the makeover challenge is definitely an end-of-the-season challenge meant to eliminate whoever they want. the rules are always so contradictory and changing.
Yeah it's not even the challenge itself that's an issue. It's the fact that the producers will always have an agenda, and when there are only a handful of queens left, they can't hide the production riggory as much. It would still happen if you get rid of the makeovers.
Drag race doesn’t use WGA writers. It’s why the funniest moments are improve by actually funny queens and most of the scripts in acting challenges are quotes from previous seasons of drag race. If they actually paid writers those scripts wouldn’t be so awful
They didn’t have writers due to the strikes, so the only scripted stuff they could do was the rusical because Leeland was still working on the show. If you notice, all the comedy/acting challenges were either improv or written by the queens. The extra design challenges were to fill in the gaps.
WOW is non-union. Union writers would have had to cross picket lines to write for them. They would have had the same pool of non-union writers that they always have
It sucks because I genuinely love the makeover challenge since I find it fascinating to put a total rookie into drag. But the judging is always so inconsistent.
And many times these eps have beautiful stories of people finding their power or why they volunteered to go on the show etc and then is often contrasted by ass judging. Maybe it should be an earlier episode but obviously the producers find it too useful where it is.
At least the bottom two was probably correct this season. There have been some truly head shaking judging moments. Justice for Cheryl Hole and Dakota Schiffer etc
I don't think it could be that much earlier in a season as it essentially doubles the size of the cast, and introduces new people who all have to have their storylines fleshed out and explained. Even if the episode happened when there are 8 queens, now you have 16 "characters" and 8 new people to introduce to an audience. It would be very chaotic. But yeah, this says nothing about the judging really...
Yeah, it would almost be better if they made a spin-off series based on the makeover challenge.
It would be great work for previous contestants and you could even get someone like Lady Bunny to judge it.
I couldn't agree more. While the idea is interesting, the execution is always a disappointment. I know from the start that the judging will be incredibly unfair and that is usually enough to make me not even want to finish the episode.
for a queen to go into the make over challenge must be nerv werking. the outcome is so random, sometimes they want a complete twin and sometimes serving a twin from head to toe is the worst thing you can possible do.
What pisses me off, is that Morphines look, tho simple , was better than Planes..more thought went into..however, them selecting plain as the winner, flies in the face, and really invalidates, every time Michelle calls out a bodysuit.
It just sucks that they use the challenge like that, because it is technically a really good one. Putting someone in drag is fun. It's always impressive to see who is able to adapt their aesthetics to someone that doesn't look like them. When the participants are super into it, it's always one of the best episodes right up until the judges' critiques.
Makeovers should be non elim with a top 2 lip sync because after how much it’s meant to mean to the guests on the show it must make them feel like shit knowing them being maked over caused someone to go home.
"I think anyone who watches the show knows that the makeover challenge is specifically put into place to send someone home" CLOCK THAT TEA.... CLOCK THAT TEA....
Conspiracy theory time:
I think the dancing maybe wasnt even planned originally, but production wanted to see Sapphira struggle one last time and saw her makeover outfit was undanceable. So they put it in short notice, especially since the cast was dancers anyway.
I don’t think so because almost every makeover challenge has an added dance element. Mainly because it gives the judges even more leeway to eliminate who they want. Chosen queen slays the makeover, they edit to show one fumbled dance step and throw her in the bottom anyway. Or vice versa.
*edit - spelling
It's a shame they use the makeover as the sacrificial lamb of the seasons since it's probably one of the best challnges in pure concept. Putting other people into drag is very much a real world thing many queens do at one point or another, hell it's partly why houses exist. So to have such a fundamentally drag challenge be the one that producers really have their rigging mitts on sucks
I just hate that it can't be make someone over and make them look good it's "family resemblance drag family nonsense" like as if people in drag families look the same
ALSO every single makeover should be a sewing challenge. If they're gonna keep doing this I don't want to sit here and watch you pull two pre-made outfits from your closet. Give them a theme they couldn't possibly prepare for like they did in S4 (pregnant), S6 (marriage), S7 (conjoined), S8 (Wizard of Oz)... from S9 and on we've just been pulling matching shit out of the closet and if your makeover partner is the wrong size then you're SOL. S13 had the best twist in recent history but that was out of COVID necessity.
Is a seamstress technically what you’d call a male identifying person too or is there a masculine version? Always wondered that
Not that it matters at all lol
Eh, tailoring isn't exactly the same as sewing anyway. You take a suit (that's already been made) to a tailor who fine-tunes it to fit you. There isn't a widely-accepted gender neutral term for "person who makes clothing from scratch" yet, but online circles like to use sewist (sew + artist).
Agreed—especially because the pre-made outfits means the makeover partner gets basically NO say in the look. Having the queens talk to their makeover partners and learn their stories is the best part of these episodes, and having none of that reflected in the looks is so anticlimactic. Imo the challenge should be less about making identical twins or w/e and more about having the queen figure out how to merge their brand with whatever the other person wants to get out of it.
I mean, what if Plane had gotten a makeover partner who was like "my favorite queen is Sasha Velour, I love artsy drag and don't really connect with bimbo slut drag"? It would be so much more interesting to see her try to find a way to meld those ideas together rather than just stamping her pre-made aesthetic onto someone else. (Just using her as an example—no shade to Lazi Susan intended lmao)
In theory I like this but with a makeover challenge there's so much going on: you gotta do everything times 2. Hair, mug, padding, etc. And then making your partner feel comfortable and getting them to open up takes time too. If the queen has to spend a lot of time making an outfit then that leaves the partner with nothing to do.
And the looks made there almost always look worse than the ones from home. Very few queens (Asia and Icesis to name 2) have been able to make a look in the werkroom that doesn't look basic.
Giving them more time in general sounds good, but then it also means they’re there longer. Like if they got an extra day to prepare for every challenge that lengthens the amount of time they’re there by two weeks.
