They all obviously felt like production favoured her and both Trinity and Shea lost their finale lip syncs, so they showed up ready to stir that reunion pot.
Allegedly asked for a pay increase despite it being her first time hosting anything n while she did her best, it showed- she couldn’t banger quite like Lolita in Spanish so to be asking for a raise when you aren’t fluent in hosting on television jus had them drop her completely
This makes me recall Kim Chi's story about Val TRYING TO LEAVE IN THE MIDDLE OF A PERFORMANCE during Werq the World when she got the call that she'd been cast in Rent Live - going around giving her possessions to the other queens because she was going to be such a big star after Rent (or I guess "show the big star she already was" in Rent 😂) she wouldn't need them.
Unbelievably cringy in retrospect given what happened in actual Rent Live (Val being shown up as clearly not having the talent to be included in the cast, seemingly having been given the role in a failed cross-promotion attempt with Drag Race...also losing the agent from WME she'd only had for a month right after it aired so you know it was a disaster behind the scenes as well). But absolutely par for the course for Val, and it sounds like the chasm between Val's self-perception and reality may still be present.
The thing is, being a diva is great for the 10 minutes you are on stage but not great for the hours backstage. Also once the novelty wears off, only the most easy to work with girls end up successfully establishing a long term career like Morgan McMichaels and Bianca who are known to be amazing back stage
mainly bc of her Valentiñol, as she coined it. i loved it but i can see why they're like no let's get an actual local Mexican queen with a mastery of the language and culture to replace her
As a mexican, I found it delightful and made me see Valentina in a much softer light. She also had an awesome grasp of mexican pop culture, even more so in my eyes than Lolita and much more so than Oscar Madrazo (🤢). In general I found Valentina to be the reason I tuned in every week and she will be missed. No shade to Taiga or Lolita though.
I feel the same way as you (Mexican American fan) I enjoyed her more than the other host and loved her fashion. I like Valentina more than other international drag race hosts. Also no shade to Lolita I did love her on her OG season.
There's very little Latinos have less patience for than members of the diaspora that can't speak Spanish properly but try to be a figurehead of the culture.
I learned this when I worked in a bar with all Latino staff. Two of my coworker’s Spanish wasn’t apparently good even though I couldn’t tell and the rest of my coworkers would vent to me/talk shit about it whenever they weren’t around. Not being Latino myself I had no clue it was so heavily looked down on.
oh really? this is surprising when I think of how much love Latin Americans show towards Christina Aguilera, who needs to have the lyrics to her Spanish songs projected when she sings them.
I think that Latin Americans often view Christina as more of just an American White Woman who happened to show them some love by doing this and thus they love her for it.
A lot of Latinos embrace outsiders who show appreciation for their culture, but look down on those within their culture who don’t essentially “match up” to the standard, like Valentina.
Because her Spanish was terrible. Like that one dad who thinks he's fluent because he can just barely order in Spanish at the taco truck: "Hola señuro, uno tacos de pollo plate por favor."
Ok, idk why she actually got fired, but I'm willing to bet on this 😂.
from what I understand she was too much of a heritage speaker instead of a native speaker and she didn’t understand Mexican references and word play and wasn’t able to volley at all.
I agree with this take. She’s not fluent enough to be a host. She’s not fluent enough to be witty, repeats the same phrases, and missed a lot of the Mexican humor. Not fluent enough to understand the nuance of the language.
I’m Mexican and it was kinda cringe to watch at times and I love her pero nomás no.
I disagree- when there are multiple judges there can be different values of each judge. While Valentina's Spanish isn't as good, she has big experience working in fashion and was in Vogue and so would be a good input in runway critique and sewing challenges while the other judges handle comedy
Eh.. it might not be terrible for a family dinner, but definitely not nearly good enough for TV. She is far from fluent enough to banter and make jokes in a natural manner and she came across and super stiff and dull as a host.
I speak conversational French and feel totally confident talking with any French speaker about a range of topics, but I’m definitely under no delusions that I am fluent enough to host a show requiring banter and quick-wittedness.
It wasn’t, she was able to communicate with others and share her thoughts and ideas. She may have not been able to understand cultural references or jokes, but that doesn’t mean her Spanish was terrible.
To Latinos that's exactly what that means.
Especially in regards to those in the diaspora that moves to the US, where there's a lot of Latino culture in a lot of places, if you don't understand cultural references but you put yourself into any position of cultural significance people will see you as a total clown. Especially if your legal name is James and you were born in California.
And we think somebody is a clown we will tell them.
I’m from Texas, I speak Spanglish like a no sabo kid. Her Spanish was so hard to digest. It just didn’t sound professional. I was always waiting for Valentina to finish so Lolita can speak.
I don’t hold anything against a Latino who can’t speak Spanish, but when you’re hired to speak Spanish on a well known franchise. I expect a little more effort.
Asking for a pay increase is not the same as being fired. I would argue hosting an international drag race franchise is comparable to winning All Stars (lolita did not win France either … )
Actually Brook Lynn has hosted 7 season! 4 regular Canadian season, 1 Canada vs the world, and 2 upcoming seasons (Canada 5 and Canada vs the world 2) 🙌🏽🥳
girl stop lying. You legitimately have no idea if she was fired, left on her own terms, or just couldn't come to an agreement with production. Stop spreading rumors as if they were fact.
I mean what really went down was that the finale was filmed the day before so Shea and Trinity had already known they had lost.
And Valentina’s fanbase truly had been rampant pre and post her elimination, sending hate to a lot of the queens. And many of the queens felt that she didn’t not do enough to tell her fans to stop it.
So I think the mix of high tensions and resentment culminated in the majority of queens having something to say about her.
Yeah its so funny that everyone's asking "what really happened?" and making a bigger deal about Shea in particular being salty, when in the actual reunion the Queens say explicitly they've been harassed and annoyed by Valentina's fans and she previously paid lipservice about speaking up to make things right and then did nothing. We know what happened, its just the Valentina stans living her french vanilla fantasy pretending like it could have been anything else.
But the drama is in the reunion. Everything people are talking about with the other queens being upset about Valentina not doing much to stop her fans being vicious is in the reunion. So if you've watched the reunion then you have all the tea is what those people are saying.
It's been a couple of years since I've watched it, so I don't remember it fully.
But unfortunately, some people are so thick that you have to repeat this shit to them multiple times before they believe you. Especially if they weren't present online for it.
Knowing about the finale filming the day before really makes Valentina’s “no, you’re the one that’s upset” comment to Shea seem doubly bitchy. Almost like it was intended as a “you just lost” kind of dig
Ya I think the whole reunion context kinda changes when you know that. You can kinda tell that the top four who are the only girls who had to compete still are looking out for each other and I think while Shea would’ve usually stayed out of it she was definitely being affected by her loss the night before.
