Delight's Photoshoot:
Each contestant would then be led out of the workroom by one of the interns; first up was Delight who was welcomed into a photoshoot room that very dark, Ceecee was perched on a hot pink lounge sofa while there was also a photographer with his gear set-up.
The camera itself was facing a rustic barn looking scene - a red and white picnic blanket was spread on the floor, hay was scattered everywhere, a white picket fence stood on both sides of the scene. The backdrop of the scene featured green grass, a bright blue sky and a cheery looking barn that rested to the right of the backdrop. Oddly enough there was a silver metallic bowl on the floor next to the picnic blanket - supposedly for an animal.
"Well isn't it the delightful Delight! How are you doing my lil henny?" Ceecee questioned from her lounge sofa, she was lying on her side and her right arm was wrapped around a bowl of popcorn.
"Oh I'm so excited to be here Ceecee! You're such an icon! I downloaded all of your tunes to my phone!" Delight admitted as she was helped onto the scene by one of the less-fabulous interns. "Oooh, a barnyard!"
"As part of this mini-challenge, we want to see if you can get down and dirty in our little farm fantasy. City girl meets countryside realness! Think you're up to the task?" The host asked with a overwhelming energy that was tough competition for even Delight to match.
"Of course girl!"
Ceecee gave a quick nod to the photographer to begin the photoshoot challenge; Delight perched herself on the fence and placed her index finger resting on her chin - striking a very curious pose.
"WAIT!" Ceecee called out, Delight immediately standing up straight - concerned that she had displeased the host. "Something is missing! Bring out my...Chickens!" As Ceecee called out her line, there was three chickens that were led on by some intern.
"Awww! Aren't they the cutest! I hope they don't peck!" Delight chirped, resting herself down on the floor to greet the chickens.
"Okay, now pose my queen! Pose!" Following Ceecee's words, Delight proceeded to pose for the camera and made sure to include the chickens in the shot with her. Even going to the extent of picking one up to cradle in her hands "Ooo, giving us that feather couture look are we? Keep it!" Ceecee commented as she watched Delight then place the chicken down on the floor and performed the chicken dance - it was clear that Delight was having fun with her photoshoot as she had a wide smile on her face that made even Ceecee laugh.
"And that's a chicken wrap hun! Thank you Delight, your photos will be looked over. For now you can untuck in the workroom!"
Frankie's Photoshoot:
"Look who it is! The beefcake himself, Frankie! What's poppin' my sweet?" Ceecee welcomed the next contestant as the drag king made his way over to the barnyard scene, finishing of a quick protein shake before his chance for a picture. He crushed his can in a very intimidating manner and threw it over his shoulder - hitting an intern in the face but that didn't really matter much as Ceecee overlooked it.
"I'm good bro!" Frankie bluntly put, looking around at the farm scene. "Bit camp for my liking! But if it gets me a million bucks..."
"That's good, think you can give us a show stopping photo?" The hostess questioned as Frankie then shrugged back, something the drag queen was not expecting as a response but waved her hand over at the photographer to start taking photos of the king. Frankie would rely on his body for the photoshoot, flexing for the camera and even performed a handstand to give the photo a different perspective. "Oh my! I could always get you to mow my lawn on a hot sunny day! But there is something missing to this...Bring out my...Cow!"
As Ceecee announced for the animal to be bought on stage, Frankie was surprised to see the bell wearing cow to be bought into his photoshoot - a couple thoughts rushed through his head about how he was going to make it work and not be outshined by the cow in the picture.
"Much better! Now let's get some moo-ving pictures!" Ceecee laughed at her own joke as Frankie was a little hesitant at first about posing with the cow but then learned how to work around it. He wandered around the cow for a moment to take in the different perspectives before placing two of his muscular arms underneath and lifting it up in the air. "I've heard about pigs flying over the moon but cows flying over drag kings? Now this is just unprecedented!"
Frankie's face was turning bright red so he placed the cow back down on all fours and decided to take a different approach as he climbed on top of the animal instead and wrapped his arms over the mammal to give it a bear hug. "Aww, under all that muscle we have a softie! Thank you Frankie, can I call you Frank? You can de-drag in the workroom with your fellow competitors!"