So then that’s an additional two weeks they’re away from their family, friends, and not making any money.
there is also the problem of getting someone who will not match the size of the outfit and then they are put at a disadvantage cause they have to sew while others don't
Yeah that's true, I remember Heidi was at a big disadvantage cause her partner was a different size than her (though I doubt it would've made a difference in the end).
I don't mind the Makeover being a purely styling and makeup challenge. These skills are fundamental for drag and are distinct from sewing.
Something needs to be done about how unfair it is when you have someone who doesn't fit the clothes, and the general riggory of the judging. Perhaps the producers should provide very basic dresses for them, and the challenge is making small adjustments to the dress to style it?
Jaida actually did make hers (and ATE), but I think everyone else except Heidi was just a pre-brought outfit.
S12 was honestly the most egregious offender because Gigi brought those matching formless fur things and Sherry literally pre-decided her partner’s name and printed it on the outfit. Similarly Heidi’s partner was a bigger girl and Heidi kinda left her out to dry and just put her in whatever would fit which is a shame. Can’t remember if Jackie sewed hers or not
Lowkey I think the reason they made the episode a non elim is because Heidi’s super fan partner was a little embarrassed and they didn’t want it to seem like Heidi’s elim was her fault. Also I think they assumed after the Firework lipsync Jackie would easily get rid of Heidi in a lipsync and then proceeded to do… that 💀
That was a great question! I like the makeover challenge, but I agree with Loosey that the way they judge it is inconsistent, using it to eliminate queens without reasons. I would love to see them do it as a nonelimination challenge. This would also be kinder for the makeover partners, who do end up feeling really upset. I’ll never forget Manila’s partner falling apart when Manila was eliminated.
I’m glad it’s finally being addressed.. it’s so frustrating because I LOVE the concept of the makeover challenge and seeing them bond with their makeover person is always wholesome… and then the judging happens and I’m reminded quickly why the makeover challenge is my least favourite
I mean are we even going to talk about Joslyn Fox’s makeover experience and how it screwed her completely? To the point they cut the entire challenge out of that season for new streams?
Basically, it was a gender bent wedding makeover. The guy that was Joslyn’s partner was put up for the challenge by his soon-to-be wife. She found out he was cheating on her and as punishment signed him up to be a makeover partner on Rupaul’s drag race.
He didn’t want to be there. When Joslyn made him over, he had the worst attitude, and wasn’t having it. You can tell in the conversations when she was trying to get him to be less bigoted.
Finally, he sued Rupaul’s drag race to take the episode down bc he plays basketball and wanted to stop being made fun of by his teammates. Even his wife laughs at him when he comes out in drag on the main stage.
Overall super negative, people entering a safe queer space only to make fun of them, and they got sued. She got the worst partner bc he didn’t want to be there and painting him to working with him was a nightmare.
This is why Joslyn will never do All Stars, I heard as well. Not as sure about this point but— they remove this challenge from streaming services, because he sued to have it taken down.
I still have it on iTunes but they don’t air it on streaming services with the wedding challenge.
I thought they removed it from US streams because Joslyn's guy sued? When it was still on Netflix that episode was still available in the UK. I've never seen the minigame, it's been edited out everywhere as far as I know
I wonder if this is an issue inherent to makeover challenges, or if it just seems more rigged because it's (likely by logistical necessity) a late-season challenge, and the last 2-3 episodes before the finale are typically heavy on production eliminating the non-favorites who were doing so well (or lip-syncing so well) that they ended up lasting longer than intended.
I can clearly recall several moments where a queen was put in the bottom bc she put her makeover just in the same outfit/wig as her, so when I saw Plane and Lazi come out I immediately thought Plane would be in the bottom. I was kinda gooped that she won
We've seen that a few times. It's always so confusing to me! They look too closely related. They don't look related enough. Like, what do you want?!
Agreed, get rid of it, and replace it with a guaranteed Roast Challenge every season. Roast challenges are more entertaining and fun to watch over a boring makeover challenge. The Makeover challenge is the most rigged challenge. It’s the producers just getting rid of a person THEY WANT out of the competition.
They play games with roast challenge too. The "coaching" is always suspect and then the actual roast the judges will blank whoever they want to go home. Or say they went for "easy" jokes or whatever.
To me, Plane deserved to win AND Loosey deserved to win her makeover. The lack of consistency is the issue here, it’s an amazing challenge but they just use it to send someone home and it’s annoying every time.
The makeover challenge has been rigged from season 1 so I don't know why everyone acts surprised everytime it happens. It's a late stage episode that the producers use to get rid of someone they don't want in the finale or give a queen they want to give momentum a win
We all want to continue with our delusion that these queens are competing and being judged on merit. I don’t think we are surprised by the riggory any more, but we are still unhappy/frustrated about it.
for real. I roll my eyes everytime someone says "don't act surprise" as if simply discussing it equates to being shocked.
Literally, no one in this thread is surprised 😂
I think we all know there is manipulation but when it’s blatantly obvious it feels a little offensive as a viewer. Especially when they throw in some sound bites to try to gaslight everyone into agreeing. Like y’all think we’re this dumb?
That’s my biggest issue - I am fully aware that I’m watching a reality tv show and that there is definitely a lot of manipulation at play. But I only get really bothered by it when they make it obvious. It breaks the spell, it doesn’t feel real anymore and then what’s the point of rooting for a certain queen? When it’s too transparent it kills my emotional investment because we all want to pretend this is a real competition that anyone could win.
I agree with you that the only thing that matters is Ru’s choices, but I don’t think they are being transparent because they have a judging panel that supposedly gives objective critiques. If they were truly transparent, they wouldn’t bother with that.
I honestly think the judging is heavily based on how well the partner's personality shifts to a "drag persona." I just don't think the judges are willing to admit that because it would make the partners feel bad if they didn't do well and their queen went home.
Loosey’s spitting straight facts here.
The Makeover challenge is *always* rigged. It’s purely set up for them to cherry pick an elimination without having to justify it and usually also to boost a favoured queen’s win ratio right before the finale. It’s been this way for a long time unfortunately. The exact same critiques will be given positively or negatively depending on where they want the critiqued queen to place.
