Originally Posted by Ammi (Post 9930706) ...is it ok to just do a first impression thing with the survey...on looks without watching the vids, MB..?...

Originally Posted by Amy Jade (Post 9931477) I voted earlier I forgot to say! Good luck with this it's a fun idea

Originally Posted by Blurryface (Post 9931588) I voted earlier!

Originally Posted by Riley. (Post 9931558) Boy Dru could ruin my hole

Originally Posted by MB. (Post 9929949) Pre-season/episode 1 survey There are ten questions (five on the season overall and five on the first episode), and it should only take a minute or two to complete. Feel free to be as creative with your decisions as you want, and feel free to look back over the queens' bios/photos to get a better impression of them. I really appreciate anyone who does the survey so thanks in advance :love: As a rough estimate, let's say you've got until Monday evening to fill it in, at which point I'll collect the results and write the episode!

Episode #1 - Closet Queens
Part One

Scene: a currently empty werkroom.

VinChelle is the first queen to enter the otherwise empty werkroom, wearing a vintage red dress and a bow around her neck. “Guess I should have knocked first, huh?”, she asks herself, before kicking her high heels off and putting her feet up on a stool. “Might as well make myself at home…”



“Let the bullfight commence, ladies!” says Rafaella Pop, wearing a red flamenco dress, complete with black hat and roses stuck to the side of her head. “You did red better than me, you bitch!” VinChelle laughs as she approaches her for a hug. Rafaella looks back, confused, and smiles politely. “I like your bow,” she finally brings herself to say.



Big Dee is next in, donning a short leopard print dress and a red wig. “Nice tits, d’you get them on sale?” she asks nobody in particular. VinChelle screams.



“I hope you’re sitting comfortably,” says Eva Young, posing in her sheer white gown and orange Elizabethan ruff, “because the show’s about to begin.” Once she’s over at the desk, she asks the other queens why she’s the only one not wearing red. “Oh my god, did I miss the memo?”



“Did any of you ladies order a side of fish?” asks Jessica L’Whor, wearing an art deco-style gold and white leotard and thigh-high boots, in a slightly over-rehearsed manner. “Oh,” retorts Big Dee from across the room. “Here’s the ham I asked for.”



“Honey, she’s home!” declares an exuberant Honey Davenport, dressed in a silver mini dress, as she twirls into the werkroom. Once she mentions that she’s from New York City, the other queens start discussing their hometowns. Jessica reveals that she's from Aurora, Colorado, while Eva says with pride that she's a Chicago queen. “I’ve come all the way from Madrid,” Rafaella tells the group. “...Madrid, Iowa?” Big Dee asks in return.



“Boo, you whores,” says Valentine Addams. Eva reads her t-shirt and shouts, “nobody touch her!”, prompting Valentine to run towards her and give her a bear hug. “Mixed messages, girl,” says Jessica.



Bombalicious Eklaver, dressed in a serpent costume, walks into the werkroom silently before letting out a loud hissing sound. “Alaska’s back!” yells Valentine in delight.

Episode #1 - Closet Queens
Part Two

Next, Lady Boi struts into the werkroom wearing a light blue wig, places her hand on her hip and whispers: “I can’t read.” The other queens seem very intrigued by her presence, and one can be heard saying that she follows her on Instagram.



“Happy Mardi Gras, queens,” smiles Nicole Lynn Foxx, dressed as a 1920s flapper. “I like your snake,” Nicole tells Bombalicious as they exchange air kisses, not sounding entirely convinced herself.



“Death never looked so hot,” growls Amanda Bang confidently as she licks her lips. “I don’t know about that,” mumbles Big Dee from across the desk. “My aunt Joan was quite the looker even at that stage.”



“I don’t speak German,” says Drü Holiday, holding a red cane, “but I can if you like.” Several queens scream at the Lady Gaga reference; in a confessional, Rafaella wonders what happened to her eyelids. “Did she do her makeup in the dark?”



“Kunty by name... you know the rest,” winks Cookie Kunty upon entering the werkroom in a glittery emerald gown and white fur coat. “C’mon French fish!” Nicole, a New Orleans native, hollers. “C’mon les poisson!”



Finally, Yvie Oddly, wearing a mask that covers her face, does a stilted, robotic walk into the werkroom, stands in silence, then death drops to the ground. “She’d like to keep it on, please,” says VinChelle, as the other queens look on awkwardly.



She’s still lying there when Ru appears on the TV screen, prompting them all to gather.

