I just wanna talk about the concept for All Stars 9 of Drag Race for a minute cuz I have some thoughts.
To me, turning charity into a competition isn't the way to go about it. That is not how charity is done. Pitting charities against one another gives me the ick and makes this season unwatchable for me. As someone who comes from charity-worker parents it really just isn't how you do things.
Now if one girl doesn't win a challenge AND the lip-sync at all this season their charity gets nada. You're also making contestants block each other which could force them to potentially consider which charity deserves it most which is big moral baggage. I just don't think this format works for this at all.
Then you're roping it into propaganda (propaganda isn't always bad, it's just relaying a message in a campaign format) that can save the image of drag artists and trans people into charity which feels so forced and feels like virtue signalling. It comes off like this charity season is just a tool for them to say "hey look at how cool drag queens are, we're good people!" It's exactly the same in essence as billionaires donating to charity to lower their taxes. Just a tool.
It makes the season completely unwatchable to me and it sucks cuz I love the cast and know they're gonna ace it but I just feel sick to my stomach when I watch it. I had to watch episode 1 in three separate sessions because of it and I don't think I'm watching the season in full this time.
They could've done a live charity ball for the finale asking the audience to help donate along with the prizes, they could've made a statement by not having a season and taking all the prizes and costs that a normal season would require and splitting that amongst a bunch of charities. Or have the same cast do a normal season while repping charities that the audience can donate to or that they can choose to give their prizes to. No blocking, no stars, non-elimination. They can come up with a better format with the same concept. There's way more options than what they did. Trying to mix this format with charity in the way that they did makes this feel like a stunt. It's completely demeaning to the people (and dogs) they're raising money for.
Now it feels gross, having people walk down a runway in an outfit that's probably more expensive than the money they're gonna win for their charities. Just give the money you spent on the outfits to the charities. And this is not the contestants faults at all, they all seem genuinely interested in raising money for charity, but the way this is going down just isn't what charity should be.
It feels like something out of Dynasty. Like those charity auctions and stuff - it's rich people bullshit in my book.
Sure you'll be making a difference somehow but the intentions just feel completely gross and condescending.
Just an out of touch mess that I'm so disappointed in...
To be clear, this is mainly towards the producers and anyone who had a hand in the format and the execution. No hate to the queens, I love all of them and wish they didn't get caught up in this.