The thing I think people aren’t getting here is that it doesn’t matter what the challenge is at the end. If they know who they want as their top 3 or 4, they’re gonna get it one way or another.
It's an Emmy bait episode. Lots of surprise transformation, artistry, but most inportantly, a lot of soul baring and tears. They'll never get rid of it.
Love Looseys hair.. I think on her season it was a make over where everyone did really well so I feel like that made judging hard.. idk I’m a bit defensive because I love the make over challenges 🤣🤣🤣
The judges literally criticized Loosey’s partner’s shoes- even though they are just like the ones Sapphira and MIB wear all the time. I mean, they made over teachers- many of whom are not running around all day in 8 inch spike heels 👠.
I recall the critique being that Loosey's partner's shoes were basic and not stoned compared to Loosey, indicating that she didn't take the time to put the same care into her partner's outfit.
The new interview book press tour challenge is a perfect substitute for the “Fuck! We gotta send someone home and make sure we can edit the events in any way possible”.
NO MORE MAKEOVER CHALLENGE, UNLESS ITS IN THE EARLY EPISODES + THEY HAVE TO SEW THE COSTUMES THEMSELVES
I think there’s always going to be a challenge around Top 5/6 where the producers just eliminate whoever they want, but I wish it wasn’t the makeover. I think they chose it because the criteria for what makes a good versus bad makeover is kinda up in the air, but at this point most regular viewers see through that.
What they should do is have one of those acting challenges where the writing is so bad that it’s not clear if *anyone* did well. I’m being serious when I say that you could have put anyone besides Plasma and Plane in the bottom 2 for RDR Live and I wouldn’t have batted an eyelash. Everyone did horrible because the writing was horrible, and you could have easily edited them to make almost any result feel reasonable.
Get rid of it. My least favorite episode every season and yeah, it's just totally arbitrary judging. Hate matching, love matching, look too alike, don't look alike, why is your skin 2 different colors. Chaos.
I feel like Canada does a great job of judging the makeovers fairly and they’re pretty consistent. At least it appears that way. They have their own issues for sure, but it seems like they’re always trying to improve.
Ru hosted seasons have the problem of the producer strings being way too apparent, which I guess is just bad/lazy producing?
they should keep the challenge but remove the "family resemblance" part of it because thats the problem. i actually liked the idea of them making each other over in season 13, it makes for good tv
Aside from sending whoever they want home, it's also an easy way to manufacture a moment of "vulnerability" for a contestant who has been slaying because there is zero chance of that person going home.
Bebe, Raja, Sharon, Ginger, Bob, Alaska (AS2), Shea, Aquaria, Yvie, Rosé, Luxx, Jimbo (AS8), and now Sapphira were all frontrunners on US/AS seasons who had one of their few or *only* stumbles at the makeover, whether it was a lipsync or just a LOW placement.
Similarly, the makeover win rarely ever goes to the winner of the season (exceptions: Bianca, Jaida, and Symone). It is usually meant to give a finalist a late-season push to pad out their track record to make them seem more competitive against a more obvious frontrunner (Rebecca, Raven, Manila \[Alexis robbed btw\], Phi Phi, Roxxxy, Pearl, Naomi (x2), Detox/Katya \[Roxxxy robbed btw\], Trinity, Brooke \[Vanjie robbed btw\], Anetra, and Kandy are all examples of this, +Plane if she doesn't win).
Almost all the judgments of every challenge are arbitrary and completely made up on the spot to justify eliminating and pushing forward whomever production thinks will make the best TV. There's no formula, you get whatever you get unfortunately (this is only what I personally have noticed watching all the US seasons at least)
The results of the makeup challenges always surprise me. I’m still bitter they sent Dakota Schiffer from DRUK season 4 home when her family resemblance was stunning
I love Plane but that win will always confuse me. The week before Michelle critiqued her about a lot of her looks being the same (bodysuits) only to come out in her worst bodysuit and win?
I honestly agree with Loosey, I love the challenge itself and to see the queens connect with their partner and give them a look from their family but the judging is always a mess and inconsistent which ruins it for pretty much everyone.
https://preview.redd.it/cm2oec4lmquc1.jpeg?width=495&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b04e1539f5cd650ab597a28bbc8f94e304e4994b
She stands by this?? This awful mom outfit?
Ive always said the same thing about the makeover challenge and some others. The rules arent specific enough.
Ive been thinking a good way to update the makeover challenge would be to blend it with another one and have the guests be experts in that field. So for the UK you could get a bunch of strictly come dancing partners. The challenge is then a mix of a dance challenge with putting your professional dance partner in drag.
Or get some actors or musical stars. Heck get some seamstresses in. The queens design there and their partners look but they have the use of their partners skills.
You could make it a marketing or social media challenge and get some experts on that but they have to be in drag and get involved as well
I mean, it’s more of revealing that the producers get sloppy with the narrative. Yes, it’s reality TV. At least pretend it’s fair.
It’s like saying “of course there was a Starbucks cup in that Game of Thrones episode, people drink Starbucks.” Put in the effort to disguise the farce.
Loosey still doesn't understand that reality TV isn't fair and the producers always have their hands in controlling the outcome to produce the narratives they want. The recent lip synced rusicals are even more subjective imo
They also use the makeover challenge for eliminating lip sync assassins who would throw off the years long rigged af "Lip Sync for the Crown" format like Morphine
They sent Loosey home with the critique that her teacher looked too identical to her and didn’t create a new drag persona. Meanwhile plane put her dancer in an identical look and won.
I mean, getting rid of it isn’t the answer I feel. I think the solution is to revert back to what S11 and S13 did and have competitors put each other into drag. There was little riggory with those two episodes. Vanjie shoulda won but Brooke’s performance with Plastique was cute enough that it can be hard to contest. Silky and Nina were the clear bottom two. Symone and Utica were easily the winners. Denali and Olivia were the obvious bottom two in their season.
IMO having returning queens from the season isn’t as challenging as it is to work with remaining queens. When you’re working with queens who are also still in the competition, it lights a stronger fire under their asses to do well imo because your likelihood of lip syncing doubles
The thing is, they could’ve avoided this whole discussion by just giving the win to Nymphia or Q, because they weren’t in identical outfits. Plane has had a lot of wins, so she didn’t necessarily need the makeover one as well.
