Divine Inspiration (RuPaul's Drag Race)

"Divine Inspiration" is the ninth episode of the seventh season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. Directed by Nick Murray, the episode originally aired on April 27, 2015. Demi Lovato and John Waters are guest judges. Lucian Piane and Our Lady J also make guest appearances, helping the contestants during rehearsals.

The episode's main challenge has the contestants perform musical versions of scenes from two films by Waters: ''Pink Flamingos'' (1972) and ''Female Trouble'' (1974). Ginger Minj is the winner of the challenge, and Miss Fame is eliminated from the competition.

Episode

Contestants "read" (playfully insult) each other for the mini-challenge. Trixie Mattel is declared the winner. For the main challenge, three teams perform musical versions of John Waters scenes made famous by Divine. The teams are Ginger Minj and Trixie Mattel, Kennedy Davenport and Katya, and the trio of Miss Fame, Pearl, and Violet Chachki. Lucian Piane and Our Lady J help during rehearsals.

The song for Ginger Minj and Trixie Mattel, is inspired by the "Eggman" scene from ''Pink Flamingos'' (1972). The trio also perform a song based on the same film. Kennedy Davenport and Katya perform in a scene inspired by ''Female Trouble'' (1974).

Demi Lovato and Waters are guest judges. The runway theme is ugly dresses. Kenny Davenport delivers a "church-lady" look. According to ''Out'', Pearl wears a Wednesday Addams- and "Japanese schoolgirl"-inspired outfit, and Violet Chachki's outfit " ervesPhyllis Diller starring as Carol Channing in a late-70s South Beach revival of ''Hello, Dolly!''" Waters praises Ginger Minj for her performance and compares her "star power" to Divine's. Ginger Minj earns her third win for the season. Miss Fame and Pearl place in the bottom two and face off to a lip-sync of "Really Don't Care" (2014) by Lovato featuring Cher Lloyd. Miss Fame is eliminated from the competition.

Production

The episode was directed by Nick Murray and originally aired on April 27, 2015. Piane had previously been a guest judge on the fourth season's "Frenemies" and appeared in the fifth season's "Can I Get an Amen?" He was also a guest judge on the sixth season's " Shade: The Rusical" and the seventh season's fourth episode "Spoof! (There It Is)". Piane would later serve as a guest judge on the eighth season's second ("Bitch Perfect") and fourth ("New Wave Queens") episodes.

Reception

Oliver Sava of ''The A.V. Club'' gave the episode a rating of 'B+'. Stephen Daw ranked Ginger Minj's performance in the "eggs" song fourteenth in ''Billboard'' 2018 overview of the show's fifty best "musical moments". He wrote, "It took the show seven seasons to finally deliver a John Waters-inspired challenge, but when it did, the queens made sure they did it right... Ginger Minj stole the show as a nearly-insane singing adult baby with an insatiable craving for…well, eggs!" In 2019, Sam Damshenas of ''Gay Times'' said Ginger Minj's performance demonstrated how she "''embodies'' both camp and comedy."

Writing for ''Screen Rant'' in 2020, Bernardo Sim pointed to the "eggs" number as evidence of Ginger Minj being among the show's best singers. Sim also included the sketch in ''Out'' magazine's 2023 list of fifteen "moments that prove ... season 7 was actually iconic". In 2022, British drag queen The Vivienne, who won the first series of ''RuPaul's Drag Race UK'' and competed in the seventh season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars'', said the "eggs" sketch was among her favorite ''Drag Race'' moments.

See also

* Demi Lovato videography

References

External links

Divine Inspiration
at IMDb

"RUPAUL'S DRAG RACE" UNTUCKED, EPISODE 9: "DIVINE INSPIRATION"
Logo TV

{{Portal bar, LGBTQ, Television, United States
RuPaul's Drag Race season 7 episodes
John Waters