Characters / RuPaul's Drag Race Season 9

WARNING: Contestants are listed in order of elimination and there are unmarked spoilers on this page.

Main (RuPaul, hosts and judges)

RuPaul's Drag Race (USA) seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16

Drag Race around the world:

Canada | Chile | Down Under | France | Holland | Italy | Mexico | Philippines | Spain | Thailand | UK | USA

All Stars & Vs. the World

All Stars (USA) | Canada vs. the World | UK vs the World

All names, ages, and locations stated are at the time of filming.

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Jaymes Mansfield (14th)

Age: 26

From: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

"Hi shapeshifters!"

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• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Upon her elimination, she pleads with the audience to be kind to her and remember that she's a human being.
• Almost Famous Name: Jaymes Mansfield = Hollywood legend, Jane Mansfield.
• Gender-Blender Name: Jaymes is more typically a male name, than a female one.
• In-Series Nickname: Eureka dubs her "Milwaukee" during Untucked.
• Irony: When up for elimination Ru says that although her runway read "Floozy" her performance was "Snoozy". When preparing for the challenge, she was originally going to play the character of Floozy before she switched with Alexis to the Snoozy character, her unable to really sell either role.
• Larynx Dissonance: The difference between his naturally masculine voice and the voice he puts on when in drag is jarring. Charlie even says when Jaymes is putting on her make-up, she'll slowly drop character and transform from a girly voice into James Earl Jones.
• My Nayme Is: Her real name is James, so she just added a "Y" to it to transform it into her drag name.
• Named After Somebody Famous: Her drag name is a play on her name and Jayne Mansfield.
• Shrinking Violet: Is accused by the other queens of looking terrified to be on the show and that she's hiding behind her humor. In her second (and final) episode she's accused again by the judges that she tries to sell herself as a comedy queen, but her personality is only about 20% there, the rest just coming off as incredibly shy and unsure.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Subverted. The first to be eliminated in her season, but with no elimination in the first episode, we had two whole episodes to get to know her.

Kimora Blac (13th)

Age: 28

From: Las Vegas, Nevada

"Kimora Blac is everyone's sexual preference."

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• Blatant Lies: The only plastic surgery she admits to are her lip fillers, despite her cheeks (all four of them) looking obviously "done". Her fellow queens are having a blast with her claim.
• Book Dumb:
  • Has absolutely no idea what bloomers or adjectives are until she gets clued in on it by the other queens.
  • Turns into a Brick Joke when Aja playfully berates her before the finale about not knowing what Calligraphy is.
  • Self-aware about it; after the "what's an adjective?" incident, she chuckled and said, "Thank God I'm pretty."
• Egyptian Mythology: Some of her tattoos, including Anubis on her arm and the Eye of Horus on the side of her neck.
• Graceful Loser: For all her arrogance, she takes her elimination in stride and spoke about how grateful she is to meet the cast and make new friends.
• Hypocrite: She bitches about Aja boasting about her connections to fashion designers and how beautiful her wardrobe is ... yet in the very next episode, Kimora acts like a spoiled brat who doesn't like to sew and only likes wearing outfits herself from designers.
• Idiot Ball:
  • She told the other queens in the first Untucked that she has not had any plastic surgery, even though the LOGO Tv cast descriptions explicitly mentions her enhanced ass.
  • She also rather obviously didn't bother learning the words to the LSFYL song that would send her home, though she's definitely not the most famous queen this season to make this mistake.
• Impossibly Tacky Clothes: Owns a wardrobe full of designer clothes, but it becomes painfully obvious she doesn't know how to wear them tastefully. Ru even says Kimora dresses like a newbie hooker (as opposed to a mature hooker who knows how not to look all crapped up with trashy accessories).
• It's All About Me: Elaborated on by Kimora herself in her Meet the Queens video:
  Kimora: Straight guys love me, gay guys love me, drag queens love me! I'm a really hot guy, like, I would totally date myself.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: After denying having had any plastic surgery, she later "suddenly remembers" having her lips done
• Named After Somebody Famous: Named herself after Kimora Lee Simmons.
• Pet the Dog: She's arrogant and mildly condescending, claiming stoning is for ugly girls and would have others put in the leg work in her place. However, in her final Untucked she has a heart to heart with Farrah about how grateful she is to meet the other queens and actually have friends, and bonds with the latter over being Vegas drag queens. In fact, one of her goals was to actually bond with the others.
• Proud Beauty: Also from her MTQ video:
  Kimora: I'm a really hot guy, like, I would totally date myself.
• Rich Bitch: Comes off this way during the cheer leading challenge, complaining about having to rhinestone her own outfit and how she would prefer paying other people to do that sort of manual labor for her. She even tries to bribe Eureka to finish her costume for her by offering to pay for her buffet.
• Stripperiffic: Her drag aesthetic.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: She complains every time a sewing challenge shows up, considering it unnecessary and difficult. While you can succeed as a drag queen without knowing how to sew, on Drag Race it will earn the fan's ire, judges' critiques, and send you home quickly (which it did, though it didn't help that she didn't know the words in her lip sync, only adding to the trope.)
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Talks about how going out without pads (her ass is surgically enhanced) makes her feel naked on the runway in order to have the judges sympathize with her except they could see right through it.

Charlie Hides (12th)

Age: 52

From: London, England, United Kingdom^* in a series first, Charlie is billed out of both Boston, Massachusetts and London, UK

"Hi, hi, hi! It's about to get shady up in here!"