Ash's Photoshoot:
Next up was Ash who stepped into the photoshoot room; both of his hands were clutched onto his waistcoat as he strolled over to the barnyard scene to pose for the mini-challenge, unaware of the twist that awaited him. "Greetings my dear Ash! Aren't you looking dapper!" Ceecee commented from her lounge sofa, seemingly impressed by the king's appearance as it looked polished and well-presented.
"Thanks Ceecee, although I feel a bit overdressed for the farm at the moment!" Ash responded, checking over his shoulder to look at the backdrop and realized he was going to contrast quite strongly with the bright background. "I would have preferred a slaughter house but I suppose I can make this work too..."
"Whenever you are ready my dear!" Ceecee signalled for the photographer to begin taking picture of the drag king, Ash quickly took his waist coat off and unbuttoned his shirt - aiming to give an overworked farmer look as he scuffed up his hair. "Interesting! Guess there are two sides to this look you have right now! But there seems to be something missing...Bring out my kitty...Girl!"
An intern came over with a ginger and white tabby cat in their arms, placing it down on the picnic blanket which it immediately coughed up a hair ball.
"Just to clarify my moustache isn't made from hair balls." Ash quickly stated to the camera before leaning over to pick-up the cat, originally holding it quite cautiously as he didn't want to get scratched in the face. Nevertheless, Ash became quite comfortable with the cat and held the tabby up to his face for the camera to get a good face shot of the two together.
"You seem to be handling that pussy-cat quite well? A lot of experience with them I'm guessing?" Ceecee questioned with a quirk of her fiercely painted eyebrow.
"Very experienced Ceecee!" Ash remarked back with a cheesy smirk on his face as he finished the photoshoot with a confident feeling.
Persephone's Photoshoot:
"Up next, Persephone! How ya doing hun?" Ceecee welcomed the bookworm queen with an enthusiastic tone in her voice which was met by a less confident mumble from the queen entering the photoshoot room. Persephone had seemed to lose her confidence when it came to getting up and performing in front of Ceecee - there were too many things that could go wrong that the queen didn't want to be too loud. "I'm sorry my sweet but you mumbled a little there, what did you say?"
"Oh, I'm thrilled to be here..." The queen responded as she stood on the picnic blanket, coyly holding her hands up to her face which didn't give Ceecee much confidence in the photoshoot.
"Okay well this is your chance to impress me for your first challenge, pose the house down my queen!" The hostess then signalled the photographer to begin taking pictures. Persephone was unsure on how to start her photoshoot, leaning on the picket fence but had her back accidentally turned to the camera. "My dear, you have your back to the camera. We'd love to see that lovely face of yours!"
"Right..Ummm..." Persephone looked around to find a good place to stand, it was clear she was feeling some nerves.
"Perhaps it is time we revealed the twist! Bring in...My pig!" Ceecee snapped her fingers at one of the interns on hand to help with the photoshoot and bought out a small pig that reached up to Persephone's knees. "Perhaps Porkchop here will help you?"
Persephone looked down at the pig and then back at Ceecee, unsure of what to make of the situation but decided to try her best with the photoshoot by sitting on the floor to cuddle up with the pig - it allowed her to move with more ease but her dress seemed to bundle up on the floor. "I believe we have enough for now! Thank you Persephone, you can join the others to untuck in the workroom!"
Adonis' Photoshoot:
"Don't worry Ceecee, daddy is here!" Adonis walked into the photoshoot room, confidently walking over to the barnyard scene with his whip trailing behind him and cheekily slapped the photographer's behind before getting into position for the mini-challenge. He could command a room from just the way he had walked and Ceecee was a full support to it "Make sure to get my good side!"
"Pretty fierce stuff Adonis! Let's go honey!" The drag queen exclaimed as she leaned back to watch the performer at work. Adonis provide bold pose for the camera; giving an over-the-shoulder that presented a lot of mood to the camera. "Great work! However I think we're missing something?"
"What is it Ceecee? What am I possibly missing?" Adonis questioned.
"Bring out...The donkey..." Ceecee commanded as the four-legged animal came onto the photoshoot and a leash was given to Adonis to work with. "Now that's what I call an ass! Serve it to us Adonis my dear!"
