August 20 – August 26: Crave Weekly Streaming Overview
We Are Family: Eighth Queen Eliminated on CANADA’S DRAG RACE
By BILL HARRIS
Special to The Lede
The family that stays together, “shantays” together, as was proven tonight in a new episode of CANADA’S DRAG RACE on Crave.
It was an emotional experience for all five queens as they took part in a makeover challenge with five Rainbow Railroad refugees. In the spirit of the Underground Railroad, Rainbow Railroad’s mission is to help persecuted LGBTQI individuals get to safety as they seek safe haven from state-enabled harassment and violence. Since its inception in 2006, Rainbow Railroad has helped over 900 people find safety.
But there wasn’t enough sisterly love for one queen, who was sent home by the judges and guest host Amanda Brugel from CTV Drama Channel’s THE HANDMAID’S TALE.
With another new episode of CANADA’S DRAG RACE set for Thursday, Aug. 27 at 9 p.m. ET on Crave, here’s what was squeezed out of Lemon in a post-elimination chat:
Q: You said right at the end, “I want people to know that sometimes the mean girl in the movie has a kind heart.” So how much of your persona was strategic?
LEMON: “I’ve always had a soft spot for the mean girl in the movie, the Sharpay Evans in HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL, the Regina George (in Mean Girls), I always felt like these are powerful women who are, you know, in charge of what they want. And then everyone around them thinks they’re too mean, or too this, or too that. I always felt bad for them. So I built Lemon off the idea of, maybe she’s a mean girl, but she’s not evil. She just asks for what she wants.”
Q: Making it to the top five is a real achievement, but evaluating it objectively, do you have a theory on why you were sent home?
LEMON: “I mean, honestly, this competition is so wild. Any tiny mistake can cost you. There were only five girls left, and someone had to go. It just so happened it wasn’t my week, and Rita out lip-synced me. But I’m still so proud of myself for everything I did.”
Q: What’s harder about this than it looks on TV?
LEMON: “Everything! Everything is a thousand times faster than you expect. I am a fan, I love DRAG RACE so much, and I always have, and sometimes you see things on TV and you’re like, ‘How does she not know her lines? She had all this time to prepare!’ But no, no, no. It’s harder than anything I’ve ever done, and I’ve done a lot of really hard s—.” (winks).
Q: What did you think of the judging overall?
LEMON: “I was a competitive dancer, so I know it doesn’t really matter if I have opinions about it, because I’m not being paid to be a judge. There’s no way to directly qualify drag being good or bad – it’s an art form, and it’s all opinion-based. So whatever the judges’ opinions were, they were right. Because they were the ones sitting behind the table. I think they’re all really cool people, and they’re all incredibly qualified to be there. You can’t fault them for having opinions when their job was to have opinions. Would I have seen certain things differently? Yeah, probably. But was I paid to be a judge? Sure as f— wasn’t.”
Q: So what’s next for you?
LEMON: “I just want to take over everything. I want to be everywhere, all the time. I want every person, when they think of Lemon, to forget that there’s even a fruit.”
Q: On a more serious note, what was it like working with the Rainbow Railroad refugees? One of your competitors commented, “Even Lemon can’t be a bitch today.”
LEMON: “I think I’m very lucky that I was still there for that experience. I learned so much from them. I feel like all of us had a different perspective on being queer, and being Canadian, and how lucky we are. This was a real slap of a reality check. Like, you guys are fighting over beauty blenders, when this is going on in the world? I don’t mean to minimize anything, everyone has things that make them upset, and that’s okay. But this was a nice way to look at the whole world and realize how privileged we are. I’m so glad I got to experience it first-hand.”
Following each new episode of CANADA’S DRAG RACE, audiences are invited to unpack the events that just transpired with ETALK’s new digital series CAN WETALK ABOUT… presented by MADE | NOUS. Streaming live on Twitter, Thursdays at 10:30 p.m. ET on @EtalkCTV, ETALK Senior Correspondent and Canada’s Squirrel Friend, Traci Melchor, and iHeartRadio’s Meredith Shaw, debrief on the episode and chat with the night’s eliminated queen about her experience and all the gasp-worthy, her-storical moments. The series will also be available the following day as a podcast on iHeartRadio Canada and everywhere podcasts are found.