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• Awesome, but Impractical: While being 52 with a broken rib certainly didn't help, the fact she was wearing nine-inch platformed heels didn't do her any favors in keeping up dancing against Trinity.
• Butt-Monkey: During the Reunion the other queens were brutal in giving her no leeway in her excuses as to why her lip sync was so bad. When they eventually get the Valentina and her infamous 'take that mask off your face' incident, Trinity even says "at least you didn't just give up like Charlie!."
• Celebrity Impersonator: Is very well known for her impersonations of various celebrities including Lady Gaga, Cher, and Madonna. Had she made it to the Snatch Game, she revealed she had planned to do Joan Rivers (she also brought Liza Minnelli, Sharon Osbourne, and Theresa Caputo as back-ups).
• Control Freak: Shows this during the talk show challenge, when she tries to reign Cynthia in and only perform to the letter of the cue cards. This actually ends up being her downfall, while Cynthia was able to improvise and be funny in their shared segment, Charlie was so reliant on her cards that she came off stiff. After her elimination she invoked this trope, but says she doesn't apologize for being a control freak.
• Fake Brit: Zigzagged. She touts herself as the first UK Queen on Drag Race, when she's actually from Boston. However she's essentially a naturalised Briton, as she's been living in the UK for over twenty years (which might explain the accent) and holds a British passport due to being married to a Brit.
• Feeling Their Age: Almost her entire time on the show she was terrified that being the oldest by far would lead to her elimination. During the cheerleading challenge she ends up cracking a rib during the performance (after joking that someone with an AARP membership shouldn't be asked to do cartwheels on stage), and during her first and final lipsync, she just isn't capable of performing.
• Flat Character: Gets accused of this by the judges, saying that she always looks "dead behind the eyes".
• Gender-Blender Name: Charlie Hides is also her real name, saying it's just easier to not use a drag pseudonym since she often travels between the U.S. and the U.K.
• Handicapped Badass: Has said in her YouTube videos that she cracked a weak rib during the cheerleading challenge, however, not wanting to appear weak out of fear of being sent home, she powered through the next two episodes, but ultimately this let her down in her lipsync, where she was unable to keep up with Trinity due to the injury. You can clearly see the pain in her face while dancing the best she can in nine-inch heels.
• Happily Married: Has been with her husband for twenty years.
• Hurricane of Excuses: The queens give her no leeway when it came to her explaining her poor lip sync performance at the Reunion, arguing that it wasn't that Charlie had an excuse, but had about a dozen excuses! These include: the fact UK queens sing live and don't lip sync, that she had a broken rib, that she was running on no sleep, that she was channeling 2006 Britney Spears, that she was trying to do an interpretive dance about masturbation, that she was trying to intentionally lip sync as poorly as possible, and that she was recovering from explosive diarrhea.
• In-Series Nickname: Dame Charlie Hides (and, of course, she releases a music single called 'The Dame' after her elimination).
• Meaningful Name: She was accidentally left out of the first promo. She was hiding.
• Refuge in Audacity: Admits in the first episode her comedy style dances along the edge of what is considered socially acceptable. Not that she really got the chance to show this off during the show.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When she lands in the bottom two for the morning talk show challenge, she doesn't even try during the lipsync. In her words, London queens sing live rather than lipsync, so she allows Ru to eliminate her (afterwards she added in that she had cracked her ribs during the cheerleading challenge, and as a result refused to try and dance because she was afraid she may puncture a lung by doing so).
• Stylistic Suck: Has said that when she realized the lipsync would be bad at the very least (through injury, not knowing the song, and not being a lipsyncer) she decided to go all the way and invoke this trope, hoping her performance could at least provide memes about how godawful it was.
• Survivor Guilt: Invoked Trope, Charlie says she came out just as AIDS epidemic was coming to light, and ended up losing a lot of her best friends while she somehow managed to stay healthy out of pure luck.
• Wardrobe Malfunction: Runs into a snag trying to reveal her tearaway for her Hometown Runway Pilgrim Girl look, getting read by Lady Gaga later for having not properly practiced the tearaway before wearing the outfit.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Arguably the worst offender in the series. Charlie claims she won't need to lip sync in her last Untucked. Becomes the first in a chain of terrible lip sync that forces Ru to change the finale to a lip sync match.

Eureka O'Hara (11th / departed)

Age: 25

From: Johnson City, Tennessee

"Come on, give it up for the big girl! Serving pure catfish."

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• Acrofatic: Despite being a big girl, she sees herself as a dancing queen, being able to do things like cartwheels and jumping splits with little to no effort.
• All the Other Reindeer:
  • During her Meet the Queens video, she explains she constantly feels like this in the drag community, due to being a big girl.
  • On the show proper, she says she was worried that this trope was in effect after it seems no one understood her humor and that no one liked her, but says after her elimination she received so much love from the cast, even from her rival Trinity, that this trope was invoked, but averted.
• Anime Hair: Is a big fan of large, vertical-standing wig loaves affixed to the top of her scalp. Her promo look, Princess runway look, and White Party look all included these types of wigs.
• Attention Whore: Gets called out on being very loud and always talking over the other girls. Charlie actually had to tell her point blank to shut up so she could get a word in edgewise.
• Big Beautiful Woman: The only big girl in Season 9.
• Future Badass: In the Kardashian musical challenge, she plays an adult North West, who has ascended to become a galactic queen.
• It's All About Me: Constantly, but very evident in the talk show challenge when she accuses team leader Trinity of being a dictator and not listening to her group. Trinity goes on to call Eureka out in the confessionals that what Eureka actually means is that Trinity isn't listening to her, and that she wants to turn the challenge into "The Eureka Show".
• Handicapped Badass: During the cheerleading challenge she pops her knee, however she only admits this in the confession cam and during the routine itself she pushes through the pain so not to stop the show.
• Harsher in Hindsight: In ep. 2, during the cheer challenge, Farrah says "there's going to be a serious injury on this episode." Fast forward a few episodes and Eureka is sent home because of a knee injury she received during this very same challenge.
• Only One Name: Zigzagged, while promotional material for the show will refer to her as Eureka O'Hara, in actual videos and on the show itself she's only referred to as just "Eureka". Whether there is a specific reason for this (such as trying to distance herself from Phi Phi O'Hara) is unknown.
• Named After Something Famous: Took her name after the Eureka Vacuum company.
• Meaningful Name: She's here to clean house!
• Named Like My Name: Just goes by her first name on screen which helps her avoid being confused for the O'Hara family, of which several have turned up on RPDR.
• Never My Fault: Whenever she gets called out, she tends to immediately deflect blame:
  • Shea calls Eureka out for being boisterous and talking over others; Eureka just gets upset and claims everyone in the room does it, despite her clearly doing it more than the others.
  • After she ends up offending Sasha with a bad eating-disorder joke, she gives a non-apology claiming she's "sorry" that Sasha got offended over nothing. She did later offer a sincere apology to her and Valentina.
• Non-Gameplay Elimination: Her popped knee comes back to haunt her in the musical challenge. While she powered through the challenge, Ru couldn't let her compete and sent her back home in order for her to heal, and has given her an open invitation to compete again in Season 10 if she chooses to come back.
• The Rival: Considers herself to have one with Trinity Taylor due to their history in the pageant scene, in the first challenge Eureka saying she doesn't care if she wins the challenge, as long as she does better than Trinity specifically.
• Self-Deprecation: Has fully embraced that she is considered the most annoying and loud-mouthed queen of Season 9.
• Sequel Hook: After her Non-Gameplay Elimination Ru actually gives Eureka an open-invitation to join Season 10. This is the only time a queen has ever been openly invited to return the following season while their current season is still filming (Adore was given an invitation for All-Stars 3 during the reunion for All-Stars 2, but how serious that invite was is still up in the air).
• Team Mom: You probably wouldn't guess it from the show, but in the bonus videos for the Princess sewing challenge, she goes well out of her way to help Nina and Farrah (who don't know how to sew) with their outfits. In fact, Eureka practically makes Nina's entire silver catsuit for her!
• Took a Level in Kindness: During her final episode, Eureka attempts to mend the bridges with the queens she ticked off in the past episode (Valentina and Sasha), and states outright she's trying very hard to stop talking over people after being called out on it.

Cynthia Lee Fontaine (10th)

Age: 34

From: Austin, Texas

"Are you ready to see my cucu again?!"