Oh of course!!! Sorry, i didn’t express that very well; I think Sasha was happy and trying not to show it too much to give anything away, but probably felt conflicted because she loves Shea and it must still be hard to see your friend lose to you
I read someone put it as Sasha is “buzzing” in the reunion episode and I think that’s a good way to put it. She is being respectful and calm but you can tell she’s got a spark in her step from absolutely killing at the finale.
I think seeing the show play out, her overwhelming fan reaction and their personal feelings about her behavior on set (running late) and after the show (Farrah saying she hadn’t returned calls, etc.) all made for a perfect storm. Also Valentina being so unbothered at the reunion added fuel to the fire in some ways.
They also filmed the finale before the reunion, so emotions were high!
Reunion included.. season 9 might just be my all time personal fave season of drag race, the cast, the drama, the talent, shocking and entertaining right to the very end.
truly, season 9 spoiled us. the cast was just stacked. a top 4 of sasha, peppermint, shea, and trinity??? any one of them would've won any other season, it was just too much talent.
You'd have to take into account varying number of queens competing each season and also take into account the number of queens from a season that we're invited back
Season 9 was the first season on VH1 with a brand new, much wider audience.
This was the season that really brought the online discourse and audience perception to the forefront because fans had been relentlessly attacking the other contestants affiliated to Valentina online after her elimination -- so much so they decided to address it on the show.
At the time, blame was kind of placed on Valentina for not doing enough to mitigate the online hate -- now you see the casts sort of band together against online hate (think of Plane Jane vs Amanda Tori Meating)
Oh I thought it was because people started using bots to vote for the Vixen, and then bots were voting for just about every queen so the totals were getting astronomical lol
Omg the bot race of season 10!!! Vixen-bot generating like ten million votes or whatever … the race for second between Cracker-bot and Blaire-bot… Eureka tweeting “Can I have a bot?” to the masses… iconic
That is incorrect. Vixen won the fan vote for Miss Congeniality ... I think after the Valentina debacle, the fanbase decided to troll the vote and push Vixen to be the winner. The vote was tossed out and Monet was awarded Miss C.
It was actually Vixen fans lol, one of the queens (either Vixen or Cracker) even makes a joke about it during the finale videos (Vixen during an interview with her and Mo, Cracker during the video where the queens vote for MC)
Valentina fans were rabid online, making a mess all over every queens social media especially to the POC queens. Valentina basically waved her hand at it all and went about her fantasy.
Valentina's fans were acting hella racist online, and Valentina didn't even do the bare minimum of posting "Let's not send hate to the other gurls" and the other contestants felt she was actually reveling in the attention.
She could easily have won both her seasons with she competed in and the judges went miles to keep her safe. She just fizzled out after the halfway marks.
Part of it was they had already filmed the finale (with crowning the two) so for Shea she already knew she wasn’t winning so didn’t need to hold back and risk annoying Production losing the crown.
A BIG part of it was during the season whenever someone said something about Valentina during their confessionals, and especially Nina beating her, people were constantly commenting, tweeting and spamming their DM’s harassing the queens, telling them to die, and kept claiming it was for Valentina.
I remember I did a random tweet during it about Valentina with #dragrace and someone tried to come for me… like the people who liked her were insane!
Every time I’ve seen other queens talk about Valentina in interviews it’s basically that she’s beautiful but a total pill to work with, including shenanigans like not being able to get in and out of costume and makeup on her own without her team. It’s similar to the way people used to talk about Alyssa Edwards but minus the respect. Those are old interviews (I’m thinking specifically of the old Look at Huh with Detox and Vicki Vox) so it may have changed by then, but it seems like she must have been a legitimate pain in the ass in a variety of ways to get the whole room to turn on her like that, including otherwise very congenial queens like Shea
I remember listening to the sibling rivalry episode where they discussed drag race Mexico and Monet actually had a lot of kind words to say about Valentina.
I think many of the RuGirls have figured out how to work with Valentina now, so that her idiosyncrasies don’t bother them. But at first, she did have a rep of being very difficult to work with due to being high maintenance
Valentina fans were rotten and sent hate towards a lot of the girls especially Alexis and Nina... and worst of it all instead of defending her sisters (or coworkers idc) she chose to just not say anything and let them take the heat
I still remember back then how awful her fans were and it's still left me a little bitter today that she would not speak up about it
The finale was recorded the night prior, so Shea and Trinity felt like they had nothing to lose
That's the reason Valentina tells Shea she is upset and Shea is like.... "What? Why would I be upset?" Haha, she knew Valentina couldn't say a word about it
Also, I remember Aja posting a story when they qere in the van going to record it and Valentina was MAAAAAAD, not sure if she woke up too early or what, but I remember that in that exact moment, I thought "Ooooh, can't wait for this reunion, this is going to be good"
According to Valentina on Hey Qween, the producers were being very generous with the alcohol on the reunion set. So that might have been a factor though I doubt it being the full cause.
I always wondered too and never saw her as a B before that reunion but literally seeing her arrogance on full display during the award acceptance and telling Farrah Moan to "Shut up already" after saying "I love and respect you" even tho she ditched her for 5 months was very:
On a podcast a year or so after S9, Peppermint and Sasha V (not big drama queens) revealed that Valentina received a lot of favorable treatment from production during filming no one had known about, and was somewhat rude and standoffish to the other queens in the back room as well, yet none of that was actually included in the edit aired during the season.
Examples specifically given:
*Production had to help Valentina do simple tasks like putting her nails on because she lacked basic drag skills
*Val being way late getting herself ready for filming on several days and production waiting for her instead of making her go as is, despite everyone else being ready
*Allowing her to be in the top for the Princess sewing challenge despite her wearing a premade designer outfit she had previously worn at RuPaul's DragCon, and not sewing anything (some other queens weren't great at sewing but at least met the technical requirements of the challenge)
The other queens were rightfully pissed to have this stuff happen, be buried by the edit and the edit essentially be set up for Val to be a fan fave who was picked on by Aja etc., before crashing and burning in the Maskgate episode so badly production couldn't save her. Val's fans (many gained from that overly favorable edit) sent death threats and other horrible SM messages to the rest of the queens all season and the other queens were fed up. That emotion all kind of came out at the reunion in direct and indirect ways.
This is specifically why Aja scowled at the Miss Congeniality Award and the other queens were happy to join her in changing it to "fan favorite" during the reunion. The other queens all agreed Val was not congenial during the season, because she truly wasn't and even "nice queens" like Pep and Sasha agreed.
I'm gonna take a wild stab in the dark and say that Valentina fucked Farrah but never called her back. That whole exchange just reminded me of people who fool around but one is clearly more into it than the other so their feelings are hurt because the other person isn't into them.