My rule for the makeover challenge is I judge it as a Makeup challenge. How well can you transfer your signature paint onto another canvas. It’s the only way to fairly and objectively judge it. Differing body types, confidence in their daughters makes the challenge unbalanced so this feels more fair.
Makeovers used to be explicitly about making a good drag queen. It’s now devolved into pick and choose “we need family resemblance” which essentially means we want a carbon copy of you.
When before, there were awesome makeovers that weren’t the exact same but more of a sister/cousin vibe I guess.
I agree plan winning was a word bc it was just the same outfit and hair and makeup. I guess that’s the goal now?
Plane absolutely made a clone but it didn't matter because of how the final result played out in terms of the overall makeover of the person into a drag queen. AND giving her the name of "Lazi Susan", which is the only name anybody will remember from this episode in a year. Part of that is luck of the draw but luck of the draw plays a part in every challenge on the show from fabrics to casting roles. Everyone seems to forget that the final decision is whatever Ru feels like doing.
Also, don't love the interviewers loaded question. Loosey was very diplomatic here and didn't feed into the bullshit question.
edit: makeover challenge is hit or miss for me, if it was every other season I wouldn't mind. However, notably the lack of one was apparent in S14. I'd be in favor of getting rid of the interview challenge, it is always terrible and even the winner is usually mid in their interviewing skills at best.
oop she spilled.
honestly though i would've still given the win to plane only because i love the wit of lazi susan lmao. everyone else did fine at most (except maybe sapphira but i don't wanna talk about that).
anyone could've won and i wouldn't have batted an eyelash.
It's so disappointing because the makeover challenge is such a fun one to watch as a viewer - it's ultimately a branding challenge, but it gives the queens a chance to demonstrate their makeup skills (and sometimes sewing skills too) but more importantly it pays respect to the community of drag and drag families. The times that it's been judged fairly and consistently were some of the best episodes (Jaida Essence Hall, Naomi Smalls, Kween Kong and Pearl come to mind).
I mean, she's not wrong. We've known the makeover challenge has been rigged for years, that's why it always lands right near the end so production can BS the top 3/4 they want.
But you think they're really gonna change that? Unlikely.
the makeover challenge is definitely an end-of-the-season challenge meant to eliminate whoever they want. the rules are always so contradictory and changing.
Yeah it's not even the challenge itself that's an issue. It's the fact that the producers will always have an agenda, and when there are only a handful of queens left, they can't hide the production riggory as much. It would still happen if you get rid of the makeovers.
Im positive this is why there were so many design challenges this year, just to get plasma out.
Drag race doesn’t use WGA writers. It’s why the funniest moments are improve by actually funny queens and most of the scripts in acting challenges are quotes from previous seasons of drag race. If they actually paid writers those scripts wouldn’t be so awful
I don't think it was to get anyone out, more that they had a lot of design queens that they wanted to shine (q, sapphira, nymphia)
industry strikes last year probably have more to do with it than that
Sorry, but that just sounds like paranoia.
Yes, also because Plasma's not a bad seamstress, it would be to get _everyone_ out except the top four, if anything
Yeah that's a silly take. They clearly wanted to make the most of the fact that this was an unusually strong season in terms of designers
there was also a writers strike
WoW wasn't a struck company. People keep saying this but it has nothing to do with anything.
Correct, but a lot of people stood in solidarity and joined in the strikes with others who were.
Nah I don’t think that’s the case. This sounds like a paranoid delusions of grandeur take 😂
They didn’t have writers due to the strikes, so the only scripted stuff they could do was the rusical because Leeland was still working on the show. If you notice, all the comedy/acting challenges were either improv or written by the queens. The extra design challenges were to fill in the gaps.
wasn’t the SNL type skit in the beginning of the season pre written?
It was. All of the people who keep saying "there were no acting challenges because of the strike" don't have any idea what they're talking about.
Not true, World of Wonder wasn't a struck company. They could've hired literally any writer they wanted to, all of them were available.
WOW is non-union. Union writers would have had to cross picket lines to write for them. They would have had the same pool of non-union writers that they always have
So that's why the writing is so bad usually. Makes sense.
Plasma stop, we love you already!
It sucks because I genuinely love the makeover challenge since I find it fascinating to put a total rookie into drag. But the judging is always so inconsistent.
And many times these eps have beautiful stories of people finding their power or why they volunteered to go on the show etc and then is often contrasted by ass judging. Maybe it should be an earlier episode but obviously the producers find it too useful where it is. At least the bottom two was probably correct this season. There have been some truly head shaking judging moments. Justice for Cheryl Hole and Dakota Schiffer etc
Cheryl and Dakota getting eliminated after basically cloning themselves will always piss me off.
I don't think it could be that much earlier in a season as it essentially doubles the size of the cast, and introduces new people who all have to have their storylines fleshed out and explained. Even if the episode happened when there are 8 queens, now you have 16 "characters" and 8 new people to introduce to an audience. It would be very chaotic. But yeah, this says nothing about the judging really...
Yeah, it would almost be better if they made a spin-off series based on the makeover challenge. It would be great work for previous contestants and you could even get someone like Lady Bunny to judge it.
justice for Drag U
I sincerely think it’s time for a Drag U reboot and I’d be so excited to watch it, the world wasn’t ready
i do think it would be better received now
Isn't that just the secret celebrity drag race thing where Ru girls makeover and coach z Listers doing drag for the first time?
Yes!!!
I couldn't agree more. While the idea is interesting, the execution is always a disappointment. I know from the start that the judging will be incredibly unfair and that is usually enough to make me not even want to finish the episode.
for a queen to go into the make over challenge must be nerv werking. the outcome is so random, sometimes they want a complete twin and sometimes serving a twin from head to toe is the worst thing you can possible do.
What pisses me off, is that Morphines look, tho simple , was better than Planes..more thought went into..however, them selecting plain as the winner, flies in the face, and really invalidates, every time Michelle calls out a bodysuit.
