‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’: Sasha Colby Isn’t the Only Miss Continental Winner to Compete on the Show
RuPaul’s Drag Race has effectively become the biggest drag pageant in the world, as competitors from across the US and in their respective countries vie for the title of Drag Superstar. Season 15 frontrunner Sasha Colby is a former winner of Miss Continental, widely regarded as one of the most prestigious pageants on the planet. But Colby isn’t the only Continental winner to sashay onto the Drag Race stage.
Victoria ‘Porkchop’ Parker won Miss Continental Plus in 2003
Back in 2003, Victoria “Porkchop” Parker took home the crown at Miss Continental Plus, a separate pageant for plus-sized queens. When season 1 of RuPaul’s Drag Race premiered in 2009, Porkchop was the first queen ever eliminated from the show, earning her a hallowed place in the Drag Race universe.
Roxxxy Andrews won Miss Continental Plus in 2010
Roxxxy Andrews, another beloved Drag Race alum, also won Miss Continental Plus before appearing on the Emmy-winning TV show. Her drag mother, the late legend Erica Andrews, won Miss Continental in 2004. In 2019, the same year Roxxxy won Miss Continental Plus, the Miss Continental crown was snatched by Mokha Montrese, mother of Roxxxy’s fellow season 5 competitor Coco Montrese.
In 2019, after achieving global recognition with two runs on the show, she returned to compete in Miss Continental. Her drag mother, the late legend Erica Andrews, won Miss Continental in 2004.
Sasha Colby won Miss Continental in 2012
In 2012, proud Native Hawaiian Sasha Colby emerged victorious at Miss Continental. Her style of performance has captured fans’ attention around the globe for years, and she arrived at the set of RuPaul’s Drag Race with a massive reputation and even bigger expectations to fill.
Naysha Lopez won Miss Continental in 2013
The year after Sasha Colby won Miss Continental, she handed her crown over to Naysha Lopez, another future RuGirl.
Brooke Lynn Hytes won Miss Continental in 2014
The year after Naysha Lopez won, she made way for another Drag Race star, Brooke Lynn Hytes. The Canadian queen is the drag daughter of Farra N. Hyte, who became Miss Continental Plus in 2013. Today, Hytes is a host and judge on Canada’s Drag Race, while Hyte is an “Auntie” on the Canadian drag competition series Call Me Mother.
Vanessa Van Cartier won Miss Continental in 2019
In 2019, Belgian-Dutch queen Vanessa Van Cartier became the first European to win Miss Continental. Her reign lasted two years as opposed to the traditional one-year reign, as the 2020 competition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2021, Van Cartier snatched another crown, winning the second season of Drag Race Holland. She became the first former Miss Continental to win Drag Race, and the third trans queen to snatch a Drag Race crown.
Other Miss Continental competitors who have appeared on TV
Miss Continental has welcomed plenty of other faces throughout the years that have gone on to be introduced to the masses on TV. Actor and performer Candis Cayne, for example, won the pageant in 2001.
Jazell Barbie Royale, winner of Miss Continental 2016, has gained recognition online for a famous performance of CeCe Peniston’s song “He Loves Me 2” and is set to compete on the upcoming second season of the singing drag competition Queen of the Universe.
Stasha Sanchez, a.k.a. Stasha Garçon, won Miss Continental in 2018. In 2021, she appeared as the house mother of the House of Comme des Garçons on the vogue competition show Legendary, taking her house to the top 3.
Similarly, Chy’enne Valentino won Miss Continental Plus in 2018 and later competed on the first season of Queen of the Universe in 2021.