Adonis was a little confused to why he was given a donkey but nonetheless worked with the donkey by his side - despite how awkward it looked, Adonis soaked up all the attention in the room and still boldly looked into the camera lense. "Is that all you have? A donkey isn't going to stop Adonis from winning this contest! And a leash? I've worn a couple myself!"
"You've certainly owned this challenge so far, let's have a look at what your drag brothers and sisters are up to!"
Lovey's Photoshoot:
"What's in the bag Lovey?" Ceecee asked but it was not out of curiousity, she had watched the others question the queen about what was in her satchel and was coining the line. Lovey made her way into the room, helpfully guided by one of the interns she had bumped into on the way to the room - the hippy handed over her bag over to the intern and pranced over into position in a groovy fashion.
"Oh you know Ceecee; everything you want out of this contest!" Lovey replied with a giggled before reaching into the satchel itself to reveal a lavender crystal "It's actually just one of my luck crystals that I keep in my bag! I'm hoping it'll bring me something good in this contest!"
"Well I'm hoping you bring something good to this photoshoot first!" Ceecee responded as she signalled for the photographer to proceed with taking photos of the queen but once again paused when she wanted to reveal the twist. "Bring out my...Ducks!"
A bundle of ducks would then wander over to Lovey, for some reason they were very fascinated in the crystal and they edged closer and closer to the queen. The photographer, Ceecee and even Lovey knew something was up with the creatures as they swarmed around her "Oh no! This isn't my luck crystal girl!" Lovey exclaimed as she backed away from the ducks.
"Then what is it?" Ceecee questioned.
"It's my duck crystal!"
"Your what now?"
"Ahhh!" Lovey let out a cry as the ducks began to chase the queen around the camera, Ceecee leaned forward in her seat and signalled for the photographer to capture the scene "What are you doing?"
"You're serving us some hippy damsel in distress and I think the judges may like this! Keep it up hun!" Ceecee reassured the girl, trying her best not to laugh at the chaos unfolding.
Esmeralda's Photoshoot:
"Esmeralda! How are you doing my latin princess?" Ceecee introduced the next queen to the photoshoot room, Esmeralda pranced in through the doorway and gave a quick skip over to where she needed to stand for the photoshoot.
"I'm ready whenever you are mama!" The queen responded, pouting her lips for the camera already - she was giving model like poses and clearly knew her stuff when it came to working for the camera. Esmeralda raised her right leg up in the air and rested it on the white picket fence, a smooth tanned leg poking out of her soft white gown and served it to the photographer.
"My! My! This isn't your first rodeo, or should I say - rode-hoe!" But let's mix it up a bit, bring out the horse!" Ceecee boldly clapped her hands in the air as an intern walked over to tie a leash to the picket fence and gave Esmeralda a carrot to control the horse. "Let's see if you can giddy up this photoshoot with your new horse friend!"
"I may need some help getting up." Esmeralda gestured to the horse's saddle and a more burly looking intern came over to lift her up onto the horse, the queen kept both legs on one side of the horse that was facing the camera and secured herself by gripping on with her hands. "How's this for a good picture!"
"Excellent Esmeralda! You look like you're waiting for your estranged lover by the stables! Thank you, we'll get someone to help you down and then afterwards you can untuck in the workroom!"
Paris' Photoshoot:
"New York, London and the city of love! Paris! How are you doing my sweet!" Ceecee questioned the youthful queen who bounced into the room on her heel, the host was intrigued how the girl would react to the contest - especially considering her young age compared to the other kings and queens. "Show me what you've got my lovely photographer here!"
"Okay Ceecee, let me put on some music first!" Paris held up her index finger as she pulled out a small speaker from out her dress and placed it on the outskirts of the barnyard scene. The speaker turned on to play a remix of various pop songs that could be found in a night club, the young queen then started doing some vogue inspired poses for the photographer "Hehe! Alright! Let's party! Yeaaah!"
"I can't say I disapprove of your methodology there Paris, but I believe we're missing something. Bring out the goat!"
"Oh, I don't need Lovey to help me!" Paris joked - suggesting that the other queen had a goatee. However the queen was pleased to see that Ceecee was being more literal with her words and a old looking goat came over munching on some hay. "Woah, he smells a lil funky?"