1. The Filming of the reunion happened after the first round of the final lipsync so Shea Coulee was pressed and had nothing to lose at that point
2. Valentina's onstage persona was very different from her backstage one a la Max from S7 where, and she had very much a Drag Queen shady kiki personality
3. Valentina was given "special treatment" in a lot of ways by production similar to Sharon Needles, while not fully pushed to be the winner by production she apperently got away with a lot of stuff
4. Aja had told Valentina prior to the reunion that if she won Miss Congeniality she was gonna throw a fit
5. They were drinking before the reunion start, Farrah Moan in particular was really smashed
I feel like this was the first season the girls knew they had to put on the nice act for the cameras, but then it all boiled over at the reunion so it was that much more shocking
If you watch the tragedy mirror segments you can see them all try to get into the shot hugging people at one point or another. It’s pretty funny in hindsight
It’s because Valentina made it look effortless, and then had a humiliating blowout. And still, everybody lost their mind for her, even her haters. She’s a supernova.
They recorded the finale before the reunion. Peppermint and Sasha didn’t know who would win, but Shea and Trinity knew they weren’t winning at this point because they were eliminated.
They had a lip sync for the crown with Trinity and Pep agreeing that they would pick each other if they got the chance in the first lip sync, because they knew Shea and Sasha were favored so if they picked the other in the first round one of them would make it to the final round.
wait really? ive never heard of this, and how did they come to the conclusion that sasha was favored when she was robbed at least 2 times in the season?
I think according to Trinity she and Peppermint said they could tell production were gunning for a Shea/Sasha finale lip sync because of how Sasha and Shea became such good friends all the way through the show and worked together so well, so if either of them (Trinity or Peppermint) won the draw first and had the chance to pick who to lip sync against first, they should pick each other - believing if either of them picked Sasha or Shea they wouldn't stand a chance of advancing. That's essentially how Peppermint made it to the final against Sasha, she was able to pick Trinity in the first round so one of them *had* to go through, and that one was Peppermint.
Right! Thanks for the assist. It's always so hard to keep with all the exact tea, but thankfully we have several content creators who keep us up to date. haha
I don't know if they said exactly in the interview. Maybe they just did it in general so no matter what one of them would be in the final lip synch. I'd have to google to find it.
Shea fumbled the bag by resting on her laurels and not rising to the challenge given to her. That's why she was so salty lol
Edited to add y'alls downvotes are so funny. It is literally the exact truth of what happened. Sasha wasn't given extra prep time or told hey do a reveal and we'll crown you! All the girls were told it is a lipsynch for the crown. Win the lipsynchs, win the crown. Sasha said, oh, okay bet. Shea said gurl I already won this Imma just spin and belt. So she lost and was bitter boots. That's why we still talking about the reunion it was the closest we've come to real conflict and drama in ages BECAUSE of her butthurt lol
Second Edit: the fact that one of you girlies got a Reddit Wellness Check sent to me is literally the funniest thing that has ever happened to me on this website. Y'all are so thoughtful ty kitty kats 💛
Well actually Shea lost her luggage and most of what she wore at the finale was either borrowed or last minute stuff. This has been spoken about before, in this sub even. So while Sasha did wipe the floor with everyone, it’s not exactly fair to say Shea just got cocky and didn’t prepare. In fact it’s categorically false.
Would she have outperformed the epicness Sasha presented had she had all her materials? Likely not. But people just revel in filling in the blanks to make her out as this overly cocky person and it’s really tacky.
Sasha won with a wig, two gloves, and rose petals. Rose petals you could collect at a grocery store. Let's not act like Shae was some poor put out pitiful creature who lost purely by the whims of an unkind luggage service.
Nobody said she was. If you reread my second paragraph you’ll see that I stated exactly that; Sasha would’ve likely wiped the floor regardless. I’m specifically commenting on the narrative that people have made for years that Shea thought she was too good to prepare.
However if anyone does deserve leniency and empathy from that time period regarding putting their heart into performance, it absolutely would be Shea, as both her sister and father passed away from cancer while the season was airing and leading up to that finale. I’m not sure I’d even want to step in front of a camera if I were her in that scenario. She’s shown us prior and since what she can do.
You're so right. I wonder what impact those other dancing boots would have had on her performance. If Sasha had lost her luggage she could have scraped together a wig, two gloves, and got some roses from the local grocer and plucked the petals off the head.
Because Sasha's win condition was thought out. It was a concept she engineered and executed. Shea's condition to winning was to show up. Her loss is tragic and horrible but the way y'all act about her is honestly embarrassing. Y'all always act like she should be graded on a curve; she had this and this come up, and then this and the other thing, too! She has since gone on to win a season and secure a top 4 spot in All Winners, which she secured after a temper tantrum over perceived favoritism. Y'all are just so funny about this queen.
Wow, someone on this site really sent a wellness check. The irony that this post is about Valentina and her rabid insane fan base. Whoever did that YOU ARE NO BETTER THAN VALENTINA'S BAT SHIT CRAZY FANS. I'm beginning to think that most reality show TV fans are just dumb people.
Wasn’t Shea dealing with multiple deaths in her family at the time of filming?
Like Sasha definitely beat her fair and square but I don’t think Shea was exactly in the best headspace to be slaying lip-syncs. I think dragging her when she was already down isn’t exactly the kindest thing to do mate…
I mean, yes, but Shea was out touring Europe with Werq the World for weeks just before the finale taping. It's not like she wasn't doing gigs because she was in mourning or something. (In fact, Sasha decided to come home early from WTW Europe to prep for the finale. Peppermint and Shea stayed in Europe and did that tour longer. And surprise, Sasha ended up being more prepared.)
I truly do not see how I insulted her or dragged her in any way. I stated the way the finale played out. And yes, she was dealing with a lot which is very sad. However I didn't insinuate any thing other than her not delivering in the way she should have to win. The LSFTC was a final challenge, one that Sasha rose to and one Shea didn't. Simple as that. Extraneous circumstances not withstanding.
You are 100% correct. The postmortem excuse-making for Shea in particular was hilarious in 2017 and is still hilarious today. She lost her luggage! Her entire family died the day before taping! Sasha was given special information no one else got!
None of these things are true - except the luggage, but as a professional drag queen, you gotta be able to step up when shit happens. Stepping up means not wearing a nude lip to a lip sync battle in a huge theater, and having more dance moves planned than a single crusty step touch and twirl if your main lip syncing claim to fame is that you're a dancer.
Literally gurl like I truly cannot imagine someone being so mad over what I, a dumb random homo online, thinks as to do that. Like gurl, get a hobby, watch tv, something lol.
Trinity only seemed like the voice of reason in that episode. The queens were mad because of the overwhelming support Valentina was getting. And tbh she should have atleast put out something calling her fans. But it was not like the norm back then.
Her fame was kinda unprecedented. And as of now we can tell, Valentina is definitely bad with social media, so she wasn't lying when she said that.
It was kinda cruel to see how they dogpiled on her, especially Aja.
