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These Queens Actually Did 'Celebrity Drag Race's Makeovers

Drag RAce Celebs

The Queen Supremes we all saw onstage weren't responsible for all the makeup you saw.

MikelleStreet

*This post contains mild spoilers from the debut episode of RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race.

It's come and gone:RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race's first-ever episode is in the can. The show has revealed itself to be somewhat of a celebrity-infused update on Ru's shortlived Drag U series. For it, they matched three Queen Supremes (in this case Monet X Change, Trixie Mattel, and Bob the Drag Queen) with three "secret" celebrities (Nico Tortorella, Jordan Connor, and Jermaine Fowler). Little did we know, there was a whole other trio of drag performers working on set, also in secret.

While Mattel, X Change, and Bob helped their respective contestants get in the mindset to do drag -- and no doubt helped punch up a few of their jokes -- it seems that what we saw them do onscreen in terms of makeup may have been just for the cameras, or only a part of the show. We didn't see them do much, to be fair: Bob rubs a brush across Fowler's forehead and Mattel glues down Connor's eyebrows. Off-screen, other Drag Race alum did the contestants' faces for at least their Main Stage presentations.

"Let the record show, Olivette's STUNNING makeup was done by the impeccable Shannel," X Change wrote in a tweet. Olivette was the drag name that Tortorella adopted for the episode. Fans have also pieced together that Laila McQueen and Mayhem Miller did the makeup of Connor and Fowler respectively. It's currently unclear whether these alum did the makeup just for the final Main Stage appearances or whether they also did the contestants' Snatch Game faces as well.

This, of course, isn't anything new: RuPaul has previously tapped Drag Race alum for various projects. Raven has done Ru's makeup for the past few seasons; Delta Work did her hair for a while; even Nicky Doll went with her to Saturday Night Live to do Pete Davidson's makeup.

While more than a few of us would have loved to see McQueen, Miller, and Shannel appear onscreen in some way, we're sure they aren't complaining. With a nice VH1 check as well as the TV credit, they're probably doing just fine.

"Wow!!!" Miller wrote to Instagram. "How cool is this?!?! A bitch has a title!!!!! Being in front of the camera is amazing ... but being behind is so much better!!!!!" Miller, as well as McQueen and Shanell, are all credited as creative consultants for the episode under their legal names.

RELATED | 'Drag Race's Jaida E. Hall Is the Queen of Quick Drag

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Mikelle Street

Mikelle is the former editorial director of digital for PrideMedia, guiding digital editorial and social across Out, The Advocate, Pride.com, Out Traveler, and Plus. After starting as a freelancer for Out in 2013, he joined the staff as Senior Editor working across print and digital in 2018. In early 2021 he became Out's digital director, marking a pivot to content that centered queer and trans stories and figures, exclusively. In September 2021, he was promoted to editorial director of PrideMedia. He has written cover stories on Ricky Martin, Miss Fame, Nyle DiMarco, Jeremy O. Harris, Law Roach, and Symone.

Mikelle is the former editorial director of digital for PrideMedia, guiding digital editorial and social across Out, The Advocate, Pride.com, Out Traveler, and Plus. After starting as a freelancer for Out in 2013, he joined the staff as Senior Editor working across print and digital in 2018. In early 2021 he became Out's digital director, marking a pivot to content that centered queer and trans stories and figures, exclusively. In September 2021, he was promoted to editorial director of PrideMedia. He has written cover stories on Ricky Martin, Miss Fame, Nyle DiMarco, Jeremy O. Harris, Law Roach, and Symone.