In the message, Ru is dressed as an old woman, claiming that she’s come from the future to warn this group of queens about an impending fashion disaster: straight guys’ closets. The queens all gay-scream in unison as the message ends and boy Ru walks into the werkroom, welcoming them all to this season of RuPaul’s Drag Race and telling them that the first mini challenge is imminent. She then turns to Yvie, still lying on the ground, and riffs on Laganja’s famous catchphrase by saying, “c’mon Yvie Oddly, let’s get… up!”

Episode #1 - Closet Queens
Part Three

VinChelle meets Ru and a photographer backstage for the first mini challenge of the season. Ru explains that VinChelle will be joined in the photo shoot by a few special guests, at which point fifty grannies wearing dressing gowns walk in. “It’s like The Golden Girls on acid!” remarks VinChelle. The challenge, Ru explains, is for the queens to stand out in a sea of OAPs whichever way they can. What Ru doesn’t explain, but that becomes apparent once the photographer begins shooting, is that the grannies all take off their dressing gowns and pose naked, and that the queens must keep their cool in the midst of this, to a mixture of horror and delight from the queens themselves.

Various different approaches to the challenge are on display: Rafaella, Nicole, Cookie and Eva go for glamour, Lady Boi and VinChelle act more goofy, Drü, Valentine, Yvie and Bombalicious use the grannies as human props, Amanda and Jessica stand still and look as if they’d like the ground to swallow them up, Honey tries out a series of different outlandish positions (including bending over and doing the splits, remarking in a confessional that since she’d seen these ladies’ bits, it was only right that they saw hers), and Big Dee decides that if you can’t beat them, you should join them, and strips off as well.

Back in the werkroom, after everyone de-drags and spends several minutes fawning over Eva and Drü's boy looks, Ru returns to inform the queens that for showing the most charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent in her photo, Honey Davenport is the winner of the mini challenge. All the other queens applaud and Honey looks humble, but is at the same time seen in a confessional punching the air and screaming at a pitch only perceptible to dogs.

Ru then brings in the pit crew, who wheel in two seemingly identical closets, and introduces this week’s maxi challenge. As Drag Race’s fashion influence knows no bounds, the queens must take the contents of some of the ugliest wardrobes in America, belonging to either dusty grannies or even dustier straight guys, and turn them into high fashion couture looks ready for the runway. She explains that they’re allowed to use their own wigs, shoes and The Pointer Sisters, in or out of their Andrew Christian underwear, but everything else must come from the closets. To complicate things a little further, she asks the Pit Crew to open up the closets, and then says that as the winner of the mini challenge, it is up to Honey to designate one item to each queen.

First up, from the granny’s closet, Honey choses...

For Rafaella, a white bedsheet
For Bombalicious, several black bras
For Nicole, a box of white clothes buttons
For VinChelle, a box of white rubber gloves
For Drü, some red plaid pyjamas
For Yvie, a selection of dated-looking green towels
For Lady Boi, a spare roll of wallpaper from the back of the closet

And from the straight guy’s closet, she choses…

For Jessica, some stretched black leather belts
For herself, a brown dotted business shirt
For Big Dee, an oversized chequered casual shirt
For Eva, a pile of dusty denim jackets
For Amanda, some worn-out denim jeans
For Valentine, a selection of snazzy ties

After everything has been assigned, the closets are empty. Cookie looks around, confused, having not been assigned an item. At this point, Ru pipes up and mentions that the last item of the list is… the closet itself. Cookie looks horrified at the thought of having to make an outfit out of wood, and Nicole says she suddenly feels a lot better about having nothing but buttons to work with. Ru hands Cookie a saw and tells the queens to get to work with her trademark “gentlemen, start your engines, and may the best woman… win!”

Ru hands Cookie a saw

Episode #1 - Closet Queens
Part Four

As Cookie stands at her station, saw in hand, wondering how on earth she’s going to be able to turn a wardrobe into a couture outfit in the space of a few hours, the other queens get started on their dresses. The queens who have clothes to work with, such as Big Dee, Drü and Amanda, seem confident, with Amanda saying that she’s figured out how she’ll turn her several pairs of jeans into a high fashion dress, and joking that she’ll probably be finished by the end of the day.

Eva, sorting through her pile of denim jackets, says that she feels a lot of pressure to impress, as people have always thought of her fashion as being of a high standard. “But Instagram isn’t always real life, girl,” Jessica warns her as she walks past her station, carrying her own box of leather belts, which she intends to turn into a jacket-and-skirt combo.

