[Shaun]

51st Place: Aja (Season 9, All Stars 3) - finished 9th and 7th respectively

I'm not sure who exactly was after Peppermint but I'm giving myself a fighting chance and picking a fellow season 9 queen to throw out next. Aja is a strong fan favourite with a particularly rabid fanbase but when you take both seasons of Drag Race into account... she really didn't do that amazingly. I'm also getting rid of her now because I am so tired of hearing queens, RuPaul herself and other judges reference that "Linda Evangelista" rant. It wasn't that iconic! Sorry!

Aja is known for a whole bunch of perfect reactions and facial expressions though so her status of a recent DR icon is somewhat deserved. But if you dissect Season 9, you'll find little else to commend her for. She spent most of the season bitter about her inability to steal the spotlight like she's used to at home (Sasha Velour even says that Aja's the most exciting Brooklyn queen at the time in the premiere), and her insecurities came across in a pretty unpleasant way. She also got the Ru/Michelle "WE HATE MILLENNIALS" edit; being read by many of the other competitors for her inability to paint as well as her FaceTuned pictures, and not knowing enough references from pre-1995. This annoying judges' trend continued into AS3 and saw her sent home for not knowing how to pronounce France Joli and wearing something that was slightly out of the made-up "70s disco only" theme given a completely different name (Studio 54 wasn't just disco )

I haven't even mentioned where she did badly in S9 challenges but I need not mention her blah Alyssa Edwards Snatch Game, her terrible princess Disastah, her 9021HO brattiness or her abysmal chemistry with Valentina presenting the gossip segment of Not on Today!

Let's instead focus on why I've put her this high: she killed All Stars 3 but unfortunately not in the same way that Ben or Shangela killed AS3. She was always meant to be filler but that first performance of 'Level Your Pussy Up' was stellar; and she did a great job as Amy Winehouse and as Crystal LaBeija in Snatch Game, too. She only really flopped a little as a "needy" girl in the Bitchelor episode, but even then did perfectly fine as a scene partner to the incomparable Kennedy Davenport (even visibly corpsing as Kennedy rambled on ) Her runways vastly improved too, and that "wigs on wigs" look is extremely underrated



I do think Aja has the tendency to be a little bit cringe, and run her mouth on Twitter in the same way Aquaria does and thinks she's "IT"... but Aja does have a lot of credentials to back it up somewhat and overall? I'm a fan. Definitely room for even more improvement, though, and her music career is pretty impressive.

Memorable quote(s): "Ayo sis...I gotta go."
"[In Season 9] I was like a little turtle, inside its shell and now I'm like...... what's not a turtle?"
"Bebe is taking her wig off and girl, I don't see no flowers, I don't see no glitter, I don't see no gag. You ain't no Sasha Velour bitch, keep your wig on."
Best Runway(s): Already mentioned her Wigs on Wigs, but I also loved her AS3 Flowers runway
Best Moment(s): Coming for Valentina at the Reunion