The girls sashay back into their room the next morning to find a message scrawled in lipstick from the dearly departed Mystique with no less than two “b-words” thrown in for good measure.  Chatting about Mystique’s departure , Sonique says she feels that the large lass was destined to go home, saying she just didn’t have “it” while some of the other girls crack a few jokes about Mystique’s weight.  Tatianna defends Mystique and in the camera confessional talks about how she’s not a fan of the Mean Girls clique who have something negative to say about everyone.

In keeping with this theme, the girls have a SheMail from RuPaul who tells them “Sincerity is everything…And if you can fake that, you’ve got it made.”  Which is a small clue as to what this week’s Mega Challenge will be!

But for now, Real Ru breezes in to involve the girls in a fun little game called “The Queen is Right” in which the gals must guess the correct prices for drag essentials in order to win some faaaaabulous prizes, including a much-coveted phone home.  Up to this point, none of the girls have been allowed to contact anyone from the outside and are dying to connect with their family and friends.  

Styled like “The Price is Right, the ladies must correctly guess the prices for each item.  Raven correctly guesses the cost of a six-pack of tubesocks (perfect for creating cleavage out of thin air!) .  Jessica Wild knows how much hemorrhoid cream for under-eye puffiness costs, and Sonique is the expert on the price of Tuck Tape.  Each of these three girls go onto the final round where they must guess the cost of a “Ladyboy Night on the Town” package.  Raven guesses right and wins the package which includes brass knuckles, pepper spray, and a brand new human hair lace front wig from Wig Pro, in addition to the phone call home to Mom. 

Raven seems almost human and a lot less catty when he talks about his mother, saying that she’s his drag inspiration and the most perfect person he knows.  Not much of the quick phone call is heard, but it seemed somewhat rushed, with Mom hustling to go to her church meeting. 

RuPaul then informs the girls that this week’s challenge is for the girls to whip out their best celebrity impersonations as guest panelists on a mock game show, “The Snatch Game.”  Highlighting that humor and authenticity is valued, he encourages the girls to be charming and funny with their celebrity impersonations. 

As the girls attempt to decide who they’re going to be, many of them cite that the drag characters they create are a combination of several different celebrities and personas smashed into one.  Tatianna and Jessica Wild, however, perform as larger-than-life versions of themselves in character.  

Morgan and Sonique both admit that their character is somewhat based on P!nk, however, Morgan calls performing as P!nk, which leaves Sonique to play the role of Lady Gaga.  Ironically, I always thought Morgan’s drag character looked quite a bit like P!nk when she was first introduced.

Tatianna decides to do Britney Spears since she has Brit-Brit’s little head nod down pat!  Morgan, in a really nice show of kindness lets Tatianna wear one of her long, blonde wigs which looks decidedly more “Britney” than the one in Tatianna’s collection.  Tatianna thinks it’s because Morgan doesn’t see her as a threat to her and lets her borrow it, but I’m going to give Morgan the benefit of the doubt that beyond that Mean Girl exterior, there’s actually a pretty sweet queen in there somewhere.

Jessica Wild goes out on a limb and is going to be RuPaul.  It’s risky, being a parody version of someone who’s already there, but she seems up to the challenge of giving Ru some Latina flavor!

Pandora Boxx kicks it old school as Carol Channing.  Having recently conquered my fear of Carol Channing, I’m stoked to see Pandora’s interpretation of this theatrical grand dame of comedy!

Raven plays it rather sedate with Paris Hilton and Tyra similarly goes for au courant with a choice of Sasha Fierce herself, Beyonce.  RuPaul reminds Tyra of Santino’s comment on her voice — or lack of drag voice, but also says that the deep voice worked for Bea Arthur, so the decision is up to her to use a fake voice or not.

Sahara Davenport decides to go for crazy with Bobby Brown-era Whitney Houston, sweat-mopping hanky and all, while Jujubee decides she will have a lot of fun playing Kimora Lee Simmons, who some of her Jujubee persona is based on.  Ru asks Jujubee where her stellar sense of humor comes from and Juju acknowledges that it comes from her father’s passing.  His death made her re-evaluate life and decide to treat every day like it’s her last.  It’s a very sweet, yet unexpected tribute. 

