How Does One Of The ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Frontrunners Stumble So Hard?
The meteoric rise to the top and tragic fall of Valentina is quite perplexing. It wasn’t too long ago when I declared that Valentina was going to be either Miss Congeniality or the Drag Race Season 9 winner but something very different happened…
During the latest episode, Valentina seemingly gave up during the lip-sync battle!
The downfall really started during this week’s challenge. The girls were all tasked with putting together a pilot for a fictional and campy TV series. It was easy for most to get into a group but that left the two outsiders Valentina and Nina Bo’Nina Brown all by themselves. Forced to pair up, this creative but flawed duo could’ve made magic but instead flopped. Forgoing any script, the two queens tried to improvise. It was obvious the airhead nature of Valentina and “Debbie Downer”-persona Nina Bo’Nina Brown weren’t clicking. As a fan of both, you could only hope they could’ve been saved by a good edit. That wasn’t the case.
“One day, she’ll run out of perfection”
Rightfully so, the judges read Valentina and Nina Bo’Nina Brown for their poor performance in the challenge. Most of the judges enjoyed their trainwreck but felt disappointed by these two strong competitors. Viewers got a red herring for the bottom 2 as Alexis Michelle failed in the challenge and on the runway. Ultimately, Alexis Michelle was safe and the bottom 2 was set. It was Nina Bo’Nina Brown vs Valentina!
The lip-sync starts, Valentina is still wearing the mask from the runway. At first, you think it’s building up for a dramatic reveal. The judges audibly let out their confusion while RuPaul silently looks on. Then suddenly enough is enough and RuPaul stops the lip-sync!
Nothing like this has happened on ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race‘ before. Kindly, RuPaul asks Valentina to remove the mask. Valentina then proceeds to put up a fight with RuPaul. Eventually, the mask does come off and the lip-sync restarts. It’s made very clear that Valentina doesn’t know the words to the song. The young queen seemed defeated.
Nina Bo’Nina Brown basically got handed this win. Her lip-sync performance was very strong but the forfeit by Valentina made it that much easier. To be honest, I was crafting this article while the episode unfolded but centered it around Nina Bo’Nina Brown and the self-sabotage but this twist shook things up!
This is also the second lip-sync forfeit of the season as many remember the infamous Charlie Hides and Trinity Tayor battle. That’s the moment Charlie Hides just stood there and clapped along to the song with no intention of performing. I wonder what about season 9 is so cursed that had so many scandalous moments like injuries and quitting.
To see the drama contiuned, check out Untucked from World of Wonder:
The next episode of ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race‘ airs on Friday, May 26th at 8 pm.
What do you think about this elimination? Did you expect Valentina to go home so soon?
Let me know in the comments below!
