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RuPaul's Drag Race: Ranking The Remaining Ten
Rankings by RTVC Senior Staff Writer Jacob D.
February 9, 2010
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This week's episode of RuPaul's Drag Race saw the queens bringing sexy back, though some were more successful than others.
For their first task, the girls were asked to pair up and give a RuPaul doll a trampy makeover. The duo of Pandora and Sahara won. As the winners, they were both named team leaders for the main challenge, which was to put together a group burlesque number. The groups broke down as follows:
Pandora's Team- Morgan McMichaels, Nicole Paige Brooks, Raven, Sonique, Tatianna
Sahara's Team- Jessica Wild, Jujubee, Mystique Summers Madison, Tyra Sanchez
After receiving some coaching from two pole dancers, the queens put their looks together and gathered at a club for their stage debuts. The point of the challenge was to earn as much money as you could, the winning team be the one earned more, and RuPaul informed the girls that while one group was dancing, the other would be hitting the streets and raising extra money by selling gift certificates.
Both teams struggled on the street and seemed to do better on the stage. As part of their group performance, each girl was also to earn money with a solo routine.
On the runway, the girls were asked to wear their own high class glam outfits and most made a big splash. The results of the challenge were that Sahara's team earned the most money and Sahara was named the overall winner. This left Pandora's team as the bottom group and most members earned criticism. Pandora's outfit was panned, Sonique's attitude was brought into question, and Tatianna was pointed out as the weakest queen.
However, for being the two lowest earning performers, Nicole and Raven were placed in the bottom two. They had a last chance lip sync battle set to En Vogue's, "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)," and in the end, Raven was saved and Nicole was eliminated.
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Morgan McMichaels
Current Ranking: 1 - Previous Ranking: 1
Morgan is a 28 year old queen from Mira Loma, CA.
Morgan holds her ranking from last week mostly by default, but that's not meant to diminish her achievements. Despite having immunity, Morgan did not slack off this week. She took charge in choreographing her group's dance number when no one else would and really gave energy and pizazz when performing on the stage. She landed in the bottom group at the runway judging mostly because of her team and not really because of herself. Therefore, she remains number one for a second week.
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Tyra Sanchez
Current Ranking: 2 - Previous Ranking: 5
Tyra is a 21 year old queen from Orlando, FL.
I hadn't originally planned on placing Tyra this high, what with her attitude problems and staunch refusal to participate in rehearsals. However upon reflection, the girl did turn it out when it counted. She perked up and really pitched in when handing out gift certificates on the street and gave a strong performance on the burlesque stage. She wore another stunning outfit on the runway and, because she was on the winning team, she landed in the top group for the challenge even though she didn't win. If you'll notice, this makes Tyra the only queen to place in the top group both of these first two weeks. This gives her the best track record of the queens so far and if she keeps it up next week, she may yet break through to the top spot on my rankings.
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Sonique
Current Ranking: 3 - Previous Ranking: 2
Sonique is a 26 year old queen from Atlanta, GA.
Sonique slips in the rankings, but just a bit. I felt she was one of the best performers in the burlesque challenge, tried hard in selling gift certificates, and turned out another stunning look/outfit on the runway. However, she was rude to at least one of the people we saw on the street and the judges picked up on that. Still, I think she's one of the strongest queens in the bunch and I am definitely rooting for her, so she remains in the upper echelons of the scoreboard.
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Jessica Wild
Current Ranking: 4 - Previous Ranking: 6
Jessica is a 28 year old queen from San Juan, PR.
Jessica moves up in the rankings because so far, she's had two strong weeks. She did well in last week's photo shoot and put together a fabulous outfit for the main challenge. This week, she really threw herself into the tasks, doing whatever she could to earn money for the team on the street and throwing her all into her stage performance. She hasn't been noticed much by the judges, landing neither in the top group nor the bottom yet, but I feel she's done a great job in these early goings.
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Jujubee
Current Ranking: 5 - Previous Ranking: 7
Jujubee is a 25 year old queen from Boston, MA.