The girls get into full character makeup and onto “The Snatch Game” panel, answering the questions of celebrity guest players, Phoebe Price and Ugly Betty’s Alec Mapa. In makeup and in-character, Pandora does a spot-on Carol Channing, giving zany answer after zany answer, 100% in character ranging from being a member of  “Broadway Actresses Against Scurvy” and other random, Carol-Channing-Goes-Senile bits.  (Pandora is easily my favorite queen of the bunch!  She’s nice, she’s hilarious, and just so much fun!) In the judging, Pandora Boxx is critiqued as needing to develop her personal style more, while Merle Ginsberg defends her as a wonderful throwback and comedienne. 

Jujubee is funny as a diva-licious Kimora Lee, paying attention to detail, as Santino points out and going so far as to draw “lines” on her neck from tanning or aging, or whatever.  It’s small, but such a hilarious detail to include in her characterization.

Jessica does a decent job as RuPaul, getting Ru’s wild-eyed, wide-eyed look of mock-outrage down pat.  As much as I love Jessica, I think she gets a tad too much credit for her RuPaul impersonation, however, being that it’s Ru’s show.

Raven doesnt really look very much like Paris and doesn’t even get the voice or mannerisms down.  Although Morgan has P!nk’s look down to the nines, her mannerisms are among the most lackluster.  Similarly, Sonique is less-than truly outrageous as Lady Gaga, coming off as perhaps the most sedate of the bunch where Gaga would lend herself to being a very wild drag persona. 

Sahara does a pretty funny impersonation of Whitney Houston, mopping her forehead and spitting out a “Bobb-bay!” or random song lyric here and there.  I just wish Deborah Wilson (from MAD-TV) was a guest on this week’s panel to have done a Whitney “in-stereo” with Sahara. 

On the flipside of divas, Tyra’s Beyonce is gorgeous, but she should count herself lucky she won immunity last week because her Sasha was less-than fierce.  Still using the same ol’ man-voice, Tyra doesn’t really play too much in character, answering a “Snatch Game” question with a snide remark about Mystique eating more than just a 2-piece and a biscuit.  Seriously.  The gal’s gone.  Let sleeping queens lie already!

However, the standout performer (behind Pandora’s Carol Channing, IMHO) was Tatianna who plunked a fedora on top of Morgan’s borrowed n’ blonde wig to become Britney Spears.  Tatianna had Brit’s mannerisms down, giving airhead answers to the questions and coming off as a sweet, li’l country bumpkin in a pushup bra. 

Backstage, Tyra and Tatianna tangle when Tyra states that she doesn’t find Britney funny or sees any humor in Britney Spears, but that Beyonce is “very funny.” Tatianna finds the humor in most celebrities, telling Tatianna that she doesn’t think Beyonce herself is funny, but thought it was hilarious when Beyonce fell.  Tyra is incensed and angrily begins defending the honor of one Beyonce Knowles in a manner that would make even Jay-Z take a step back.  Tyra is mortally offended and stomps away from Tatianna, telling the camera that she thinks she’s “crass.”  This is about the second or third time Tyra has placed her stamp of disapproval on someone.  I’m hoping once this season wraps, she’ll put out an etiquette book just to clue the rest of us plebs in on what is or isn’t crass.

Judging time comes and RuPaul is wearing a gorgeous sequinned gown of varigated vertical stripes in a  multitude of colors, which sort of resembles the flag of Germany.  How very Olympic of you, Ru! She introduces guest judges, Niecy Nash and Lisa Rinna who watch as the girls rock their own personal style on the runway.  Tyra Sanchez dazzles with a high-end couture look complete with shopping bags and peplum skirt.  (I have to hand it to her.  Tyra is gorgeous and dresses wonderfully!)  Morgan continues the P!nk impresonation with a sort of “Lady Marmalade”/circus-inspired ensemble, while Jujubee looks like an Asian Li’l Kim.  Sonique pays homage to Julie Newmar with a Catwoman outfit, while Tatianna hoes it up with a micro mini that could have used some double-sided tape to stay in place.  Sahara also makes a nice showing with a lacy Grace Jones twist on the dominatrix look.

The judges deliver their verdicts and laud Pandora box for being “funny camp, not cheesy camp” and telling Tatianna that she had absolutely nailed Britney and won immunity for next week, as well as a Billion Dollar Babes shopping spree!  Go, Tatianna!

