draggz 
Who is he again?
What happened to Santino Rice? Does anybody even care? Should you care? Meh. The former judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race was actually a contestant on Project Runway prior to appearing together with RuPaul on the show. He didn’t win the second season of Project Runway US nor did he appear on an Allstars season of the franchise. However, he stood out for his silly personality and for the Tim Gunn impersonation. I actually watched Project Runway Season 2 and I remember him vividly from back then. I didn’t particularly like any of his designs, but he was still an interesting character to me.
After Project Runway, Rice was selected to be one of the judges of the Miss Universe 2006 pageant. The following year, Rice made a guest appearance in the sixth episode of America’s Most Smartest Model, in which he taught the contestants about fashion design.
A judge? Really?
And then he became one of the judges on RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2009. He was known to be very harsh to contestants and was often times painted as a villain on the judges panel. I thoroughly enjoyed the fights he had with a fellow judge Michelle Visage. I oftentimes got where he was coming from with his critiques, but I think he could have delivered them differently. The show probably wanted more drama back then, so people would watch. Santino’s critiques were often hurtful and biased. I still remember his critique towards Alyssa Edwards saying her dress was the ugliest on the show. Back then I thought, wow, maybe the producers told him to say all those nasty things, but I guess that was just his personality. Granted, Alyssa’s dress was far from spectacular, but he could have worded it differently. Especially when there were by far worse outfits on the show – Dida Ritz comes to mind, but I love her.
Was he fired from Drag Race?
In RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 7 Santino did not return as a judge. They didn’t give the fans any explanation why he didn’t return. I think nobody was really interested in the reason behind his departure from the show, but I always wondered what he was thinking. I don’t know if he had some beef with RuPaul or the production team, however he did seem like a difficult person to work with. Don’t know him personally though, so I can’t be the judge of his work ethic. Back then nobody really liked Santino except maybe Ginger Minj. Some fans believe he left the series because it’s part of the natural evolution of reality shows.
So where is he now?
After RuPaul’s Drag Race he appeared in different videos online, mainly on Wow Presents Youtube channel. One of the videos sparked major backlash and disgust from the fandom. The video is called RAWk Your Body with Santino, where he appears shirtless and is giving advice on a healthy lifestyle. Fans were disgusted by the video and soon Reddit was on fire! I don’t know what he or the producers of the video were thinking, but that was disturbing. For your own pleasure, I posted the link to the video below. Enjoy.
Is that all?
Sadly, Santino’s career as a fashion designer never really took off. Even on RuPaul’s Drag Race he couldn’t deliver any constructive criticism to drag performers. Why? He didn’t know and has never really known anything about drag. Rice judged the contestants based on his experiences in the fashion industries (which were almost none). What could he ever have offered when critiquing acting challenges or Rusicals?
Well, Santino didn’t stop and he decided to become the world’s best expert in healthcare and vaccines. On Twitter. With NO knowledge whatsoever in medicine or pharmacology. Sheesh. Have you seen his twitter? Why anybody sane would still keep those tweets and not delete them is beyond me. In 2016 he tweeted this:
I guess Santino is a doctor now? Or a nurse?
And then COVID-19 came… Santino finally found a reason to spread his misinformation everywhere. He is actively forcing his opinions on everybody, saying he’s against vaccination and that healthy lifestyle will protect people from the virus. He went even further by equating pharmaceuticals with fast food and basically saying people are sheep for following guidelines and safety measures during the pandemic.
I wonder what would happen to Santino if he had to go to the hospital? Would he still spew such misinformation to the nurses and doctors who would try to help him? I understand and respect every opinion until you try to force it on someone else. Maybe some people who are immunocompromised or have jobs that require them to get vaccinated don’t have other options.
In conclusion, whatever your thoughts on Santino may be, I think he was pretty entertaining at times during the show.
What are your thoughts on Santino Rice? Leave a comment, let’s chat!
