RuPaul's Drag Race: Where Do The Catchphrases Come From?

With a hopeful message of triumph over adversary built into its very DNA, ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ is perhaps THE defining reality show of these times and a uniquely British version will be sashaying onto BBC soon with guest judges Graham Norton and Alan Carr joining regular panel of RuPaul and Michelle Visage.

For those entirely in the dark, the show began in 2009 as something of a tongue-in-cheek drag tribute to ‘America’s Next Top Model’ but has evolved into an EXTRAVAGODZILLA of fun, juicy, campy, vampy, touching, tweet-along Television with its own universe of villains, heroes, tropes, and catchphrases.

But even ardent fans of the show might not be sure where Ru’s various catchphrases have sprung from. So I’ve done some digging…

“She done already done had herses” - This replaced ‘You Got She-Mail’ (their version of ANTM’s ‘Tyra Mail’) as the notification that a mission was incoming. Like all good things, this phrase began with a trip to the kebab shop on a boozy night out…

Ru has explained “We were coming from a club… and we would go and get our food on after partying and everything. Somebody come up to pick up a bag but it actually didn’t belong to them. And this girl behind the counter said “Uh-uh, she done already had hers’s” And I course, you know, taking THAT to the bank!”

“Hello Hello Hello!” - What Ru says upon entering the work-room. Inspired by Lisa Kudrow’s iconic character Valerie Cherish in my other favourite show ‘The Comeback’.

“Good Luck. And DON’T F**k. It. Up.” - What Ru says after setting a challenge or just before a lip-sync battle. As far as I can tell this is Ru’s own invention but has something of spiritual sister in Tim Gunn’s famous ‘Make It Work’ sign-off from Project Runway (Please let me know if there’s a ref I’m missing! @theroryjohn)

“Reading is WHAT? Fundamental!” - This is how Ru introduces every ‘reading’ challenge (one where contestants slag each other off) The phrase was lost on me (and I expect others on this side of the Atlantic) but Reading is Fundamental is a US organisation that tries to help get kids reading.

“SILENCE! Bring Back My Girls” - What Ru says once deliberation is over and the winner and losers have been decided. This one has evolved throughout the show from some shaky beginnings…

… Ru relishing the arch delivery of ‘my girls’ is thought to be a tribute to ‘The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie’ in which Dame Maggie Smith’s school-teacher refers to her pupils as ‘my girls’.

'Two Queens stand before me…but only ONE of you…” What Ru says to introduce a 'Lip sync for your life’ - a direct tribute to Tyra Banks’ breathy elimination speech from ANTM.

“Shantay you stay” (also spelled Shanté/Chanté). “Sashay away” Following a lip-sync, Ru tells one contestant they avoided the chop and the other that they are out of the competition. Ru used both words in the 1993 smash hit ‘Supermodel of the World’ and explained that while Sashay means to walk like you mean to be noticed, ‘Shantay’ means “to weave a bewitching spell’ (likely from the French ‘Enchanté'’).

Both were previously heard in the iconic 1990 documentary ‘Paris is Burning’ which is of course truly fundamental and required viewing to any fan of Drag Race. This is also where ‘throwing shade’ (saying something critical perhaps in an underhand way) was also first heard by a wider audience.

“As it is written so shall it be done...” - This one comes from the All Stars version of Drag Race in which the winning Queen gets to eliminate another by writing their name on a tube of lipstick. It sounds biblical but isn’t actually from the Good Book itself - rather an adaptation from Cecil B DeMille’s ‘The Ten Commandments’ (1956).

“If you can’t love yourself then how in the HELL you gonna love somebody else. Can I get an AMEN up in here?” is how Ru signs off each show with some positive self-lovin’. While ‘Can I get an Amen’ is a clear tribute to church preachers, the central message of ‘love starts with accepting yourself’ comes (I believe!) from Ru’s wise mother who also taught him ‘Unless they paying your bills, pay them bitches no mind!”

And if you really have time to spare, here’s nearly 10 minutes of Ru delivering the line…

”Let the music play!” - Ru’s final words which send the surviving queens into a bop as they leave the runway. It’s not a unique phrase but could be a reference to the 1983 Shannon track which would have been huge in Downtown Manhattan when Ru arrived on the scene.

Please do let me know if you could add info to this or if I have got something wrong.

I’m on Twitter @theroryjohn and would love to hear from you x