Yvie, who seems to have slightly isolated herself from the rest of the group following her entrance stunt, maps out her elaborate plan for turning towels into a gown. “I don’t think these things have seen daylight since the 1970s,” she winces, studying the mint green material, “but I’ve got something very high-concept in mind that I really hope I’ll have the time to pull off.”

Elsewhere, Valentine gets to work on sewing her ties together, while Rafaella struts around the werkroom with her bedsheet tied around her waist. “Don’t tell me that’s her outfit,” Amanda says to Big Dee as she liberally rolls her eyes in Rafaella’s direction. As the end of the day approaches and Bombalicious hurriedly sews her bras onto a corset, some of the queens watch Lady Boi, who hasn’t made much progress with her wallpaper dress. “She’s barely started. She’s still just playing around with her material when everyone else has a structure,” Jessica says. “Little girl’s got her head in the clouds,” Bombalicious agrees, looking up from her ever-growing mountain of bras. “And she’ll get herself into trouble if she ain’t careful.”

The next day, the queens return to the werkroom to finish their closet couture looks, with some looking more eager than others. Overnight, Yvie had a fashion nightmare, and the complex structure that she’d built to drape her towel construction around collapsed. “I’m not going to have the time to rebuild it,” she says, “so I’m going to have to come up with a plan B, and quickly.” She then confesses that she feels her outlandish entrance the previous day alienated her fellow queens, and as a result they wouldn’t be willing to help her with her look. “It may sound dumb, but I don’t think my outfit is the only thing I’m going to have to rebuild today.” She explains that she’s used to people being confused and uncomfortable with her drag style, but was hoping that it wouldn’t cause such a divide.

Meanwhile, Nicole puts the finishing touches to her outfit, which is a cocktail dress made out of buttons. She explains that she managed to individually tie them together with string, and even though it took a lot of effort, she hopes it’ll be worth it on the runway.

As Big Dee tries on her summer dress, made out of a single large shirt, Amanda tells her that she’s grateful for her being here. “There aren’t many of us West Coast bitches in the competition, so us Cali girls need to stick together.” Amanda goes on to explain that being from San Francisco, she’s used to her style of drag being underrepresented on Drag Race. “I’m only the second girl from my scene to do this show, and while I come from a very individual, unique group of queens, it feels kind of lonely to be the only one here. When you look around and you see so many Chicago girls, so many New York girls, so many Texas girls, and then there’s you, it can make you feel like you’re worth less.” She looks at her dress, made out of jeans piled on top of one another, and sighs. “I’m not happy with that.”

As the clock runs down, most of the queens sit around the mirror and do their make-up. Several queens sit in awe of Eva’s mug, with Jessica joking, “bitch, I need your secrets!”. Rafaella decides to ask Drü about her unique style of painting, which Drü says is down to not wanting to fit in with more conventional queens. “I’m an artist,” she explains, “and it sounds cliche but my body is my canvas. Painting like this allows me to become a cartoon character, or a piece of art, or something strange, or something strangely beautiful.” VinChelle says that it’s only fair that she doesn’t paint to look conventionally beautiful - “you’re far too damn good looking as a boy as it is!”.

Across the werkroom, Yvie and Lady Boi sit on their own, finishing off their looks, while Cookie, her hands a blistery mess, marvels at how she managed to make an outfit out of planks of wood.

Episode #1 - Closet Queens
Part Five - The Runway

Ru walks down the runway and welcomes the judges - regular judges Michelle Visage and Ross Mathews, and tonight’s extra special guest judges, Queer Eye’s Jonathan Van Ness and showbiz legend Carol Burnett - to the show, before introducing the runway theme: From Closet to Couture.

-----

Rafaella Pop walks the runway in a vintage-looking dress made out of a bedsheet, with a peach bow tied around the waist and a long blonde wig. She explains that it isn’t her usual style, as she’s usually the showgirl, but she thought she’d show the judges some versatility.



Bombalicious Eklaver wears a black dress, with a skirt made of bras. Michelle comments that she made the outfit to the breast of her ability.



Nicole Lynn Foxx takes to the runway in a long, figure-hugging dress made of white buttons, and pairs it with a bob wig to continue her 1920s flapper theme. "Flapper?" Ru asks. "I hardly know her!"



VinChelle wears a dress made of gloves and a frizzy brown wig. Jonathan calls the look “Tina Turner goes golfing”.



