Philly’s Sapphira Cristál placed second on ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ but won Miss Congeniality
The first contestant to represent Philly walked away with $35,000 in winnings from the finale alone.
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Philadelphia drag queen Sapphira Cristál fell short of the title of America’s next drag superstar Friday night, placing second on Season 16 of RuPaul’s Drag Race.
But she was crowned Miss Congeniality alongside New York City’s Xumani Muse. The prize — which recognizes the kindest competitor — comes with $10,000, on top of $25,000 for Cristál’s second-place finish.
”Well, now you know what it’s like to be invited to the Cristál ball,” Cristál joked in front of a packed house at The Edge in New York City during MTV’s official viewing party. “We’re going to keep turning it out for the rest of our lives.”
Cristál was bested by NYC’s Nymphia Wind in a lip sync performance of Kylie Minogue’s club anthem “Padam Padam,” during which Wind had not one but two costume changes and twerked in a handstand. Cristál did, however, knock out Boston bombshell Plane Jane.
Cristál — who grew up in Houston but is the first contestant to rep Philly on the reality show — is the first queen in Drag Race history to win three main challenges in a row. She is also the first contestant to win a mini challenge, main challenge, and lip sync battle all within a single episode.
”You should be so damn proud of yourself,” judge Michelle Visage told Cristál during the episode.
A mainstay of Fishtown cabaret Fabrika, Cristál is a classically trained opera singer and self-proclaimed “stunt queen” who moved to Philadelphia in 2014 after performing on stages up and down the Northeast, from clubs in New York City to Sunday church services just outside of Boston.
» READ MORE: What to know about Sapphira Cristál, Philly’s first true ‘Drag Race’ contestant
This moment was years in the making for Cristál, who had auditioned for RuPaul’s Drag Race 11 times before making it on the show. Season 16 was supposed to be her final go, Cristál previously told The Inquirer, the process requiring that she send in an audition tape that had to combine a mix of comedy, performance, and a compelling personal narrative.
“My attitude for this year was more of a ‘take me or leave me’ attitude,” Cristál, 35, said. “When you take your place where you’re supposed to be, you’re prepared for it.”
Cristál was an immediate contender and fan favorite: During the season’s first episode, Cristál wowed the judges with a performance of the opera aria “O Mio Babbino Caro” that had her gradually drop into a split while hitting high notes. She would then stand out in nearly every comedic challenge, playing a motherly nun in a drag retelling of the Sound of Music one week and a shady version of James Brown the next.
» READ MORE: Philly queen Sapphira Cristál wins first episode of ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’
In the finale, Cristál, Nymphia Wind, and Plane Jane were tasked with preparing an original song to perform in front of a studio audience. Cristál’s flexed her six-octave vocal range and dance skills, with her shimmying, shuffling and fan-kicking across the stage after tearing away the skirt of her orange gown. When Cristál dropped into a split at the end of her performance, she earned the viewing party’s first standing ovation.
Philadelphia had gone all in on Cristál before she had ever entered the workroom: Around a dozen of the city’s drag performers and costumers had worked on Cristál’s slate of larger-than-life runway looks, sewing ballgowns and styling wigs in rowhouses across South Philly and Kensington.
» READ MORE: Meet the team of drag performers behind Philly queen Sapphira Cristál’s larger-than-life ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ looks
And before Cristál had even lip synced for the Drag Race crown, City Council had passed a resolution that officially deemed her ”Philly’s crown jewel.”
“When I got to Philadelphia, it was the first time I felt like I was back home,” Cristál said while wearing a regal pink trench coat and a wig teased to the heavens. “I’d never seen so much freedom.”
In Philly, Drag Race diehards were prepared to storm Broad Street in celebration, as is custom to do with all of the city’s victories. At the New York City viewing party, meanwhile, the crowd chanted Cristál’s name when she came onstage to congratulate Wind.
”There are people who never watched Drag Race before who started watching because they know I was on,“ Cristál told The Inquirer. “That’s the kind of support a home gives you. Philadelphia is a place like no other.”