What's her name?!
RuPaul's Drag RaceMikelle StreetAnd that's it ladies and gentlemen. The debut season of Canada's Drag Race has now come to a close. And for the queen who is taking home the title of Canada's Next Drag Superstar? What's her name?
PRIYANKA!
Priyanka, who has only been doing drag for two years and was most known in Canada for doing children's television, beat out Scarlett Bobo and Rita Baga in the finale. The three were asked to write their own verses to RuPaul's "U Wear It Well" and perform a supercut onstage.
For the final runway, queens were expected to turn out "Coronation Eleganza"— in other words, their best drag. They were then greeted in the Werk Room by the eliminated queens while the judges deliberated. When they returned to the runway, instead of narrowing the trio down to two, judges Brooke Lynn Hytes, Stacey McKenzie, and Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman, as well as resident Squirrel Friend Traci Melchor, decided to have all three finalists compete in a head-to-head lip sync.
Priyanka has won the title of Canada's Next Drag Superstar, $100,000 CAD, and a year's worth of holiday stays at Hilton. Of the reigning queens of the Drag Race franchise, she becomes the fourth queen of color to be crowned in 2020: Heidi N. Closet was crowned Miss Congeniality for Drag Race 12, Jaida Essence Hall was crowned the winner of Drag Race 12, and Shea Coulee was crowned the winner of All Stars 5. This comes after Yvie Oddly, who is currently appearing on RuPaul's Drag Race: Vegas Revue, won Drag Race 11 and Monet X Change split the top prize for All Stars 4 with Trinity the Tuck.
The Vivienne won the debut season of RuPaul's Drag Race U.K. which aired in 2019. Season 2 is currently on pause.
Throughout the season, Priyanka showed herself to be a true star both in and out of drag. She was both caring and charismatic, with a penchant for extreme dramatics and comedy. She wove that into her performance at every level and though she did have some off moments — namely playing Miss Cleo in Drag Race's famed Snatch Game — ends the competition having won two Maxi Challenges. She also, alongside Rita Baga, made a reputation for herself as a strong lip-sync performer, possibly the lip-sync assassin of the season.
On the show, Priyanka revealed that the venture would pose as her coming out to her Guyanese father. Previously, when asked who she was dating, the performer had told her dad that she was dating someone named Priyanka. Now, on national television, her father can finally meet Priyanka.
Throughout the series Priyanka had a running tagline of asking "What's my name?" As she revealed in the finale she chose her name to provide visibility to people of color, particularly of her heritage, even by name alone. Speaking for and to people of color became another aspect of what she brought to the show, though there were other queens of color including Tynomi Banks, Kyne, Kiara, and Anastarzia Anaquway — Ilona Verley is of First Nations heritage and also was the first two-spirt contestant. Though speaking about diversity was sometimes serious, at other times it was woven into jokes like when she called apres-ski parties "white people behavior." She celebrated her heritage in her final look on the series, wearing a lehenga.
“I’m living proof that hard work pays off, and that even when you make mistakes, you can still be a winner,” she said as she accepted her crown and scepter. “To the kids who are watching, I know you used to watch me somewhere else, but now I’m home. I’m Canada’s first-ever Drag Superstar! I’m rich! And I get to represent the country all around the world. I’m so thankful, I’m so proud to be Canadian. I’m going to make this country so proud.”
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