Tatianna’s only caveat is that while she has a million dollar face and body, she dresses like a two-dollar ho and needs to amp up her personal style.  Ru also tells Jujubee that she’s got star power, but keeps falling short of the mark and needs to step her game up. Pandora is also told that while comedy is her strong suit, her personal style needs more attention.

Morgan McMichaels, who admitted that her P!nk “went over like a fart in a spacesuit” found herself in the bottom two along with Sonique.  The girls must “Lip Synch…. For your LIFE!” to ’80s gem Stacy Q’s “Two of Hearts.”  Sonique whips off her dress and whips out the tricks, throwing backflip after backflip and executing steps that would make even the most experienced pole dancer feel inadequate.  Morgan, however, delivers crisp dance moves and uber-precise lip synching on the song. 

It’s a very tough decision since both girls performed equally well, albeit with two totally different styles.  In the end, RuPaul tells Sonique to sashay away.  In her exit, Sonique tells the camera that she wishes she hadn’t been so “serious” and had more fun with her stint on Drag Race.

With Nicole Paige Brooks gone and leaving a sweet, “Be safe, bitch” scrawled on the mirror in her wake, the girls settle in for a country-themed SheMail, followed by a similarly country-themed RuPaul the man when he comes a-courtin’ the gals decked out in a red and white paisley and polka dot Western shirt and cowboy hat.

He informs them that their mini-challenge this week is to eat a bunch of stuff blindfolded and decide if it’s chicken or “what.”  The first two to correctly discern which is which will win the challenge. Raven snarks that Mystique will finally win a challenge this week. 

And she’s right.  Mystique, Morgan, and Pandora all guess “what” correctly for the exotic dishes of bull testicles, soy chicken, and frog legs. 

Since it’s a three-way tie and there can only be two winners, the girls have to throw down in an “Eat Off,” gobbling the contents of a basket filled with deep fried chicken, rabbit, and cow brains.  As Raven said, once again, Mystique wins it easily.  It’s down to Morgan and Pandora and Morgan projectile vomits all over the place.  However, booting her foot doesn’t disqualify her and she scarfs down the rest of the contents and Pandora craps out.  Mystique and Pandora are the two captains of the teams for this week’s mega challenge, which is to shill for pretend product, “Disco” extra-greasy shortening.  The girls must sell it Country Queen-style, as a homage to Atlanta, the town where Ru’s career took off.

The choose between two commercial scripts, one for country-fried fish and the other for country-fried chicken. Mystique chooses fish, which is the wise choice with inherent comedy written all over it.  As captain, she assigns the role of the Disco Critter (a chicken) to Jessica Wild to try to camouflage her lack of English skills.  Throughout this challenge, Mystique comes across as actually really sweet and nice. 

The other team with Mean Girls Morgan McMichaels and Raven are all about making snide comments about Mystique winning the challenge on the basis of chowing down.  Mystique takes it in stride but confides to the camera that words are just words, but they still hurt.

The girls are midway through learning their scripts when Ru tells them that celebrity guest judge Kathy Najimi will be their guest coach — and also throws the girls a curveball by telling them that they have to switch scripts.  Team Mystique will now be doing chicken while Team Morgan is serving up fish.  Harsh.

The rehearsals go somewhat well with some girls taking direction better than others.  Jujubee is funny and cute as the sexpot Ellie Mae.  Jessica does pretty well as the Disco Critter.  Mystique falls somewhat flat as Grandma and has a hard time taking direction.  Tatianna is adequate as Baby, but improves given some direction, while Pandora shines as Ma. 

Team Morgan doesn’t do too bad, but Morgan’s hilariously ribald fish jokes by spreading her legs as Grandma find themselves nixed by Kathy.  (Hell, I thought they were funny, however Kathy and Tyra both deemed them “crass.”  Raven and her creepy Joker makeup and flat delivery are awful as the Disco Critter.  Sahara is a bit over the top and not all that sexy as Ellie Mae, but still good. Tyra’s man-voice contrasted with her pretty face make for a great “Baby Just Outta Prison” and Sonique does a totally trashtastic job as Ma.

Following filming their commercials, the girls are asked to change into their runway gear, this time, adding some country flavor to their couture when they parade in front of judges Merle and Santino, as well as guest judges Kathy Najimi and Tanya Tucker. 

