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drag_race2011-03-11 08:16 pm
lifeofgatsby.livejournal.com) wrote in drag_race2011-03-11 08:16 pm
Entry tags:
Exit interview
I wasn't sure if this was still considered spoilers or not, but just in case, I'll keep it under the cut.
Delta Work's exit interview was recently posted on the NewNowNext blog. She has strong opinions about RuPaul and the show. All bolded words are my emphasis.
How do you feel about leaving the show when you did?
Every character in a FICTIONAL show meets their end, I suppose.
Regarding your elimination, what would you like to say to the judges in your defense? Any parting points you’d like to make?
I believe I always took to heart the judges’ critiques and RuPaul’s advice in the work room. With regards to the comedy challenge, I embraced RuPaul’s advice to work from self-critique. I was under the impression that everyone was going to do that and turn a place of personal doubt into funny jokes. I didn’t realize that taking Ru’s advice and putting into motion a fictional character with fictional jokes was going to be shaped to make me look like some sad, REAL person with no self-esteem to the point of non-function.
After watching the show, how do you feel about how the other queens and their behavior?
Good moments. Bad moments. There are only 13 queens in the world who will ever truly know what transpired at RDPR Season 3. I will say a have a new appreciation for the comedy that is editing. I never realized how much both Drag Race and Untucked are like “Mad Libs.” Editors just sorta fit things where they make sense and tell a story about whatever they like.
We saw a lot of footage of you and Raja commenting on the other contestants. Do you have any strong feelings about how you were portrayed?
I can see where people perceive things as harsh or insensitive, however that is not my concern. We are grown men drinking a bazillion cocktails engaging in funny commentary about peoples’ faults. YOU CAN ONLY READ OTHERS WHEN YOU ARE ABLE TO READ YOURSELF. I am unable to understand how people honestly think that all the commentary is so serious and intended to crush people’s lives. It’s jokes. It’s silly. It’s sorority.
I will say I find the puppet-show nature of the conversations is hilarious. One instance you’re laughing about a joke and the next moment it is turned into you laughing at someone crying. The case is, I never engaged in ad-hominem attacks on anyone; I certainly made light of them. I certainly laughed at them, but I never said anything that I didn’t say to their face and they were all strong enough to dish it back. My opinions are not always the nicest, but whose are?
I find it so sad that people really think that I launched UNMOTIVATED personal attacks on Stacy and Shangela. The cyber world has accused me of being a bully. Good luck. I answered the girls honestly. Would the world prefer I just denied what I said and kissed their asses instead? I refuse to. It wasn’t that serious then and it’s not that serious now. Again, splicing apart the chronology of events sure can turn things very sour.
What else happened behind the scenes that you think we should know about? Any fun interactions you wish we could have seen?
Behind the scenes there was a lot of fraternizing that went on that, honestly, only people in our position would understand.
After seeing the episodes, whose behavior surprised you the most?
The judges. Grading on a curve does no one favors. Making an allowance for one and not another simply turns a competition into an awkward awards ceremony where the highest award is an honorable mention.
Shadiest/Meanest [queen]?
RuPaul
Most overrated[queen]?
Santino
Was the show different than what you expected? If so, how?
I thought the show was going to be a competition of the best drag entertainers. I didn’t realize it was going to be a fictional TV show loosely based around frat stunts performed by drag queens who are later randomly rewarded based on audacity.
I'm curious about what everything thinks about Delta's perspective on the experience. We all know that every reality show is edited to tell a story and to categorize people as good or bad and Drag Race is certainly no exception.
Delta Work's exit interview was recently posted on the NewNowNext blog. She has strong opinions about RuPaul and the show. All bolded words are my emphasis.
How do you feel about leaving the show when you did?
Every character in a FICTIONAL show meets their end, I suppose.
Regarding your elimination, what would you like to say to the judges in your defense? Any parting points you’d like to make?
