Will Heidi N Closet Quit 'RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars' Season 8?
RuPaul is always telling us "If you're not watching Untucked, you're only getting half the story," and this week that's truer than ever. While the main episode of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars saw Heidi N Closet proceed as usual through the challenge, before being called safe, the Untucked episode told a completely different story.
In Episode 3 of Season 8, the remaining 10 queens competed in the Supermarket Ball where Heidi presented a milkman look, a strawberry ensemble and a homemade pink and orange floral number. She was one of four queens called safe and sent back to the Werk Room.
In Untucked however, the filming of which takes place between the runway and the lip sync, Heidi seems perturbed. The fan favorite, sixth place finisher and Miss Congeniality of Season 12 is sitting on the sofa next to Kandy Muse when she says, "Baby, I'm done. Y'all are in for a gag tonight, honey. I'm leaving."
Kandy seems upset by this and tells Heidi that she has more to show to which Heidi replies, "I've shown enough." We then get a confession from Kandy in which she reminds us that plenty of other Drag Race alumni would kill for a spot in the competition. Before we can get any further into the details, however, Jojo Siwa appears in the Werk Room, and the topic is not revisited. Which brings us to the question of the hour:
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Will Heidi N Closet quit RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars Season 8?
As of Episode 3, the answer is "not yet." I watched the end of the episode closely, and we do see Heidi getting very emotional and crying when Mrs. Kasha Davis departs. We don't see her dancing at the end, but she does seem to be chatting intensely with lip sync assassin Ra'Jah O'Hara. So she doesn't follow through with her "tonight" comment from Untucked.
I also focused intently on Heidi in the clip for next week's episode, and she's standing in line when Ru announces the challenge, and appears very excited about it. Also, nothing in the trailer hints at a quit.
All that said, it does seem like an odd throwaway moment to include in the Untucked episode if nothing comes from it later in the season. If it was a flash in the pan moment, it would most likely have been edited out. That leaves us one of two options:
Heidi doesn't quit, but chooses to stay and compete and we get a redemption arc similar to Pearl's in Season 7.
Heidi does quit, but not for an episode or two and the editors are laying the groundwork.
I'll be watching Heidi like a hawk in next week's episode, but it doesn't appear like we'll get any other information before then. Heidi's social media presence has been similar to the other queens, however, and I saw firsthand her behavior on the press tour which also seemed standard. So, if something really dreadful happened, she's doing a good job masking it. To be continued....
Related: 'RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 8' Take New York. Next Stop: the World.
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Why would Heidi N Closet quit RuPaul's Drag Race?
The episode really gives us no context as to why Heidi would want to leave aside from Kandy asking right before Heidi's comments if anyone who was safe thought they deserved to be in the top. Heidi's looks were certainly strong this week, and I was also surprised she didn't outrank Jimbo, Lala Ri and/or Kandy Muse. Perhaps she was upset about unfair judging on the season (which has been a bit wonky TBH). Or maybe she's dealing with her own mental health issues. Those seem to be the two obvious reasons based on what we've seen and other seasons of the show.
Related: Everything You Need to Know about the Fames Games twist on RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars Season 8
Have other queens quit RuPaul's Drag Race?
Yes, they certainly have although only a handful have sent themselves sashaying away in the 15-year history of the franchise, and most of those were in All Star seasons. Because Drag Race is such a massive achievement for drag queens and significantly boosts their revenue and fame, there hasn't been a single queen on the original version of the show that has opted out in this way. Here are the other queens who have quit:
Adore Delano
In All Stars 2, Adore became the first queen to eliminate herself after particularly harsh critiques from Michelle Visage. Adore felt that her style of drag was fundamentally misunderstood by Visage and the judges and opted out of the competition rather than continue to allow them to try and force her into a box she didn't belong in.
BenDeLaCreme
In All Stars 3, frontrunner BenDeLaCreme chose to eliminate herself rather than one of her fellow queens after amassing an impressive collection of wins. She'd felt she'd shown enough and bowed out on top, selecting her own lip stick in one of the series' most shocking moments.
Ongina
In All Stars 5, Ongina sort of half quit by asking that the other queens vote her out and voting for herself as well. She was in the bottom and felt that it was fair for her to leave.
Icesis Couture
In Canada vs. the World, the winner of Canada's Drag Race Season 2 bowed out for her mental health. Icesis, one of the strongest queens of the franchise, could have easily bagged a second crown, but stepped aside paving the way for Ra'Jah O'Hara to win.
Baby
While not a U.S. season, in Season 4 of the UK version of the show Baby quit after enduring multiple panic attacks during shooting. The show is extremely stressful, and many queens have spoken how it impinged on their mental health.