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Drag Race Dress Down: So About That Kandy Muse/Tamisha Iman Showdown

In case you're new around here, welcome to this season's RuPaul's Drag Race coverage, I'm Eden and I have a lot of opinions about what's been going on this season…specifically in regards to the Tamisha Iman and Kandy Muse storylines. So settle in, grab some popcorn and tea, because we're about to deep dive into it, hunty.

Unless you've been living under a rock, you already know that Kandy popped off in Untucked and Tamisha called her out for it and told her she was being arrogant. Of course, miss Brooklyn queen herself took great offense in the truth and came for the ATL peach that everyone stans. And let's be real – if Tamisha isn't this season's Miss Congeniality, I will have officially lost all faith in the decision-making capacity of everyone involved in that vote.

But the real gaggery comes in the form of the disco challenge episode: Kandy absolutely deserved to be in the bottom, but the wildcard was between Utica and Tamisha. Now, I love all these queens, but it would have been nice to see RuPaul not play favorites and put Utica up against Kandy – you know, two queens who have a similar track record and got basically the same critiques this week. Tamisha's critiques were far milder, which makes me think that there's something else at play we're not seeing.

Even the week's episode of Untucked didn't shed any light on the situation aside from establishing that Kandy and Tamisha resolved any issue they had and have no beef. Though going into this episode, literally the only queen who talks positively about Kandy in interviews is GottMik, who's part of this season's "mean girls" clique along with Tina and Kandy. I get that it's a competition and they're playing the game…however, it makes them out to be the arrogant, entitled villains (a'la Rolaskatox but bitchier), and it's not a good look.

What makes all this worse is the toxic fans who all seem to back Kandy Muse. Tamisha is absolutely right – Kandy comes off as arrogant, bitchy, and unlikable with an absolutely sour attitude that does not deserve to have national televised attention. This is not the positive portrayal of drag and the community the world needs – it enforces negative stereotypes of not only the drag community but of New York City queens as well as the "hateful gay" stereotype in the LBGTQ community at large. And sis, none of that is a good look, and there's plenty of blame to go around. Besides, her drag is one-note and not even worth all the attention and air time she's getting this season just because she's a big personality. Thank you, next.

So why was Tamisha Iman in the bottom and eliminated this episode? Her performance was far from the worst, and Ru has been known to lean in favor of potential and seeing more from queens she feels are capable of more…so what, did she just decide to stop living for Tamisha? Maybe it's because she sees her as a real threat to her throne, but more likely it's the producers trying to ride that fight last episode and turn this settled beef into a big juicy sirloin full of drama. Whatever it is, I hate it, thanks.

Just one last friendly reminder – getting on Drag Race is a huge catalyst for a queen's career, even if they are eliminated far too soon. You can support them by buying merch, tipping them via whatever apps they're on, and of course, buying tickets to their shows (once they're safely back, of course). Besides, have you seen these sweet Tamisha Iman sneakers?

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