I believe I always took to heart the judges’ critiques and RuPaul’s advice in the work room. With regards to the comedy challenge, I embraced RuPaul’s advice to work from self-critique. I was under the impression that everyone was going to do that and turn a place of personal doubt into funny jokes. I didn’t realize that taking Ru’s advice and putting into motion a fictional character with fictional jokes was going to be shaped to make me look like some sad, REAL person with no self-esteem to the point of non-function.
After watching the show, how do you feel about how the other queens and their behavior?
Good moments. Bad moments. There are only 13 queens in the world who will ever truly know what transpired at RDPR Season 3. I will say a have a new appreciation for the comedy that is editing. I never realized how much both Drag Race and Untucked are like “Mad Libs.” Editors just sorta fit things where they make sense and tell a story about whatever they like.
We saw a lot of footage of you and Raja commenting on the other contestants. Do you have any strong feelings about how you were portrayed?
I can see where people perceive things as harsh or insensitive, however that is not my concern. We are grown men drinking a bazillion cocktails engaging in funny commentary about peoples’ faults. YOU CAN ONLY READ OTHERS WHEN YOU ARE ABLE TO READ YOURSELF. I am unable to understand how people honestly think that all the commentary is so serious and intended to crush people’s lives. It’s jokes. It’s silly. It’s sorority.
I will say I find the puppet-show nature of the conversations is hilarious. One instance you’re laughing about a joke and the next moment it is turned into you laughing at someone crying. The case is, I never engaged in ad-hominem attacks on anyone; I certainly made light of them. I certainly laughed at them, but I never said anything that I didn’t say to their face and they were all strong enough to dish it back. My opinions are not always the nicest, but whose are?
I find it so sad that people really think that I launched UNMOTIVATED personal attacks on Stacy and Shangela. The cyber world has accused me of being a bully. Good luck. I answered the girls honestly. Would the world prefer I just denied what I said and kissed their asses instead? I refuse to. It wasn’t that serious then and it’s not that serious now. Again, splicing apart the chronology of events sure can turn things very sour.
What else happened behind the scenes that you think we should know about? Any fun interactions you wish we could have seen?
Behind the scenes there was a lot of fraternizing that went on that, honestly, only people in our position would understand.
After seeing the episodes, whose behavior surprised you the most?
The judges. Grading on a curve does no one favors. Making an allowance for one and not another simply turns a competition into an awkward awards ceremony where the highest award is an honorable mention.
Shadiest/Meanest [queen]?
RuPaul
Most overrated[queen]?
Santino
Was the show different than what you expected? If so, how?
I thought the show was going to be a competition of the best drag entertainers. I didn’t realize it was going to be a fictional TV show loosely based around frat stunts performed by drag queens who are later randomly rewarded based on audacity.
I'm curious about what everything thinks about Delta's perspective on the experience. We all know that every reality show is edited to tell a story and to categorize people as good or bad and Drag Race is certainly no exception.
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She's pretty naive if she doesn't know enough to be careful about how she comes across -- for example, Juju talked a lot of shit about people but did it in such a way that nobody would believe she believed it herself. Manila does the same. Not so with Delta.
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What a piece of work. And how ungrateful to Ru. She's gotten so much exposure from being on this show & is going to do well regardless.
Fictional, my ass. They didn't splice different words together to make her say things she didn't say. And Ru told many of them to work from their own experiences to do their comedy routines, not just Delta. Her routine was bad, it had nothing to do with Ru manipulating her.
She said at one point that Stacy was "inferior" to her and shouldn't be there because she "didn't meet the criteria." Too bad RUPAUL is the one who decides what the criteria are. And obviously, SLM fit them.
And this bit: I answered the girls honestly. Would the world prefer I just denied what I said and kissed their asses instead? = "I'm keeping it real."
It's just ...
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As sickening as Delta is, her playing lapdog to Raja just annoyed the shit out of me for some reason. Like she was constantly looking for Raja's approval, like honey how old are you? High school was over 15 years ago for you.