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• The Bus Came Back: Rejoins the competition after being eliminated early in Season 8.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Eventually the only thing she excels at is her own particular Cynthia shtick, leaving very little room for showing any other nuances of comedy.
• Funny Foreigner: Claims this to be a big part of her charm. When Charlie tries to force her to stick to the cue cards in the morning talk show challenge, Cynthia counters that her thick accent and tendency to suffer from word salad is the cornerstone of her humor.
• Lip Lock: Her lip syncing in the Kardashian musical challenge is so off that it comes across as a live version of this trope.
• Nice Guy: Season 8's Miss Congeniality. Upon her return she claims despite this title she's not planning on playing nice ... although to be honest it's doubtful there's a single mean bone in Cynthia's entire body.
• Out of Focus: At the reunion, excepting a quick speech before she announces Valentina as the new Miss Congeniality, she speaks all of three sentences. If any questions were asked about her time on the show, her return, her battle with cancer or anything else of substance, they never made it to air.
• Team Mom: Just like her original season, after leading the cheerleading challenge, she went around the workroom helping everyone get ready for the runway. It's also later revealed she's somewhat of a drag mom to Farrah, having given her start in the club scene in Texas.
• The Unintelligible: Her manic way of speaking would often veer into this territory which came to haunt her when playing Sofía Vergara in Snatch Game:
  RuPaul: She’s smiling so I know she just told a joke.
• Unusual Euphemism: Finally reveals the origin of her "cucu"; when she was a child she got slapped by her mother after saying the word "culo" (Spanish for ass), so she started saying cu-cu instead, which her mother considered perfectly acceptable. After that, it just stuck.
• Verbal Tic: Even more apparent than in her short season 8 run, she can't go two sentences without mentioning her "cucu".

Aja (9th)

Age: 22

From: Brooklyn, New York

"Your edges are officially snatched."

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• Art Evolution: After getting read for her make-up and ending up in the bottom two, it visibly improves in all future episodes. She's praised for the effort in what ends up her last runway.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Has been called out by other queens for unintentionally ignoring them mid-conversation to focus on something else.
• Big Applesauce: One of four queens from New York City, along with Alexis Michelle, Peppermint, and Sasha Velour.
• Can't Take Criticism: Seems to have gotten nothing but praise on social media and in the New York drag scene. So when the judges read her on her make-up and style, she doesn't know how to handle it. She starts lashing out at Valentina, unable to understand why Valentina is loved by the judges for just being "pretty".
• Dance Battler: Her lip syncs are incredibly energetic and acrobatic, usually involving a spinning jump into a split.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Comes down hard on Valentina during Untucked after she has received consistent praise from the judges while she on the other hand was in the bottom.
• A Hero to His Hometown: Sasha describes her as the biggest name in the New York drag community, which isn't nothing given how sizeable it is, but it did mean she went in (by her own admission) thinking the show was going to be easier than it was.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Makes a big deal about not wanting to be cast as an elderly character for the 90210 challenge, instead choosing a more bitchy character with very little screen-time, which combined with a lacklustre performance puts her in the bottom two.
• I Am Not Pretty: Her reason for doing more subversive drag is that when she first started, people would tell her she was ugly when she tried to do just 'pretty' make-up. She says she's had to struggle with comments about her scars and skin complexion for most of her life (which, sadly, she's still having to deal with, even from queens from past season such as Naomi Smalls and Bob the Drag Queen).
• Identical Stranger: Many fans have pointed out that Aja looks a lot like Naomi Smalls in drag. Naomi herself even pokes fun at it on Twitter. Constantly.
• Jerkass Has a Point: The reunion makes it clear that while she was harsh, many of the queens agreed with her.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Immediately regrets complaining about her role, and apologises to everyone for it before the runway.
• Ridiculously Photogenic: Invoked and deconstructed. Aja got a lot of love for her promo pics and her Instagram is stunning. However Trinity, Shea and even the show's editors make a point that her pics are filtered and put through Photoshop-like apps that enhance appearances. Without those, Aja is at a disadvantage when it comes to painting onstage for HD cameras.
• Passive-Aggressive Kombat: She wasn't reading Valentina in Untucked, she was "aggressively complimenting" her.
• Rummage Sale Reject: Her "Princess Disastah" look for the Draggily Ever After sewing challenge ended up living up to its name... by being a complete disaster. With an uneven wig, badly done makeup and loose-fitting chaps, its unsurprising that she ended up being in the bottom that week.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Despite butting heads with Valentina, while team leader she is the first queen Aja chooses and the one she selects to be her partner. She claims to have done it because she wants to try and figure out what Valentina's got that the judges are reacting so positively too, and channel that for herself.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gets two in one season: the "Linda Evangelista" moment and again when she challenges Valentina's Miss Congeniality win.
• The Rival: In case you hadn't noticed, she's one to Valentina.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Her other choice for Snatch Game was Crystal LaBeija, a legendary queen from the New York ball scene. Literally every other queen considered Crystal to be the better choice for Aja but she still played it safe with Alyssa Edwards.
  • Gets her Rudemption in All Stars 3, even though Monique called her and told her not to.

Farrah Moan (8th)

Age: 23

From: Las Vegas, Nevada

"So this is what it looks like."

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• Armor-Piercing Question: Point blank asks Nina, who has been down on herself and complaining since the first episode, if she actually wants to be on the show.
• Bookends: After her elimination she enters the workroom with the same quote she made when she made her first episode entrance, "So this is what it looks like", only this time with "- ... when you're eliminated".
• Dark and Troubled Past: Recounts that she had a very rough high school experience, being bullied constantly. She even explains how she was the target of a very cruel prank where someone sent her emails saying they were going to come to her address some random Thursday and murder her in her sleep.
  • Later stated in Maddy Morphosis' podcast that she was living out of her car at the time having been kicked out by an abusive housemate, and her motivation to stay in as long as possible was to have an actual bed for several weeks before having to put her life together again.
• Dumb Blonde: She is a bit ditsy, forgetting that there was a microphone above her when she threw her arms up in a talking head. Aja even playfully calls her on this in Untucked.
  • More recently she's embraced this by growing out and bleaching her natural hair.
• Emo Teen: Before she was a drag queen, she was a fairly famous scene model called Cameron Ugh.
• Fighting Your Friend: Got her start in drag through Cynthia, and ends up in tears over the thought of lip syncing against her.
• Flat Character: During her final critique Ru likens her sweet nature to Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, coming to the sudden realization she's comparing other people to Farrah because Farrah herself doesn't have a character, and is basically invoking this trope.
• Inelegant Blubbering: Gets progressively nervous during the fairytale challenge as she can't sew and loses it completely when Ru says she's safe after a negative critique. Happens again when after Cynthia and herself lipsync, it's Eureka who gets eliminated due to a knee injury; Farrah is blubbering on stage in empathy of Eureka's leaving.
• Meaningful Name: Does actually moan and complain a lot when things aren't going her way. You could say she does a 'Farrah'-mount of moaning.
• Memetic Mutation: invoked Her Inelegant Blubbering Little "No" during Eureka's Non-Gameplay Elimination gets called out by Ru as having taken off by storm as a meme online.
• Named After Somebody Famous: Named after Farrah Fawcett.
• Nice Girl: At her core, Farrah is a sweet person who doesn't like being mean or reading other people. This bites her in the ass hard in the Roast, when her inexperience in being mean causes her "jokes" to instead come off as just flat-out, unfunny insults.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Her name is obviously a pun on pheromone so whenever she is asked about the inspiration for her name she always replies that she named herself after Farrah Fawcett, which is also true, and because she thinks moaning is sexy. Fans were so convinced that she made the pun unintentionally that she had to clarify that she made the joke on purpose on social media.
• Punny Name: Farrah Moan/Pheromone.
• Shrinking Violet: Has a moment of this in the first episode when she wears the Alejandro latex robe for the Gaga runway and gets inside her own head and decides not to do the reveal underneath because she was worried her reveal look wasn't on point. She admits she has to get out of her own head and trust her instincts.
• Stripperiffic: Her aesthetic is described as very "fetishy", being a mix of Vegas Showgirl while showing a lot of skin.
• We Used to Be Friends: Nearly quotes this trope verbatim at the reunion. She and Valentina were close during the competition, but after they left she hasn't so much as received a one word text.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Vents her frustration regarding Alexis rudely blaming the other girls for her own runway look since it cost her the challenge, especially in light of the fact she refused to let Farrah leave to practice for her lipsync that she needed to do just to stay on the show!
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Applied to the ninth season of Drag Race and has no idea how to sew.

