Hot take: I love the 42-look-balls. And honestly don't understand everyone's critique. Don't you love fashion? Don't you wanna see a lot of looks? Aren't you glad that the queens who invested that much money can showcase at least 5 looks before getting eliminated first? (Entrance, Premiere runway, 3 ball looks)
Yeah, I agree. Some girls spend a lot of money/time on their runway packages and it’s sad if they get eliminated early before they can even showcase anything
I love fashion but I don't think anybody's able to appreciate the looks in the quick run they're shown on the episodes when there's too many queens. To me it's even disrespectful to the queens. But I guess any time on tv is great time.
I get that they cost a lot, but I feel like it actually does a disservice to the queens tbh to have the ball so early. Balls are very LONG challenges, which eat up a huge portion of the runtime of an episode. That's why they work so well late in the season is that there are fewer dynamics going on by that point in the season, so it's easier to show them while pacing the episode in a good, memorable way. By having the ball early in the season, we barely get to know almost anyone other than the 1-2 people who get a storyline that episode. If you look at confessional charts, early balls are infamous for having half the contestants get almost no confessionals, if any at all. Unless their look is absolutely astonishing to the audience (on either end of the good and bad spectrum), it is very likely that the three looks will be lost in the shuffle and thus that episode is basically a wash for them, while if they had a different challenge (such as a design only challenge) in the place that allows them to be shown more, we could see them more and actually remember them, making it more likely that they would be economically benefitted, as well as just making a better TV product.
My big plus on early balls is it allows early outs to show off more of their drag on tv which is nice considering the effort that goes into their overall packages
I like having the ball so early, this way everybody atleast gets to show like 4-5 looks (including entrance and maybe a mini look) before being eliminated, I also am amazed by what the queens make in the work room so seeing like 14 queens all make something is my cup of tea. HOWEVER, I feel like having the ball so early ONLY works if it is a double premier, because if the ball was episode 1 instead of 3, we wouldn’t get to see the eliminated queens personality only looks. Imagine if the ball was episode 1 of s16, and we never got whiplash from Hershii or hear her talk about her kids and see how kind she was. We would have only remembered that she isn’t a great sewer and 2 of her looks we didn’t care for, we wouldn’t have seen her amazing personality. The ball isn’t a good challenge to get to know queens so as long as it’s a double premier. Episode 1 we get to see the Queen in their element in the talent show and see their personality shine then a ball on episode 3 lets us see their branding through their fashion and their references. This combo is good but I do feel like a lot of looks were lackluster this season’s ball though.
A little tea the final money ball in season 3 both raja and manilla didn’t finished their look in time while yara had production then gave extra time to each queen to finish look. That’s why yara was emotional and gave up because she knew production wanted raja and manilla to be in finale and she can't do anything to her dress in that time
money ball really was THE challenge because the stakes were super high, it was 5th design challenge (and 3rd one in a row that is), ALL THREE looks had to made in the workroom (unlike hair ball where u had to make only the last one), queens visibly looked ready to kill Rupaul whe she announced it, Yara's breakdown because she wasnt allowed to bring her outfit to the workroom unlike the others, the dancing number as well and the top 4 itself being STAKED with both talent and actual strong seamstresses (well except for Alexis but shes just mediocre in that regard)
You make a good point about queens not being able to use critiques to their advantage with early balls. While I did enjoy the s16 ball, it was way too early, and as of writing this, the looks have not been uploaded to the Drag Race Wiki, so unless you know to look up the video of the challenge on the Drag Race RU-vid channel, or perhaps the queens' personal social medias, you're not going to remember at least a couple. Like I really struggled to remember Morphine's looks for example.
Is it bad I actually kinda liked the season 15 ball😭 I genuinely liked everybody's design challenge look this episode. Some of the brought from home looks were rough obviously but still.
I honestly completely agree with what was said. It's been incredibly difficult keeping up with everyone's looks during the ball in the newer seasons, so I hope if anyone from production comes across this video/critique they take it into consideration
I’m glad balls are early on, usually look queens are sent home early or from snatch game and I’m always sad and depressed we never get to see their interpretations on the runway and what they could have designed. Queens like Kahmorah Hall, Onyx, Sugar, Lashawun Beyond and many more
I had forgotten that the early balls also had the songs! That just occurred to me… was the glitter ball the last one where we got a song?? I kind of miss that but of silliness we used to get.
I know it’s kind of overwhelming to see 40 looks at ones, but I like the fact that even early outs have a chance to show more outfits. I think that’s the main reason why production moved ball to the beginning of the season.