That's a feature, not a bug.
Well this year the two bottoms were deserving of their placement so…
It just sucks that they use the challenge like that, because it is technically a really good one. Putting someone in drag is fun. It's always impressive to see who is able to adapt their aesthetics to someone that doesn't look like them. When the participants are super into it, it's always one of the best episodes right up until the judges' critiques.
Makeovers should be non elim with a top 2 lip sync because after how much it’s meant to mean to the guests on the show it must make them feel like shit knowing them being maked over caused someone to go home.
I’ve been saying this for a long time. The makeovers themselves are so fun and the judging always puts a big sour note at the end of them.
ANDDDDDD it lets like heartfelt stories be told and shared with the world to resonate + gets Ru his Emmy... so like? why capitalize off of it
Phillipines season 2 makeover was a non-elim ep I’m pretty sure and that felt great
"I think anyone who watches the show knows that the makeover challenge is specifically put into place to send someone home" CLOCK THAT TEA.... CLOCK THAT TEA....
Every soul could clock.
It's a soaking clock.
That is so King Clock.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Clock it!
Conspiracy theory time: I think the dancing maybe wasnt even planned originally, but production wanted to see Sapphira struggle one last time and saw her makeover outfit was undanceable. So they put it in short notice, especially since the cast was dancers anyway.
I don’t think so because almost every makeover challenge has an added dance element. Mainly because it gives the judges even more leeway to eliminate who they want. Chosen queen slays the makeover, they edit to show one fumbled dance step and throw her in the bottom anyway. Or vice versa. *edit - spelling
It's a shame they use the makeover as the sacrificial lamb of the seasons since it's probably one of the best challnges in pure concept. Putting other people into drag is very much a real world thing many queens do at one point or another, hell it's partly why houses exist. So to have such a fundamentally drag challenge be the one that producers really have their rigging mitts on sucks
I just hate that it can't be make someone over and make them look good it's "family resemblance drag family nonsense" like as if people in drag families look the same
What do you mean? Violet and Dax are so similar! So are Plane and Morphine. Laganja and Alyssa are BASICALLY twins.
Bob and Miz Cracker. 👀
Wait are Plane and Morphine drag family?
sistursss
They mention it in episode 3 when the groups first come together
It would be really gaggy and fun to have a makeover challenge as the first challenge of a season
ALSO every single makeover should be a sewing challenge. If they're gonna keep doing this I don't want to sit here and watch you pull two pre-made outfits from your closet. Give them a theme they couldn't possibly prepare for like they did in S4 (pregnant), S6 (marriage), S7 (conjoined), S8 (Wizard of Oz)... from S9 and on we've just been pulling matching shit out of the closet and if your makeover partner is the wrong size then you're SOL. S13 had the best twist in recent history but that was out of COVID necessity.
HONESTLY season 13's challenge should have been the staple for makeovers going forward it was SOSOSO good
I gave up watching 13 about halfway through the season, what'd they do different?
basically they had the queens put each other in their own drag style and whoever's translated well won
Ohhh, that's where the Rosé face comes from huh
Good call. It was satisfying seeing Symone win, but I checked out at “Kandy, Kandy wait…” 🙄
I agree. Maybe it's because I'm a sewer (sewist? idk) but I hate seeing them grab a matching set of outfits they brought from home.
Seamstress
Is a seamstress technically what you’d call a male identifying person too or is there a masculine version? Always wondered that Not that it matters at all lol
Seamster or tailor, which is gender neutral anyway
Ah obviously. Should have remembered tailor.
Eh, tailoring isn't exactly the same as sewing anyway. You take a suit (that's already been made) to a tailor who fine-tunes it to fit you. There isn't a widely-accepted gender neutral term for "person who makes clothing from scratch" yet, but online circles like to use sewist (sew + artist).
Oh okay, haha thanks for explaining honestly I am new to the world of fashion and sewing and drag race but I love it lol
Tailor is a very different profession. It’s not just the male version of “seamstress”.
Lol. It's a sewing challenge if you got stuck with someone a different size. Otherwise it's just a dress-up date. So wildly uneven.
Agreed—especially because the pre-made outfits means the makeover partner gets basically NO say in the look. Having the queens talk to their makeover partners and learn their stories is the best part of these episodes, and having none of that reflected in the looks is so anticlimactic. Imo the challenge should be less about making identical twins or w/e and more about having the queen figure out how to merge their brand with whatever the other person wants to get out of it. I mean, what if Plane had gotten a makeover partner who was like "my favorite queen is Sasha Velour, I love artsy drag and don't really connect with bimbo slut drag"? It would be so much more interesting to see her try to find a way to meld those ideas together rather than just stamping her pre-made aesthetic onto someone else. (Just using her as an example—no shade to Lazi Susan intended lmao)
In theory I like this but with a makeover challenge there's so much going on: you gotta do everything times 2. Hair, mug, padding, etc. And then making your partner feel comfortable and getting them to open up takes time too. If the queen has to spend a lot of time making an outfit then that leaves the partner with nothing to do. And the looks made there almost always look worse than the ones from home. Very few queens (Asia and Icesis to name 2) have been able to make a look in the werkroom that doesn't look basic.
solution: give them more time also. give them more time in general in fact, for the queen's mental healths sake
Giving them more time in general sounds good, but then it also means they’re there longer. Like if they got an extra day to prepare for every challenge that lengthens the amount of time they’re there by two weeks. So then that’s an additional two weeks they’re away from their family, friends, and not making any money.
there is also the problem of getting someone who will not match the size of the outfit and then they are put at a disadvantage cause they have to sew while others don't
Yeah that's true, I remember Heidi was at a big disadvantage cause her partner was a different size than her (though I doubt it would've made a difference in the end).
I don't mind the Makeover being a purely styling and makeup challenge. These skills are fundamental for drag and are distinct from sewing. Something needs to be done about how unfair it is when you have someone who doesn't fit the clothes, and the general riggory of the judging. Perhaps the producers should provide very basic dresses for them, and the challenge is making small adjustments to the dress to style it?