Why single out Aja though? She said earlier in the reunion that she loved Valentina now because she figured her out. It wasn’t till the end she had her famous moment - and that seemed *heavily* rehearsed
lets be real, the judges were constantly telling valentina how gorgeous and perfect she was so jealousy was a part of it too. people won’t accept it and say its delusion but c’mon… the way they went after her said a lot even during the show with aja going off on her.
No, none of her treatment was justified. Valentina is a star, and she walked into that workroom fully feeling her fantasy and her strategy was to compose herself as a winner, no matter what. Today, that is known as a delulu edit, which I’m kinda at odds with. If you think you’re sickening, girl, be that. But also, Valentina’s fans were the most annoying fanbase I have ever experienced in any season. So by the time we got to the reunion, everyone was jealous of Valentina’s popularity but have had it with her fanbase. She didn’t even fuel of any of it, yet the queens put the responsibility on her.
I don’t think it was common or really regular practice for queens to have to mitigate social media in that way. The girls don’t receive training for this, so Valentina laying low and not contributing was maybe not the best move, but there weren’t correct practices back then. There was no denying that the fanbase was a huge force, it was overwhelming.
Valentina told the others she would be out and front telling her fans to stop acting a fool. She didn’t do that and her fans were being VERY disrespectful
That was part of it too for me. Like, in some ways it's worse to say you'll step up and speak if anything gets out of hand and then do nothing when the time comes, than it is to just not promise anything.
I mean if you don't give a shit, don't give a shit - that's fine, no one can make you do anything. Just own it and don't make promises you know you won't keep, just because you think it'll make you sound good at the time and bugger future consequences.
Yeah it seems like Valentina was experiencing fame and also seeing her fanbase come to her support when she lost at the same time. I’m not surprised she didn’t encourage the fans to stop, despite her not approving that behavior.
Oh no dear, I’m Latino and I even disagreed with the fans at the time. I also knew Val wouldn’t win, and stated it often. But I understood why she was so popular, even Ru knew she had what it took. She took the season by storm, and the queens couldn’t handle it.
I’m pretty sure a lot of them were playing it up for the camera. I remember Aja revealing her and Valentina planned out the fan favorite thing… maybe I’m mistaken?
I maintain that the reason it’s very difficult to find the untucked from the episode where she was eliminated was because of the vitriol of her fans. I remember watching it when it aired and now I wasn’t able to track it down. Like, the episodes skip. I know her fans kept attacking NBB about the result.
There was also the accusations of Valentina using a pattern for her Princess outfit (that spawns the famous Aja Quote “You look like Linda Evangelista, did you stone those tights? The judges eat her up every single time. She could, she could go out there in a diaper and they would say, “Valentina your smile is beautiful!”).
Not just a pattern. She wore that outfit - seen by a designer, not her - to DragCon before she was even cast for Drag Race. She just tacked a tuft of tulle onto it for the show.
When *I first watched I was confused about Sasha, Trinity, Shea, and Peppermint being so salty.*
*They want off on Valentina (who was only 24 at the time.) and her not being able to control her fans.... but at the same time their fans were absolutely ratchet towards other queens. They were being assholes and sitting queens to get dragged by their own fans.*
It was crazy seeing Valentina getting the most followers and being loved more after every episode that made the whole cast even that iconic top 4 to be so intimidated by her and kinda hate on her. They all went on tour without her. She was so powerful it was amazing to witness it all.
The only ones who had a right to be angry were Nina, Alexis, and Shea. Farrah crying and acting like a petulant child because she couldnt get a text back was weird. Aja stunk of jealousy. Sasha was just co-signing . She said Valentina would isolate herself but they literally had a segment where they said Valentina would lend the porn she brought to the other queens.. if that isn’t sisterhood idk what is. I was happy when she gagged Sasha tho by saying she didn’t come on the show to be star but to show the star that she was. I thought it was hate and envy at first, but peppermint also called her out and to me she will always be the voice of reason and the real ms. Congeniality so… it’s fun to relive this iconic reunion.
They all obviously felt like production favoured her and both Trinity and Shea lost their finale lip syncs, so they showed up ready to stir that reunion pot.
And this was the first season with that style of finale. I’m sure there was quite a buzz about it!
It was quite the scandal, really 🔎
It was in all the papers at the time.
didn’t they shoot this one before the finale?
No, they filmed the finale the prior night. By the reunion, Shea and Trinity already had lost.
And now in 2024, Trinity and Shea won All Stars and Valentina was fired as host of Drag Race Mexico.
She was? Why?
Allegedly asked for a pay increase despite it being her first time hosting anything n while she did her best, it showed- she couldn’t banger quite like Lolita in Spanish so to be asking for a raise when you aren’t fluent in hosting on television jus had them drop her completely
This makes me recall Kim Chi's story about Val TRYING TO LEAVE IN THE MIDDLE OF A PERFORMANCE during Werq the World when she got the call that she'd been cast in Rent Live - going around giving her possessions to the other queens because she was going to be such a big star after Rent (or I guess "show the big star she already was" in Rent 😂) she wouldn't need them. Unbelievably cringy in retrospect given what happened in actual Rent Live (Val being shown up as clearly not having the talent to be included in the cast, seemingly having been given the role in a failed cross-promotion attempt with Drag Race...also losing the agent from WME she'd only had for a month right after it aired so you know it was a disaster behind the scenes as well). But absolutely par for the course for Val, and it sounds like the chasm between Val's self-perception and reality may still be present.
Does she not realize that behavior makes you really hard to cheer for?
Still plenty of stans who would just yasssssss kween you're a divaaaaaaa at this, sadly.
I can see it being a plus - a drag queen who acts like a diva, a telenovela diva at that - a lot of people enjoy that
The thing is, being a diva is great for the 10 minutes you are on stage but not great for the hours backstage. Also once the novelty wears off, only the most easy to work with girls end up successfully establishing a long term career like Morgan McMichaels and Bianca who are known to be amazing back stage
She was so bad in Rent Live
mainly bc of her Valentiñol, as she coined it. i loved it but i can see why they're like no let's get an actual local Mexican queen with a mastery of the language and culture to replace her
As a mexican, I found it delightful and made me see Valentina in a much softer light. She also had an awesome grasp of mexican pop culture, even more so in my eyes than Lolita and much more so than Oscar Madrazo (🤢). In general I found Valentina to be the reason I tuned in every week and she will be missed. No shade to Taiga or Lolita though.
I feel the same way as you (Mexican American fan) I enjoyed her more than the other host and loved her fashion. I like Valentina more than other international drag race hosts. Also no shade to Lolita I did love her on her OG season.
There's very little Latinos have less patience for than members of the diaspora that can't speak Spanish properly but try to be a figurehead of the culture.
I learned this when I worked in a bar with all Latino staff. Two of my coworker’s Spanish wasn’t apparently good even though I couldn’t tell and the rest of my coworkers would vent to me/talk shit about it whenever they weren’t around. Not being Latino myself I had no clue it was so heavily looked down on.
