Ron Does Stuff

I haven’t been able to blog over the past couple of days because of work-related stuff and honestly just good old-fashioned fatigue, but I’ve managed to recover a bit and now we’re jumping right into the latest episode of Drag Race Philippines

The previous episode saw Versex becoming this season’s Pork Chop, although I am of the opinion that she shouldn’t have been the bottom queen in the first place. And this is from someone who was a little turned off by her attitude in the first episode! But oh well, the reality TV gods are fickle creatures.

Just like the previous episode, this new one also has a trigger warning and oh my god if it’s as heartbreaking as John Fedellega’s story I don’t know what I’m going to do? John’s story was legitimately heartbreaking and probably triggering for quite a number of people so that trigger warning was definitely needed.

After the girls return to the Werk Room and congratulate Maxie and Myx for winning the challenge and winning the lip sync, we find out that Myx has apparently been rubbing some of the girls the wrong way. This is new information! What we’ve been shown in the main episode so far is her being a little controlling but no outright conflict with other girls just yet.

J Quinn is happy that Myx gets to stay and part of me wants to reach through the screen and scream IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOU J QUINN like Alyssa Edwards through that two-way mirror.

And as it turns out, even the other queens want J Quinn to go home. Khianna certainly does! But Khianna is also keenly aware that with two top placements and one win, there is also going to be a target on her back and she’s looking to just blend in with the rest of the girls in this episode. We shall see!

The next day, Yudipota shares in the confessionals that she wouldn’t even have auditioned for Drag Race Philippines if it weren’t for the fans and I am scared as to why they’re showing this confessional in particular. Are they setting her up for a bottom placement or worse, an elimination? Scary!

Mama Pao finally enters the Werk Room and this may be the only Drag Race iteration where the contestants literally manhandle the host? Anybody else have input on this?

Anyways, this week’s mini challenge is a what’s in the box type of deal that’s a favorite among K-pop idols. It’s fun when they do it!

John Fedellaga wins and gets P20,000! Good for you! Now all you need is a Maxi Challenge win! Although she says she can finally go home now and oh my lordy is that foreshadowing?

The Maxi Challenge this time around is a hosting challenge, and you know immediately that Myx and Tita Baby are probably not going to do as well as one would hope because they declare in the confessionals that this is what they’re good at. Drag Race and reality television always punishes declarations like that!

The queens form groups of two and they’ll be hosting five different kinds of shows. One’s a mukbang show, another’s a sorta dating talk show? The other option is a bag raid concept, while the other is a Fashion Photo Ruview type of show. Finally, the last option is a game show.

Since he won the mini challenge, John gets to assign the shows and he chooses the dating concept for her and Popstar Bench. Zymba and Maxie get the cooking show concept, while Myx Chanel and Tita Baby get the bag raid concept. Yudipota and J Quinn get the Fashion Photo Ruview show, which leaves the game show to Angel and Khianna.

The guest for all five shows is Melai Cantiveros, who is just a down-to-earth ball of sunshine BUT is also very quick with the jokes so the queens have to be at their best if they want to keep up!

As the queens work on their respective shows, it looks like Yudipota and J Quinn aren’t gelling as well as they thought they would, and Yudipota is just over it so she just let’s J Quinn do whatever she wants. I don’t know if that’s going to work out well for Yudipota! What if they’re judged as a pair?

And Yudipota isn’t the only one J Quinn is having friction with because it seems it’s also happening with her and Angel? Actually, friction with the Khianna and Angel team. Is she being set up to go home now?

John and Popstar and first up and…it’s okay. I don’t know what else to say. There’s not a lot to do because the queens are given such a short time to do what’s needed so I can’t really judge it very well.

Myx and Tita Baby are up next and I am so distracted by the visible lace on Myx’s wig. I’m by no means an expert which makes it worse because if me, an idiot, can notice it, what will the experts actually think? And then the show shows her struggling to be spontaneous. Even Melai feels it! Which may just mean that Myx may be a bottom queen once more.

Yudipota and J Quinn are up next and…well, maybe Myx is safe? The failed Wonyoung joke, the overall low energy, Melai looking confused as to what the fuck is happening. It’s a boot for me.

Angel and Khianna, right from the opening, has me fucking CROWING and I hope that they back that up because that was hilarious. And while it didn’t quite match the energy of that opening, it’s the best one out of the bunch so far!

Finally, it’s Maxie and Zymba’s turn with their cooking show and while I don’t think Melai got as much of an opportunity to talk compared to the other segments, it was still entertaining and will probably be joiningg Angel and Khianna’s team either in the safe zone or in the top.

After filming the Maxi Challenge, we finally get to the part that necessitated the trigger warning. Tita Baby gets asked why she chose to do drag even in her “advanced” age and she shares that it literally was the one thing that pulled her out of a two-year depression and suicidal thoughts. So happy you were able to push through that Tita Baby!

The runway theme is 3D and…well. Maxie’s look is great but where’s the 3D element? In fact, a lot of the first few looks are great, it’s just that I couldn’t figure out which were the 3D parts. Maybe I am just not literate enough when it comes to fashion?

I think things start to get better with Myx Chanel because her look seemed like it took the 3D part into account because it seemed like those wings were 3D-printed? Although probably not because that’s expensive. J Quinn’s Sailor Moon look great too, and so did Yudipota’s. We get a slight dip again with Angel’s outfit and then Khianna brings it right back up.

Anyways, here’s “3D” by Jungkook.

The top and bottom queens this time around are Maxie, John, Myx Chanel, J Quinn, Yudipota, and Khianna. Even before the judges’ critiques I already feel like it’s going to be J Quinn and Yudipota in the bottom. Or J Quinn and Myx Chanel.

And the judges really do lay onto J Quinn and Yudipota, and I think deservedly. But I also have a nagging feeling that Yudipota is going to self-eliminate because she keeps saying in the confessionals that she doesn’t need this and she had already earlier said that she only even tried out for the show just for the fans.

After deliberations, Maxie gets another win! First queen to get two challenge wins and now definitely the frontrunner of the show. Everybody’s going to be gunning for her now. And unsurprisingly, it’s J Quinn and Yudipota in the bottom.

The lip sync…well. It was a lip sync, I guess? I don’t think the song choice was great either, but I feel like whatever the song choice was it would still have been a meh lip sync. This should be a double elimination but as has been telegraphed throughout the show, Yudipota eliminates herself instead. Heartbreaking.