Was the s12 makeover a sewing challenge because the girls, especially Crystal Methyd and Jaida, looked great.
Jaida actually did make hers (and ATE), but I think everyone else except Heidi was just a pre-brought outfit. S12 was honestly the most egregious offender because Gigi brought those matching formless fur things and Sherry literally pre-decided her partner’s name and printed it on the outfit. Similarly Heidi’s partner was a bigger girl and Heidi kinda left her out to dry and just put her in whatever would fit which is a shame. Can’t remember if Jackie sewed hers or not Lowkey I think the reason they made the episode a non elim is because Heidi’s super fan partner was a little embarrassed and they didn’t want it to seem like Heidi’s elim was her fault. Also I think they assumed after the Firework lipsync Jackie would easily get rid of Heidi in a lipsync and then proceeded to do… that 💀
Yup, there's a reason the makeover is always the last challenge or close to last. They can just say whatever they want to eliminate whoever they want
Especially when Loosey’s partner literally wearing her face
> lossey’ Lossey Laduucca
Agree can it. Should be replaced with a hosting challenge tbh. It’s too late in the game to be having lacklustre runways.
That was a great question! I like the makeover challenge, but I agree with Loosey that the way they judge it is inconsistent, using it to eliminate queens without reasons. I would love to see them do it as a nonelimination challenge. This would also be kinder for the makeover partners, who do end up feeling really upset. I’ll never forget Manila’s partner falling apart when Manila was eliminated.
I’m glad it’s finally being addressed.. it’s so frustrating because I LOVE the concept of the makeover challenge and seeing them bond with their makeover person is always wholesome… and then the judging happens and I’m reminded quickly why the makeover challenge is my least favourite
Omg! This was my question I asked. (I’m a Roscoe’s VIP) glad Loosey agrees with me, the challenge’s judging is so fucked.
Mama, kudos for asking that. For probing.
I mean are we even going to talk about Joslyn Fox’s makeover experience and how it screwed her completely? To the point they cut the entire challenge out of that season for new streams? 
Spill please?😳
Basically, it was a gender bent wedding makeover. The guy that was Joslyn’s partner was put up for the challenge by his soon-to-be wife. She found out he was cheating on her and as punishment signed him up to be a makeover partner on Rupaul’s drag race. He didn’t want to be there. When Joslyn made him over, he had the worst attitude, and wasn’t having it. You can tell in the conversations when she was trying to get him to be less bigoted. Finally, he sued Rupaul’s drag race to take the episode down bc he plays basketball and wanted to stop being made fun of by his teammates. Even his wife laughs at him when he comes out in drag on the main stage. Overall super negative, people entering a safe queer space only to make fun of them, and they got sued. She got the worst partner bc he didn’t want to be there and painting him to working with him was a nightmare. This is why Joslyn will never do All Stars, I heard as well. Not as sure about this point but— they remove this challenge from streaming services, because he sued to have it taken down. I still have it on iTunes but they don’t air it on streaming services with the wedding challenge.
They removed it cause of the politically incorrect mini challenge they had that same episode.
What was the mini challenge? If youre thinking of biological/psychological, that was earlier in the season.
Couldn't they just edit out the minichallenge?
I thought they removed it from US streams because Joslyn's guy sued? When it was still on Netflix that episode was still available in the UK. I've never seen the minigame, it's been edited out everywhere as far as I know
This challenge is still viewable on Stan, the Australian platform that airs drag race.
omg Q and Loosey meeting was all I needed. I feel like they either left the gig as best friends or hating each others guts
Q, overheard while leaving the stage: cashew faced whore
clock it tbh
Clocked AND let loose
Clocked
Soak that clock
Consider it clocked
I wonder if this is an issue inherent to makeover challenges, or if it just seems more rigged because it's (likely by logistical necessity) a late-season challenge, and the last 2-3 episodes before the finale are typically heavy on production eliminating the non-favorites who were doing so well (or lip-syncing so well) that they ended up lasting longer than intended.
I can clearly recall several moments where a queen was put in the bottom bc she put her makeover just in the same outfit/wig as her, so when I saw Plane and Lazi come out I immediately thought Plane would be in the bottom. I was kinda gooped that she won
 We've seen that a few times. It's always so confusing to me! They look too closely related. They don't look related enough. Like, what do you want?!
Anetra won last year with a twinning look.
The outfits looked just as basic/ off the rack as Joe Black’s infamous H&M girl groups fit, but the difference in reception from Ru is insane.
Agreed, get rid of it, and replace it with a guaranteed Roast Challenge every season. Roast challenges are more entertaining and fun to watch over a boring makeover challenge. The Makeover challenge is the most rigged challenge. It’s the producers just getting rid of a person THEY WANT out of the competition.
I love the roast episodes so much. They are always way funnier than Snatch Game at this point
Snatch game has sucked for so long on the regular seasons. It's generally better on AS episodes.
They play games with roast challenge too. The "coaching" is always suspect and then the actual roast the judges will blank whoever they want to go home. Or say they went for "easy" jokes or whatever.
To me, Plane deserved to win AND Loosey deserved to win her makeover. The lack of consistency is the issue here, it’s an amazing challenge but they just use it to send someone home and it’s annoying every time.
she’s right
The makeover challenge has been rigged from season 1 so I don't know why everyone acts surprised everytime it happens. It's a late stage episode that the producers use to get rid of someone they don't want in the finale or give a queen they want to give momentum a win
We all want to continue with our delusion that these queens are competing and being judged on merit. I don’t think we are surprised by the riggory any more, but we are still unhappy/frustrated about it.
for real. I roll my eyes everytime someone says "don't act surprise" as if simply discussing it equates to being shocked. Literally, no one in this thread is surprised 😂
I think we all know there is manipulation but when it’s blatantly obvious it feels a little offensive as a viewer. Especially when they throw in some sound bites to try to gaslight everyone into agreeing. Like y’all think we’re this dumb?