I like the balls with more girls. As time's gone on the girls have spent more and more money on looks and it gives even the early outs a chance to show what they have
I generally get that. The issue is that since there’s so many looks, it bleeds together. On paper, 5 looks sounds better than 3, but I don’t know if that’s always the case on the actual show
@@RuPaulsDragRaceRejudgedagree!! i love that in theory the queens get to showcase more looks, but how many of them are forgotten to time anyway because of having to compete with 30+ looks? This is why production should provide stipends!!
to me, the ball is at its best when its in the middle to end of the season. i love analyzing 40 looks, but it is overwhelming for some people (which is fair). the ball is and will always be my favorite challenge
Oh and gottmik was the winner. Utica only good good look was the one she made. Gottmik was fav or one of my fav for each category. You have to have the best collection, not the best look.
Interesting take. I'm also inclined to disagree. Having a ball and/or design challenge early allows an early episode to be dedicated to workroom conversation, and thus developing the season's cast od characters in a near-vacuum as you prepare to throw something like a rusical at them down the road.
personally i LOVE when balls have a lot of queens in them and i think when they’re at the final 5 or 4 its kine of boring and too few i think season 15’s top 9 placement for it was the PERFECT spot, but either way idc the more contestants per ball the better for me
I agree with the comments on here saying that doing the ball earlier isn’t necessarily a bad thing. 1) More queens get a chance to show off more of their aesthetic to build their brand (and warrant the high cost of making/buying some of the looks from designers) 2) If Fashion isn’t a queen’s main strength, it is easier to be at least safe early when there’s more queens vs final 4/5 where there may be no where to hide (ex. Jinkx needing production to rig the lipsync for her against Detox because of that late ball)
It makes so much more sense to make it a final 6-4 challenge because of how demanding it is. I think they moved it up because the runways are most people’s favourite thing to watch in RPDR so it’s just a shit ton of looks to enjoy but I actually kinda get fatigued by the sheer amount. There should be a design challenge near the beginning that isn’t the ball and the ball gets to be one of the last because of the hype around it.
i think every season should have 3 design challenges: 1. the early design challenge 2. a ball, in the middle of the season and 3. the makeover with looks they make, not looks they brought.
Tbh, I think having a design challenge early in the season is good as a kind of skill-check but with some leniency as it would be a great time for queens to show their chops in making something but actually getting constructive and valuable criticism. And on top of that, they'd all get a chance to show off looks that they brought and made without fear of elimination, so they can be more focused on what they're actually putting together, kinda like on Canada s4. Then there could be a ball towards the end of the season which acts as like one of the final 'tests' before the finale so the remaining queens can show how they've listened to critiques or grown/developed their aesthetic throughout the season and are judged a little more harshly bc it's down to the wire. And I'll repeat what I said during s14: I think if they want to do a ball early, make it like a mini-ball or just a regular design challenge and have it be during the split premiere. We saw something very similar work well in the Canada s4 and US s7 premieres where their 'mini-challenge' and runway looks were judged as a collection in the premiere, and I also think this would work with a split premiere bc there would be plenty of time to showcase looks for a little bit and also spend time on introductions and first impressions when they're all in the werkroom making their outfits. Personally, I'd love it if they did this for s17 (or ig s18 since it seems the first elimination episode ball happens only on the even seasons) because I think a talent show challenge is better for a large group of queens than a ball is, and we saw that a 16-person talent show wasn't boring to watch through in s15's premiere.
As many people are saying, early ball lets early out queens show more of their looks which is nice. To your point about needing time and critiques to be good at it: I dont think it makes sense because s1-s8 s10 s11 all started with a desgin challenge and you seem to be fine with that. Ball is basically just a design challenge plus two looks they brought so they cant change them really.
The balls or any design challenge is an easy way to weed out anyone who is reliant on designers to support their drag, and mostly those who have poor taste!!
Honestly, I think season 14 may have been onto something with the two balls. I would like it if one of the next seasons premiered with split balls, because the talent show has gotten stale. I think seeing 21 looks in one episode would give us more digestible introduction to the queens' aesthetic without it being too many at once.
They switched the ball episode in s10 early in the season because they needed Aquaria to win a challenge early in the race as one of the contenders for the crown.
I think that most people do like early balls. I personally find it boring when they throw a ball with only few queens. There's not enough to compare, with only four or five queens one lacks picks and valleys.
s10 and s11 balls are my least favorites. not even aquaria had a look that i actually love, she had a best package in the bizarre twins challenge than in the ball.
I mean they had a lot of questionable decisions in the critiques: For example, Spice being in the bottom although she had good looks or Utica don't winning when she designed one of the most iconic looks in the reality, obut the ball it's in my opinion the best challenge in Drag Race, along the Snatch Game
