she came from Tala and then the whole look not only makes sense but takes on a deeper meaning.

Then we get to the viral challenges and…well. There’s a reason why I try to avoid TikTok as much as possible? I don’t know maybe I’m just a boomer? I just couldn’t get into any of them at all. Or maybe it’s just the challenge itself because when they did it for All Stars 7 I didn’t like it either. I guess I just don’t like anything that so openly wants to be viral?

Versex, John Fedellaga, Angel, J Quinn, Popstar Bench are declared safe and Versex declares that all the queens left are the kanal queens and THEN Mama Pao announces that the remaining six queens are the top queens. They really are positioning Versex as the villain of the season!

During the critiques Paolo brings up stuff that happened in the Werk Room and I think the Philippine franchise may be the only one that does this? Although I’m probably forgetting instances in other franchises and am probably wrong.

The remaining queens get complements during the critiques but it’s Zymba Ding who really breaks everyone’s hearts as she talks about growing up with parents who suffered from leprosy. I was crying!

Khianna and Zymba Ding are the top two queens and they’re going to lip sync for the win to a Maymay Entrata song. Now I love Maymay, but we couldn’t get a Jolina song since she’s there? Anyways, the lip sync starts and the absolute shade of cutting to Versex at the ingittera laitera part of the song?

Anyways, Khianna wins! Take that Versex!