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Jaida Essence Hall was secretly at the final of last year's RuPaul's Drag Race

Photo credit: Astrid Stawiarz - Getty Images
Photo credit: Astrid Stawiarz - Getty Images

From Cosmopolitan

Four days ago Jaida Essence Hall became America's next drag superstar, securing the crown at the final of RuPaul's Drag Race season 12, beating out fellow competitors Gigi Goode and Crystal Methyd for the top spot, in a weird but necessary virtual lip sync for the crown.

As people took to social media to celebrate her very deserved win, one eagle-eyed fan spotted a video showing Jaida working behind the scenes at last year's season 11 final and tweeted a screengrab. In the picture Jaida can clearly be seen working as a make-up artist (Jaida is a professional costume designer and make-up artist) for Silky Nutmeg Ganache who was a finalist in 2019, coming in at 3rd and fourth place with A'Keria C. Davenport, losing out to Brooke Lyn Hytes in second place with Yvie Oddly taking the crown. Finalist's make-up artist to drag race superstar? That is one very quick rise to the top.

The tweet, which has gained almost 10,000 likes, says, "Last year this time, Jaida Essence Hall was the makeup artist for a Season 11 finalist. This year she won the crown for Rupaul’s Drag Race Season 12. America’s next Drag Superstar. Let’s talk about how iconic that is. #DragRace #DragRace12 [sic]."

After securing the win, Jaida told viewers "This victory symbolises the fact that no matter who you are, where you’re from or how big you dream, hard work pays off. If I can capture a dream, we all can."

Jaida, who is from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was also welcomed home with an adorable parade from her hometown.

Condragulations Jaida!

Cosmopolitan UK's July issue is out now and available for purchase online and via Readly. You can also SUBSCRIBE HERE or read on Apple News+. Find our podcast 'All The Way With...' on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and the Acast app.

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