[Shaun]

47th Place: Aquaria (Season 10) - finished 1st

I change my mind about Aquaria pretty much every other day so I've resolved to oust her from this list at a pretty respectable position for someone who can occasionally just get properly on my tits.

Season 10 began with Aquaria as the villainesque counterpart to some vague, boring Miz Cracker drama (that was mercifully cut short by the Vixen's no-nonsense approach) and her talking heads certainly helped to build her up as this snooty, awkward figure with a limp sense of humour and a head lodged firmly up her own arse. As someone going into Season 10 with already six digits of Instagram followers, though, I guess that's somewhat understandable - but that's something that lingered throughout season 10 in my head, of why the idea of her winning was such a tired set-up from the get-go: she was friends with Amanda Lepore, frequently in contact with previous winners Sharon Needles and Alaska, in social circles with Lady Bunny and presumably even RuPaul herself... it just... goes against the sort of reality TV story that I love. But she was pretty, young and white so the fans loved her anyway.

As the season progressed though, Aquaria continued to surprise the cynics and managed to put in solid, memorable performances in comedy and acting challenges; she won Snatch Game with an excellent Melania Trump impression, somehow honing her often-wayward speech pattern into a few clever one-liners ("no wonder my husband goes on about hating Chyna all the time :/"). She did great in the Bossy Rossy episode opposite a winning Eureka, and also put in a great performance in the Breastworld episode as a cyborg hostess (I personally would've placed her above Asia for the performance, but she messed up the runway so Asia won fairly).

On the subject of runways, obviously Aquaria was mostly faultless. Her only bad critiques were for the "completely different runway" 50 years from now look, but I will still argue that she was vastly overrated in some regards. That "evil twin" look which was basically just a "Prehistoric Runway" outfit repurposed for this challenge, being labelled "top 5 of all time" by RuPaul.... really? I cannot endorse that at all. But otherwise, sure, she burned the runway frequently. She could also put in a strong lipsync, and undeniably defeated Kameron and Eureka in the final lipsync (but I still argue Eureka beat her in the semi-final! and so does the unedited live reception, sweetie!)

So all of this should mean she's a winner that's well-respected, beloved and should've finished top 25 in this list, right? Well... the problem is Aquaria is still an awkward, kinda embarrassing asshole at times! Take her stint on Fashion Photo RuView: she knows a few references but oftentimes her opinions are just wildly off-base and prone to a few whiny, "we've already seen it " moments that just sets drag at a ridiculously unattainable "I can afford £20,000 gowns" standard. She's had a fair few spats on Twitter that have had mixed results: on the plus side she called Theresa May out and told Bebe Rexha to suck a dick or whatever, but on the downside she fatshamed Darienne Lake for disliking her MET Gala look and "achieving something for once"

Spoiler:

There's her reaction to Shuga Cain playfully saying she was robbed of "Top toot of the week":

Spoiler:

And, well, there's probably around 50 more examples on the Drama reddit of her lashing out and making a bit of a fool of herself. And I know she's incredibly young, and impetuous, or whatever, but I guess I just like my queens with a little more decorum.

We won't mention the "Meet the S11 Queens" video but she tried. Also I'm still mad she won the Evil Twin challenge when Asia was RIGHT THERE.

Memorable quote(s): "I said: Lady Bunny is a wonderful entertainer, a humble kween, and she keeps the show going, and is a handsome and smart gentlemen Close? Ah. Any hole is a goal."
"Turning looks, stunting pretty - I'm the bitch from New York City."
Best Runway(s): I mentioned the overrated 'evil twin' look because I would actually argue her 'good twin' look was comfortably her best. Amazing colour palette. The mermaid is a close 2nd.
Best Moment(s): Nearly falling on Jinkx Monsoon in the very first minichallenge, giving Jinkx, and us, the line "I was just happy for the airtime"

Remaining queens
Acid Betty - Adore Delano - Alaska - Alexis Mateo - Alyssa Edwards - Asia O'Hara - Bebe Zahara Benet - Bendelacreme - Bianca Del Rio - Bob the Drag Queen - Chad Michaels - Chi Chi DeVayne - Coco Montrese
Courtney Act - Darienne Lake - Detox - Eureka - Ginger Minj - Jinkx Monsoon - Jujubee - Katya - Kennedy Davenport - Latrice Royale - Manila Luzon - Mariah - Mimi Imfurst - Monet X Change - Monique Heart - Nina Bo'nina Brown
Nina Flowers - Phi Phi O'Hara - Raja - Raven - Roxxxy Andrews - Shangela - Sharon Needles - Shea Coulee - Stacy Layne Matthews - Tammie Brown - Tatianna - Thorgy Thor - Trinity the Tuck - Trixie Mattel - Willam - Yara Sofia