Drag Race: Sapphira Cristál addresses season 16 loss
Sapphira Cristál says she would’ve won RuPaul’s Drag Race if it wasn’t for the final lip-sync. The Philadelphia queen demolished the 16th season of the series with only one bottom placement and four maxi-challenge wins – three of which were consecutive, becoming the first contestant on a regular season to do so.
In the season 16 finale, Sapphira competed against Nymphia Wind in a lip-sync smackdown for the crown to Kylie Minogue’s Grammy Award-winning smasher ‘Padam Padam’.
Although the Slue Foot: Embracing All of Me author delivered a fierce lip-sync, she was upstaged by Nymphia’s various tricks, from her balloon and carthweel reveals to her bendy stunts.
Nymphia was ultimately crowned ‘America’s Next Drag Superstar’, making herstory as the American franchise’s first-ever East Asian winner in the process, with Sapphira settling for second place.
