Drag Race Italia 2, the final: here’s who won

The final installment of Drag Race Italy 2aired December 8, 2022 on Discovery+, it is not a surprise, but a confirmationunder the eyes of the two guest judges Paola Iezzi and Luca Tommasini. The winner of the first season Elecktra Bionic had not conquered the top step of the podium in any maxi challenge of her edition and, with a final blow, she instead defeated the super favorite Farida Kant.

The winner

This time, however, history does not repeat itself the winner is La Diamond, which has represented excellence since the first episode. Over the course of the program she won five episodes out of eight (the others were won one by each of the other three finalists namely Nehellenia, La Petite Noire and Aura Eternal). The prize of the seventh episode is a thousand euro voucher provided by Eden Viaggi.

A reasoned choice, headed, data in hand and therefore deserved even if, as also confirmed by Priscilla, the heart of this edition remains Nehellenia, the first to enter the workshop, to conquer a mini-challenge and to bewitch the public with a profound and precious humanity. Here because she conquered – rightly – the title of Miss Simpatiapicking up on the legacy of Luquisha Lubamba, the queen who most of all embraced and welcomed the competitors without reservations.

Diamond wins the Asterlab scepter and crown, but above all the role of ambassador for a year of MAC Cosmetics, which will create a limited edition capsule collection entirely curated by her.

The mini-challenge

The test of skill on the magic carpet leads the finalists to challenge each other in a balancing contest: the mini challenge is won by La Petite Noireto which goes not only the classic pin but also a yellow electric scooter.

The jokes abound and Nehellenia presses Aura Eternal: «Come on, I love, you’re wrong of your own, you have to win». Tommaso Zorzi greets them with a prophecy: «If it goes like last year, may the most beautiful and stupidest win».

The max challenge

For the final round the queens have to score a video clip on the notes of the unreleased song Miracle, a catchy but profound dance song: the challenge is to carve a song on lyrics and music already provided by the production. For the occasion the poker of contestants sets up a drag girl band named after Fortunes.

All the queens eliminated from the competition were also with them during the choreography rehearsals.

A tea with Francini

Chiara Francini meets the finalists one by one. To Aura Eternal she says: “You look like a crumpled Christmas paper” and the contestant confesses that she fears the competition from her drag mom La Diamond and that she loved Rusical madly. La Petite Noire explains the equation-tattoo on her collarbone by telling the initials of the names of parents and siblings. Diamond shows off a dress that she says was the first one chosen in her suitcase to participate in the show while Nehellenia is moved talking about the experience at Drag Race Italy.

The latest RUmail

Surprisingly, video messages for the contestants arrive in the workshop: La Petite Noire’s parents and sister send their support while Aura Eternal’s mother calls her a “lion” and remembers the music played on the piano. Filippo, La Diamond’s best friend, wishes her good luck while her boyfriend (for 14 years) from Nehellenia, Marco makes her a romantic declaration of love: “I can’t live without you”.

The return of Elecktra Bionic

Eleckra Bionic enters the main stage statuesque and in a brunette version handing over scepter and crown and confessing that the one spent as queen was “the most beautiful of my life”.

Then the music video goes on stage, with a rather simple setting that gives a nod to the high school clips of the US teen dramas of the 2000s.

The runway

The theme of the final fashion show is Eleganza Extravaganza, as per tradition. No look gets the wow effect (incredibly the outfits of Panthera Virus and Gioffrè are more impactful), but they defend themselves with dignity. La Petite Noire proposes the metaphor of the black swan and the white swan to honor her background as a dancer (but with a not particularly memorable make-up and wig) while Aura Eternal chooses a wedding dress that Priscilla defines as «a little the ones my grandmother used to put in the center of the bed». Diamond has revisited Marilyn’s style in a butterfly key, which Tommaso Zorzi comments as «perfection stained by something from Valeria Marini». Nehellenia focuses on the transformation into Cinderella because, she says, “I felt like her, the one who couldn’t go to the ball”. White boots beckon right away pretty womanas Chiara Iezzi notes, before Priscilla shows the photos of the contestants as children and lets the queens speak to their version of themselves from the album of memories.

The verdict

The first to leave the scene is La Petite Noire, while the three colleagues challenge each other to a lipsync for victory on the notes of the Paola and Chiara Festival. The Diamond triumphs, to which Priscilla wishes “a bright and glittery future”. And she replies: «God save the Drag Queen».

Spill the tea

Thus concludes an edition very similar to a roller coaster ride, born from the inspiration of Dimitri Cocciuti, with a highly prepared cast of queens. Very powerful videos like those of RuPaul, Michelle Visage and Tiziano Ferro were missing, which instead had raised the hype of the first season.

The flaws remain more or less the same: flat confessionals, montages with little rhythm and comments by the judges sometimes inconsistent with the final decisions.

The season peak was reached with the sixth episode (the makeover), but other moments deserve praise (like the Snatch Game). Some entr’actes were successful, at least on paper (such as the fortune-teller-themed improvisation challenge, which instead had a disappointing outcome) and others, surprisingly, were amusing (such as the roast). Sublime, then, the choice of twinning with Supremme de Luxe, host of the Spanish version, a real enchantment.

The bar continues to rise and, above all in the presence of the prodigious level of drag art staged in the other editions around the world, by now Drag Race Italy she has freed herself from the label of rookie and can (and must) improve. With important guests, possibly prepared and already familiar with the dynamics of the program, with well-managed production levels and a writing that sooner or later manages to make the tricolor declination shine for originality, acumen and courage. Armed with hope and sequins, all that remains is to wait for the next chapter.

Drag Race Italia 2: Interviews with Priscilla, Chiara Francini and Tommaso Zorzi (with the presentation of the ten queens)

Drag Race Italia 2: What happened in the first episode

Drag Race Italia 2, what happened in the second episode

Drag Race Italia 2, what happened in the third episode

Drag Race Italia 2, what happened in the fourth episode

Drag Race Italia 2, what happened in the fifth episode

Drag Race Italia 2, what happened in the sixth episode

Drag Race Italia 2, what happened in the episode week (the semifinal)