At the runway judging, RuPaul’s gown is a gorgeous lemon confection, sporting a pink wig and looking like a tall glass of pink lemonade. She mentions that now it’s time for the girls to put the “Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve, and Talent” back into “country.” Oh, how I love a good pun!

On the runway, Sonique works the “stripper hot” vibe with a Pam Anderson inspired leather cowgirl getup.  Jujubee is cute and country while Raven goes all-out Farmer’s daughter with an off-the-shoulder gingham top and cut-off shorts.  Sahara looks kind of like a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, amping that factor up with her outfit by doing a little dance.  Tatianna does country with an urban twist and reminds me a bit of Rebecca Glasscock from Season 1.  Jessica Wild ends up reminding me of Rebecca, too, with her white raccoon eyes makeup.  She redeems it with a cinched waist corset over a flannel shirt and applebottom jeans that accentuate a huge booty!  Go, Jessica!!  Morgan’s look is actually a femmed up version of Porter Wagoner with a “New Romantic” take on country.

The best and the worst, however, are Tyra and Mystique.  Tyra pays homage to her aunt — who she claims more country than anyone she knows — and shows a creative piece that’s THREE country outfits all in one, complete with tear-away skirt that turns into a country cape!  Mystique, however, decides to rock “Mall Country,” which looks like more of an afterthought than anything else with ill-fitting gaucho pants that look more like spandex and a sleeveless top.  If she wanted to go all-out trashy, then black out a tooth or something!  However, Mystique’s issues with drag may come into play here, wanting to look cute rather than country.  She mentions that she was never told she was cute as a guy, but gets it all the time when she’s in drag.

This comes back to bite her in her ample booty when Ru reveals that the girls will be judged on their individual performances with no one team being safe.  Jessica is commended for pulling it off as Disco Critter, overcoming her language barrier and Pandora reminds Tanya of herself with her kitchy country outfit before the judges tell Pandora that she was the stand-out comedienne of her group. 

Tyra wins the overall challenge with her “Baby Just Outta Prison” routine in the commercial, although the judges tell her that she needs to create a female voice for Tyra instead of sounding super-butch and like there’s a bunch of manly marbles in her mouth.  Tyra wins the challenge, as well as immunity next week.

Although Team Mystique was much better than Team Morgan, Mystique found herself in the bottom two alongside Disco Critter Gone Creepy, Raven.  This is the second consecutive week that Raven has landed in the Bottom Two. After lip synching to some country song, Raven shontays n’ stays, putting on a solid performance, while Mystique just can’t quite cut it on the song and goes home… But not before busting a split!

Down one girl since Shangela’s elimination, the girls huddle ’round the tube for a rousing round of RuPaul’s “SheMail” giving them instructions on their newest challenge.  Ru mentions that this week, somebody’s going to “make it rain,” but before then, it’s time for the girls to street walk a mile in her shoes and turn a lady into a tramp.  RuPaul the man appears to the ladies in the flesh, bearing RuPaul fashion dolls for the girls to give Make Ho-vers to, tramping up the dolls with their own fabric fashion creations and repaints. 

The ladies are split into teams, but Mystique ends up working alone, and loving it.  The winning team is Pandora Boxx and Sahara Davenport’s creation, “Shafreeforall,” a broke down ho with a missing shoe, skanky clothes, and even a missing tooth.

As winners of the mini-challenge, Pandora and Sahara are each captains for a much larger task for the week:  a main-stage talent expo with the girls competing as burlesque dancers.  In addition to being judged on their “charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent,” the ladies will be judged as an individual and as a group.  They must rehearse a dance routine that they create themselves as a group, and do hair, makeup, and make their own team costumes.

Nicole Page Brooks (who misses her young son terribly) is picked last on Pandora’s team and is somewhat bummed out by that.  Raven makes with more snide remarks about Nicole, griping that while Nicole is beautiful, she just doesn’t radiate sensuality: “Nicole is not bringing sexy back.”  Morgan downgrades her annoying from last week, being somewhat more likeable even if she attempts to run roughshod over Pandora as team leader.

Morgan ain’t got squat on Tyra, however.  Tyra (who speaks like she’s got a mouthful of marbles) makes Sahara regret adding her to her team, going as far to remark that “I’m in a group with Satan’s baby.” Tyra lives up to her Satan’s baby moniker when she doesn’t make an effort to do the dance steps full out during a practice session and then taking a nap while the girls are hot-gluing their costume embellishments. 

