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America's Next Drag Superstar is here!
Editor's note: this post contains MAJOR spoilers for the season 16 finale of RuPaul's Drag Race.
The RuPaul's Drag Race season 16 finale featured Nymphia Wind, Plane Jane, and Sapphira Cristál vying for the title of America's Next Drag Superstar and the grand prize of $200,000.
This grand finale of Drag Race was filmed in the same sound stage as the "Lip Sync LaLaPaRuza Smackdown - Reunited" episode, but the format of the past two finales was maintained — challenging the top 3 to perform solo numbers based on original songs furthering the queens' brands and aesthetics.
Following their solo numbers, Mama Ru summoned the top 3 queens back to the main stage to announce that the season would be going down to a top 2. After a few very dramatic pauses, Ru announced that Sapphira and Nymphia were the two queens picked to lip sync for the crown.
Plane seemed disappointed that she didn't get to compete in the final lip sync. However, her journey on the show didn't end without a few last shady moments that had Ru and the audience cracking up.
And then we got into lip sync for the crown mode, with Sapphira and Nymphia looking like they came prepared to give each other a run for their money. The lip sync for the crown is revealed to be "Padam Padam" by Kylie Minogue, a song that became an instant queer anthem upon its release in the summer of 2023.
We've seen Sapphira lip sync a few times on the show, but we've never seen Nymphia lip sync. Needless to say, the tension is in the air! We have no idea what we're about to witness.
Nymphia has a balloon reveal right away that has literally everyone GAGGING. And as she unpeels (pun intended!) her outfits even further, Nymphia reaches her final form in a lip-sync battle outfit that allows her to pull all the stunts and the moves to potentially beat Sapphira.
Sapphira takes a different approach. She is more dramatic and theatrical at first: serving face, vampire teeth, and all. But it also doesn't take long for Sapphira to have a reveal of her own as she undoes her gown and reveals a dazzling bodysuit that gives her more movement.
MTV
Mama Ru then starts her speech to announce the winner of Drag Race season 16. She reminds the queens that they just lip synced for the grand prize of $200,000 and the title of America's Next Drag Superstar. She adds that this year's runner-up will receive a cash prize of $25,000 — which is absolutely sickening!
The grand finale comes to an end with RuPaul declaring that Nymphia Wind is America's Next Drag Superstar!
Nymphia Wind has won 'Drag Race' season 16!
With a track record of three maxi challenge wins and not a single time lip syncing for her life, Nymphia was a mighty contender and a fierce fan-favorite throughout the season. While some fans wondered if she'd be able to lip sync her way to the crown, guess what? She pulled through! Nymphia Wind is America's Next Drag Superstar, and we love the sound of that!
Condragulations to all of the queens from season 16, and a special shot-out to the top 3 queens who delivered one of the most exciting finales in Drag Race herstory!
RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 9 premieres Friday, May 17 on Paramount+.
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