Denali Foxx, or known simply as Denali, is the stage name of Cordero Zuckerman,[1] a drag queen, professional figure skater and figure skating choreographer based in Chicago, Illinois and a contestant on Season 13 of RuPaul's Drag Race.
Drag Name Origin
Denali may come from the Alaskan mountain Denali, the highest summit in North America. Denali also appears in numerous Alaskan native languages, meaning "the tall one" or "big mountain". It has been confirmed on an Instagram live that her drag name is mostly inspired by her grandmother, because of her being taken care of in a facility called the Denali Center. Her last name comes from her drag mother Chamilla Foxx, which she only uses for social media.
Track Record(s)
| Seasons Competed: | Season 13 |
|---|---|
| Ranking: | 8th Place Lip-Sync Assassin |
| Maxi Challenges Won: | 1 (Ep. 3) |
| Times in Bottom Two: | 2 (Eps. 4, 10) |
| Mini Challenges Won: | 0 |
| Times as Team Captain: | 0 |
| Episode Eliminated: | Episode 10 |
Memorable Quotes
RuPaul's Drag Race Season 13
- "Let me break the ice!" (Entrance Quote)
- "Winners come in first."
- "I am drag's gold-medal bitch."
- "I hate to be this shallow bitch, but I'm just not a fan of chicken feathers." (Talking about Joey Jay)
- '' ♪ Move aside, it's your girl, Denali, I'm cold as ice, hotter than a tamale. Keep up and I'm Chi-Town tough. Triple Lutz on these sluts 'cause I like it rough. I'm icy, spicy, for you, I'm too pricey, going for the gold, so I'ma get a little feisty. Strong like a Megatron, long like a marathon. AK to Babylon, I'm a phenomenon! ♪'' (verse in “Phenomenon”)
- "Yucatan? Right." (In response to Utica's read in the Reading Challenge)
- "I've been obsessed with lamps since I was, like, a little baby boy."
- "Girl, womanly figure of Mrs. Potato head." (to Kandy Muse)
- "Girl, flopiana!"
- “We’re back in the werk roomiana.”
- PERIOD! (After given advice by Anne Hathaway)
- "Hi, gorgeous seashell flower money honey bunches of love! It is so good to be here, henny!" (as JVN in the Snatch Game)
- "Praying to the gay Jesus himself: me!" (as JVN in the Snatch Game)
- "Now the only thing hotter than Palm Springs is our resident culinary expert: Antoni, so I wrote 'Antoni's Ass Cheeks'." (as JVN in the Snatch Game)
- "I do have a thing for men with the kind of bear that say 'Hold me in your arms until all the pain goes away' but also: 'power drills are in aisle 7 henny'." (as JVN in the Snatch Game)
- "Great assets, turn him over and you can make a benedict!" (as JVN in the Snatch Game)
- ”A skater with a whole lot of class... and a whole lotta ass” (Exit Quote)
Farewell Message
"CLARA CLARA, OVER ANY GOLD MEDAL, CROWN OR CASH PRIZE, MY SISTERS WERE THE GREATEST REWARD. ASS OF '13 OFF TO GET SOME D! L8R SK8RS! ♡ DENALI💋"
Trivia
- Denali has been doing drag since April of 2018.[3]
- Denali is a 3rd degree black belt.[4]
- Denali is fluent in English and Spanish. She also has Korean[5] knowledge as she used to live in South Korea from 2012 to 2013.[6]
- She is a big fan of K-Pop girl groups, as she mentioned in a live, such as LOOΠΔ, IZ*ONE, ITZY, TWICE, 2NE1, BLACKPINK, Red Velvet, SNSD and Chung-ha).[7]
- Denali's drag mother is Chicago drag queen Chamilla Foxx.[8]
- Denali introduced Priyanka to RuPaul's Drag Race when Season 9 was airing.[9]
- Denali is the first Drag Race contestant...
- ... from the state of Alaska.
- ... to enter the Werk Room wearing ice skates and the second overall to enter it in skates, after Trixie Mattel in All Stars 3.
- ... to lip sync in ice skates.
- However, she is the second Drag Race contestant to lip sync in skates, after Robbie Turner (in roller skates), and is therefore the first one to lose a lip sync in skates.
- ... to win a lip sync after already having lost a lip sync within a single regular season.
- ... to win a Maxi Challenge in her first competitive episode and land in the bottom two in the next.
- ... alongside Lala Ri, to be officially named the lip-sync assassins of their season by RuPaul during the reunion episode.