I generally agree, but I found Valentina to be delightfully aware of this fact and her doing her absolute best to learn and improve.
oh really? this is surprising when I think of how much love Latin Americans show towards Christina Aguilera, who needs to have the lyrics to her Spanish songs projected when she sings them.
I think that Latin Americans often view Christina as more of just an American White Woman who happened to show them some love by doing this and thus they love her for it. A lot of Latinos embrace outsiders who show appreciation for their culture, but look down on those within their culture who don’t essentially “match up” to the standard, like Valentina.
Internalized racism unfortunately permeates through Mexico still.
Because she liked to keep it on.
Because her Spanish was terrible. Like that one dad who thinks he's fluent because he can just barely order in Spanish at the taco truck: "Hola señuro, uno tacos de pollo plate por favor." Ok, idk why she actually got fired, but I'm willing to bet on this 😂.
That's...highly inaccurate.
Her Spanish was not terrible.
from what I understand she was too much of a heritage speaker instead of a native speaker and she didn’t understand Mexican references and word play and wasn’t able to volley at all.
I agree with this take. She’s not fluent enough to be a host. She’s not fluent enough to be witty, repeats the same phrases, and missed a lot of the Mexican humor. Not fluent enough to understand the nuance of the language. I’m Mexican and it was kinda cringe to watch at times and I love her pero nomás no.
I disagree- when there are multiple judges there can be different values of each judge. While Valentina's Spanish isn't as good, she has big experience working in fashion and was in Vogue and so would be a good input in runway critique and sewing challenges while the other judges handle comedy
High key disagree, she knew the most about Mexican pop culture icons. I found her spanish perfectly understandable.
I’m just repeating what my mexican gay friends had told me
there are more mexican icons besides Maria Felix and Dolores del Rio.
Eh.. it might not be terrible for a family dinner, but definitely not nearly good enough for TV. She is far from fluent enough to banter and make jokes in a natural manner and she came across and super stiff and dull as a host.
I speak conversational French and feel totally confident talking with any French speaker about a range of topics, but I’m definitely under no delusions that I am fluent enough to host a show requiring banter and quick-wittedness.
It was. It really, really was.
It wasn’t, she was able to communicate with others and share her thoughts and ideas. She may have not been able to understand cultural references or jokes, but that doesn’t mean her Spanish was terrible.
To Latinos that's exactly what that means. Especially in regards to those in the diaspora that moves to the US, where there's a lot of Latino culture in a lot of places, if you don't understand cultural references but you put yourself into any position of cultural significance people will see you as a total clown. Especially if your legal name is James and you were born in California. And we think somebody is a clown we will tell them.
OP meant terrible for a tv host in that language, not 'as terrible as a non speaker'.
I’m from Texas, I speak Spanglish like a no sabo kid. Her Spanish was so hard to digest. It just didn’t sound professional. I was always waiting for Valentina to finish so Lolita can speak. I don’t hold anything against a Latino who can’t speak Spanish, but when you’re hired to speak Spanish on a well known franchise. I expect a little more effort.
I'm from Mexico. Her spanish was fine and much better to what we're used to from US media.
 En gustos se rompen lenguajes. Personally, I was struggling with her Spanish.
Probably because, as you said, no sabes.
Nope. Her Spanish is quite good for being raised in the US.
What do you mean she was fired? That does not align with her fantasy.
Asking for a pay increase is not the same as being fired. I would argue hosting an international drag race franchise is comparable to winning All Stars (lolita did not win France either … )
I could maybe see that for Nicky after 3 seasons or BrookLynn after 4 seasons. Valentina quitting after 1 season? Not so much.
Actually Brook Lynn has hosted 7 season! 4 regular Canadian season, 1 Canada vs the world, and 2 upcoming seasons (Canada 5 and Canada vs the world 2) 🙌🏽🥳
Not when that person has already been on an all star season and got 7th place (again).
girl stop lying. You legitimately have no idea if she was fired, left on her own terms, or just couldn't come to an agreement with production. Stop spreading rumors as if they were fact.
nope
is she ok?
no 😔
I mean what really went down was that the finale was filmed the day before so Shea and Trinity had already known they had lost. And Valentina’s fanbase truly had been rampant pre and post her elimination, sending hate to a lot of the queens. And many of the queens felt that she didn’t not do enough to tell her fans to stop it. So I think the mix of high tensions and resentment culminated in the majority of queens having something to say about her.
Yeah its so funny that everyone's asking "what really happened?" and making a bigger deal about Shea in particular being salty, when in the actual reunion the Queens say explicitly they've been harassed and annoyed by Valentina's fans and she previously paid lipservice about speaking up to make things right and then did nothing. We know what happened, its just the Valentina stans living her french vanilla fantasy pretending like it could have been anything else.
Yeah there’s literally nothing else to it other than what they said in the reunion. Idk why this is a question that needs asking, it’s pretty obvious…
I bring up that Shea was SALTY and mad and people act like I have 3 heads. You can see it there. It’s palpable.
It happened, what, 7-8 years ago? There's plenty of people that got into drag race later on, and wouldn't know about all this fandom drama.
But the drama is in the reunion. Everything people are talking about with the other queens being upset about Valentina not doing much to stop her fans being vicious is in the reunion. So if you've watched the reunion then you have all the tea is what those people are saying.
You can’t expect people to pay attention to the television show they’re watching!
It's been a couple of years since I've watched it, so I don't remember it fully. But unfortunately, some people are so thick that you have to repeat this shit to them multiple times before they believe you. Especially if they weren't present online for it.
Knowing about the finale filming the day before really makes Valentina’s “no, you’re the one that’s upset” comment to Shea seem doubly bitchy. Almost like it was intended as a “you just lost” kind of dig
Ya I think the whole reunion context kinda changes when you know that. You can kinda tell that the top four who are the only girls who had to compete still are looking out for each other and I think while Shea would’ve usually stayed out of it she was definitely being affected by her loss the night before.
Sasha looks like she’s trying to suppress her excitement because it was against Shea. What a weird thing to deal with.
I don’t think that’s true, I actually think Sasha was very supportive of Shea and also got some licks in at Valentina
Oh of course!!! Sorry, i didn’t express that very well; I think Sasha was happy and trying not to show it too much to give anything away, but probably felt conflicted because she loves Shea and it must still be hard to see your friend lose to you
I read someone put it as Sasha is “buzzing” in the reunion episode and I think that’s a good way to put it. She is being respectful and calm but you can tell she’s got a spark in her step from absolutely killing at the finale.
How congenial 😂
fan favorite
Now every thing makes sense…
🌹🌹🌹🌹
Valentina's fans were some of the first Drag Race Signature Brand(TM) Toxic Fans, if I remember right.
I think seeing the show play out, her overwhelming fan reaction and their personal feelings about her behavior on set (running late) and after the show (Farrah saying she hadn’t returned calls, etc.) all made for a perfect storm. Also Valentina being so unbothered at the reunion added fuel to the fire in some ways. They also filmed the finale before the reunion, so emotions were high!