Valentina (7th + Miss Congeniality)

Age: 25

From: Echo Park, California

"I'm glad these girls see me as a threat."

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• All the Other Reindeer: Some queens feel like her so far great reviews have more to do with her cute smile and great looks than with her actual performance, especially since she's still a drag baby. Then again, there's probably lots of envy in play here.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Though some fans had suspected, it was made clear at the reunion that the other queens see her this way.
• Breakout Character: A negative example. She gained a huge following after her win, but her fanbase got out of control and started verbally assaulting her fellow queens on social media.
• Celebrity Resemblance:
  • With the right styling she looks like a Latina Linda Evangelista◊. Due to Aja's mild jealousy over this comparison it has already become a meme.
  • During the Reunion she also compares herself to Selena as a first-generation old-school Latina with a very overprotective fanbase.
• Competition Freak: When the other queens point out that she never made any effort to befriend any of them, she merely retorts with "I wanted to win".
• The Cutie: She’s one of the younger queens this season and is definitely always smiling.
• The Gift: You'd never know she only had a year of drag experience under her belt if she didn't tell you, and placed highly in the first two episodes, even winning the second.
• Humiliation Conga: Her final episode. Big time.
  • First, her team-up with Nina for the TV pilot challenge was a case of Pair the Spares since neither particularly wanted to work with the other.
  • Second, their show concept and trailer failed in every possible way (having no script, its concept not being sustainable for an ongoing series, etc.).
  • Third, when she and Nina landed in the bottom two, Valentina wore a mask to hide the fact that she didn't know the song. It backfires tremendously, causing Ru stop the lip sync for the first time in the entire series and ordering her to remove it.
  • Fourth, Valentina asks Ru to keep the mask on, causing a staredown on par with Pearl. She eventually complies but resorts to every drag trick in the book to cover her failing lip sync. It doesn't work and she is eliminated.
  • Last but not least, Ru normally sends girls off with words of encouragement. The only thing she says to Valentina is how disappointed she is; she had expected her to "go all the way." By the time she sashays away, she looks ready to jump off a bridge.
  • If that all wasn't bad enough, it finally seems that her luck turns around come the Reunion when she wins the fan-voted title of Miss Congeniality, only to be berated by Aja and Farrah on-stage for being anything but "congenial". The rest of the queens quickly jump on-board and agree, and start chanting "Fan Favorite" just to remind her that she only won the award because the fans voted for her, not because she's a nice person.
  • As a final insult, Sasha wins the final lip sync by starting on the stage with a full face mask, only to remove the part covering her mouth once the song starts.
• Irony: In her efforts to boost Farrah up and prepare her for her lip sync against Cynthia, she told Farrah to "stop crying, learn her motherfucking lyrics, and show everyone who Farrah Moan is". When it eventually came to her own lip sync, she didn't even bother to learn the lyrics and even used her mask to hide not knowing them.
• Mama's Boy: A positive example. For the white runway, Valentina comes out in a beautiful wedding dress. She cites her mother as her inspiration, telling the judges that her mother was the most beautiful woman in her home town and that her favorite thing to watch was her parent's wedding video.
• Memetic Mutation: Her argument with Ru during her lipsync ("Greedy" by Ariana Grande) when demanded to remove her mask, "I'd like to keep it on, please". It got so bad that "Greedy" is associated with Valentina and her mask. In the Grand Finale, when Ru asks Bob the Drag Queen if she's ready to give up the crown to the next drag superstar, Bob replies with the aforementioned quote above.
• Naïve Newcomer: Had only been performing in drag for 10 months when she started filming the show.
• Nice Girl: A rare aversion for a Miss Congeniality winner. Despite having cheery confessionals and a bright smile, the other queens saw her as anti-social and too driven to win. After Aja and Farrah Moan call BS, the other cast members IMMEDIATELY change the award to "Miss Fan Favorite."
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Her lipsync performance where wore a mask and didn't know the words to the song hasn't been forgotten about even after the show.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In her final Untucked, she admitted wanting to leave feeling grateful should she be eliminated and wouldn't want to change her experience for anything. This was Valentina at her usual chipper self - come her first (and final) lipsync, after being forced to remove her mask to hide not knowing the lyrics, her demeanor severely darkens and she laments "wanting to disappear".
• The Pollyanna: That constant smile and overly chipper attitude, always trying to de-escalate the Werk Room if things get too hot under the collar. During the third episode she dances into the room singing like a Disney Princess, looking like birds and woodland critters should be joining her any moment.
• This Is Reality: Even though she had a consistent streak of placing high in the challenges, it became apparent that the constant praise from the judges got to her head and led her to believe she was invincible. Come the TV pilot challenge, she's devastated by the reality of lipsyncing for her life, yet beforehand didn't seem interested in learning the lyrics because she was so convinced the judges loved her too much to place her in the bottom two.
• Redhead In Green: For her promo look.
• Spicy Latina: Averted entirely. While her drag aesthetic is very old school Latina, Valentina as a person is effortlessly friendly and poised when interacting with everyone around her.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: The other queens call her out during the Reunion in that while she tried being constantly cheery and supportive during the show, once she was eliminated she immediately started ignoring the other queens and did nothing to stop her dedicated fans from attacking the others on social media.
• The Unsmile: Her perpetual smile varies between adorable and...this. In an episode of "Fashion Photo RuView" Valentina's face actually made Raja slightly dislike an otherwise great look. She even sports one when she's eliminated, ruined mascara and all.
• Vindicated by History: The Covid 19 Pandemic has set the infamous mask incident in a new, positive light. Now instead of trying to weasel herself out of a bad lip sync she's been ahead of her time and a provider of LGBT-friendly pro-mask memes.
• Weight Woe: Not played for laughs. Hinted at the 4th episode and revealed in the 5th is that Valentina struggles with anorexia. She says she even had to promise to her mother before leaving for the show that she would eat every day.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Gets this in spades during the reunion.
  • She had promised Shea that she would defend Nina after her elimination, but did nothing to stop the torrent of death threats and bullying from the fans.
  • Farrah Moan had bonded with her during the show and was ghosted after production.
  • Alexis Michelle even called her in tears when Valentina's fans told the former to kill herself and give up so Valentina could win, and she still did nothing.
• Wise Beyond Their Years:
  • Despite having only been doing drag (officially) for 10 months, she is normally the first to sit with a queen and tell them to keep focused, stop worrying about what everyone else is doing, and just show what they can do. She's given such speeches to both Aja (who had been shading her because of always getting positive critiques) and Farrah.
  • Averted upon her elimination. She didn't even learn the words to her own lip sync and broke the most basic rule of the show; don't argue with Ru.