Drü Holiday, painted in her signature cartoon-ish style, is wearing a red tartan dress made of pyjamas, which she explains is shorter than the outfits she usually wears, but she was limited in what she could do. The judges attempt a variety of vaguely Scottish accents.



Yvie Oddly walks the runway in a mini dress made of a towel wrapped around her body, and another towel wrapped around her hair. She explains that she’s disappointed that she wasn’t able to execute her original idea, and instead hopes that the judges like her legs, because she’s very much putting them on show.



Lady Boi wears a cute dress made out of blue floral wallpaper, and takes the theme even further by strapping a wall covered in the same wallpaper to her back. “She’s gotten herself into a sticky situation,” muses Ross.



Jessica L'Whor shows off her construction, which is a jacket and mini-skirt made entirely of belts. She’s paired it with vivid red lipstick, and hopes that the judges appreciate that she’s serving executive realness. “She owns 51% of this company,” Ru comments.



Honey Davenport is wearing a fitted brown dress with a peplum, which she has made out of a business shirt. She explains that she’s happy with her choice, and decided to go for something simple this week as to minimise risk.



Also wearing a dress made out of a shirt is Big Dee, who plays the role of the Southern belle in her chequered summer dress, paired with exaggerated makeup and a straw hat. “Oklahomo!” screams Carol, her sole contribution to the commentary this round.



Eva Young channels her favourite supermodels as she walks the runway in a long layered gown constructed from old denim jackets, a look that she titles “Thelma & Louise go to prom.” She explains that she wanted to convey classic beauty while still showing off the unconventional material. “She must have skinny genes,” says an impressed Michelle.



Similarly wearing a denim construction is Amanda Bang, who has made a dress by laying jeans on top of one another and pairing it with her signature gothy makeup. “This is jean-ius,” Ross nods as the other judges groan.



Valentine Addams is next, taking to the runway in a colourful dress made of ties, over which she has placed a black lace jacket. She explains that the main intention of the outfit was for the judges to see her boobs, and winks in their direction when she reaches the end of the runway.



Finally, to much anticipation, Cookie Kunty takes to the runway. Although her outfit isn’t particularly well-shaped (she’s just haphazardly glued the pieces of her closet to a corset), she pulls it off with a wide-eyed look and a wooden walk, and the judges admire her for doing what seemed impossible. After a series of groan-worthy ‘wood’ puns, Ru exclaims, “please, these puns are so old that I sawdust on them.”

Episode #1 - Closet Queens
Part Six - The Deliberation

The queens are gathered for the judges’ critiques. Rafaella, VinChelle, Drü, Honey, Big Dee, Valentine and Cookie are called safe, but reminded (with the exception of Cookie, who, according to Ru, ventured “where the other queens wood not go”) that ‘safe’ is not what they should be aspiring to in this competition.

The other queens - Bombalicious, Nicole, Yvie, Lady Boi, Jessica, Eva and Amanda - represent, as Ru says, the tops and bottoms of the week. Lady Boi and Nicole receive praise for turning unconventional materials into couture outfits and for executing a concept effectively.

Bombalicious is criticised for an outfit that the judges perceive as basic, and think that more could have been done with the materials (“you could have hot-glued a bra to your head or something,” Michelle comments). Yvie and Amanda also come under fire: Yvie for her simplistic outfit, with the judges noting that she essentially just wrapped a towel around her waist and called it a dress, and Amanda for her outfit lacking shape, with the judges saying the pile-up of jeans looks as if she took a clothes rack and stuck it to her body.

Conversely, Jessica is commended for thinking out-of-the-box and turning her belts into a jacket rather than a dress, and for looking “sexy as hell” according to Jonathan, while Eva is lauded for making her denim gown seem effortless and classic (“it looks like something straight out of Vogue,” says world-renowned fashion expert Ross Mathews). Ru then tells the queens to untuck backstage as the judges deliberate.

Once the queens return, Ru announces that she has made her decision.

“Nicole Lynn Foxx… you’re safe.”

“Lady Boi, this week you went... balls to the wall… you’re safe.”

“Eva Young, this week, your denim was most definitely not... den-um… congdragulations, you’re the winner of this week’s challenge” (for her victory, Eva wins a brand new custom wardrobe)

“Jessica L’Whor… you’re safe.”

“Bombalicious Eklaver, this week, your lingerie left us... longing for more. Yvie Oddly, your towel couture was... rather dry. Amanda Bang, your outfit... fizzled out…

...Bombalicious Eklaver… you’re safe.”

