“RuPaul's Drag Race” season 16 Miss Congeniality shocker results in never-before-seen crowning

Malaysia Babydoll Foxx was on hand to help season 16 make a her-storic Miss Congeniality crowning on the finale.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for RuPaul's Drag Race season 16 finale.

RuPaul's Drag Race finished its sweet season 16 with a her-storic double-crowning — but not the one you might've expected between top-two finalists Sapphira Cristál and Nymphia Wind.

Instead, for the first time since Drag Race premiered in 2009, the show crowned two Miss Congeniality winners. Season 15 Miss Congeniality Malaysia Babydoll Foxx was on hand to bestow the award, announcing that it was a tie between Xunami Muse and Sapphira, who will share the title after a vote among their season 16 sisters to determine the winner was evenly split between them.

“You know what? I may not have won the crown, but I won the crowd, okay?” Xunami said upon winning. Sapphira, who was backstage getting ready for her top-two lip-sync when her name was announced as the second winner, ran out and said, “Mmm, it pays to be nice!"

In addition to their new Miss Congeniality titles, Sapphira and Xunami both earned $10,000 checks, while the show also gave all of season 16's eliminated queens a $2,000 tip for their run on the show.

Sapphira is only the second queen from the United States edition of Drag Race to become both a top-two finalist and a Miss Congeniality winner in the same season. Before her, season 1's Nina Flowers accomplished the feat before losing the main title to BeBe Zahara Benet.

Xunami's ascension to the Miss Congeniality throne comes after her first interview with Entertainment Weekly in 2023, in which she promised to "try and rehabilitate Kandy's image" after her drag mother, Kandy Muse, famously clashed with Tamisha Iman back on season 13.

EW caught up with Kandy at a finale screening on Friday to get her reaction to learning her drag daughter was named Miss Congeniality. "Baby, a Muse finally won a crown," Kandy exclaimed to EW. "But listen, the dichotomy of Miss Congeniality, Xunami, and The House of Villains, [me] being the villain? Bitch, you can't make this s--- up. I live."

This marks the fifth consecutive year that a queen of color has won the title, beginning with Heidi N Closet (season 12), Lala Ri (season 13), Kornbread "The Snack" Jeté (season 14) — drag sister to season 16 star Hershii LiqCour-Jeté — and Malaysia last year. Recent Miss Congeniality champions all went on to star in commercials that premiered during ad breaks of the next season's broadcast.

Other Miss Congeniality winners throughout Drag Race her-story include Pandora Boxx (season 2), Yara Sofia (season 3), Latrice Royale (season 4), Ivy Winters (season 5), BenDeLaCreme (season 6), Katya (season 7), Cynthia Lee Fontaine (season 8), Valentina (season 9), Monét X Change (season 10), and Nina West (season 11).

The finale also saw RuPaul crown the season 16 winner after a lip-sync battle between Nymphia and Sapphira.

Subscribe to EW's Quick Drag podcast for recaps of RuPaul's Drag Race, including reactions from the cast, special guests, and more.

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• Drag Race winner Yvie Oddly recalls meeting Whoopi Goldberg after Snatch Game impersonation: 'I blanked out'

• RuPaul's Drag Race star Q reacts to elimination before finale: 'Definitely a bummer'
  

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.