Nina Bonina Brown (6th)

Age: 34

From: Riverdale, Georgia

"I'm Nina, Bo'nina, Banana, Fofana, Osama, Bin Laden Brown! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

---

• All of the Other Reindeer: Pretty much self-inflicted. People don't actually ostracize her on the show, but she assumed they all think she's basic and unoriginal. Eventually this self-doubt gets so bad this trope is played straight, the other queens saying outright although they love her and her style, they just refuse to deal with her constant negativity any longer.
• Basement-Dweller: Played for Drama on Untucked. She's 34, nerdy, and still lives at home with her parents. She admits that, compared to other LGBT+ people, she's lucky to have parental support and somewhere to stay.
• Black and Nerdy: A fan of both cosplay and video games, although she does claim outright her drag is more elevated than just cosplay.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: During the reading challenge she borrows Season 4's read Latrice Royale had for Jiggly, this time directing it towards Alexis that she's a BMW, Body Made Wrong.
• Costume Porn: Lady Gaga faceless lace monster, peach-headed Southern Belle, metallic alien princess, skull-faced corset bondage ... Nina really has a knack for serving some incredible and freaky looks on the runway.
• Dance Battler: Empowered by her background in voguing, killer dance moves and raw energy, she proves herself to be a strong entertainer and even Trinity praises her for it.
• Despair Event Horizon: Averted. She would have quit drag if she hadn't made it on Season 9. She had been rejected multiple times.
• Determinator: Eureka notes that even though Nina does get into her own head a lot, when it comes to the wire she will fight to stay in the competition, and proves just that against Aja and Valentina.
• Dresses the Same: In a twist of irony during the Madonna runway part 2, she and Trinity both wear Madonna's look from the 2013 Met Gala. However the judges unanimously agree Trinity wore it better.
• The Eeyore: The other queens tend to see her as this, or as she puts it, a "Debbie Downer". Gets brought up again during the Kardashian Musical Untucked, when the queens say she just has a presence about that brings down the room. Justified that she's actually dealing with depression.
• Freaky Fashion, Mild Mind: Nina probably serves the most outrageous looks on the runway in nine seasons (even moreso than Acid Betty or Sharon Needles), but is very quiet and introverted.
• Fighting Your Friend: Against Valentina, and then in the following episode Shea.
• Hartman Hips: Is a huge fan of padding as she gleefully tells RuPaul during the carpool before the premiere:
  Nina: Invite me over to your house but hide your furniture!
• Handicapped Badass: Struggled with depression during her time in the competition, but despite that she won the first challenge (while being praised by Lady Gaga herself), placed high in a few challenges, and finished in the top six.
• Her Own Worst Enemy: Has been pointed out by the other queens that she's a fantastic queen but her self doubt can mess her up and the people she has to work with. This is eventually her downfall as her creative drive ultimately tanks - she blames herself for Valentina's elimination and later attempts sewing two costumes for herself and Aaron/Ariana despite her inability to do so. She eventually ditches the idea, but instead delivers a less than stellar duo-bunny look with paper hair and ears, which lands her in the bottom two with Shea. That being her third elimination in the bottom two, she knew she wouldn't be able to save herself against a more consistent queen who for the first time placed in the bottom.
• Hypocritical Humor: Has a recurring paranoia of the queens making fun of her behind her back...but has zero problem going on Instagram live and making fun of her sisters behind their backs. Shea calls her out in the reunion.
• Inelegant Blubbering: Starts sobbing on stage in the fourth episode, overcome with emotions of actually making it onto the show. While the judges are sympathetic to Nina's reaction, they worry she just doesn't have the nerve required to make it in the competition.
• Ironic Echo: A heartbreaking example - from Shea's many rousing speeches to Nina and the constant praise Nina she receives from the other queens, after Valentina's elimination Ru tells the girls to never give up. Nina being the one who sent Valentina home, felt guilty about it and in the following episode, threw in the towel with belief she didn't deserve to stay over Shea and Peppermint.
• Overly Long Name: Her full drag name is Nina Bo'nina Banana Fofana Osama Bin Laden Brown.
• Paper Master: Her trademark is constructing her drag from paper and prosthetics made from clay, given her lack of high fashion products. Trinity commends her as crafty in the Naughty Nighties challenge.
• The Paranoiac: Her biggest issue in the competition is that she thinks people are conspiring for her to fail. She has it in her head if things don't go the way she wants them to, then someone is purposely trying to screw her over to get her eliminated.
• Running Gag: Extending her name with increasingly ridiculous extra names; such as Nina Bo'Nina Brown Rodham Clinton or Nina Bo'Nina Rob Zombie Brown.
• Sassy Black Woman: Plays it up when on the runway and clearly enjoys playing that type of character, to the point of almost losing her shit when losing the chance to play Blac Chyna.
• Shrinking Violet: While she can be sassy when she needs to be, she seems much happier just staying withdrawn and not trying to call too much attention to herself. This has the tendency for her to become Out of Focus ... except on the runways.
• Survivor's Guilt: She feels guilty after she sent home Valentina, since she knows Valentina was such a happy, cheerful personality whereas she's always so negative. She also uses this as an excuse of not wanting to try during her next lipsync, since she doesn't feel she deserves to stay on the show over Shea and Peppermint.

Alexis Michelle (5th)

Age: 33

From: New York City, New York

"How do you like them eggrolls, Mr Charles?"

