RuPaul’s Drag Race OG Shannel has shared that a critique from the latest episode of All Stars 9, where RuPaul “went off” on her for half an hour, was cut from the show.
Episode seven of the charity based, non-elimination All Stars 9, saw the eight assembled queens (Angeria Paris VanMichaels, Gottmik, Jorgeous, Nina West, Plastique Tiara, Roxxxy Andrews, Shannel and Vanessa Vanjie Mateo) tasked with recreating an iconic scene from a campy movie opposite none other than RuPaul herself.
The episode ended with season 14 titan Angeria Paris VanMicheals and season 11 actress Nina West landing in the top two, both adding another Beautiful Benefactress Badge to their stores – but come episode 8, and season 1 and All Stars 1 alumnus Shannel still hasn’t won a single Badge.
During critiques, RuPaul told the Las Vegas based diva, who was the first queen to ever walk into the Werk Room way back in 2009, that she didn’t “connect” with her during the episode’s challenge.
In response, Shannel admitted that she felt down on herself, telling Ru: “I was on this show so many years ago, there comes a time where you start to feel like, ‘Maybe I just can’t keep up with everybody.’”
Attempting to hype her up, Ru called Shannel “one of the most famous drag queens in the world”, adding: “You are so fabulous, and that’s the only thing you have to remember.’”
That is where the interaction ended for audiences – but speaking about the most recent All Stars 9 instalment at an infamous Roscoe’s Tavern viewing party in Chicago, Shannel revealed that Ru’s pep-talk was more of a pep-shout, and went on for half an hour.
“Ru must’ve spent 20 to 30 minutes just going off on me. Not necessarily in a bad way. Obviously, you can see from the episode that I was down, I was frustrated,” Shannel revealed.
“So, Ru spent 20 to 30 minutes trying to kind of build me up, right? Trying to be like, ‘Don’t worry about it, you’re doing great, blah blah blah.’ He was going on and on and on and on – literally,” she continued, adding that she “f**king wishes” the interaction had been aired.
Shannel then said of the All Stars 9 interaction: “He finally looks at me and he says, ‘Do you understand what I’m saying to you?’ and I said, ‘Meh.’”
The clap back caused that week’s winner, Angeria, to “hit the f**king floor”, as the rest of the cast stood gagged at the return of season one Shannel’s attitude.
She continued: “I wish they could’ve aired that because it was f**king priceless. I was so done because in my head I was like, ‘Sure, I may not have been amazing in the challenge, but it wasn’t the worst thing ever.’”
“So, in the moment, instead of looking at it like Ru is trying to help me and do me a favour, I was just so frustrated that I was like, ‘Girl, bye. I’m tired. Let’s punch it. I need some chicken fingers.’”