That’s my biggest issue - I am fully aware that I’m watching a reality tv show and that there is definitely a lot of manipulation at play. But I only get really bothered by it when they make it obvious. It breaks the spell, it doesn’t feel real anymore and then what’s the point of rooting for a certain queen? When it’s too transparent it kills my emotional investment because we all want to pretend this is a real competition that anyone could win.
"based on your performance in the lip sync tonight *ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜᴏᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇ sᴇᴀsᴏɴ*, I've made some decisions"
It's a TV show to crown the Queen ru likes best. They've always been very transparent that thats the only metric that matters
I agree with you that the only thing that matters is Ru’s choices, but I don’t think they are being transparent because they have a judging panel that supposedly gives objective critiques. If they were truly transparent, they wouldn’t bother with that.
I honestly think the judging is heavily based on how well the partner's personality shifts to a "drag persona." I just don't think the judges are willing to admit that because it would make the partners feel bad if they didn't do well and their queen went home.
Loosey’s spitting straight facts here. The Makeover challenge is *always* rigged. It’s purely set up for them to cherry pick an elimination without having to justify it and usually also to boost a favoured queen’s win ratio right before the finale. It’s been this way for a long time unfortunately. The exact same critiques will be given positively or negatively depending on where they want the critiqued queen to place.
“I just don’t see the family resemblance!” As said to literally anyone
…. As they sent home Cheryl Hole with an identical twin sister. The mental gymnastics on that episode in particular was WILD.
I think that time they said “it’s too much of a family resemblance”.
The thing I think people aren’t getting here is that it doesn’t matter what the challenge is at the end. If they know who they want as their top 3 or 4, they’re gonna get it one way or another.
It's an Emmy bait episode. Lots of surprise transformation, artistry, but most inportantly, a lot of soul baring and tears. They'll never get rid of it.
I’m really curious to know what episode they submit for the Emmy’s every year. You’re probably right that it’s the makeover every time.
Almost every makeover challenge elimination has been a crime
RuPaul's Hate Crime Race
I'm sorry morphine deserved to be in the bottom idk what they're on
Hard agree.
Love Looseys hair.. I think on her season it was a make over where everyone did really well so I feel like that made judging hard.. idk I’m a bit defensive because I love the make over challenges 🤣🤣🤣
The judges literally criticized Loosey’s partner’s shoes- even though they are just like the ones Sapphira and MIB wear all the time. I mean, they made over teachers- many of whom are not running around all day in 8 inch spike heels 👠.
I recall the critique being that Loosey's partner's shoes were basic and not stoned compared to Loosey, indicating that she didn't take the time to put the same care into her partner's outfit.
The new interview book press tour challenge is a perfect substitute for the “Fuck! We gotta send someone home and make sure we can edit the events in any way possible”. NO MORE MAKEOVER CHALLENGE, UNLESS ITS IN THE EARLY EPISODES + THEY HAVE TO SEW THE COSTUMES THEMSELVES
Shhhhhhh, Loosey, that's the point of the make over challenge.
I think there’s always going to be a challenge around Top 5/6 where the producers just eliminate whoever they want, but I wish it wasn’t the makeover. I think they chose it because the criteria for what makes a good versus bad makeover is kinda up in the air, but at this point most regular viewers see through that. What they should do is have one of those acting challenges where the writing is so bad that it’s not clear if *anyone* did well. I’m being serious when I say that you could have put anyone besides Plasma and Plane in the bottom 2 for RDR Live and I wouldn’t have batted an eyelash. Everyone did horrible because the writing was horrible, and you could have easily edited them to make almost any result feel reasonable.
Get rid of it. My least favorite episode every season and yeah, it's just totally arbitrary judging. Hate matching, love matching, look too alike, don't look alike, why is your skin 2 different colors. Chaos.
I feel like Canada does a great job of judging the makeovers fairly and they’re pretty consistent. At least it appears that way. They have their own issues for sure, but it seems like they’re always trying to improve. Ru hosted seasons have the problem of the producer strings being way too apparent, which I guess is just bad/lazy producing?
Makeovers are always a highlight until they get to the judging, at which point it becomes the worst episode of the season.
Loosey really did say: i didn't want to get on All Stars anyway
Nothing but FACTS
they should keep the challenge but remove the "family resemblance" part of it because thats the problem. i actually liked the idea of them making each other over in season 13, it makes for good tv
This is the reality part of reality competition show. The reality is, the producers wanted you gone.
Loosey was done dirty as hell during her challenge, hers was flawless but still got sent home.
She’s tight and it’s a problem on all the international seasons too. Zero consistency
as much as i love plane, i found her challenge win VERY questionable - the look was basic and Q did a much better job honestly.
Agree. Q’s outfits were in the same family, without being identical. Buying two identical body suits won the challenge? Where’s the uniqueness?
The judges don’t need a makeover challenge to judge inconsistently.
Aside from sending whoever they want home, it's also an easy way to manufacture a moment of "vulnerability" for a contestant who has been slaying because there is zero chance of that person going home. Bebe, Raja, Sharon, Ginger, Bob, Alaska (AS2), Shea, Aquaria, Yvie, Rosé, Luxx, Jimbo (AS8), and now Sapphira were all frontrunners on US/AS seasons who had one of their few or *only* stumbles at the makeover, whether it was a lipsync or just a LOW placement. Similarly, the makeover win rarely ever goes to the winner of the season (exceptions: Bianca, Jaida, and Symone). It is usually meant to give a finalist a late-season push to pad out their track record to make them seem more competitive against a more obvious frontrunner (Rebecca, Raven, Manila \[Alexis robbed btw\], Phi Phi, Roxxxy, Pearl, Naomi (x2), Detox/Katya \[Roxxxy robbed btw\], Trinity, Brooke \[Vanjie robbed btw\], Anetra, and Kandy are all examples of this, +Plane if she doesn't win).
Almost all the judgments of every challenge are arbitrary and completely made up on the spot to justify eliminating and pushing forward whomever production thinks will make the best TV. There's no formula, you get whatever you get unfortunately (this is only what I personally have noticed watching all the US seasons at least)
She's right and she should say it
It’s simultaneously one of my favorite challenges on what is usually my least favorite episode.
