‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’: Who won season 15?
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“RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 15 concluded Friday, April 14 with the “Grand Finale” at the Ace Hotel Los Angeles Theater. The four queens fighting for the crown in the Grand Finale were Anetra, Luxx Noir London, Mistress Isabelle Brooks, and Sasha Colby. RuPaul Charles hosted the event filmed live in front of an audience with performances of original tracks from the finalists, the announcement of Miss Congeniality from last year’s winner Kornbread “The Snack” Jeté, and two very special performances from Jinkx Monsoon and Leland with Orville Peck.
Check out our full recap of episode 16 below:
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The night opened up with the parade of the season 15 queens in their “Grand Finale” eleganza. The highlights of the looks from eliminated queens were Princess Poppy in a “Mean Girls” Regina George look, Aura Miyari who opened a large fan that read “Drag Is Not a Crime,” Sugar and Spice in angel and devil gowns, and Salina EsTitties who got cheeky again with an enormous ball gown that was made to look like a sliced cake. From the top four, Anetra took inspiration from a kimono for her fierce look, Luxx kept it fashion in a baby pink ostrich feather garment, Mistress had a form-fitted red and gold gown, and Sasha knocked it out of the park in a bright red gown with an oversized hat.
In the audience were the series judges Michelle Visage, Carson Kressley, Ross Mathews and Ts Madison took on and critique the four performances from the finalists. Ru explained that the two queens that impressed her the most from the performances would go on to compete “head to head and toe to toe” in a final Lip Sync for the Crown.
Anetra was the first performer with the song “Lotus,” a representation of the flower that “can only blossom on top of the lake after they’ve gone through all of the mud.” In the performance, Anetra wore her standard one-legged body suit in white with purple lotus flowers on it. Because we know the quality of her ability on stage, the performance left a little to be desired because she did not pull out all of her tricks that we might expect. By comparison, Luxx, who followed with her song “It’s Giving Fashion,” brought the energy with a fast-paced track and “vogue-ish” choreography that did not let up. Luxx didn’t miss a single beat, proving that she can be one of the most polished and entertaining girls on the cast.
For her performance, Mistress brought full circle her season-long commentary on the other queens with the track “Delusion.” Dressed as a nurse (revealed to sexier nurse), Mistress asserted that she can be the “cure for your drag delusion” and brought the surprise of a full split while being hoisted up by the five dancers. And then promising to give the full “Sasha Colby experience” with her performance, Sasha entered for “GODDESS” carried in as a whole ass snake until she shed her skin to become a sexy Medusa with extra long braids that the dancers held on to for creative hair flips.
After the four performances, Ru announced that the two queens to move on to the final lip sync would be Anetra and Sasha. Based on their blank-stare reactions, Mistress and Luxx were not too impressed by the decision, but their spots as joint 3rd/4th place is nothing to be disappointed by. Aside from the finalist showcase, Ru also announced the first ever Giving Us Lifetime Achievement Award to her hero and style icon Bob Mackie. Series song composer Leland and season guest judge Orville joined with the season 15 queens for a performance of the “Wigloose: The Rusical” song “Built On Drag” to support the ACLU fund to help fight the anti-drag legislation across the country.
The season 14 winner Willow Pill took the stage to bestow her wisdom upon the season 15 queens before Kornbread arrived with news of who was voted Miss Congeniality by their peers. To announce the award, Kornbread performed a quick rap track that named each of the queens with a funny callout to their best moments on the show. Earning a prize of $10,000, the winner of Miss Congeniality was Malaysia Babydoll Foxx!
Next, Ru re-introduced two-time winner an “queen of all queens” Jinkx Monsoon to perform “When You’re Good to Mama” from her run on Broadway as Mama Morton in “Chicago.” Jinkx delivered stunning live vocals of the epic track with a full band in support and proved once and for all why she was crowned the clear winner of “All Stars: All Winners.” It was the perfect setup for the big performance of the night, the Lip Sync for the Crown between Anetra and Sasha.
For the head to head to “Knock on Wood” by Amii Stewart, Anetra returned in another body suit, this time with a glittering red heart on her chest, and Sasha shocked by entering in an oversized black fur coat. At the start of the song, Sasha removed the coat to reveal a glittering purple gown and fell to the floor for sultry floorography. Once again Anetra got off to a slow start, but at key moments of the music hit splits and dips while Sasha seemed to struggle getting out of the gown to reveal a bikini and that body-ody-ody. From there, the performance from both really heat up–Anetra started pulling on the heart and a long ribbon of red followed which she spun around the stage like a whip and Sasha returned to the coat on the ground for another series of sexy moves from the floor.
Following an extended standing ovation, Ru returned to the stage to deliver the news that this year’s winner of the biggest prize ever, a whopping $200,000, and the title of “America’s Next Drag Superstar” is Sasha Colby! In closing remarks as her acceptance, Sasha dedicated her win to “every trans person, past, present, and future, because we are not going anywhere.”
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