I’ll be honest: I was rooting for my girl Alexis Mateo, because she seems so super sweet. And then, I had this vision that maybe Manila would win, because she has been so consistent. But of course, the winner is… Raja. Naturally. It seemed kind of obvious from the beginning that Raja was blowing the judges away with her high fashion sense and untouchable, frosty attitude. I spoke with Raja at the finale party last night, and she said: One of the most rewarding things about the show, for me, is getting to reach out to kids. Little sissy youth, little butch youth, little boys and girls who feel like they might be born in the wrong body. Kids who feel different, or get picked on. Having those kids write to me and email me — they’re so cute! They’re 13 years old, telling me how seeing me has allowed them to open up conversations with their families. In some ways I wish I had someone to look up to… But I did, actually: RuPaul.” I kind of warmed up to Raja after that, to be honest.
And then, when I went home and watched the show, I discovered that Raja is a Gemini, like me. Wonder twins.
So: Pics from the finale party! Raja also told me she recently watched a Jersey Shore marathon and was really into it. “It was a really fascinating social experiment, and I enjoyed the tragedy of it all,” she explained.
Manila told me her favorite challenge was the sci-fi/space episode, because she loves being “wacky and geeky.” She also loved doing a song for RuPaulapalooza, and said, “Ke$ha, move over!” When I said i’d love to see a Mania Luzon video, Manila joked: “It’ll have to be on a wide screen, honey, just to get all my hair in the shot.”
I asked Alexis Mateo if she still keeps in touch with Slava. She said that they text, and write on each other’s Facebook walls, and so on. Matt Cherette from Gawker was with me, wearing a Pac-man shirt, and Alexis said that she loved it, and loved Atari. “That’s how our generation learned to give handjobs,” she laughed.
Mimi Imfurst!
Mariah was dressed like the white swan and the black swan.
I was so psyched to be there, I was like a kid in a drag queen candy store.
Miss Stacey Layne Matthews.
It seemed like maybe Yara was wasted, but then again, that might just be her personality?
Carmen Carrera and her hot hot husband were there. Also, if you have not seen this, then, um, yeah. (NSFW-ish)
You could hear Shangela saying “Hallelu!” from across the room. Also, while Manila and Raja were about nine feet tall, Shangela was about 5’5″. In heels. Surprising!
BTW, In case you didn’t notice: Manila dressed like she’d won.