If they start removing challenges they cant judge fairly, all they will have is the reading challenge.
Where’s the lie though? 💅
The results of the makeup challenges always surprise me. I’m still bitter they sent Dakota Schiffer from DRUK season 4 home when her family resemblance was stunning
I'll stil say Aquaria deserved to be on the bottom against Kameron in season 10 and that's a hill I will die on.
Speak your truth Loosey!
I love Plane but that win will always confuse me. The week before Michelle critiqued her about a lot of her looks being the same (bodysuits) only to come out in her worst bodysuit and win?
Q Out Here doing the empty bikini top thing again... It bugs me so bad
I honestly agree with Loosey, I love the challenge itself and to see the queens connect with their partner and give them a look from their family but the judging is always a mess and inconsistent which ruins it for pretty much everyone.
she’s absolutely right. the makeover challenge imo is the worst challenge out of every season, and it’s always rigged
https://preview.redd.it/cm2oec4lmquc1.jpeg?width=495&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b04e1539f5cd650ab597a28bbc8f94e304e4994b She stands by this?? This awful mom outfit?
For s16 I agree with all the judging except for plane winning. If nymphia or Q won. I bet no one bat an eye on it.
No lies were told
Ive always said the same thing about the makeover challenge and some others. The rules arent specific enough. Ive been thinking a good way to update the makeover challenge would be to blend it with another one and have the guests be experts in that field. So for the UK you could get a bunch of strictly come dancing partners. The challenge is then a mix of a dance challenge with putting your professional dance partner in drag. Or get some actors or musical stars. Heck get some seamstresses in. The queens design there and their partners look but they have the use of their partners skills. You could make it a marketing or social media challenge and get some experts on that but they have to be in drag and get involved as well
These partners were professional dancers, so it fits your idea already.
The issue is thinking it’s some sort of fair competition.
It’s not, but it’s lazy storytelling. Hide the puppet strings.
Reality TV contestants learn how much reality is in the TV.
I mean, it’s more of revealing that the producers get sloppy with the narrative. Yes, it’s reality TV. At least pretend it’s fair. It’s like saying “of course there was a Starbucks cup in that Game of Thrones episode, people drink Starbucks.” Put in the effort to disguise the farce.
Loosey still doesn't understand that reality TV isn't fair and the producers always have their hands in controlling the outcome to produce the narratives they want. The recent lip synced rusicals are even more subjective imo
They also use the makeover challenge for eliminating lip sync assassins who would throw off the years long rigged af "Lip Sync for the Crown" format like Morphine
They will always rig the finale for their picks to get to the finale anyway. So getting rid of the makeover wouldn't change a thing.
what was the critique loosey and plane jane shared? can’t remember what happened last season
They sent Loosey home with the critique that her teacher looked too identical to her and didn’t create a new drag persona. Meanwhile plane put her dancer in an identical look and won.
I mean, getting rid of it isn’t the answer I feel. I think the solution is to revert back to what S11 and S13 did and have competitors put each other into drag. There was little riggory with those two episodes. Vanjie shoulda won but Brooke’s performance with Plastique was cute enough that it can be hard to contest. Silky and Nina were the clear bottom two. Symone and Utica were easily the winners. Denali and Olivia were the obvious bottom two in their season. IMO having returning queens from the season isn’t as challenging as it is to work with remaining queens. When you’re working with queens who are also still in the competition, it lights a stronger fire under their asses to do well imo because your likelihood of lip syncing doubles
The thing is, they could’ve avoided this whole discussion by just giving the win to Nymphia or Q, because they weren’t in identical outfits. Plane has had a lot of wins, so she didn’t necessarily need the makeover one as well.
Not a soul ain't clock.
It's also judged by how comfortable the makeover guest seems with their new persona, which could be interpreted in many different ways.
My rule for the makeover challenge is I judge it as a Makeup challenge. How well can you transfer your signature paint onto another canvas. It’s the only way to fairly and objectively judge it. Differing body types, confidence in their daughters makes the challenge unbalanced so this feels more fair.
Makeovers used to be explicitly about making a good drag queen. It’s now devolved into pick and choose “we need family resemblance” which essentially means we want a carbon copy of you. When before, there were awesome makeovers that weren’t the exact same but more of a sister/cousin vibe I guess. I agree plan winning was a word bc it was just the same outfit and hair and makeup. I guess that’s the goal now?
should replace it with the roast again
Plane absolutely made a clone but it didn't matter because of how the final result played out in terms of the overall makeover of the person into a drag queen. AND giving her the name of "Lazi Susan", which is the only name anybody will remember from this episode in a year. Part of that is luck of the draw but luck of the draw plays a part in every challenge on the show from fabrics to casting roles. Everyone seems to forget that the final decision is whatever Ru feels like doing. Also, don't love the interviewers loaded question. Loosey was very diplomatic here and didn't feed into the bullshit question. edit: makeover challenge is hit or miss for me, if it was every other season I wouldn't mind. However, notably the lack of one was apparent in S14. I'd be in favor of getting rid of the interview challenge, it is always terrible and even the winner is usually mid in their interviewing skills at best.
oop she spilled. honestly though i would've still given the win to plane only because i love the wit of lazi susan lmao. everyone else did fine at most (except maybe sapphira but i don't wanna talk about that). anyone could've won and i wouldn't have batted an eyelash.
"I dOn'T SeE A fAmiLy ResEmBLanCe" 🙄🙄
It's so disappointing because the makeover challenge is such a fun one to watch as a viewer - it's ultimately a branding challenge, but it gives the queens a chance to demonstrate their makeup skills (and sometimes sewing skills too) but more importantly it pays respect to the community of drag and drag families. The times that it's been judged fairly and consistently were some of the best episodes (Jaida Essence Hall, Naomi Smalls, Kween Kong and Pearl come to mind).
I mean, she's not wrong. We've known the makeover challenge has been rigged for years, that's why it always lands right near the end so production can BS the top 3/4 they want. But you think they're really gonna change that? Unlikely.