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Manila Luzon is a drag queen and reality television personality. She rose to prominence after finishing as the runner-up of the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race. After a close race, she finished runner-up to the winner of Season 3, Raja.

Manila would later compete on the first season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars. She was paired up with Latrice Royale for the first All-Stars, with both Latrice & Manila placing 7th/8th.

Manila came back six years later for All Stars 4. Despite being the frontrunner, she was sent home by Naomi Smalls in the eighth episode. She finished 6th place.

Manila came back as a Lip-Sync Assassin for All Stars 6. She lost her lip-sync to Kylie Sonique Love.

Drag Name Origin[]

"Manila" is the capital state of the Philippines, while "Luzon" is the largest island of the country. She chose the name to pay homage to her Filipino heritage.[3]

Track Record(s)[]

Manila Luzon
Statistics USA Season 3 USA All Stars
Season 1
USA All Stars
Season 4
Ranking: 2nd Place 7th/8th Place 6th Place
Maxi Challenges Won: 3 (Eps. 5, 12, 13) 1 (Ep. 1) 3 (Eps. 3, 4, 5)
Mini Challenges Won: 3 (Eps. 4, 9, 10) 0 0
Times as Team Captain: 1 (Ep. 4) 0 0
Times in Bottom: 1 (Ep. 8) 2 (Eps. 2, 3) 1 (Ep. 8)
Episode Eliminated: Episode 15 Episode 3 Episode 8

Legacy[]

After her appearance on the show, Manila has remained very active within the LGBT community. She has been a strong activist in terms of AIDS support and research — she headlined the University of Philippines Alumni in Minnesota. In a television ad called "Red Ribbon Runway", she appeared in a designer gown that was later auctioned by Logo to fund AIDS research. Buzzfeed ranked her of the 27 Filipinos who make you proud to be Pinoy.

Manila has released eight chart-topping bestselling musical singles, "Hot Couture", "The Chop" (with Latrice Royale), "Best XXXcessory", "Lady Marmalade" (Cover with The Heathers), "Bring It!" (with Jinkx Monsoon), "One Night in Bangkok", "Eternal Queen", and "Helen Keller" (with Cazwell).

She also has appeared as a professor on RuPaul's Drag U. She is one of the most successful and popular queens from all of the seasons of the show.

She was named the No.6 most liked queen and the No.8 fastest rising queen on Drag Official. She has been verified as a celebrity on Facebook and Twitter. Manila was voted on to All Stars by fans. Even Dragopolis, a Drag Race themed game, has a section where you can actually be Manila and fight puppets. Her wit, talent, and upbeat attitude are very popular with her fans (nicknamed "Fanilas").

Relationships[]

Luzon was in a relationship with Season 2's Sahara Davenport for six years prior to his death. Davenport died at John Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland on October 1, 2012, due to heart failure. The first episode of All Stars 1 was dedicated to Davenport and, during the episode, Luzon stated that she would do her best to carry on Davenport's legacy as well as thanking her friends, family, and fans for their support through the grieving. She then released the song "Eternal Queen" as a tribute to Davenport.

On November 16, after several years together, she proposed to her boyfriend, Michael Alvarez in the middle of a performance at LemonLab in Santiago, Chile. The couple wed at the Silver Bells Wedding Chapel, with an Elvis impersonator as the officiant on December 24, 2017.

Memorable Quotes[]

RuPaul's Drag Race Season 3[]

  • "Besides, Sahara didn't win — and I'm going to!"
  • "What the hell is she thinking? You can't be lifting up drag queens."
  • "Don't cry for me, Filipinos!" (as Imelda Marcos in Snatch Game)
  • "Shoes!" (as Imelda Marcos in Snatch Game)
  • "Shangela might be jealous, but that's just because Shangela looked more like Rum Tum Tugger from Cats, then she did Tina Turner." (referring to Shangela's Snatch Game impersonation)
  • "Shangela stacked the cards to put people under the bus. I don't believe a word she's saying and she's not keeping it real." (in Untucked Season 3, Episode 8 "Ru Ha Ha")
  • "Maybe I'll get the crown when Raja dies of old age."

RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars Season 1[]

  • "See, this is how you do drag, girls!"
  • "Oh, I'm so glad you covered up your face."
  • "Is this bitch for real?!?"
  • "Wait a minute! How do you not know what you're signing up for? You're already did this girl!" (to Mimi Imfurst during Untucked All Stars 1, Episode 1)
  • “Oh, Mimi’s doing the costume change. The big reveal! THE BIG REVEAL! Oh… that’s it?”
  • "I'm not worried about Jujubee. I mean, I'm turning it out." (during her lip-sync against Jujubee)

RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars Season 4[]

  • "Latrila is back in da house!" (entrance quote)
  • "You're an ass and your makeup is shit!" (during Reading is Fundamental)
  • "Have you ever tried eating your makeup, so you'll be pretty on the inside too?" (during Reading is Fundamental)
  • "What's up, Doc?"
  • “Give it everything you've got. You rock when things go wrong. Might not go the way you want, take it from me, Manila Luzon. If you fail, girl, so what? If you fail, get back up! Gotta try, try, try, again!” (verse in Don't Funk It Up)
  • "Hello gorgeous! Your voice sounds like butter!" (as Barbra Streisand on Snatch Game of Love)
  • "Well I can tell you right now that she's gonna be on the bottom... bunk." (as Barbra Streisand on Snatch Game of Love)
  • During the "Jersey Justice" challenge:
    • "I swear. Shit."
    • "Tiffani, with two Is, dotted with hearts."
    • "I feel like a strippa!"
    • "I look like a dog!"
    • "They wouldn't even let me in the store because I wasn't a service animal!"
    • "I've waited 20 years to come back looking like this sexy, hot, bitch, and now I just look like a frickin' bitch!"
  • "Correction Ru, that's always will be a double all-star!"