When checking on the girls’ progress, Ru asks Sahara if she feels that she’s lost control of her group, noticing that Tyra is taking a nap.  Sahara feels somewhat powerless and Ru has a talk with Sleepy Time Tyra.  She tells RuPaul that she had already helped to sew and since the girls were hot-gluing, she’s taking time out for a nap. 

Mystique, while not nearly as big a tyrant as Tyra, proves to be more unlikable, even while showing how she can “drop it like it’s hot.”  She further reinforces the “bitchy queen” stereotype by telling the camera that she’s not here to help others, and not trying to be friends, helping to steal fabric from Team Pandora who weren’t finished designing their outfits. 

The moment of truth arrives when the challenge awaits the girls.  They go on a trip to “Dragon Fly” to perform in front of men, as well as guest judges, comedian Kim Coles and Queen of Neo-Burlesque, Dita Von Teese.

The twist of the challenge is that the girls who earn the most money as a team will win.  To make even more money, the girls will take turns performing and then will be sent out into the street to earn extra money, hustling Cherry Pie gift certificates to a local café to passer-bys on the street while in full drag. 

Team Pandora takes the stage in front of the judges and Nicole lays an egg on stage.  Sonique and Pandora do a great job, with Pandora getting patrons to “make it rain” on her.  To her credit, Morgan shakes it pretty good, too.  In an added bit of hilarity, the song that the girls dance to is none other than RuPaul’s new song, “Tranny Chasers.”  Love it!!

The next group of girls takes the stage while Team Pandora takes it to the street.  Sonique doesn’t make any friends when she gets overly bitchy with a man on the street who doesn’t want to buy gift certificates. 

On stage, Team Sahara does a bang-up job with their performance, having a lot of fun with it and even getting the impenetrable ice queen that is Dita to crack a smile.  Jessica Wild does a great job onstage and Mystique pulls out her secret weapon: her full split. 

The girls are sent back to their dressing room to prepare for eliminations that night and to make their runway looks.  Nicole Page Brooks is angry to find that someone had stolen the 8×10 portrait of her “drag mother,” Miss Shawna Brooks from her work area.  Fortunately, the photo of her son is still there, but it seems like a bad omen. 

Meanwhile, Pandora and Jujubee bond over their fathers.  Pandora’s father was recently diagnosed with cancer while Jujubee’s father had succumbed to the disease.  They stop talking about it because it’s too depressing, but it was nice to see the two plucky girls bond a bit.  For all of the Tyras and Mystiques of this season, I’m holding out hope that some of these girls will be like last season’s and be a bit more chummy with one another. 

At eliminations, the girls turn out in their finest ensembles to give face, face, face to RuPaul and the judges on the runway.  Jessica Wild’s “good witch/bad witch” dress is fun and Raven serves up a dramatic ’70s Cher-inspired look.  Morgan McMichaels, granted immunity as the winner of last week’s challenge, dons a sexy executive outfit.  Tyra turns it out with an extravagant necklace and pompadour and Nicole Page Brooks looks like a “real girl” with the skillfulness of her look. 

RuPaul reveals that Team Sahara are the winners and that all of the girls on that team are safe.  Sahara herself is the winner of the challenge, granted immunity next week.    

That leaves Team Pandora in the hot seat.  RuPaul calls out Sonique for being rude on the street, but acknowledges that she made it rain.  Tatiana was something of a weak link, but the guys loved her, being the only one who they asked what her name was, obviously smitten with her.

After deliberation, Ru makes the decision that Nicole, who brought in the least amount of money and Raven, who brought in the second-to-last amount were up for elimination. The girls performed to EnVogues “My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It).  Raven has fun with it, playing the song for laughs and drama while Nicole kind of half-heartedly performs, with almost an air of defeat about her before the final judgment is given. 

Ultimately, it’s “shonte,” Raven stays and Nicole Page Brooks sashays away.

Season 2 of RuPaul’s Drag Race kicks off, introducing the new batch of girls, upping the contestants to a solid 12 “girls.”  This time around, things seem a bit more heavy on the drama with friction brewing between many of the girls right off the bat, as opposed to the (mostly) friendly competitive camaraderie of Season One.  Additionally, many of the girls seem to lack the polish of the Season One ladies, although it’s still very early in the season and they have time to step up their individual game.

