While Sharon Needles had never applied to be on RuPaul's Drag Race before season four, her then-boyfriend - a drag performer named Alaska Thunderf*ck - had sent in audition tapes each and every season. The year after Sharon won, Alaska was finally called to participate, and she immediately admitted that she was terrified of losing quickly and never emerging from Sharon's shadow. After a shaky start in the first mini-competition, Alaska got on track. Each and every week, she showed viewers that she had her own brand of talent (she was arguably the funniest queen in Drag Race history), and while she aligned herself in an exclusionary-seeming in-crowd with fellow contestants Roxxxy Andrews and Detox, Alaska was always the one who was quick to befriend any queen, deflate a tense situation with humor, and generally bring smiles to faces. Ultimately, Alaska was defeated in the finals by Jinkx Monsoon, but she's made repeated appearances on the show in seasons six and seven, has released several hilarious songs, and just served as a fashion consultant for this season of American Horror Story.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013