Jujubee, alongside Tatianna, is one of the more beautiful, feminine queens in the bunch. Actually, she is arguably prettier than Tatianna. Or at least, I might say so. Anyways, Jujubee has been a stealth performer so far. She's brought the glam to the competition, turned in good performances, and stayed clear of the bottom group in these first two weeks. However, she has yet to have her own breakthrough moment. I'm also concerned about her personality. She seems a very sweet queen and, like with Pandora, I worry if perhaps she could end up being too nice to really compete with the others. It's still early though, so her strong start keeps her high in the rankings.
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Pandora Boxx
Current Ranking: 6 - Previous Ranking: 4
Pandora is a 37 year old queen from Rochester, NY.
I began to worry about Pandora this week. Pandora seems like such an energetic, nice person, perhaps the nicest person there. Usually, the saying is that 'nice guys finish last', but I don't necessarily agree because nice people can win competitions if they can show that necessary edge to win. I don't think Pandora showed it. She was an ineffective leader, disappearing into the background and letting others take over in the group preparations, and I'm sorry girl, but in a drag competition you HAVE to expect strong personalities. Drag queens are not generally known for being demure and dainty. Her charm and personality have already curried favor with the judges, but that can only take her so far if she doesn't have the performance track record to back it up.
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Sahara Davenport
Current Ranking: 7 - Previous Ranking: 11
Sahara is a 29 year old queen from New York, NY
Sahara had quite the reversal of fortune this week. After lip syncing for her life last week, she does an effective job as team leader which helps her group out-earn the other in the main challenge. Sahara was then named the overall winner, earning herself some much needed praise and immunity from next week's elimination. Sahara seems to have the judges' favor with her grace and beauty so more consistently good performances from her could turn her into a real contender. Time will tell.
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Mystique Summers Madison
Current Ranking: 8 - Previous Ranking: 10
Mystique is a 25 year old queen from Bedford, TX.
Mystique had a fierce showing in the burlesque numbers and wowed the judges with her personality and style on the runway. For a marked improvement over her performance from last week, Mystique's ranking improves.
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Tatianna
Current Ranking: 9 - Previous Ranking: 9
Tatianna is a 21 year old queen from Falls Church, VA.
I almost placed Tatianna in last place on my scoreboard this week because she was forgettable last week and was raked across the coals this week during the runway judging. True, most of the negativity we saw came from her teammates, but I have to agree because while Tatianna is the most feminine of all the girls, she not the most outlandish, the most 'drag' in personality and style. It's like she really is just a, "beautiful girl," as her teammates said.
I'm also getting quite a sense of deja vu with Tatianna because Rebecca Glasscock was in the same position in season one. Rebecca was the most feminine and beautiful of the queens, yet also the least experienced and struggled with that all throughout season one. She somehow clawed her way to a third place showing, but I'm not sure if Tatianna can do the same.
In the end, Tatianna was saved by her beauty, much like Rebecca was many times last season, and for her strong solo in the burlesque performance, but she'll need to do more to earn a higher ranking from me.
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Raven
Current Ranking: 10 - Previous Ranking: 3
Raven is a 30 year old queen from Riverside, CA.
I had debated about who to put in last place on this week's scoreboard. It was between Tatianna and Raven for me and as you can see, Raven fell to the bottom. I wasn't sure if I wanted to do that because I had her ranked third last week and she really gave a fierce and sassy performance in the last chance lip sync battle. I do believe Raven is one of the strongest queens in this field. However, she takes a dive because of how she performed in the challenge. On both the street and the stage, Raven seemed to be barely there, putting forth little effort and getting little revenue in return. The judges noticed and placed her in the bottom two, thus earning her a trip down the scoreboard. However, if she can show more passion and drive, I'd imagine she'll be moving back up soon.
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Nicole Paige Brooks
Eliminated
Nicole is a 36 year old queen from Atlanta, GA.
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Shangela LaQuifa Wadley
Eliminated
Shangela is a 28 year old queen from Studio City, CA.
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Jacob D. is a twenty-something native of Austin Tx who spends his time
listening to music, posting on Austin based messageboards, playing
video games, and watching TV. Jacob also enjoys reading Shonen Jump,
Garfield and Calvin & Hobbes strips, playing Texas Hold 'em, drawing
cartoon chickens, and tending to his neopets. Though shy in real
life, he loves to sound off on his favorite shows and enjoys
interacting with other fans.
You can contact Jacob at Jacob@RealityTVCalendar.com
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