A brief run-down of the gals, there’s resident Southern belle, Nicole Paige Brooks from Atlanta.  (And yes, her full name must be said at all times!) 

Shangela LaQueefah Watley is a drag baby, having only been doing drag for a mere five months and is good friends and former college roommate with stately, Sahara Davenport from New York City. 

Jujubee is an adorable Asian who loves glitter and having a good time. 

Raven is the group’s self-proclaimed ice queen who doesn’t carry a purse (and needed to shave her pits with some unsightly stubble when the girls were introduced!)  Raven is best pals with mouthy (and potentially the biggest drama queen of the season) Morgan McMichaels, having done drag at the same club and are pretty much like sisters. 

Mystique is the large n’ in charge drag queen with big ol’ boobies, representing Plus Size queens. 

Jessica Wild is a sweetheart from Puerto Rico and her language barrier is someone reminiscent of dear, sweet Nina Flowers from Season One.) 

 Sonique has a sort of Lady Gaga vibe and is jacked.  Out of drag, Sonique’s backstory includes being sent to military school by his/her parents to butch him up a bit.  It didn’t work and Sonique came back a drag queen.

Tatiana has been doing drag since 14, loving the attention and feeling at home in drag since going to school all dolled up. 

At 37, Pandora Boxx is the oldest of the group (and along with Sonique and Jessica Wild, my favorite in the competition).  Here schtick is a combination of  Madonna, Goldie Hawn and Cathy Griffin… Oh!  And she sews!

By contrast, Tyra Sanchez is the youngest of the group at 21, and also has a son back home.  She’s also rocking Rihanna hair and has a gorgeous dress.

After a brief video welcoming the girls, the real RuPaul (out of drag) comes to say hello to the group of starstruck girls.  After telling the girls that in order to win the competition, they must possess a mixture of  ”charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent.”  Among the fabulous prizes on the line this year, the winner will become the face of Nyx cosmetics, a photo shoot with L.A. Eyeworks, become the headliner on LOGO’s RuPaul’s Drag Race Tour sponsored by Absolut, a Project Publicity contract and a substantial cash prize. 

One of the first challenges that the girls must participate in is to take part in their first official photo shoot with celebrity photographer, Mike Ruiz. The girls have to straddle a large cannon (phallic much!?) a la Gone With the Wind.  Among some of the “props” the girls have in their photo shoots are RuPaul’s scantily-clad male attendants, wearing nothing but a pair of grape smugglers and a nice coat of body oil. 

Complicating the shoot is the wind machine, designed to whip the girls’ hair back in a seductive fashion.  Or, it could be a device to throw the girls off their game and see how they respond to crazy conditions.  Jujubee takes it in stride, telling RuPaul that she’d “never been blown like that in my life,” as her lashes flap back and forth and her wig nearly falls off, lashes are flapping back and forth and her wig almost falls off.  Never been blown like that in my life. Morgan, on the other hand, wasn’t as lucky with her wig flying off altogether.  Shangela nearly has a wardrobe malfunction with her chicken cutlets almost flying the coop.

The winner of the challenge was Raven, who gave a gorgeous photo and a commanding presence in her picture.  In winning the challenge, she was given the opportunity to choose first in the Gone With the Wind-inspired elimination challenge.  This time, the ladies must channel their inner Scarlett O’Hara and make a gorgeous ensemble from curtains and incorporate home furnishings from consignment shop, “Out of the Closet” into their design.

Raven chooses the super awesome zebra curtains to use for material for her dress, much to the dismay of a lot of the girls who were eyeing them up.  Morgan doesn’t endear herself to anyone, either when she and Tatiana scuffle over the same pair of curtains, which Tatiana ends up with.  Prior to the challenge, Morgan and Raven seemed to put off a lot of the girls with their lack of shame in disrobing to the full monty while getting changed following the photo shoot, letting their tucks hang out.

Mystique also rubbed several girls the wrong way by griping that her curtains were not “Plus Size-Friendly” and didn’t give her enough material to work with.  Morgan grows irritated with her tirades and proclaims: “Mystique is a mistake.”  Meanwhile, Morgan runs into trouble of her own when she broke her sewing machine in the process of making her outfit. 

