Airing Out ‘Untucked’: This Week’s ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ After-Show Is Serving Maximum Bob

One of the most underrated pleasures of watching RuPaul’s Drag Race is following along with the queens on Untucked, the Drag Race after-show. Up until two seasons ago, Untucked aired on LOGO directly after Drag Race, but last season, it got bumped to streaming-only. THE SHADE OF IT ALL. But oops! It turns out, streaming-only Untucked actually got a lot better. What once felt glossy and over-produced (every episode featured some kind of parlor game to keep the queens snapping at one another) was now stripped-down. And instead of contrived fights, the queens were allowed to get honestly real with one another. Now more than ever, Untucked is appointment viewing. So every week, we’re going to highlight the best, funniest, and most notable moments.

Untucked, Season 8, Episode 2

MVP: This is not surprising. From the second the safe queens made it backstage, Bob The Drag Queen was on it as both mistress of ceremonies and the main attraction. Starting with the not-so-secretly shady “Do you think you gave a safe performance?” to Derrick, which advanced the simmering Bob-vs-Derrick storyline in ways that the main episode couldn’t. Keep an eye on that one; my guess is it’s going to keep presenting itself as the season rolls on. But Bob was on point all through Untucked. Her performance of Acid Betty With A Shotgun was fantastic (“NOBODY BETTER BE DISRESPECTING ME!”), and her prediction that Betty will sooner or later snap at a judge seems pretty on-the-mark.

Bob also had a highlight moment when she got to joking about being a dark-skinned African American working within a fashion industry that defines “nude” looks as white-people nude. It’s no angry screed, just a world-weary observation, but one that points out some real-world beauty standards via the prism of drag. Untucked is here to teach!

Roll the Footage!: This week’s unaired moment from the show involves Cynthia Lee Fontaine accidentally stomping on Robbie Turner’s foot during dance rehearsal. Taking a stiletto to your toe seems to be understandably painful. It makes you even more appreciative that Robbie was able to keep up with the choreography on the main show, knowing how she was working a hobbled hoof.

Most Improved (Relative to Drag Race Proper): Cynthia Lee Fontaine won the mini-challenge on the big show this week, but besides that, her only other big moment was when she couldn’t remember her team’s name in front of Ru. Cynthia had a much better edit on Untucked, as all the queens basically lined up to talk about how much they loved her and what a good, nurturing leader she was during the main challenge. I still don’t think Cynthia is much of a threat to win this show, but that segment made me think that she might actually stick around a bit longer than some of these seemingly better-situated queens.

Done No Favors: Naomi Smalls doesn’t look like an asshole this week or anything, but she didn’t exactly cover herself in glory when Cynthia compared Robbie Turner’s look to Greta Garbo, and Naomi didn’t get the reference. Which, fine, she’s fourteen years old, Garbo was a biiiit before her time. But then when Bob was like “She’s in the Spice Girls,” and Naomi asked which one she was? Legs for days, brains for seconds, this one.

The More You Know: This week’s most interesting segment involved Derrick Barry talking about his romantic situation, which in this case means the fact that he’s in a committed throuple, which Derrick calls a “trouple,” but I like “throuple” better. If you ever want to see a gaggle of drag queens give their best impersonation of a brick wall made of quizzical stares, you should watch this week’s Untucked. Good for Derrick for explaining his relationship, and how it’s committed and monogamous despite including a whole extra person, without getting overly defensive about it. Another interesting angle: one of Derrick’s boyfriends is the Marine whom Alaska made as a drag sister during season 5!

Queens Helping Queens: Loved Bob tutoring Laila McQueen on a dynamic skirt-twirl move, even if as far as I can recall Laila didn’t use it during the Lip Sync For Your Life. Meanwhile, Dax Exclamationpoint asked the group if her ass-padding was indeed as lumpy as the judges said it was. The response from the peanut gallery was fairly definitive.

Sashay Away: This week’s double elimination saw a defiant Dax and a fairly heartbroken Laila both get eliminated. “I don’t want to go home and be the loser anymore,” Laila said, through tears. “I don’t want to hear the backlash for it.” Damn it, Untucked, you’ve got us again.