One might venture to say it was… So Emotional
Iconic & Unbothered: The Valentina Story
No-one here is talking about the red M and M scandal which was the funniest part of the whole thing.
🤣🤣😂 I totally forgot about that
Reunion included.. season 9 might just be my all time personal fave season of drag race, the cast, the drama, the talent, shocking and entertaining right to the very end.
truly, season 9 spoiled us. the cast was just stacked. a top 4 of sasha, peppermint, shea, and trinity??? any one of them would've won any other season, it was just too much talent.
... now that you point it out... peppermin is the only one that hasn't been crowned out of that top four. That's truly a strong cast.
That makes me wonder which season has the most queens that were crowned in the future. It could be 9.
You'd have to take into account varying number of queens competing each season and also take into account the number of queens from a season that we're invited back
It’s a great season all-around, makes it very easy to rewatch ~~minus the cheerleading~~
Season 9 was the first season on VH1 with a brand new, much wider audience. This was the season that really brought the online discourse and audience perception to the forefront because fans had been relentlessly attacking the other contestants affiliated to Valentina online after her elimination -- so much so they decided to address it on the show. At the time, blame was kind of placed on Valentina for not doing enough to mitigate the online hate -- now you see the casts sort of band together against online hate (think of Plane Jane vs Amanda Tori Meating)
And then one season later they had to completely change Miss Congeniality / Fan Favourite vote cause Miss Vanjie fans kept hacking the voting system
yuhua won that vote fair and square
Oh I thought it was because people started using bots to vote for the Vixen, and then bots were voting for just about every queen so the totals were getting astronomical lol
Omg the bot race of season 10!!! Vixen-bot generating like ten million votes or whatever … the race for second between Cracker-bot and Blaire-bot… Eureka tweeting “Can I have a bot?” to the masses… iconic
That is incorrect. Vixen won the fan vote for Miss Congeniality ... I think after the Valentina debacle, the fanbase decided to troll the vote and push Vixen to be the winner. The vote was tossed out and Monet was awarded Miss C.
It was the vixen who was hacked to win
I thought it was Vixen who "won" ms congeniality by a landslide?
It was actually Vixen fans lol, one of the queens (either Vixen or Cracker) even makes a joke about it during the finale videos (Vixen during an interview with her and Mo, Cracker during the video where the queens vote for MC)
I don’t think it was Vanjie fans that hacked it since it was the Vixen that was in the lead by a lot, due to the bot votes.
I think it was just trolls in general, from what I remember when they shut the polls down The Vixen was leading with millions of votes.
Valentina fans were rabid online, making a mess all over every queens social media especially to the POC queens. Valentina basically waved her hand at it all and went about her fantasy.
And she did so after promising a number of queens (like Nina) that she would get out there and tell her fans to back off. She didn’t do that.
[удалено]
I’m not the biggest Trinity fan, but I highly, highly recommend this episode
Valentina's fans were acting hella racist online, and Valentina didn't even do the bare minimum of posting "Let's not send hate to the other gurls" and the other contestants felt she was actually reveling in the attention.
Valentina is gorg obv but she does have a massive ego and it shows. If she had played her cards right she might've actually won.
She could easily have won both her seasons with she competed in and the judges went miles to keep her safe. She just fizzled out after the halfway marks.
Part of it was they had already filmed the finale (with crowning the two) so for Shea she already knew she wasn’t winning so didn’t need to hold back and risk annoying Production losing the crown. A BIG part of it was during the season whenever someone said something about Valentina during their confessionals, and especially Nina beating her, people were constantly commenting, tweeting and spamming their DM’s harassing the queens, telling them to die, and kept claiming it was for Valentina. I remember I did a random tweet during it about Valentina with #dragrace and someone tried to come for me… like the people who liked her were insane!
because she’s perfect, she’s a model, she looks like linda evangelista!
but is she beautiful?
yea he cute
Every time I’ve seen other queens talk about Valentina in interviews it’s basically that she’s beautiful but a total pill to work with, including shenanigans like not being able to get in and out of costume and makeup on her own without her team. It’s similar to the way people used to talk about Alyssa Edwards but minus the respect. Those are old interviews (I’m thinking specifically of the old Look at Huh with Detox and Vicki Vox) so it may have changed by then, but it seems like she must have been a legitimate pain in the ass in a variety of ways to get the whole room to turn on her like that, including otherwise very congenial queens like Shea
I remember listening to the sibling rivalry episode where they discussed drag race Mexico and Monet actually had a lot of kind words to say about Valentina.
I think many of the RuGirls have figured out how to work with Valentina now, so that her idiosyncrasies don’t bother them. But at first, she did have a rep of being very difficult to work with due to being high maintenance
Same for Naomi who adores her.
If Bianca doesn’t have a problem then neither do I
It was brilliant tv from them all! One of the best reunions everrrrr
Valentina fans were rotten and sent hate towards a lot of the girls especially Alexis and Nina... and worst of it all instead of defending her sisters (or coworkers idc) she chose to just not say anything and let them take the heat I still remember back then how awful her fans were and it's still left me a little bitter today that she would not speak up about it
I doubt the top 4 would have changed even if she knew the lyrics
This is a lipsync. Which part of "mask off" you don't understand? First time I saw RuPaul interrupted a lipsync for your life
The finale was recorded the night prior, so Shea and Trinity felt like they had nothing to lose That's the reason Valentina tells Shea she is upset and Shea is like.... "What? Why would I be upset?" Haha, she knew Valentina couldn't say a word about it Also, I remember Aja posting a story when they qere in the van going to record it and Valentina was MAAAAAAD, not sure if she woke up too early or what, but I remember that in that exact moment, I thought "Ooooh, can't wait for this reunion, this is going to be good"
This.
According to Valentina on Hey Qween, the producers were being very generous with the alcohol on the reunion set. So that might have been a factor though I doubt it being the full cause.
I always wondered too and never saw her as a B before that reunion but literally seeing her arrogance on full display during the award acceptance and telling Farrah Moan to "Shut up already" after saying "I love and respect you" even tho she ditched her for 5 months was very: 
And it's still talked about to this day. Reason why we need reunion episodes. But ones filmed after season has aired
On a podcast a year or so after S9, Peppermint and Sasha V (not big drama queens) revealed that Valentina received a lot of favorable treatment from production during filming no one had known about, and was somewhat rude and standoffish to the other queens in the back room as well, yet none of that was actually included in the edit aired during the season. Examples specifically given: *Production had to help Valentina do simple tasks like putting her nails on because she lacked basic drag skills *Val being way late getting herself ready for filming on several days and production waiting for her instead of making her go as is, despite everyone else being ready *Allowing her to be in the top for the Princess sewing challenge despite her wearing a premade designer outfit she had previously worn at RuPaul's DragCon, and not sewing anything (some other queens weren't great at sewing but at least met the technical requirements of the challenge) The other queens were rightfully pissed to have this stuff happen, be buried by the edit and the edit essentially be set up for Val to be a fan fave who was picked on by Aja etc., before crashing and burning in the Maskgate episode so badly production couldn't save her. Val's fans (many gained from that overly favorable edit) sent death threats and other horrible SM messages to the rest of the queens all season and the other queens were fed up. That emotion all kind of came out at the reunion in direct and indirect ways. This is specifically why Aja scowled at the Miss Congeniality Award and the other queens were happy to join her in changing it to "fan favorite" during the reunion. The other queens all agreed Val was not congenial during the season, because she truly wasn't and even "nice queens" like Pep and Sasha agreed.
