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RuPaul’s Drag Race fans will never forget the iconic lip-sync moment when Valentina refused to take off her mask. During one YouTube video, though, Shea Couleé shared that watching it unfold in-person was worse than that. Here’s what we learned about RuPaul’s Drag Race season 9.

Shea Couleé kiki-ed with the YouTuber, NikkieTutorials

She’s here to slay and to spill some tea. RuPaul’s Drag Race legend, Shea Couleé, stopped by NikkieTutorials’ YouTube Channel to recreate one of her iconic looks from the reality competition series. 

The two discussed a few of their favorite moments from RuPaul’s Drag Race: All-Stars 5, of which Shea Couleé would be crowned the winner. They also spilled some tea about the most shocking moment from season 9.

Shea Couleé shared what happened during season 9

In between strokes of eyeliner, the YouTuber shared a few of her favorite seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race. She shouted out season 2, season 12, and Shea Couleé’s season, which was season 9. She even mentioned the “I’d like to keep it on, please,” Valentina mask moment.

“Honestly, full tea, it was worse than that,” Shea Couleé said of Valentina’s elimination from the competition. “After she said ‘I would like to keep it on, please,’ RuPaul, like, you could tell the physical reaction RuPaul had to that because she snapped back at her like ‘so I stopped this lip-sync for nothing.’”

“And when she said that, I feel like that was the moment where Valentina was like [shocked] because she had been such a favorite up until that point and they had all been so, you know, kind and encouraging and just like loving to her that it really did kind of like gag her,” Shea Couleé continued. “So, she literally froze and just stood there staring at RuPaul blankly and RuPaul was like ‘hello.’”

Shea Couleé continued, saying that at the time, the queens just finished filming Untucked, but they hadn’t had lunch yet. Because they’re given cocktails for the behind-the-scenes series, Shea Couleé was “wasted” while the mask moment was happening.

Shea Couleé performs at RuPaul's DragCon UK
Shea Couleé performs at RuPaul’s DragCon UK | David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for World Of Wonder Productions
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Fans didn’t see the whole moment play out during the episode

For viewers of this series, they didn’t get a look at this entire moment unfold. Once the lip-sync of “Greedy” by Ariana Grande began, Valentina left her mask on, covering her mouth. After stopping the music and asking Valentina to take her mask off, the drag performer responded, saying, “I’d like to keep it on, please.”

“It’s a lip-sync, what part of that do you not understand,” RuPaul asked. As a result, Valentina took off her mask, revealing that she didn’t know the words. She was then eliminated from season 9, although she did return for a season of RuPaul’s Drag Race: All-Stars. 

Episodes of Canada’s Drag Race and RuPaul’s Drag Race UK are available on the streaming platform, WOWPresents Plus. Some episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked are listed on the WOWPresents YouTube Channel.

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