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Then she goes and contradicts herself all like "I'm not worried about you, I'm not worried about you and I'm not worried about you"... lol uh oh!
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I was mooostly okay with her except when she acted like a 16-year-old, which was way too often for my liking.
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I was appalled at that "joke". Not freakin' funny.
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I don't think that showing insecurity is a bad thing in itself. But combined with an out-of-control ego and putting everyone else down (it seemed like she thought that everyone but her and Raja were relying on a shtick and cheating somehow), it's not cool.
(I like your icon!)
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(Thxs, I ADORE Nina and made the icon after season 1)
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I thought the show was going to be a competition of the best drag entertainers. I didn’t realize it was going to be a fictional TV show loosely based around frat stunts performed by drag queens who are later randomly rewarded based on audacity.
Has she not watched the first 2 season? Someone sounds a bit bitter.
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RuPaul
Oh no you didn't.
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(Anonymous) 2011-03-12 08:05 pm (UTC)(link)no subject
I do agree with her about one thing: I always remember that everything the queens are saying on Untucked is fueled by a lot of vodka! Take drunk reading, edit, get Untucked.
(No wonder Yara just gets a drink and puts her feet up. She's smarter than she gets credit for, I think.)
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(Anonymous) 2011-03-13 06:53 am (UTC)(link)no subject
(Okay, she has no qualms about retucking right in front of the camera, but that's just fun.)
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She made fun of Yara Sophia for always being the same character (read: speaking Spanish) when I could say the exact same thing about Delta. Almost all Delta's characters in the challenges had the same "tone", that same super deadpan voice she does all the time out of drag too, and it felt like most of her outfits drew on this retro camp. Never mind the stupid assumption that speaking Spanish/Spanglish = the same character any more than speaking English = the same character.
But then again it's obvious she just made that complaint to make Yara insecure and see if she could plant the seed that would make her not do that again because it was successful. I think Shangela did the same thing to Manila by calling her Asian jokes "offensive" since she knew the judges liked it and wanted to neutralise that threat (which paid off royally this past ep, just saying).
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The comment on the editing from the episodes is really interesting. Magic of reality TV.
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But she keeps insisting that they're 'graded on a curve' which is so ungracious (and if Raja wins, what will that mean to Delta?). Perhaps the judges are ignoring Raja a bit, but that's probably to avoid accusations of favoritism.
And saying that India and Phoenix were more talented & should have stayed longer than some others.... maybe they are talented, but they did badly on the particular challenges that got them eliminated. But she's utterly convinced that she knows better than the judges. Re: her comments on the snatch game episode, it reflects really badly on her to be denigrating SLM's Mo'nique impersonation. Not to mention, Delta's Cher was just awful -- I can't believe she's being defensive about that and blaming others for it. There's no shame in doing badly on a few challenges -- she's obviously an amazing drag queen, and it's weird that she can't take the slightest bit of criticism or accept that idea that there's no such thing as universal truth in a competition.
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Just knowing where it comes from makes a huge difference, even if I still think that what she's saying is 100% uncalled for or just plain wrong.
However, it was also good to hear that the animosity on the show wasn't as blown out of proportion as it seemed. But I guess we'll only find out whether that's true or not when the reunion comes around.
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I wonder how much input Ru has in the editing process -- I'd be surprised (well, disappointed) if she was instrumental in editing them to look bad.
The Reunion is going to be interesting! Apparently they're filming it soon.
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But I don't think he chooses what makes the cut because in one interview with Rich Juzwiak Ru said he started saying a lot of yiddish words, as like a new catchphrase, and wanted it to show up on the show, but that none of it has made the cut.
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(And it sucks that Ru can't get his own catchphrases to take, but to be honest I'm not sure 'chutzpah, uniqueness, nerve and talent' really roll off the tongue!)
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