Bombalicious gasps and steps to the back of the stage before Ru can change her mind, leaving Amanda Bang and Yvie Oddly as the bottom two.

“Two queens stand before me,” Ru continues. “This is your last chance to impress me, and save yourself from elimination.” In a confessional, Yvie says that since she messed it up in the challenge, she no choice other than to turn it out in the lip sync. “The time has come, to lip sync, for your life…”

Episode #1 - Closet Queens
Part Seven - The Lip Sync

https://i.imgur.com/aC2zv4k.png https://i.imgur.com/lqsCw9x.png

Amanda Bang vs Yvie Oddly
Disco Tits (Tove Lo)



Both queens bring their all to the lip sync, with Amanda going for a sexy interpretation of the song and Yvie opting to vogue and give the judges a tight high-energy performance, taking the towel from her head and using it as a dance prop. Ultimately, Amanda is confined by the weight of her bulky dress, while Yvie uses the stage more effectively, walking up and down the runway to the beat.

After the lip sync, Ru tells the queens that she has made her decision.

“Yvie Oddly, shantay you stay,” Ru declares, and Yvie places her hands to her head to cover her tears. She then goes to hug Amanda and leaves the stage.

“Amanda Bang,” Ru continues as Amanda bites her lip. “You came in with a bang, and girl, it may have been short, but you’ve given us more bang for your buck. Now, sashay away.”

Amanda waves goodbye to her fellow queens and, as she leaves, begins ripping the jeans out of her dress. “I’m never wearing these things again,” she says as she collects her Ru trophy. “It’s trousers all the way from now on.”

As she prepares to leave, Ru’s voice is heard on the TV screen. “Don’t lose hope yet, my queen,” the message says. “For the race is long.”

“So you mean I can’t go to the bar now?” Amanda asks, perplexed and in need of a drink.

To be continued...

Originally Posted by Hayden (Post 9932254) Love this :love:

Originally Posted by Blurryface (Post 9932259) :joker:

Originally Posted by RileyH (Post 9932262) screaming @ the mini challenge :joker:

Originally Posted by RileyH (Post 9932309) That was amazing :worship: I'm so glad Yvie stayed :love: Great job :clap2:

Originally Posted by Daniel-X (Post 9932403) Just a heads up but Dru is missing from the poll MB

Originally Posted by Daniel-X (Post 9932400) Brilliant job MB, you’ve done a fantastic job at making the images really come to life in my head :clap1: My favourites so far are Lady Boi, Yvie and VinChelle :love:

Originally Posted by Amy Jade (Post 9933483) It is working for me, just sent my choices in!

Originally Posted by Ammi (Post 9933612) ...I’ve done the survey but I didn’t answer one because I don’t know what ‘read a queen for on the runway’ means...I think I might be out of my depth here, MB...,a yeah just better to follow the game, I’m thinking...because I haven’t watched Ru Paul so am not familiar with terms and format etc...with what did Amanda’s message on the mirror say..?....I was skimming and skimming back to look for what she said....oooo, where is that, it must be somewhere...anyways then I realised we have to decide what the message was, that’s for us to do.../...I’m going to be hopeless and so cringy with it all..and probably just hinder your interactive drag race...gosh the time and thought you’ve put into this as well, MB...for me to be hindering about here with no clue of stuff...you’re such the best to be doing something in this vein, MB...with your writing and your style etc..your natural wit...that first episode made me feel the ladies personalities and talents so much...:lovedup:...and it’s going to be hard to see any of them sashay away because of that...:sad:...because of how you’ve put this together so perfectly, MB...

Originally Posted by Ammi (Post 9933612) ...I’ve done the survey but I didn’t answer one because I don’t know what ‘read a queen for on the runway’ means...I think I might be out of my depth here, MB...,a yeah just better to follow the game, I’m thinking...because I haven’t watched Ru Paul so am not familiar with terms and format etc...with what did Amanda’s message on the mirror say..?....I was skimming and skimming back to look for what she said....oooo, where is that, it must be somewhere...anyways then I realised we have to decide what the message was, that’s for us to do.../...I’m going to be hopeless and so cringy with it all..and probably just hinder your interactive drag race...gosh the time and thought you’ve put into this as well, MB...for me to be hindering about here with no clue of stuff...you’re such the best to be doing something in this vein, MB...with your writing and your style etc..your natural wit...that first episode made me feel the ladies personalities and talents so much...:lovedup:...and it’s going to be hard to see any of them sashay away because of that...:sad:...because of how you’ve put this together so perfectly, MB...