“The biggest surprise to me and the rest of the world was Shangela not winning RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars 3. And that wasn’t up to me, that wasn’t up to RuPaul, that was up to the girls, because Ru gave the queens that were eliminated the chance to vote for the final two, who they believe deserved to be in the finals. And they chose not to put Shangela in there. It was a mistake, but I believe they did it because of a personal relationship instead of watching how she did in the competition.”
“That’s the only one that really affected me,” Visage continued when asked if she ever disagreed with RuPaul’s decisions on the panel. “I 100 percent agree with RuPaul on everything. We share a brain, so honestly I can tell by looking at him. We know we’re on the same page. So I’ve never disagreed with anything he’s ever done in an elimination.”— Michelle Visage discussing the much-discussed finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars season 3 with Entertainment Tonight.
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shakes_head
Agreed. If Trixie didn’t have such a wide fan base, I think viewers would’ve been way more irate about the results. Shangela deserved to at least be in the top two. Kennedy? Really?
Xzamilloh
Thank you. You tell me that if Trixie had the same run as Shangela and the circumstances were reversed, Trixie stans wouldn’t be setting fire to the rain by claiming Rigga Morris. That finale and Bendelacreme eliminating herself (and then that BS she gave about why she voted for Kennedy) soured that entire season for me. Easily up there as one of the worst. Next to Ben, Shangela should have won.
bobbyjoe
Turns out All-Stars actually IS Rupaul’s Best Friends Race.
If next All-Stars is run with the same pointless rules I won’t be watching.
vanessak69
The rumor is the first half of the season will be the same lip sync for your legacy, and then the back half is LSFYL. I think this jury thing was an interesting experiment (and this show does like to riff on other reality shows), but I would be surprised if they tried this format again gien the backlash.
queerty02
Could the girls know how Shangela did if they were eliminated early in the competition?
DCguy
I was not a Shangela fan, I didn’t like her in Season 3, and she not only redeemed herself in All Stars 3, she crushed the competition once Bendela quit. It wasn’t even close.
geb1966
I am a HUGE Trixie fan, but had she been up against Shangela in the top two, as it should have been, she would not have won. Kennedy had no place in the top two. And say what you will, but every queen who voted against Shangy did so out of personal spite; it had nothing to do with her performance. I don’t even see why they bother calling it All Stars. Season 2 was a joke because it was evident from the very beginning that Alaska was being set up to win.
RoughRugger
Lesbihonest: Kennedy had no business on AS3 at all. Not that she’s alone in that…neither did Thorgy, Aja, Bebe, or ChiChi
Xzamilloh
RoughRugger, I call bull on Aja. Aja did great in AS3, and she most definitely redeemed herself from that terrible run on that terrible Season 9, but she wasn’t gonna be in the Hall of Fame that soon after having just been on the most recent season. And Thorgy was screwed with what she was given. But I agree about Bebe and Chi Chi, with the latter not being ready and the former coasting through.
graphicjack
Nope, I think they voted for Kennedy out of strategy. They wanted Trixie to win and knew her only hope was to put Kennedy in the top two. Clearly, the white queens who were eliminated were closer to Trixie. The voting was too consistent to be a fluke. They clearly talked amongst themselves and chose to vote for Kennedy and Trixie as basically a lock. Two clues… Thorgy said she changed her mind at the last minute as she knew she’d “regret” not voting her conscience, and she was the only one who voted for Shangela. Why would she say that if she wasn’t planning to also vote for Kennedy (who supposedly was the sympathy vote) but then changed her mind to pick Shangela? Clue #2… they showed the eliminated queens deliberating after every interview… except Shangela’s. What did they say to each other to decide she wasn’t deserving? My guess is the queens who were there the longest said, Shangela is smashing this and there’s no way Trixie will win against her. Just the week before, Shangela destroyed Trixie in a lip sync. So we can’t vote for Shangela if we want Trixie to have a chance of winning. THAT is the tea. For all I know, the producers even told them not to vote for her… why would BenDeLaChrist suddenly NOT vote for the most deserving queen when her whole narrative was keeping the game fair? It’s completely bogus.
vanessak69
RoughRugger: I don’t think it’s fair (or interesting) Bebe came back, but the rest of them earned their spot (I’d rather have seen someone besides Thorgy, but she made it far in her season.) Chi Chi also made it far in her season, and her drag had improved so much. I think the show broke her spirit.
The Kennedy hate just needs to stop.
Celtic
This is the exact reason why I stopped watching RPDR. Rupaul’s who needs a career boost race now. It completely took the wind out of my sails. It was fun while it lasted though.
CarrieV
I still contend that all of the eliminated queens neglected to select *the obvious choice, *Shangela* simply because they’d assumed that all of the other girls voted for her. Many in politics have seen the wrong person win because they thought *those other voters will handle it*.
So unless they all sat down and strategically/not-so-strategically decided together that Shangela for some ungodly reason shouldn’t be in the Top 2, I must believe that their snub was unintentional. I liked Trixie tons — I liked Katya more, but oh, well — but I still recognize that had Shangela been in the Top 2, that right there would’ve been our only choice for winner.
graphicjack
Nah, that is waaayyyy to convenient and far too naive for you to think it was just a fluke that they all voted the same way. Gurl. We saw them all talking together basically giving there reasons why they should vote one way or the other. They all agreed Bebe wasn’t genuine and not deserving. They all lived for Trixie except maybe for ChiChi when Trixie dragged Kennedy for her outfit. They all said they knew Kennedy “needed” the win more… but then if they were simply voting out of sympathy, why did they also pick Trixie who needed the win the least? Wouldn’t Shangela need it more than Trixie? And note that we never saw them talking after Shanglea’s interview. THAT speaks volumes. Something really shady happened after Shangela left and that’s why it was never aired. We’d know what the shenanigans were and all the eliminated queens would look like shit. So instead of throwing them all under the bus (which they kind of did anyway by showing the voting) they just let them throw Shangela under the bus… and that’s most disappointing from Ben since she was the one who went on and on about keeping the competition fair. Sure, Ben, sure…
Craig
It’s cool she admits it was a mistake, but it’s kind of wrong of her to put it on the girls. Sure, they chose not to vote for Shangela, but the majority of them also weren’t there for the competition. It’s kind of unfair to throw them under the bus for a flaw in the show’s production.
DCguy
I’m not sure this is correct. You heard them saying things like “Well, one of them has a career already and this would be very helpful for somebody else’s career.
That’s a problem to me, when people are saying “well, if this one gets to the top it will be better for their career, so lets not vote for the best”
That seems like the best way to make people stop watching.