"Our budget was running low on good standard animals so I adopted Patrick here, he's my personal goat so I have high hopes for you both!"
"No pressure then!"
Mary's Photoshoot:
Up next was Mary; she walked into the photoshoot room still dressed in her seductive nun outfit and holding her hands together in a pray as she made her way over to the photoshoot area. Ceecee quirked an eyebrow at the outfit as it gave her more cheesy Halloween costume vibes but believed in giving everyone a first chance as it was how she became who she was today "Hey Sister Mary! Well aren't you looking holy today?"
"You know what they say Ceecee, any hole is a goal!" Mary smartly replied as she rolled up her baggy sleeves and let out a sheepish laugh.
"That's true! However the goal of this mini-challenge is to see if you can pose in any setting! Think you are up for the task?" Ceecee questioned as Mary nodded eagerly in response, the hostess then signalled for the photographer to start taking some poses of Mary. The contestant took a seat down on the picnic blanket and lied on one side with the upper half of her body sitting up - placing a finger on her lips for silence. "Pretty good! But don't you think this scene is missing something?"
"An attractive Christian farmer?" Mary responded, tilting her head slightly.
"No silly! Animals, bring out the chicks!"A swarm of yellow balls stampeded toward Mary; there were perhaps more than Ceecee couldn't actually count as the picnic blanket that Mary was sat on was no more. "I thought we only got six of them? Where did the rest come from?" She questioned before an intern leaned over to whisper in her ear. "Oh so instead of putting the spare eggs in my omelettes in the morning you decided to incubate them? Whatever, Mary, do you think you can-"
Mary decided to lie back and embrace the cuteness, the yellow balls of feathers climbed all over her and she was hidden in a pile of chicks "THANK. THE. LORD. These creations are marvellous!"
"Mary?" Ceecee quirked both her eyebrows out of concern for the woman.
Maddox's Photoshoot:
The final contestant to walk into the photoshoot was Maddox, he was already set up in position for the photoshoot and awaited for Ceecee's signal to start posing. "What seems to be the hold up? Do I have enough time for a cigarette?" The King asked as he stood on his toes trying to make out what was happening with the host and a group of interns.
"Just a second my dear, this needs my undivided attention!" Ceecee called back, though Maddox grew impatient and made his way over to see what the matter was. He pushed his way through the interns to stand next to Ceecee, the large queen had a puppy cradled in her hands.
"Aww! Hello little guy!" Maddox chirped, breaking away from his masculine persona to pet the small puffy dog - puppies were one of Maddox's guilty pleasures and couldn't help but lose it when he saw a dog. "Start taking photos of me and this lil guy!"
"Are you sure? The challenge is to take pictures over by the barnyard scene, not backstage hugging a dog?" Ceecee altered the performer.
"Did I stutter?" Maddox glared over at Ceecee, the queen backed away and signalled for the photographer to start taking pictures.
Back in the Workroom:
Since they finished the photoshoot; the queens and kings got out of their drag costumes to reveal their true selves to one another - some were more modest about how they got changed as the likes of Persephone untucked in one of the corners, whereas Maddox simply got changed in front of everyone without any shame in showing of their body to the world.
"How is it that Frankie still looks more masculine than all of us queens even without the binder and make-up?" Paris wondered out loud as they scrubbed away their make-up in front of the wide mirror that spanned over the vanity stations. Paris looked to be the most youthful in the room considering his smooth face and button like nose - the queen threw their pastel purple shirt on but left it unbuttoned - transforming back into a boy for the time being. "I'm still trying to figure out who is who at the moment, you all look so different!"
"I could say the same for you!" Delight responded, they had also removed their red puffy wig and was now in more casual wear that didn't involve a corset or tights. Out of drag, Delight opted for a blue crop top that showed off his skinny torso "You know, you're kinda cute out of drag. Wish I could say the same for when you're in drag!"
"Ooo, the shade Miss Delight!" A cry was heard from the other side of the room as Mary listened in on the conversation; they went for a more subtle look with a sleeveless hot-pink hoodie and a white t-shirt underneath out of drag.
"Hey! Only kinda cute? Now I'm getting mad." Paris responded with a snigger at the comment made by Delight as they knew the queen was only messing around.
