...after the jump.

(The episode is not online yet.)

WHOA!!!!!!!! WHOA WHOA WHOA!! "Ladies and gentlemen, you heard it here first if you don't own the internet," BenDeLaCreme bellowed a few moments ago at Julia's. "Jinkx Monsoon is America's next drag superstar!"

When RuPaul said Jinkx's name, the crowd exploded. Two expertly timed confetti canons exploded, too. People were dancing, people were hugging, people were shrieking. On TV, the coronation felt a bit rushed, almost tacked on there at the end, with barely any time given to Jinkx's reaction to the news, but at Julia's, where it was sweltering, the moment didn't come a second too soon. At the outset of the evening, BenDeLaCreme and Major Scales, pretending not to know what was going to happen, were joking: "We've exorcised Facebook from the room." And then BenDeLaCreme added, "Is there anybody here who doesn't honest-to-god know what happens tonight?" And then, to BenDeLaCreme's surprise, a bunch of not-knowers raised their hands.

During one of the commercial breaks in the (interminable) build up to the finale, BenDeLaCreme asked Major Scales what it's like to be Jinkx Monsoon's roommate here in Seattle, and Major Scales said, "She's a ghost. Every time Jinkx comes home it's more like a cloud of smoke in the shape of her, trailed by dollar bills."

BenDeLaCreme noted that what Jinkx was wearing was "a Lady Von Stratton original"—and then Lady Von Stratton, who was in the house, stood up for a round of applause. Then it was back to sniping about Roxxxy Andrews, "the most beautiful Thundercat on RuPaul's Drag Race," BenDeLaCreme said acerbically. Both the hosts and the crowd said a great many not nice things about Roxxxy this evening ("Jinkx isn't here, so 'water off a duck's back' doesn't apply," said Major Scales, and BenDeLaCreme added, "Yes, we can be as bitchy as we want to be")... but who cares about Roxxxy. It was Jinkx's night. Jinkx earned this thing. Jinkx is genius. Even though Jerick Hoffer, Jinkx's creator, is only 25, he's an unbelievably gifted performer who's figured out how to be hilarious without being mean, which is no easy thing. And he's figured out how to turn his life story into art, which is even harder. And he can sing. And he can dance. And he can act. And the guy put himself through art school at Cornish by being the fucking janitor.


Condragulations, superstar.