---

• Big Applesauce: One of four queens from New York City, along with Peppermint, Aja, and Sasha Velour.
• Borrowed Catchphrase:
  • Her entrance quote is a lyric from Rose's Turn in Gypsy.
  • Her lipstick message after her elimination is from Children Will Listen in Into the Woods.
  • Her final message to the camera while holding her trophy was Sally Field's infamously lampooned "You like me! You really like me!" Oscar acceptance speech.
• Covert Pervert:
  • Her personality can comes off as very severe and intense, but behind that she's really a lovable goofball, and as Aja notes, a gigantic horndog.
  • Apparently had a dirty dream about Sasha. We never find out just how "dirty" it got.
• Death Glare: Shoots daggers through her eyes at Sasha when the latter is given high praise for the Snatch Game, although that drops the moment Alexis is declared the winner.
• The Determinator: Has auditioned for the show 8 times.
• Dude, Not Funny!: invokedCalls out the queens for body shaming her during the Reading mini-challenge. Trinity (and even Ru) calls her out for being overly sensitive when they all knew they were going to be reading one another, and that she has said some rather nasty things herself (like calling Farrah a literal whore).
• Hard Work Hardly Works: Spends quite a lot of time stoning turquoise to her corset for her Native American Village People look, and gets called out for the look being too basic and off-the-rack. When she tried to argue about all the hard work she put into stoning her top, Michelle Visage just shrugs and says that it looks basic, too.
• Impossibly Tacky Clothes: Frequently critiqued that her runway choices were either tacky, basic, or just not on the same level as the other competitors.
• Informed Ability: Toted as a "Broadway Queen", she often doesn't seem to live up to that title as she shows little in the way of her theater chops during the show (barring a Borrowed Catchphrase here and there). She even loses the musical theater challenge, despite most of the girls agreeing it was her challenge to win.
• It's All About Me: After the faux fur runway, she scolds the other girls for not warning her that her dress was read as basic, even going as so far as to not allow Farrah to leave to practice for her lipsync, just so Alexis could continue blaming the room for her look.
• Jewish American Princess: Describes herself as a "JAP-y girl" that likes nice things.
• Never My Fault:
  • When she gets read for her basic look for the Faux Fur runway, she immediately casts blame on the other girls not warning her that the look was basic. She basically says directly that her missing the win for this challenge due to her runway was their fault.
  • Does it again for the pilot challenge, claiming she couldn't put more time into her performance because she was acting as a producer. Both Trinity and Peppermint call her on it, as the work was divided equally. Even the judges are aware that this is a problem for her.
  • Happens once again in her final episode when she's read for her basic Native American look, snidely commenting that Shea and Sasha should have clued her in that her look wasn't reading as fashion.
• Popcultural Osmosis Failure:
  • During the Roast she dressed in all green, looking a lot like Elphaba from Wicked. That coupled with her Broadway background, the judges call her out on not making a single wicked witch joke during her entire routine.
  • Inversely, Alexis gets defensive when Tamar Braxton doesn't understand the whole green thing (the Roast was of Michelle Visage, who famously despises green), asking point blank if Tamar had ever even watched Drag Race before.
• So Okay, It's Average: invoked
  • After her fourth stint as being just "Safe" she expresses frustration over being this, unsure if she should interpret it that she's not standing out to the judges, or if she's doing just well enough to coast by.
  • On the show herself, the judges would constantly read her fashion for basic "basic", "off-the-rack", and "ready-to-wear". She once just missed winning despite a stand-out performance in the Musical challenge because her runway was so pedestrian. This finally leads to her elimination in the Gayest Ball Ever runway where her Native American look just wasn't at the same level of fashion as her competitors.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Alexis was one of the nicest queens in the group, flirting and helping others with their runways. After the Kardashian challenge she gets self-centered, going after her teammates for not "helping" her and gunning for the win.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Calls out the other queens for, in her mind, purposely sabotaging her by not telling her the look she was wearing for the faux fur challenge was basic. She outright tells them she's going to lose the challenge win because of it, and that it's their fault.

Trinity Taylor (3rd=)

Age: 31

From: Orlando, Florida

"The body is here, bitches!"

---

• Brutal Honesty: Doesn't believe in beating around the bush when giving her opinion on anything and doesn't care about how it's received by the other queens.
  Valentina: I love you so much, because you're so evil and so nice at the same time!
• Challenge Seeker: Is well-aware of Peppermint's status as the "lip sync assassin" yet chose her as her opponent for the lipsync battle royale in the Grand Finale.
• Character Development: In the penultimate episode, she is praised for her graduation from being just a "pageant girl", as the challenges forced her to break out of her shell more and be more versatile.
• Control Freak: Was refereed to as "The Dictator" when she was a team leader of the morning talk show challenge.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Lost her parents at a young age and was raised by her grandparents. Though she loved them and her grandfather approved of her doing drag, her differences with her late grandmother led to her wishing that she was dead in a heated argument and she deeply regrets not being able to take that back. Her advice to her younger self in the penultimate episode is to brace for the fact that a lot of people are going to die.
• Dance Battler: Her lipsync often incorporate an Unnecessary Combat Roll akin to action film stunts, but aside from that she is one of the more energetic queens who can deliver strong performances complete with spins and dives.
• Dresses the Same: In a twist of irony during the Madonna runway part 2, she and Nina both wear Madonna's look from the 2013 Met Gala. However the judges unanimously agree Trinity wore it better.
• Empowered Badass Normal: Like Shea, she doesn't resort to tricks or crazy antics, but unlike Shea she has much more pep to channel into her lipsyncs.
• Face of a Thug: Has been told she has a very severe resting bitch face, causing the other queens to think she's a lot more harsh than she intends to be. Trinity counters that with 30 cc's of botox in her face, she can't help it!
• Fighting Your Friend: Averted. In her lipsync against Charlie, she makes it blatant that she doesn't care who her adversary is during a lipsync, friend or foe.
• Graceful Loser: As hungry as she was for the crown, Trinity literally bows down to Peppermint when the latter wins their lipsync battle.
• Hollywood Atheist: Shows a touch of this when she mocks Valentina's Virgen de Guadalupe candle in the confessional, calling it 'crazy'. However, in later interviews she reveals that she would never call Valentina's religion crazy, and that her quote was taken out of context by the editors.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • It may have come off as shady, but judging by the HD pictures Aja's mug is rough around the edges and the judges agree as well.
  • In Nina's final Untucked, Trinity gives her a case of Tough Love that there are people out there who relate to and are inspired by Nina. That said, after praising Nina for her abilities as an entertainer, she does remind her that is her job to entertain and throwing in the towel is unacceptable.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: For all of her determination in winning the competition, she expresses to Peppermint that after seeing the latter send home Cynthia, she felt she'd meet the same fate if pitted against her. In the Grand Finale, she is sent home by Peppermint, but the lipsync itself was pretty close.
• Malapropism:
  • Claims that the pageant scene has a real "stigmatism". What she probably meant was stigma ... unless she was actually insinuating queens in the pageant circuit have bad eyesight.
  • In the talk show challenge, states that her idea for her and Peppermint's dynamic was to have a lot of underlining despise. Seems like this trope might be a problem with southern pageant queens.
• Named After Somebody Famous: Named herself after Carrie-Anne Moss's character from The Matrix.
• The Rival:
  • Has one in Eureka due to their shared pageant history, although she claims its one-sided in that Eureka is just bitter that she has beat her in every pageant they've competed together in. It's mostly on the backburner at first, but comes to a boil in the fourth episode.
  • Starts developing a (mostly) friendly one with Shea once they both start winning challenges.
• Rules Lawyer: Honestly does not consider Shea's shared wins with Sasha as full wins, since the two won as a pair. This is especially obvious during the makeover challenge Untucked, when she casually mentions she wants to be the first queen to win three challenges, despite the fact Shea had already won three challenges (one on her own, and two as shared wins in a team with Sasha).
• Self-Deprecation: while usually extremely self-possessed and confident, she's not above making fun of herself.
  Joan Smalls (commenting on Trinity's surgically enhanced rear end): I need to take myself to the gym after this.
  Trinity: Nah, just the doctor.
• Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Creates a narrative in the live talk show challenge in which the two main anchors are struggling to work with each other since one of the slept with the other's husband. Ross explains to her that the challenge was supposed to be a spunky morning news show, and watching two woman being bitchy to one another is not something a watcher wants to see first thing in the morning.
• Southern Belle: Invoked: "I'm trying to be a good Southern Belle, and not punch this bitch (Eureka) in the face!"
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: She justifies her guarded and "bitchy" demeanor to Aja with the fact that she's been through a lot, and it's not to push others away, even though they don't know her story enough for her to open up. That said, as abrasive as she comes off, there's no harmful intent behind it and she proves capable of warming up to the other queens, even praising a few.
• This Is a Competition: Says this word for word to Aja after she had received a harsh critique on the fairytale runway. They had all signed up to be judged on the show and that the critiques are given in order for the queens to adapt and and grow from them.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Is deathly afraid of tiny little insects like gnats, calling them 'the devil'.
• Xanatos Gambit: Picking Peppermint in the first round of the Lip Syncs for the Crown when she was considered a Lip Sync Assassin? According to Peppermint during a Hey Qween! interview it was all part of a plan to ensure that either of them would have a chance to win the season once they learned the new format. Trinity (perhaps rightfully) believed that Ru and the producers would want to pit Sasha and Shea against each other for good TV as a final Lip Sync for the Crown, so she convinced Peppermint that if they had the first choice that they should pick each other to put Sasha and Shea in a semifinal against each other first.