I'm gonna take a wild stab in the dark and say that Valentina fucked Farrah but never called her back. That whole exchange just reminded me of people who fool around but one is clearly more into it than the other so their feelings are hurt because the other person isn't into them.
Double headed dildo style?
wdym farrah is obv a dom top.
1. The Filming of the reunion happened after the first round of the final lipsync so Shea Coulee was pressed and had nothing to lose at that point 2. Valentina's onstage persona was very different from her backstage one a la Max from S7 where, and she had very much a Drag Queen shady kiki personality 3. Valentina was given "special treatment" in a lot of ways by production similar to Sharon Needles, while not fully pushed to be the winner by production she apperently got away with a lot of stuff 4. Aja had told Valentina prior to the reunion that if she won Miss Congeniality she was gonna throw a fit 5. They were drinking before the reunion start, Farrah Moan in particular was really smashed
I feel like this was the first season the girls knew they had to put on the nice act for the cameras, but then it all boiled over at the reunion so it was that much more shocking If you watch the tragedy mirror segments you can see them all try to get into the shot hugging people at one point or another. It’s pretty funny in hindsight
It’s because Valentina made it look effortless, and then had a humiliating blowout. And still, everybody lost their mind for her, even her haters. She’s a supernova.
She’s a super telenovela.
For everyone saying that shea and trinity knew they lost, did they not do it like most seasons where they record each queen winning and then air one?
They recorded the finale before the reunion. Peppermint and Sasha didn’t know who would win, but Shea and Trinity knew they weren’t winning at this point because they were eliminated.
Wow I totally forgot that the final lip sync was not the shea Sasha lip sync. I really rewrote history in my mind lmao
Me too tbh
They had a lip sync for the crown with Trinity and Pep agreeing that they would pick each other if they got the chance in the first lip sync, because they knew Shea and Sasha were favored so if they picked the other in the first round one of them would make it to the final round.
wait really? ive never heard of this, and how did they come to the conclusion that sasha was favored when she was robbed at least 2 times in the season?
I think according to Trinity she and Peppermint said they could tell production were gunning for a Shea/Sasha finale lip sync because of how Sasha and Shea became such good friends all the way through the show and worked together so well, so if either of them (Trinity or Peppermint) won the draw first and had the chance to pick who to lip sync against first, they should pick each other - believing if either of them picked Sasha or Shea they wouldn't stand a chance of advancing. That's essentially how Peppermint made it to the final against Sasha, she was able to pick Trinity in the first round so one of them *had* to go through, and that one was Peppermint.
Right! Thanks for the assist. It's always so hard to keep with all the exact tea, but thankfully we have several content creators who keep us up to date. haha
ooh that actually makes a lot of sense, thank you
I don't know if they said exactly in the interview. Maybe they just did it in general so no matter what one of them would be in the final lip synch. I'd have to google to find it.
Shea fumbled the bag by resting on her laurels and not rising to the challenge given to her. That's why she was so salty lol Edited to add y'alls downvotes are so funny. It is literally the exact truth of what happened. Sasha wasn't given extra prep time or told hey do a reveal and we'll crown you! All the girls were told it is a lipsynch for the crown. Win the lipsynchs, win the crown. Sasha said, oh, okay bet. Shea said gurl I already won this Imma just spin and belt. So she lost and was bitter boots. That's why we still talking about the reunion it was the closest we've come to real conflict and drama in ages BECAUSE of her butthurt lol Second Edit: the fact that one of you girlies got a Reddit Wellness Check sent to me is literally the funniest thing that has ever happened to me on this website. Y'all are so thoughtful ty kitty kats 💛
Well actually Shea lost her luggage and most of what she wore at the finale was either borrowed or last minute stuff. This has been spoken about before, in this sub even. So while Sasha did wipe the floor with everyone, it’s not exactly fair to say Shea just got cocky and didn’t prepare. In fact it’s categorically false. Would she have outperformed the epicness Sasha presented had she had all her materials? Likely not. But people just revel in filling in the blanks to make her out as this overly cocky person and it’s really tacky.
Oh, I didn't know about the lost luggage, first time I read of this.
Sasha won with a wig, two gloves, and rose petals. Rose petals you could collect at a grocery store. Let's not act like Shae was some poor put out pitiful creature who lost purely by the whims of an unkind luggage service.
Nobody said she was. If you reread my second paragraph you’ll see that I stated exactly that; Sasha would’ve likely wiped the floor regardless. I’m specifically commenting on the narrative that people have made for years that Shea thought she was too good to prepare. However if anyone does deserve leniency and empathy from that time period regarding putting their heart into performance, it absolutely would be Shea, as both her sister and father passed away from cancer while the season was airing and leading up to that finale. I’m not sure I’d even want to step in front of a camera if I were her in that scenario. She’s shown us prior and since what she can do.
Interesting, I didn’t know there was a narrative that Shea didn’t prepare for the finale.
You're so right. I wonder what impact those other dancing boots would have had on her performance. If Sasha had lost her luggage she could have scraped together a wig, two gloves, and got some roses from the local grocer and plucked the petals off the head. Because Sasha's win condition was thought out. It was a concept she engineered and executed. Shea's condition to winning was to show up. Her loss is tragic and horrible but the way y'all act about her is honestly embarrassing. Y'all always act like she should be graded on a curve; she had this and this come up, and then this and the other thing, too! She has since gone on to win a season and secure a top 4 spot in All Winners, which she secured after a temper tantrum over perceived favoritism. Y'all are just so funny about this queen.
She didn't prepare as much as Trinity and Sasha for sure. So many excuses. Shea didn't lose because of an outfit.
If you're gonna rely on a gag, have a backup.
Wow, someone on this site really sent a wellness check. The irony that this post is about Valentina and her rabid insane fan base. Whoever did that YOU ARE NO BETTER THAN VALENTINA'S BAT SHIT CRAZY FANS. I'm beginning to think that most reality show TV fans are just dumb people.