Drag Den Season 1[]

  • "Dragdagulan na!" (during the cast reveal)
  • "Salamat, pose!"

Drag Den Season 2[]

  • "Congrouchulations!"
  • "Keps mo ba, o ibibigay mo?" (after announcing who won the Dragdagulan Showdown)
  • "In this drag journey, you will never walk alone. Naligwak ka man, I'll lig-walk with you." (after eliminating a queen)

Trivia[]

  • Manila is the first and only queen to win the first challenge (AS1), the Snatch Game (AS4), the Makeover (S3), and the Ball (S3) throughout her entire Drag Race run.
    • She was the second queen to win all the 3 challenges that the fandom considers are the most important ones (The Snatch Game, Makeover and Ball) throughout her entire Drag Race run, with Chad Michaels being the first one. Trinity The Tuck has also achieved this following her time on All Stars 7.
  • She stated in her "Feeling Fruity" episode, that she identified as bisexual, before realizing that she was gay.
    • In All Stars 4, she even shared names of some of her high school ex-girlfriends, whom she dated prior to officially coming out; These were: Christine, Elizabeth, and Alaya.
  • Her black and blond streak hair was not always her look, as she used to switch between black wigs and blond wigs. Her signature hair was actually suggested by Sahara Davenport before she was casted for Season 3.
  • She is lactose intolerant, as she stated on the behind the scenes on her music video for "Ice Cream".
  • She has no drag mother. But she considers RuPaul, Ongina, and the early NYC-scene as her inspiration in doing drag.
  • Manila is the first queen to have 3 challenges wins in a regular season and 3 challenge wins in an All Star season.
    • Manila's combined 7 challenge wins tied her with BenDeLaCreme and Trinity The Tuck for most number of challenges won across multiple American seasons, before Trinity amassed a total of 11 wins after competing on All Stars 7. Manila is now tied with BenDeLaCreme and Jinkx Monsoon for the third most total wins, behind Trinity with 11 and Shea Couleé with 8.
      • If the international versions of Drag Race are counted she would be joint fourth as she would be surpassed by Fernanda Brown of The Switch Drag Race, who has amassed 10 challenge wins, although the format is very different.
  • She is the fifth queen to win 3 consecutive challenges, after Chad Michaels and Shannel (Team Shad) in All Stars 1, Alaska in All Stars 2, and BenDeLaCreme in All Stars 3. She was followed by Angele Anang, Envy Peru, Lawrence Chaney, Hannah Conda, and Cheddar Gorgeous.
  • She was planning to wear a maxi pad dress for the Curves and Swerves: Padded for the Gods runway in All Stars 4 as a campy yet bold approach to the theme, but production told her not to wear it after she initially asked for permission. Her outfit on the show was her backup option. Ru also stated that the maxi pad dress was in "bad taste."
    • She later posted a picture of her modeling the dress on her Instagram page. This became, at the time, the most-liked Instagram post by any queen who had ever competed on Drag Race, having received over 368,000 likes.
  • Manila is the first queen to win a maxi challenge on three different seasons of Drag Race, and she has since been followed by Latrice Royale.
  • Manila, along with Monét X Change, is one of the first two queens to receive immunity following a win since Season 5, as well as the first queen to receive immunity in two separate seasons.
  • Manila, BenDeLaCreme and Miz Cracker are the only queens to get all three types of wins on an All Stars season: win both the challenge and the lipsync, win the challenge but lose the lip-sync, and have a lip sync tie.
  • She reached 1 million followers on Instagram on February 10, 2019, becoming the 18th queen in herstory to reach this milestone.
    • She is also the first queen who competed on All Stars 1 that has at least 1 million Instagram followers.
    • She was followed by Jujubee.
  • Manila is the second queen to have been both a winner (Season 3) and eliminated (All Stars 4) on the makeover challenge, after Monét X Change.
  • Manila's Drag Niece (in-law) is Season 11's Honey Davenport.
  • Manila was one of the RuPaul's Drag Race "Legends" brought back for the photoshoot mini-challenge on Episode 1 of Season 11. She was paired up with her Drag Niece-in-Law, Honey Davenport.
  • She is the first drag queen host of the Pit Stop not to have won a season.
  • Manila currently co-hosts a podcast with All Stars 1 team-mate Latrice Royale called "The Chop", executive produced by Alaska and Willam, on the ForeverDog and Moguls of Media networks. The show (inspired by Alaska and Willam's Race Chaser podcast) reviews each episode of Canada's Drag Race and Drag Race Holland with the two queens each giving their "top" and "chop" moments of each episode. Both Alaska and Willam have appeared as guests on the podcast.
  • She is the only Asian queen to win Snatch Game in the U.S. Franchise.
  • She is the first queen to lip sync on 4 separate seasons (S3, AS1, AS4 and AS6).
  • She, and Latrice Royale, are the first queens to win a maxi-challenge on an All Star season.
  • She, and Latrice Royale, are the first queens to win a maxi-challenge on an All Star season, with the "Teams format".

Gallery[]

RuPaul's Drag Race Season 3[]

RuPaul's Drag Race Season 3 Looks[]

RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars Season 1[]

RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars Season 1 Looks[]

RuPaul's Drag Race Season 10[]

RuPaul's Drag Race Season 10 Looks[]

RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars Season 4[]

RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars Season 4 Looks[]

RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars Season 6[]

RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars Season 6 Looks[]

Drag Den Season 1[]

Drag Den Season 1 Looks[]

Drag Den Season 2[]

Drag Den Season 2 Looks[]

Videos[]

External Links[]

References[]

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