Shea Couleé (3rd=)

Age: 27

From: Chicago, Illinois

"I didn't come to play, I came to slay!"

---

• The Ace: Shea wins four challenges. She's the third queen to do this in the show's history, and the second to do so outside of All Stars.
• All the Other Reindeer: When she was a child she was the only black kid in a white neighborhood, the other kids teasing her and even call her "blacky". Then when her family would take her to an all black church, she got teased by the other black kids for sounding too "white" since she only grew up around white people.
• Badass Normal: In terms of lip-syncing - she can dance and perform well, but doesn't resort to tricks or anything extravagant (Peppermint's show-stopping abilities, Trinity and Nina's raw energy, or Sasha's artsy gimmicks). This backfires during her lip-sync with Sasha when she falls victim to the latter's Petal Power.
• Call-Back: To Mystique Summers Madison's "Bitch, I'm from Chicago!" from Season 2 during her Hometown runway.
• Cool Big Sis: Is this to Nina in particular despite being younger than her.
• Dresses the Same: In a twist of irony during the Madonna runway part 2, she and Peppermint both wear Madonna's look from the 'Material Girl' music video. The queens all agree that Shea's version looks more polished and expensive than Peppermint's, though.
• Fake Brit: As English supermodel Naomi Campbell for Snatch Game.
• Fighting Your Friend: Against Nina, which absolutely breaks her heart, and against Sasha in the Grand Finale.
• Gasshole: Self-admitted.
• Ho Yay: Has admitted her attraction to Sasha during Untucked despite both of them being involved with other men outside the show. They both play it up in the news anchor challenge which lead to both of them earning their first win. They reunite with a similar gag in the pilot challenge for another win.
• Jackof All Trades: There's not a lot that Shea isn't good at, it's not a surprise to see her leading the top four. Bites her in the ass, however, when Ru disregards the stats for the first time in nine seasons and forces the winners to lipsych battle for the crown.
• Motor Mouth: Drops some extremely fast bars on her verse for "Category Is" a la Chicago rapper Twista.
• Mr. Exposition: Best featured in the Princess challenge, where she goes around the room asking everyone about their looks (conveniently for the cameras) and breaks down the challenge in the confession cam.
• Nice Girl: Argues this point after Nina accuses her to talking shit about her, that she isn't the kind of girl who reads others behind their back, and has always been in Nina's corner. However it's deconstructed when Shea and the other girls realize this attitude isn't getting through to Nina, and realize she needs to help herself before they can.
• One-Scene Wonder: Invoked in the Kardashian musical episode. As Blac Chyna, her scene lasts for about a minute, and she wins the challenge.
• Platonic Life-Partners: With Sasha on the show. Together they have two joint main challenge wins under their belts because, while both being in happy committed relationships, they're a fantastic team with great chemistry.
• Team Mom: Is very sweet and motherly with the other queens, even giving out advice to other queens during Untucked. Nina sarcastically calls her "mom" after Shea tells her to be more confident and have fun.
• Toothy Issue: A minor snaggletooth.
• Wardrobe Malfunction:
  • Her high heels got snagged on the insides of the skirt she made for the fairytale runway so she had to keep holding on to the skirt while walking the runway.
  • Her makeover partner gets this as well; her bra straps are showing and her wig is a mess. Shea winds up in the bottom.
• Weight Woe: Had problems with bulimia, leading her to bond with Sasha and Valentina over their mutual struggle.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Had a complicated relationship with her dad over being a drag queen, but the two have patched things up after his diagnosis with cancer.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Her epic tirade against Nina after she kept saying that other girls were talking shit about her behind her back.

Peppermint (2nd)

Age: 37

From: New York City, New York

"Oh my gosh ... Heeey!"

---

• All the Other Reindeer: Describes how there are people in the drag scene are resistant to queens being transgender, as well as trans people who feel drag queens aren't welcome in their community. As a trans woman doing drag, she gets this both ways. In her interview with Ru and Michelle, she reveals that she was scared of transitioning after a "well known and respected" New York queen warned her that doing so would prevent her from continuing as a drag queen.
• Badass Longcoat: Has a penchant for these.
• Beware the Nice Ones: When Aja bitches about not getting the role she wanted in the 9021-Ho challenge, Peppermint shuts her down immediately and gives her the role she wanted without anymore lip. Later in Nina's final episode, she tells the latter that though she loves her, she's absolutely done with her self-doubt. In the same episode's Untucked, Peppermint's clearly adamant in not wanting to have another group therapy session with Nina, though she does hug her farewell after her elimination.
• Big Applesauce: One of four queens from New York City, along with Aja, Alexis Michelle, and Sasha Velour. Among the New York set, she is considered a legend in the New York nightlife scene.
• Comedic Underwear Exposure: For the Naughty Nighties runway, Peppermint apparently didn't realize the back of her skirt was riding so high that the back of her ill-fitting tights were exposed to the world ... but that didn't stop the camera from doing a nice, tight close-up of her lumpy, bumpy rear.
• Cute, but Cacophonic: She's pretty as a picture and a sweetheart to boot, but she can get loud. Her fellow castmates frequently joke about the "Peppermint screech".
• Dance Battler: Peppermint doesn't just lipsync when she lands in the bottom, she puts on a full show - which Cynthia Lee Fontaine found out the hard way. Her lipsyncs include various dance moves like Voguing and the Robot, wig and outfit reveals, imitating MC Hammer, and serving so much face. It gets her to the season's top two with only one challenge win.
• Darkhorse Victory: In terms of stats come the final four, Peppermint was by far a distant fourth and quite unlikely to be any sort of contender for the crown compared to Shea (four challenge wins, one time in the bottom), Trinity (three challenge wins, one time in the bottom) and Sasha (two challenge wins, never in the bottom). In contrast, Peppermint had only one win, was the last queen to win a challenge and had been on the bottom two twice. Regardless, Peppermint made it to the very end before losing to another darkhorse.
• A Day in the Limelight: Peppermint was a little Out of Focus in the first few episodes. Come Snatch Game, she comes out as trans to her sisters. She wanted to do so on her own terms, when she felt comfortable. They all accept her.
• Dresses the Same: In a twist of irony during the Madonna runway part 2, she and Shea both wear Madonna's look from the 'Material Girl' music video. The judges critique Peppermint's version for serving too much Marilyn Monroe and not enough Madonna, though.
• Fake-Hair Drama: Her subpar wig lines received frequent critcism from judges and fans.
• Genki Girl: Is very excitable and would often scream with joy when a good thing is happening.
• Impossibly Tacky Clothes: Gets read pretty hard by the other queens for her poor taste on the runway. It was unanimously agreed during the Reunion (even by Peppermint herself) that the only worthwhile outfit she presented all season was her 'Peppermint Candyland Acid Trip Monster' from the Club Kid runway.
• Nice Girl: One of the sweetest queens of her season. Had she not been a finalist, she would've been a shoo-in for Miss Congeniality.
• Race Lift: Plays Britney Spears in the Kardashian musical challenge. While initially disappointed, it doesn't stop her scoring high praise from the judges.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Her theme and sidekick for the fairytale challenge are based on her fear of fire.

