RuPaul’s Drag Race: What Brita’s Villain Edit Did Not Show

On the most recent episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race Brita Filter was told to sashay away. The New York City queen, who appeared on Shade: Queens of New York and Broad City was eliminated in the 7th episode of season 12.

After 12 seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race, the formula for the show is very clear. There will always be drama, fan favorites, and a villain edit. Drag Race, like most reality TV shows, often picks one cast member for the audience to root against and edits the season to support this story-telling device. Like Phi Phi O’Hara (Season 4), Derek Berry (Season 8), The Vixen (Season 10), Ra’jah O’Hara (Season 11) and Roxxxy Andrews (Season 5) before her, Brita was given the villain edit this season.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Brita was asked what misconceptions viewers might have of her based on her appearance on the show. She had this to say:

“It’s weird watching the show back because I hold my breath waiting to see what comes out of my mouth. I don’t necessarily like the person I saw. I was so driven that I lost sight of myself. In my daily life in New York, I truly try to lead with kindness on the daily and bring inspiration and joy, but that’s definitely not the person I saw on TV.”

The New York City drag queen was one of the most well-known queens walking into the Werk Room on Season 12. In the first episode, Carson Kressley says she seems “like a real pro.” There was a lot of pressure to live up to for Brita and when things were not going as planned she took out her frustration on small-town queen Aiden Zhane. According to the EW interview, Aiden and Brita are friends and Aiden did not feel bullied by Brita.

Many fans want to believe that what they are seeing is truly real, but reality TV shows have an entire team of story producers. It is their job to make the show have the traditional arc of a protagonist overcoming an antagonist. There are some fan theories on Twitter that the disqualification and editing out of Sherry Pie caused a scramble to change the villain edit. Some say Sherry was going to be the villain and others say that Gigi Goode was going to get the villain edit in support of a win for Sherry Pie. This is purely speculation, but because Sherry Pie is being edited out of the season we may never know what role she would have played in the narrative.

Before season 12 of Drag Race, Brita was known as a community leader and political activist. She stood up to protestors at the Women’s March and has a reputation in New York for being a mother hen to the queer community. Since the season has aired Brita has received a barrage of cruel treatment on the internet. Many Drag Race fans make horrific, racist and threatening statements to the queens online. The fan base is very passionate, but they forget that these girls are human beings. The fans’ responses truly need to be… filtered.

Source: EW

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