- Denali is a professional figure skater, was on a national team for five years and has worked with professional touring companies such as Cirque du Soleil and Royal Caribbean. She describes herself as a "dance and ice queen".[10]
- This makes her the second Drag Race contestant to be an ice skater, after Milk.
- Denali has choreographed for 2021 US National Silver Medallist Amber Glenn.
- Denali is the third Drag Race contestant to lip-sync in the first three episodes she appeared in, after Akashia on Season 1 and BenDeLaCreme on All Stars 3. She would later on be followed by Samantha Ballentines on España 2
- However, BenDeLaCreme went on to lip-sync until the fourth competitive episode.
- Denali has Deuteranomaly (commonly known as red-green colorblindness), meaning she has trouble distinguishing between red and green.[11]</ref>
- Denali was arrested for public intoxication and possessing a controlled substance.[12]
- Denali has a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from the University of Utah.[13]
- Denali is the lowest placing Challenge Winner of Season 13.
- Denali and Olivia Lux are the second queens to have lip-synced to a gospel song, after Rebecca Glasscock and Shannel.
- Coincidentally, both pairs lip-synced to the same song.
- Denali, in Season 13, is the first queen to lip sync 5 times with all different outcomes:
- On Episode 1, she lost to LaLa Ri and got "The Porkchop".
- On Episode 3, she landed in the top two and won over Rosé.
- On Episode 4, she landed in the bottom two, won over Kahmora Hall and kept her spot in the competition.
- On Episode 10, she landed in the bottom two, lost to Olivia Lux and was eliminated.
- On Episode 15, she was chosen as a lip sync assassin by Ru in the reunion and won the lip-sync for her chosen charity against LaLa Ri
- She, alongside LaLa, is also the first pair of queens who both won and lost a lip-sync against the other in the same season.
- Denali is the Drag Race contestant that came out on the runway in the same ordinal number the most consecutive times in a single season, coming out first for six runway presentations in Episodes 3, 4, 5 and 6 of Season 13 (We're Here We're Sheer, Trains for Days, Mixed Bags, Money Bags, Bag Ball Eleganza, Bead It!).
- Denali is one of two queens to place higher than the queen that beat her in the Pork Chop lip-syncs, the other being Rosé.
- Denali posted a video called "When I Grow Up (Ice Version)" after her premiere lip-sync against LaLa Ri, which The Pussycat Dolls supported, commenting "YAAAAASSSS @denalifoxx ICE QUEEN!!!! WE LOVE YOU!"[14]
- Denali's original drag name was Tonya Hard-on, which she featured on one of her verses for one of Season 13's ru-mixes.[15]
- Denali was once called Denali O'Nice.[16]
- She was blocked on Twitter by Tamisha Iman.[citation needed]
Gallery
RuPaul's Drag Race Season 13
Mini Promo
Cast RuVeal
Mini Trailer
RuPaul's Drag Race Season 13 Looks
Promo Look
Cast RuVeal Look
Premiere Look
Confessional Look
Entrance Look
Unaired Lamé Look
Lady Look
Vamp Look
Phenomenon Look
Sheer Look
Trains for Days Look
Mixed Bag Look – Airbag
Money Bags Look
Bag Ball Eleganza Look
Wallpaper Look
Little Black Dress Look
Little Black Dress Look (Reveal)
Bead It Look
Social Media: The Unverified Rusical Look – Russian Bot, Nikita
Yellow Gorgeous Look
Snatch Game Look – Jonathan Van Ness
Fascinating Fascinators Look
Drag Doppelgängers Look – Olivia Lux
Unaired Original Drag Doppelgängers Look with Olivia Lux
Unaired BEAST Couture Look
Unaired Haute Pockets Look
Unaired Drag Excellence Look
Reunion Look
Reunion LSFYC Look
Grand Finale Look
Social Media
References
| Winner | Symone |
|---|---|
| Runners-Up | 2nd: Kandy Muse • 3rd & 4th: Gottmik & Rosé |
| Other Queens | 5th: Olivia Lux • 6th: Utica Queen • 7th: Tina Burner • 8th: Denali • 9th: Elliott with 2 Ts • 10th: LaLa Ri (Miss Congeniality) • 11th: Tamisha Iman • 12th: Joey Jay • 13th: Kahmora Hall |
| Judges | RuPaul • Michelle Visage • Carson Kressley • Ross Mathews |
| Pit Crew | Jason Carter • Bruno Carvalho • Bryce Eilenberg |