Official brand partners for CANADA’S DRAG RACE include DoorDash Canada, Hilton, Neutrogena, and Roots.
billharristv@gmail.com
@billharris_tv
SPOILER ALERT: Details from the eighth episode of CANADA’S DRAG RACE follow.
Puppets were the stars of the mini-challenge, with Scarlett Bobo earning her first win of the season for her hands-on work with a puppet version of Rita Baga. Thus, Scarlett Bobo got to pick the pairs for the maxi-challenge, taking Dennis (originally from Uganda) for herself, and matching Elton (Jamaica) with Priyanka, Rebal (Syria) with Lemon, Eka (Indonesia) with JIMBO, and Rainer (Indonesia) with Rita Baga. Creating a family resemblance was the main task, and Priyanka was deemed to have built the bloodline most successfully. Lemon and Rita Baga had to lip-sync for their lives, to Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know,” with Lemon being asked to sashay away.
With another new episode of CANADA’S DRAG RACE set for Thursday, Aug. 27 at 9 p.m. ET on Crave, here’s what was squeezed out of Lemon in a post-elimination chat:
Q: You said right at the end, “I want people to know that sometimes the mean girl in the movie has a kind heart.” So how much of your persona was strategic?
LEMON: “I’ve always had a soft spot for the mean girl in the movie, the Sharpay Evans in HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL, the Regina George (in Mean Girls), I always felt like these are powerful women who are, you know, in charge of what they want. And then everyone around them thinks they’re too mean, or too this, or too that. I always felt bad for them. So I built Lemon off the idea of, maybe she’s a mean girl, but she’s not evil. She just asks for what she wants.”
Q: Making it to the top five is a real achievement, but evaluating it objectively, do you have a theory on why you were sent home?
LEMON: “I mean, honestly, this competition is so wild. Any tiny mistake can cost you. There were only five girls left, and someone had to go. It just so happened it wasn’t my week, and Rita out lip-synced me. But I’m still so proud of myself for everything I did.”
Q: What’s harder about this than it looks on TV?
LEMON: “Everything! Everything is a thousand times faster than you expect. I am a fan, I love DRAG RACE so much, and I always have, and sometimes you see things on TV and you’re like, ‘How does she not know her lines? She had all this time to prepare!’ But no, no, no. It’s harder than anything I’ve ever done, and I’ve done a lot of really hard s—.” (winks).
Q: What did you think of the judging overall?
LEMON: “I was a competitive dancer, so I know it doesn’t really matter if I have opinions about it, because I’m not being paid to be a judge. There’s no way to directly qualify drag being good or bad – it’s an art form, and it’s all opinion-based. So whatever the judges’ opinions were, they were right. Because they were the ones sitting behind the table. I think they’re all really cool people, and they’re all incredibly qualified to be there. You can’t fault them for having opinions when their job was to have opinions. Would I have seen certain things differently? Yeah, probably. But was I paid to be a judge? Sure as f— wasn’t.”
Q: So what’s next for you?
LEMON: “I just want to take over everything. I want to be everywhere, all the time. I want every person, when they think of Lemon, to forget that there’s even a fruit.”
Q: On a more serious note, what was it like working with the Rainbow Railroad refugees? One of your competitors commented, “Even Lemon can’t be a bitch today.”
LEMON: “I think I’m very lucky that I was still there for that experience. I learned so much from them. I feel like all of us had a different perspective on being queer, and being Canadian, and how lucky we are. This was a real slap of a reality check. Like, you guys are fighting over beauty blenders, when this is going on in the world? I don’t mean to minimize anything, everyone has things that make them upset, and that’s okay. But this was a nice way to look at the whole world and realize how privileged we are. I’m so glad I got to experience it first-hand.”
Following each new episode of CANADA’S DRAG RACE, audiences are invited to unpack the events that just transpired with ETALK’s new digital series CAN WETALK ABOUT… presented by MADE | NOUS. Streaming live on Twitter, Thursdays at 10:30 p.m. ET on @EtalkCTV, ETALK Senior Correspondent and Canada’s Squirrel Friend, Traci Melchor, and iHeartRadio’s Meredith Shaw, debrief on the episode and chat with the night’s eliminated queen about her experience and all the gasp-worthy, her-storical moments. The series will also be available the following day as a podcast on iHeartRadio Canada and everywhere podcasts are found.
Official brand partners for CANADA’S DRAG RACE include DoorDash Canada, Hilton, Neutrogena, and Roots.
billharristv@gmail.com
@billharris_tv
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