Meanwhile; the kings were also bonding as Ash and Adonis were cleaning the hair-products out of their hair.
"How do you think your photoshoot went then Adonis?" Ash questioned, running a dry towel through their wet hair to reveal a mess pixie cut - there was also a notable difference to Ash's face since they no longer had the moustache glued onto their upper lip.
"I'm pretty confident my man. Ceecee seemed to be impressed by my confidence and ability to lead the photoshoot by myself." Adonis admitted to Ash, the two exchanging a brief smile at one another before the pink sirens went off again in the workroom. However this time Ceecee did not make a physical appearance but appeared on a television screen that was lowered down into the room.
"Hey my barnyard buddies, I hope you all enjoyed your first mini-challenge! Today I really got to know you beyond the audition tapes and I hope to get to know you all a lot better over the following weeks." Ceecee explained over the television to the contestants that had gathered around the screen. "Although one of you quite literally slaughtered the competition and that was...Frankie! Congratulations my sweet, you have one yourself the bonus in the main challenge this week and have won a cash tip of one hundred dollars baby!"
"Get in!" Frankie threw his fist up in the air.
"Now for the main challenge; Frankie here will be giving you boxes containing various materials from left over parties I've been to over the years. For this challenge, I want you to design a look that best describes you using the bits and bobs that you can find as well as the clothes you bought with you. Now Frankie, it's up to you who you assign the boxes to."
Following Ceecee's explanation; the television retracted up into the ceiling again and ten boxes were dropped down with labels on them which were;
A Retirement Party - this was filled with general office supplies and a couple mugs.
A Toga Party - this was filled with a lot of white fabrics and Greek inspired props.
A Halloween Party - a lot of spooky decorations and various materials from costumes.
A Birthday Party - had vibrant fabrics poking out of the box and a couple birthday hats.
A Hen-Do Party - there was a lot of hot-pink materials that would be on a 'bride to be' sash and a few pom-poms.
A Stag-Do Party - football t-shirts filled up the box in a variety of colours and sizes, not to mention the inflatable crown.
A Christmas Party - there were tree decorations and stars sticking out of the box.
A Thanks-Giving Party - most noticeable had a turkey headpiece and a table cloth like fabric.
An Eighties Party - neon workout clothes and curly wigs were placed in the crazy looking box.
A College Party - a few college themed flags and banners were inside as well as a baseball cap.
Frankie rubbed their hands together as they looked over the group of contestants, first of all picking out the one he wanted to have which was the Stag-Do party box since it had one of their favourite teams logos on it and knew they could pull of a very masculine look using it. "Okay. So the rest of you...Delight, you get the retirement party box."
Delight looked amongst the other contestants and looked at the bland looking box "Yay!..." They tried to say with enthusiasm but struggled to find a smile.
"Ash you get the eighties party box."
"Alright! I'm a fan of the eighties anyway." Ash responded with a shrug and marched over to grab their chosen box."
"Adonis, you'll get the birthday party and Maddox you'll get the Hen-Do party."
Adonis picked up their box without a word, they knew that they could pull of any look with a fierce personality. Maddox glared over at Frankie, knowing full well that the only reason they were getting the Hen-Do box was to throw them under the bus since a lot of the colours were deemed very feminine.
"Mary, you'll be getting Christmas early. Esmeralda will get the college party box and Persephone you'll be getting the thanks-giving box."
"What about me?" Paris questioned as the respected members of the cast received their selected boxes.
"Oh right. Paris, you'll be getting Halloween."
"How spooky.." Paris said as they went to collect their box from the drag king.
The television then came down from the ceiling again to reveal another message from their hostess "Don't forget my queens and kings that you will be presenting your looks to myself, my beloved friend Harry Balls and Chef Hachet. So good luck and don't mess it up!"
Author note: So this took longer than expected, I hope you enjoyed this chapter - it seemed like a good way to introduce the characters all together in one chapter and showed a bit more interaction between each contestant and Ceecee. The next chapter will focus more on the developing relations between the contestants as they design their runway looks! I'm thinking each episode will either be a three or two part-er thing; mini-challenge, designing/main challenge and then the elimination.
Also in response to a guest's review, you can find the whole cast list on my profile or simply go back on the chapters and look at the confessionals.