Note: This article contains spoilers from Drag Race Philippines Season 1
With the recent conclusion of the first installment of RuPaul’s Drag Race in the Philippines, we’re sure you also can’t get over some of the many iconic scenes that made this season pop-off, ate! Join SEA Wave as we look back on the top five iconic moments in Drag Race Philippines Season 1.
Ready or not, Dragna!
Marina Summers vs. Xilhouete Drama
Is this even a Drag Race installment without the drama? As early as episode 1, we see a confrontation between Drag Mom Xilhouete and former House of Xilhouete member, Marina Summers. Interestingly enough, their paths seem to cross more often in the show, with both queens landing top spots consecutively mid-season. The shade lives on for almost the entire season until episode 9, where they finally patch things up and embrace back their mother-daughter relationship. To top it all off, they faced off against each other in the season finale, serving us one of the best lip sync performances of this season.
Double Shantay
Since we’re on the topic of drama and lip sync, the Brigiding and Minty Fresh drama is also one for the books. In Drag Race Philippines: Untucked episode 2, Brigiding was confronted by Minty Fresh and Marina Summers for stirring the pot in her talk show about their previous issue. Come mid-season, Brigiding and Minty faced their unfinished business head-on by giving their lip sync battle of Amakabogera by Maymay Entrata a good run. True to the song, the lip sync battle had an overflowing amount of charisma and showstopping moves, with Minty Fresh even doing a death drop. Their neck-to-neck performance earned them a double shantay, a rare instance in the entire Drag Race installment. This unfinished business was revisited in episode 8, where they did another lip sync match on another iconic Filipino song, Dyosa by Yumi Lacsamana. This time around, someone successfully sent the other dyosa home.
Sirena Lip Sync Battle
Drag Race PH really said save the best for last when they used the much-awaited local song, Sirena by Gloc-9 in the season finale’s winning lip sync battle. Frontrunners Marina Summers and Precious Paula Nicole finally teach us how to lip sync the right way, after 9 episodes of never being in the bottom two. The two showed us Pinoy pride through their looks and top-notch performance of the song. Precious claimed the crown the moment she pulled the rainbow cloth from her boots, and the rest was history.
Precious Paula Nicole’s Twinning Runway
The Philippines’ first drag race superstar definitely had a heartwarming journey. Her humble backstory did not stop Precious from serving us looks and stories we won’t forget. Despite being a threat for the crown, her good heart earned the other queens’ votes to win the Ru-lection in episode 3. We are even more moved when she gave the most emotional twinning runway performance along with her brother John-John. It did not miss out on what makes the show very Filipino — the love for family that goes beyond our gender differences.
Pop Off Ate! Performance
The show indeed received varying reviews from its audience with some ironically calling it dragging. To be fair, we can say that the show peaked in episode 3. Arguably the best among the ten episodes in this season, it had a great mix of iconic elements – talent performance, drama and of course, shade! The episode began with the queens ranking their fellow racers, which determined their groupings. They then trained with another iconic queen, Nadine Lustre. But what stole the show is the Pop Off Ate Performance by the girl groups. As viewers, we can’t help but be proud of how the queens, especially Eva Le Queen, overcame their hesitations. Pop Off Ate was a culmination of teamwork and a beautiful representation of drag in the Philippines, landing the underdog group, Flexbomb Girls, a well-deserved win.
‘Drag Race Philippines’ and ‘Drag Race Philippines: Untucked’ have been renewed for Season 2, as announced by World of Wonder. There are no details on the premiere dates, judges and contestants yet.
What’s your favorite drag race moment? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
Photos from Drag Race Philippines