INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

Watch ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars’ Online This Week, But Don’t Tell Phi Phi O’Hara To Kill Herself On Twitter Afterward

By Zachary Volkert
Published on: 12:44 PST, Sep 22, 2016

It’s easy to hate Phi Phi O’Hara when you watch RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 2. In fact, it’s pretty fun — especially if you avoid online “I hope you starve to death in the street” messages directed at her afterward on Twitter.

On RuPaul’s Drag Race, Phi Phi exemplifies the kind of people we loathe dealing with on a daily basis. Over-confident, petty, tactless — O’Hara has spent most off her “redemption” on All Stars 2 sinking even lower in the fanbase’s eyes than when they hated to watch her on Season 4. No small feat considering she exited the season with a chorus of boos that followed her to drag clubs around the country.

Much like last time around, she’s been portrayed as a slimy, cut-throat monster. Even more damaging, Phi Phi vs. fan favorite Alyssa Edwards has become the season’s central face-off. Additionally, O’Hara has been shown giving other contestants advice that lands them in the bottom, such as encouraging Roxxxy Andrews to swap her Snatch Game character at the last minute. It’s not just what we watch on Drag Race either; she’s been caught making less-than-attractive comments online several times in the interim between All Stars and Season 4.

It’s the same kind of behavior that made Phi Phi hungry for All Stars redemption in the first place. RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Sharon Needles was also often the target of O’Hara’s rage on Season 4, along with Willam Belli, whose comedy parody videos online have made him one of the show’s biggest names.

Both of them eclipsed Phi Phi’s popularity among those who watch Drag Race, which, in turn, embittered the audience toward her even more. One would think O’Hara has learned to tread carefully around the show’s most popular queens, but it appears she hasn’t: On both RuPaul’s All Stars 2 and her own social media, she’s continued to come for Alyssa.

Going after Alyssa made it seem like Phi Phi didn’t learn how to play the game carefully the first time around, which seems odd, as the show portrays her as some kind of an evil mastermind half the time. Even the most chilly-hearted of drag queens would, seemingly, be able to hold their act together for less than a month of filming, especially when they’ve put as much effort in as O’Hara to repair their career.

That’s where the edit controversy comes in. Seasoned RuPaul fans have watched queen after queen get their personality spliced down to a few embarrassing moments, or get pitted against another queen based on a few snarky jokes they made. Generally, those queens later speak out about the lack of reality in these reality TV edits, and Phi Phi started to do so online as soon as her own Drag Race edit started to tank.

But O’Hara’s rampage went beyond the typical Drag Race defenses, she went on prolonged Twitter and Periscope rants where fans had to watch her completely trash the show that had made anyone care what she had to say in the first place. In response, RuPaul herself — or whoever runs her Twitter — clapped back, then later blocked her.

The final nail in the coffin for a lot of fans was when the Drag Race production company released an unedited video online of Alyssa Edwards’ critiques that O’Hara claimed had been doctored — once revealed, those accusations were proved to be false, which, unfortunately for Phi Phi, unraveled any chance she had at winning the PR battle against her All Stars 2 edit. You can watch for yourself to compare the comment below.

In her defense, several other queens have come forward to say that, no, Phi Phi is not as vile as the person we watch on RuPaul’s Drag Race. Specifically, frontrunner Alaska Thunderf**k 5000 said production had baited O’Hara for sharp answers and then edited it to make it seem like an unsolicited rant. Roxxxy claimed production cut off her asking the so-called villain for advice, with the purpose of making the All Stars bad girl’s response look out-of-the-blue and catty.

That background information, along with the fact that a large portion of viewers went into the season already wanting to hate her, exposes a few cracks in the perfect reality TV monster. Even when she’s not doing much of anything at all, the camera seems to switch to her at the opportune moment — adding a grating metallic noise that would even make a beaming smile look like the mask of a hardened serial killer.

Clearly, there are two sides to this story, and at least one has the fingerprints of the powers that be at Drag Race all over it. It’s also pretty apparent that the power in setting that conversation lies pretty squarely in the hands of RuPaul and her team of producers. Not only does she have more name recognition than Phi Phi could ever dream of, they possess the tapes that can either clear O’Hara’s name, or make her look like a unhinged maniac. Phi Phi’s only weapon? Social media rants that feed right into the characterization that she’s insecure and crazed, no matter how truthful they might be.

In the end, it doesn’t matter if the Phi Phi we watch on RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 2 is smoke and mirrors or just a sinister reflection. She’s not running for president, and she didn’t murder anyone. In fact, if you’re trying to hurt her, insulting her seems counter-productive; attacking her directly online only makes her feel more like she’s getting a raw deal out of the show — whether or not that’s actually the case.

When you watch RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 2 online or on Logo this week, remember that both Phi Phi O’Hara and production have been caught lying about or manipulating the final product. Neither are reliable sources, and both have a huge stake in discrediting the other one at this point. Soak up that exquisite dramatic tension for all it’s worth, because it’s exactly what this kind of show is about — but remember that any document of the show that exists outside of raw tape is shaped by memory, perspective and, likely, dripping in shade.

[Feature Image by Jamie McCarthy and Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images]

Share this article: Watch ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars’ Online This Week, But Don’t Tell Phi Phi O’Hara To Kill Herself On Twitter Afterward
Rupaul's Drag Race
More from Inquisitr