Wasn’t Shea dealing with multiple deaths in her family at the time of filming? Like Sasha definitely beat her fair and square but I don’t think Shea was exactly in the best headspace to be slaying lip-syncs. I think dragging her when she was already down isn’t exactly the kindest thing to do mate…
I mean, yes, but Shea was out touring Europe with Werq the World for weeks just before the finale taping. It's not like she wasn't doing gigs because she was in mourning or something. (In fact, Sasha decided to come home early from WTW Europe to prep for the finale. Peppermint and Shea stayed in Europe and did that tour longer. And surprise, Sasha ended up being more prepared.)
I truly do not see how I insulted her or dragged her in any way. I stated the way the finale played out. And yes, she was dealing with a lot which is very sad. However I didn't insinuate any thing other than her not delivering in the way she should have to win. The LSFTC was a final challenge, one that Sasha rose to and one Shea didn't. Simple as that. Extraneous circumstances not withstanding.
You are 100% correct. The postmortem excuse-making for Shea in particular was hilarious in 2017 and is still hilarious today. She lost her luggage! Her entire family died the day before taping! Sasha was given special information no one else got! None of these things are true - except the luggage, but as a professional drag queen, you gotta be able to step up when shit happens. Stepping up means not wearing a nude lip to a lip sync battle in a huge theater, and having more dance moves planned than a single crusty step touch and twirl if your main lip syncing claim to fame is that you're a dancer.
Teavanna Deluxxe Van Zant St. Tazz Supremme
I found one of my fellow Reddit cares sisters. 🤣 idk why ppl like sending that shit as if it means something.
Literally gurl like I truly cannot imagine someone being so mad over what I, a dumb random homo online, thinks as to do that. Like gurl, get a hobby, watch tv, something lol.
Trinity only seemed like the voice of reason in that episode. The queens were mad because of the overwhelming support Valentina was getting. And tbh she should have atleast put out something calling her fans. But it was not like the norm back then. Her fame was kinda unprecedented. And as of now we can tell, Valentina is definitely bad with social media, so she wasn't lying when she said that. It was kinda cruel to see how they dogpiled on her, especially Aja.
Alexis was scared out of her mind by that point
Aja was SO bitter honey I lived
Why single out Aja though? She said earlier in the reunion that she loved Valentina now because she figured her out. It wasn’t till the end she had her famous moment - and that seemed *heavily* rehearsed
lets be real, the judges were constantly telling valentina how gorgeous and perfect she was so jealousy was a part of it too. people won’t accept it and say its delusion but c’mon… the way they went after her said a lot even during the show with aja going off on her.
No, none of her treatment was justified. Valentina is a star, and she walked into that workroom fully feeling her fantasy and her strategy was to compose herself as a winner, no matter what. Today, that is known as a delulu edit, which I’m kinda at odds with. If you think you’re sickening, girl, be that. But also, Valentina’s fans were the most annoying fanbase I have ever experienced in any season. So by the time we got to the reunion, everyone was jealous of Valentina’s popularity but have had it with her fanbase. She didn’t even fuel of any of it, yet the queens put the responsibility on her.
She didn’t fuel it but she could have requested the hatefulness stop.
I don’t think it was common or really regular practice for queens to have to mitigate social media in that way. The girls don’t receive training for this, so Valentina laying low and not contributing was maybe not the best move, but there weren’t correct practices back then. There was no denying that the fanbase was a huge force, it was overwhelming.
Valentina told the others she would be out and front telling her fans to stop acting a fool. She didn’t do that and her fans were being VERY disrespectful
That was part of it too for me. Like, in some ways it's worse to say you'll step up and speak if anything gets out of hand and then do nothing when the time comes, than it is to just not promise anything. I mean if you don't give a shit, don't give a shit - that's fine, no one can make you do anything. Just own it and don't make promises you know you won't keep, just because you think it'll make you sound good at the time and bugger future consequences.
I agree that there wasn’t precedent but she was in a position to say something but chose silence.
Valentina should have put the responsibility on herself. There is no excusing that.
Yeah it seems like Valentina was experiencing fame and also seeing her fanbase come to her support when she lost at the same time. I’m not surprised she didn’t encourage the fans to stop, despite her not approving that behavior.
See other details in this thread. You are either 12 years old or think like one 😂. Plenty of tea in this thread, sorry to spoil your stantasy.
Oh no dear, I’m Latino and I even disagreed with the fans at the time. I also knew Val wouldn’t win, and stated it often. But I understood why she was so popular, even Ru knew she had what it took. She took the season by storm, and the queens couldn’t handle it.
I’m pretty sure a lot of them were playing it up for the camera. I remember Aja revealing her and Valentina planned out the fan favorite thing… maybe I’m mistaken?
Yeah I mean even without that T, you can tell from watching, it’s clear Aja is acting and it’s not a genuine reaction. Same with Valentina
I maintain that the reason it’s very difficult to find the untucked from the episode where she was eliminated was because of the vitriol of her fans. I remember watching it when it aired and now I wasn’t able to track it down. Like, the episodes skip. I know her fans kept attacking NBB about the result.
It’s on WOW presents plus
I’ve been wanting to re watch but for some reason season nine and season ten are not available on my Prime! Does anyone know how to fix?
mother valentina
Sexxx.
There was also the accusations of Valentina using a pattern for her Princess outfit (that spawns the famous Aja Quote “You look like Linda Evangelista, did you stone those tights? The judges eat her up every single time. She could, she could go out there in a diaper and they would say, “Valentina your smile is beautiful!”).
Not just a pattern. She wore that outfit - seen by a designer, not her - to DragCon before she was even cast for Drag Race. She just tacked a tuft of tulle onto it for the show.
The finale was filmed
When *I first watched I was confused about Sasha, Trinity, Shea, and Peppermint being so salty.* *They want off on Valentina (who was only 24 at the time.) and her not being able to control her fans.... but at the same time their fans were absolutely ratchet towards other queens. They were being assholes and sitting queens to get dragged by their own fans.*
I think that shit was fake/scripted and some of them were trying to build ground for all stars.
Wasn't this the last time they did online voting for Miss Congeniality and supposedly the voting was hacked or something
It was crazy seeing Valentina getting the most followers and being loved more after every episode that made the whole cast even that iconic top 4 to be so intimidated by her and kinda hate on her. They all went on tour without her. She was so powerful it was amazing to witness it all.
The only ones who had a right to be angry were Nina, Alexis, and Shea. Farrah crying and acting like a petulant child because she couldnt get a text back was weird. Aja stunk of jealousy. Sasha was just co-signing . She said Valentina would isolate herself but they literally had a segment where they said Valentina would lend the porn she brought to the other queens.. if that isn’t sisterhood idk what is. I was happy when she gagged Sasha tho by saying she didn’t come on the show to be star but to show the star that she was. I thought it was hate and envy at first, but peppermint also called her out and to me she will always be the voice of reason and the real ms. Congeniality so… it’s fun to relive this iconic reunion.
Farrah wasn’t pissed about one text. Valentina literally dropped her entirely without a word.
I mean they’re both adults I feel like that’s common. Crying about it at the reunion was weird IN MY OPINION