RuPaul had an epic stand-off with Valentina over her infamous ‘I’d like to keep it on’ Drag Race moment
RuPaul snapped at Valentina when she refused to take off her mask. (WOW)
Remember the wig-snatchingly awkward Drag Race moment RuPaul was forced to tell Valentina: “Take that thing off your mouth?” Well according to Shea Couleé, things got a lot worse.
Drag Race season nine featured one of the most shocking eliminations in the show’s herstory, when fans favourite Valentina was unceremoniously booted from the competition.
The charismatic queen had found herself in the bottom two for the first time, and seemed certain to defeat Nina Bo’Nina Brown, who though formidable, was lip-syncing for the third time in four weeks.
Then, things got interesting. Valentina started the performance wearing a face mask (her mind!), forcing RuPaul to stop the track and demand she remove it.
Valentina requested, “I’d like to keep it on please”, prompting an angry come-back from RuPaul. But according to Shea: “Honestly, full tea, it was worse than that”.
“After she said: ‘I would like to keep it on, please,’… you could tell the physical reaction RuPaul had to that because she snapped back at her like: ‘So I stopped this lip-sync for nothing.'” Shea said in a video on NikkieTutorials’ YouTube channel.
“And when she said that, I feel like that was the moment where Valentina was [shocked] because she had been such a favourite up until that point and they had all been so kind and encouraging and loving to her, that it really did kind of gag her,” Shea continued.
“So, she literally froze and just stood there staring at RuPaul blankly ,and RuPaul was like:’Hello?’
“There was just this stand-off, this awkward silence… it was insane.”
Shea joked that because the films had just filmed Untucked, where they’re each given a cocktail, she was “wasted” as she watched on from the back of the stage.
Shea Couleé welcomed Priyanka to the Drag Race ‘melanin dynasty’.
After season nine Shea returned to compete in All Stars 5, from which she emerged victorious.
Her win was swiftly followed by that of Priyanka on Canada’s Drag Race.
Shea and Priyanka were the fifth and sixth consecutive queens of colour to take home a Drag Race title, joining All Stars 4 winner Monét X Change, season 11 victor Yvie Oddly season 12’s winner Jaida Essence Hall and her Miss Congeniality Heidi N Closet.
Shea has dubbed the elite group the “melanin dynasty”, and Priyanka recently revealed that the Chicago queen called her after her own win to welcome her to the fold.
“Gurl. Shea Couleé FaceTimed me last night! How’d she get my number?” Priyanka told Now Toronto.
“I was dead. I picked up the phone like, ‘Hello?’ because it was a random number and she was like, ‘You did it, bitch!’
“I just shared this moment with her. It’s so cool to have somebody you look up to just believe in you so much. What’s crazy is the confidence they have in me. They’re like, ‘You got it girl. Bye.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, I do?”
