RuPaul’s Drag Race is no stranger to delivering some of the most iconic and cringe-worthy moments in reality tv history. Ranging from terrible lip-sync battles to runway failure, RuPaul’s Drag Race shines in all aspects of a drag queen’s dream. These queens come from all over to take the crown as “America’s Next Drag Race Superstar”, leaving no room for mistakes.
Some of these queens slayed all day, however, there were some that just fell short, sometimes in the most perplexing of ways. Because of these shortcomings, these women were ultimately eliminated and go down for some of the most cringiest moments in Drag Race history.
Kenya Michael’s Snatch Game Beyonce
“Snatch Game” is a competition in the series where the ladies must not only showcase their best imitations of a celebrity but make it funny and entertaining as well. It’s one competition many fans look forward to. However, in Season 4, Kenya Michael’s Snatch Game Beyoncé brought neither funny nor entertainment. Fans have seen Tyra Sanchez’s Season 2 Beyoncé fail, so it was a surprise when Asia decided to try and imitate Queen B in such a klutzy way. She fell out of her chair at one point, only to get back up and scream “I’m a survivor”. This awkward and cringe-worthy moment did not do any justice to Beyoncé and just left the other ladies and judges confused and uncomfortable.
Blair St. Clair’s Stand Up
Not all queens can be stand-up queens. Sometimes jokes and humor come easy, while some fail to bring the funny and good delivery. Blair St. Clair’s Season 5 All-Stars stand-up routine couldn’t deliver. The jokes were somewhat funny, but fans and the judges could tell she was nervous, leading to stumbling and lots of notebook page-turning. Although Blair’s routine was a hit during rehearsal, it tanked in the competition, making this scene cringe.
Asia O’Hara’s Butterfly Travesty
When it comes to LSFYL (lip-sync for your life), the ladies must pull out all the stops to stay in the competition. In one memorable battle, Asia O’Hara and Kameron Michaels were tasked with lip-syncing Nasty by Janet Jackson in the grand finale of Season 10, but things were not all rainbows and butterflies. Asia created controversy by using butterflies as props in her rendition, but the butterflies did not seem all too happy to be there, and the performance just fell flat. Although she did the research and practiced, it wasn’t enough to beat Kameron Michaels. Her routine was stiff and unmoving, with little eye contact with the audience. However, it was the awkwardness of this performance left the audience shocked.
Lineysha and Ivy’s Banana Split
Skits competitions have had a long life on Drag Race, and there have been some very memorable ones at that (MacBitch). However, in Season 5, Lineysha and Ivy perform a skit of preparing a banana split recipe for kids that was just too difficult to watch.
While Ivy explained the recipe in a lackluster performance, it was Lineysha that drove home just how cringe this scenes to watch, with only translating to Spanish everything Ivy was saying. The judges weren’t impressed and neither were fans. A translation did very little, and hardly made this a skit.
Valentina’s Lip Sync
Fan-favorite Valentina is known for some iconic moments in Rupaul’s Drag Race making her a force in Season 9 of the reality tv competition. This all came to a halt when Valentina failed to impress the judges with her runway look, and was placed in the bottom with Nina ‘Bonina’ Brown. With the ladies having to lip-sync to Ariana Grande’s Greedy to stay in the competition, things got awkward when Valentina refused to remove her mask to show herself actually lip-syncing the song.
Eventually, Valentina removes her face covering to perform the song, revealing she did not know the words. This moment was too cringe to watch because fans and the judges could clearly see that Valentina was moving her mouth but not to the lyrics of the song. Because of this, Valentina was shockingly eliminated, and fans were sad to see such a strong and promising competitor go.
Utica Queen’s Roast
Drag Race is known for so many things, and roast performances is one of them. These performances are supposed to be fun and funny, however, sometimes there are some queens that take it just a little too far. Mean-spirited jokes have become a running theme for some of the queens, and this ultimately leads to these ladies bombing in their performances, like Utica Queen.
Season 13 of RuPaul’s Drag Race saw Utica Queen brutally insult her castmates in her performance, like making whale sounds in reference to Nina West and coming for Loni Love’s comedy career. Already a cringe performance to begin with, it got even cringier when Loni Love told her “you’re the one that’s bombing”, making this one roast routine too awkward to watch but too funny to look away from.
Jinx Monsoon’s Water Photoshoot
At the beginning of season 5, the ladies are introduced and tasked with an underwater tank photoshoot. Things started good for some, while some of the other ladies struggled, Jinx Monsoon being one of them. Jinx stated she didn’t have much swimming experience, but she embraced the challenge and took to the water. She flailed and splashed like a fish out of water, making it hard to “sashay look away”.
This moment proved cringe because it was unclear to RuPaul and Mike Ruiz (photographer) if she was just getting her bearings or on the verge of drowning. This is something fans will never know.
Laganja Estranja’s Stand-Up
Laganja Estranja is known for her over-the-top personality, and it’s something that made her produce some iconic moments on RuPaul’s Drag Race. However, this personality didn’t always play in her favor. In Season 6 of the reality competition, Langanja’s comedy performance bombed hard and she just couldn’t connect with her audience (elderly individuals), but how could she when her entire performance was dedicated to talking about "Mary Jane”. The audience and judges were uncomfortable, making this moment and stand-up routine too uncomfortable to watch.
Tyra Sanchez’s Crowning Moment
The moment a contestant is crowned “America's Next Drag Race Superstar” is a big moment for that contestant and fans alike. Neither of the two contestants know what to expect, so this moment can be overwhelming. However, Tyra Sanchez took the cake in her reaction to her win. The amazing moment became cringe when Tyra “forgot to breathe”, snatched her wig off, with the judges becoming concerned and RuPaul asking “does she need a paper bag?” As far as finales go, nothing can top this cringe win - although fans are sympathetic, of course.
Joslyn Fox’s Interview of Chaz Bono and Georgia Holt
In Season 6 of the competition show, the ladies were tasked with interviewing the legendary Cher’s mom, Georgia Holt, and her son, Chaz Bono. While some interviews got on well, others crashed and burned. The main interview being Joslyn Fox with her terrible jokes, and intrusive questions are what made this one of the most cringy scenes in RuPaul’s Drag Race history. Fans were able to see that Georgia Holt was clearly uncomfortable, as well as Chaz Bono in this scene and it was just too cringe to watch.