Finally finished, it’s time for the girls to take their ensembles and their home furnishing props and parade them before RuPaul (in a fabulous red sequined gown) and her panel of judges: regulars Santino and Merle and guest judge… Kathy Griffin. 

Pandora Boxx pays tribute to Kathy Griffin by rocking a red wig that’s looks like he nicked it from Kathy’s closet herself.   Another memorable runway moment went down when big girl Mystique “went down” in a full split as part of her routine.  Although RuPaul and the judges (rightly) bashed Mystique’s raggedy (and rather unimaginative, save for the giant basket on her head) creation, it was her full split that pulled her out of being placed in the bottom two. 

Once all the girls show off their creations, the judges place them into two groups: the girls who are safe and the girls who are at risk for contention to be in the bottom two.  Morgan McMichaels and her outrageously punk/African warrior queen ensemble marks her as the winner of the challenge and grants her immunity from elimination next week.

The bottom two who must “Lip Synch… for your LIFE!” are best friends Shangela and Sahara.  The judges think Shangela is fun, but still very young and a little rough around the edges and that her dress has no bustline or waist.  Sahara, on the other hand, made a beautiful Asian-inspired bustier out of her drapes but her outfit was deemed not quite draggy or fabulous enough.   The girls lip synch for their lives to RuPaul’s “Cover Girl (Put the Bass In Your Walk)” and it’s friend vs. friend in a showdown, with the ladies engaging in friendly one-upswomanship.  Shangela whips off her skirt and Sahara pulls off some serious splits, acrobatics and even ballet moves with a series of impressively executed fouette turns. 

As it turns out, Shangela goes home, handling herself gracefully.  Although she had quit her job to be on the show and had something to prove, having only done drag for a mere five months, Shangela was proud that if she had to go home, it was up against her good friend Sahara.  Sahara was in tears as her friend shontay-ed away home.

Get ready to start your engines all over again as everyone’s favorite “Supermodel” drag queen, RuPaul, is back with Season 2 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, premiering February 1, 2010 at 9PM Eastern on cable network, LOGO.

The show’s premise takes the concept put forth by America’s Next Top Model and turns it on its head.  Vying for the title of America’s Next Drag Superstar are 12 drag performers.  In addition to the challenges issued to the girls, the drama and emotions behind the scenes will run high in the race to the top, showcasing the contestant in full drag and out of makeup as males.  Each week, one of the contestants is eliminated until only one queen remains standing tall in her stillettos. 

The girls are judged on the ever-present criterium laid out in last season by RuPaul herself: “charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent.”  Returning for Season 2 are last season’s judges, fashion/entertainment journalist Merle Ginsberg and designer Santino Rice of Project Runway.  At the head of the judge’s table is RuPaul herself, decked out in full, fabulous drag.  However, RuPaul the man will be providing guidance and wisdom to the contestants throughout their challenges. 

In addition to Ginsberg, Rice, and RuPaul, each episode will feature a guest judge.  Several celebrities have been lined up as guest judges for Season 2 including: comediennes Cloris Leachman and Kathy Griffin, punk legend Henry Rollins, novelist Jackie Collins, actress Debbie Reynolds, and burlesque performer, Dita Von Teese.

RuPaul the drag queen gets the final say in who stays and who goes as each episode finds two girls in the bottom two.  The best part is, each episode’s Bottom Two must “Lip-synch… for your LIFE!” and put on a show to a song, battling it out with each other to prove who gets to survive to the next episode and progress in the competition.

This year, the talent pool has been expanded from nine contestants to 12, with the girls hailing from around the United States and as far away as Puerto Rico and Scotland, ranging in age from 21 to 37 and displaying a wide range of talents and drag styles. To learn more about the contestants, check out LOGO’s show page for RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 2 and read each girl’s biography and backround.

Last season’s winner was Bebe Zahara Benet (real name, Nea Marshall Kudi) who was born in Cameroon, raised in France and settled in Minneapolis, MN.  She appeared on RuPaul’s latest album on the track “Covergirl” and in the video along with fellow finalists, Nina Flowers and Rebecca Glasscock.  Bebe is currently performing around the country and booking shows.  More info on her can be found on her website: http://www.bebezaharabenet.com/

More info on RuPaul’s Drag Race, Season 2 will be reported as the show’s airdate arrives closer.