‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’: Symone is the First Queen to Achieve a Certain Feat

From the minute she entered the werkroom on RuPaul’s Drag Race, Arkansas-bred drag queen Symone showed that she was a force to be reckoned with. The “Ebony Enchantress” stunned the judges — and audiences everywhere — with her jaw-dropping looks and undeniable stage presence. She fought tooth (or rather, Sweet Toof) and nail throughout season 13 all the way to the crown — and she made some Drag Race herstory along the way.

Symone won ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 13

Symone entered the Drag Race werkroom as the first Arkansas queen to compete on the Emmy-winning reality show. She walked in wearing a dress made entirely of Polaroids of herself, knowing she was the star of the show.

Symone came out swinging, winning two challenges early in the season and securing her spot as a frontrunner. But just as she seemed to be sailing to the final four, she found herself in the bottom two lip-syncing against her eventual runner-up, Kandy Muse. Both Symone and Muse survived and Symone went on to snatch two more challenge wins, only to end up in the bottom two again so close to the end of the competition.

Symone brought many new things to ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’

Many of the looks that Symone brought to the runway had never been seen before on Drag Race or any other show with a similar platform. As the proud Ebony Enchantress, Symone’s drag celebrates Black culture, Black excellence, and Black icons.

This was evident in many of her creative looks. For her trains look, while every other queen opted for some sort of gown or cape, Symone pounded the runway in a durag that stretched several feet behind her. Her fascinator look featured a powerful message that RuPaul commended her on: the simple white dress had two rhinestoned bullet wounds on the back and read “Say Their Names” on the headpiece.

Symone was the first ‘Drag Race’ queen to win 7 lip syncs

In Drag Race herstory, many of the most iconic lip-sync moments have been because of queens’ acrobatic dance moves and over-the-top performance style. Symone’s lip-sync style, by contrast, is much more subdued, yet still beautifully captivating.

Because of her unique lip-sync style helping her throughout the competition, Symone set a Drag Race record after winning the crown: she’s the first queen in Drag Race herstory to win seven lip-syncs in total.

Other queens who have come close to that record throughout their Drag Race careers include Trinity The Tuck, Shangela, Monét X Change, Latrice Royale, Alaska, Shea Couleé, Jujubee, and Kameron Michaels. But nearly every queen who has reached that many lip-sync wins has done so over the course of their original season as well as a run (or two) on All-Stars.

Unless another queen comes close to that record, Symone will reign as a supreme lipsyncer long after her reign is over.