It’s one of the most iconic moments in “Drag Race” herstory, as Screen Rant notes. The Season 9 lip-sync face-off between Valentina and Nina Bo’nina Brown began with the former’s face covered by a mask, forcing RuPaul to stop the music and ask her to take it off — since it’s a lip-sync, so Valentina’s mouth had to be visible for judging purposes. After Valentina infamously stated, “I’d like to keep it on, please,” Ru demanded she remove the mask before continuing. And, if you can believe it, being there was even more awkward than watching at home.
Speaking on NikkieTutorials’ YouTube channel, “All Stars 5” winner Shea Couleé, who also competed in Season 9 with Valentina, shared how the mood in the room plummeted. “After she said: ‘I would like to keep it on, please,’ 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,'” she revealed. Valentina got a shock, too, since she’d been a favorite to win and the judges clearly adored her, “So, she literally froze and just stood there staring at RuPaul blankly, and RuPaul was like “Hello?'”
Similar to RuPaul’s feud with Pearl, which was characterized by a workroom stare-down, Shea admitted, “There was just this stand-off, this awkward silence… It was insane.” Naturally, the rest of the cast was gagged as they watched from the back of the stage.