Sasha Velour (winner)

Age: 29

From: Brooklyn, New York

"I think that drag is the art form of the queer imagination."

---

• The Ace / Always Second Best: Zigzagged, much like Jinkx Monsoon before her. Sasha was near universally praised for her runways, had one minor slip during an acting challenge but never ended up in the bottom, and snatched the crown by demolishing her competitors in the final lip syncs. Nevertheless, Sasha won only two challenges, was the last queen to do so, and both were partnered wins with Shea Coulee, who upstaged her throughout the competition. Furthermore, she narrowly lost a challenge each to Nina, Alexis, Peppermint, Trinity, and Shea.
• Baldness Means Sickness: While she does wear wigs, she generally prefers going bald in honor of her mother going through cancer.
• Berserk Button: Eureka making a joke about eating disorders immediately got under the usually-introverted Sasha's skin, causing her to argue back that there are some things that just are not alright to joke about.
• Big Applesauce: One of four queens from New York City, along with Aja, Alexis Michelle, and Peppermint.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: Part of her unique style, she paints on large, dark eyebrows often as a unibrow.
• Crazy-Prepared: For her iconic wig removal in the finale, she practiced several times and figured out a way to fill the wig with rose petals so they'd still all come tumbling out to the climax of "So Emotional". But, she also had a pair of scissors hidden under her dress to cut up her wig (and do so in a way that kept the rose petals hidden) if she had to lip sync to "Stronger" instead.
• Dance Battler: YES. Never lip-synced during the show proper, but during the finale? Comes in guns blazing, hiding roses in every orifice of her costume, deconstructing a face mask onstage, and bringing intensity to every word. It wins her the crown against front-runner Shea and the season's "Lip Sync Assassin" Peppermint.
• Darkhorse Victory: It cannot be overstated what a huge upset Sasha's win was. Sasha just modestly did her own thing all through the season, consistently getting good (one could even say intrigued) reviews from the judges despite only seldom winning a challenge, and never landed in the bottom two, before she absolutely slayed the big finale, stunning everyone who went in fully expecting Shea or Trinity to take the crown. At the time of the crowning, every other Drag Superstar had the most challenge wins of her season. Sasha didn't even have the second best score, since Trinity had three and Shea four. The other two queens with four challenge wins, Sharon and Alaska, had taken the crown. Yet Sasha managed to become the first season winner WITHOUT the most challenge wins.
• Expy: Of Jinkx Monsoon, a quirky and smart queen who was great at the challenges but only won twice, won her first challenge after the third week, and had only one slip during the season, but proved formidable enough to defeat a lip sync assassin.
• Flanderization: She's been held up by subsequent contestants as an example of how a queen can take the crown despite being "safe all season". Sasha had two challenge wins, but was also in the top more often than she was safe, and was never in the bottom two.
• Girls Love Chocolate: Uses this a metaphor to seduce Shea in the live news challenge. It causes the other girls to crack up, and earns them both their first wins.
• Hairstyle Malfunction: Invoked for one of the most famous reveals of the series. It seemed unusual for Sasha to come out in a long red wig for her showdown at the finale with Shea, until after throwing rose petals out of her gloves, she shook her wig from her scalp and revealed an entire shower of petals, bringing the crowd to their feet, and ultimately giving Sasha the surprise win.
• Ho Yay:
  • Has admitted her attraction to Shea during Untucked despite both of them being involved with other men outside the show. They both play it up in the news anchor challenge which lead to both of them earning their first win.
  • Does it again to the same effect in the pilot challenge. They lampshade it in Untucked.
  Sasha: Lesbian drag queens are our thing!
• Incoming Ham: Introduces herself to the world in the first episode by walking in and giving an Overly Long Scream. For a full ten seconds.
  Sasha: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!! [cough]
  Eureka: [from the Werk Room table] Oh wow.
  • And then quickly subverted when Sasha goes on to be the most soft-spoken queen of the season.
• Informed Attribute:
  • Claims to be really, really "weird", to the point where she legitimately believed that the other queens were going to ostracize her on the show. While unique, there have been a lot weirder queens on the show (Ongina, Sharon Needles, even Nina Bo'nina Brown from the same season) and in the end Sasha even expresses how shocked she was the judges and other queens never acted like she was weird and instead thought she was fabulous.
  • The judges constantly refer to her runways as "Fashion Forward". While beautiful, all of her looks and silhouettes are inspired heavily in retro designs from decades past, which is practically the opposite of being 'up-to-date' and forward thinking (arguably though, the term 'fashion forward' could be said to be just a buzzword that just translates to "generally fashionable" nowadays).
• Insistent Terminology: Uses "queer" as an easy blanket term to refer to the LGBT+ community.
• Mama's Boy: If Sasha honoring her mother by going bald is any indication.
• Nice Girl: Is very friendly to the rest of the queens and positively critiques their work when they do well.
• Platonic Life-Partners: With Shea on the show. Together they have two joint main challenge wins under their belts because, while both being in happy committed relationships, they're a fantastic team with great chemistry.
• Petal Power: A lipsyncing variant! During her showdown in the finale with running buddy Shea Coulee, she hid rose petals in both her gloves and made a big spectacle of whipping them out, before dramatically removing the wig from her bald head and showering herself with more hidden petals, bringing the audience to their feet. Shea was fierce, but she couldn't compete with that.
• The Smart Guy:
  • A Fulbright scholar outside of the show, and she usually has a talking head where she eloquently explains problems and struggles in the LGBT community.
  • One of her original Snatch Game choices was, of all people, Judith Butler. On request, she gives Ru a sample of what the impression would have looked like; after being flattened by a torrent of philosophical jargon, Ru agrees that Sasha's choice of Marlene Dietrich was better.
• Shrinking Violet: Not a big talker, so she doesn't get as much focus in earlier episodes. It made her rise to prominence that much more surprising. Becomes a critique later on during the 90210 challenge where she ends up in the bottom three for not going all the way with her character.
• Take That!: Sasha's second and final lipsync, against Peppermint, has her come in with a big face mask. As one last kick-in-the-ass to Valentina, Sasha pointedly removes the mouth part the second the song begins.
• Undesirable Prize: A bit of a Running Gag but all of the prizes Sasha won on her season were things she didn't need or want: A year's supplies of hair care products (she's bald) and free burgers for a year (she's a vegetarian).
• Weight Woe: Not played for laughs, when Eureka cracks a joke about eating disorders, Sasha shuts her down admitting she's struggled with anorexia in the past and that it's nothing to joke about.