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Ongina

Revision as of 00:02, 21 July 2015 by MarkvA (Message Wall | contribs) (infobox update, replaced: {{Infobox → {{Infobox queen, Box title → name, |Row 1 title = Drag Name |Row 1 info = Ongina → |dragname = Ongina, |Row 2 title = Real Name |Row 2 info = Ryan Ong Palao → |realname = Ryan Ong Palao , |Row 3 tit...)
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About Ongina

Ongina (born Ryan Ong Paolo) is a Drag Queen from Los Angeles, California. She was part of the 1st Cast of RuPaul's Drag Race and was eliminated on episode 5.

Ongina was best known on RuPaul's Drag Race for her sweetness, her fashionable runway presentations, and for coming out to the world about being diagnosed with HIV.

One of Ongina's most memorable performances was doing a lapdance for a straight man for his birthday in Alabama, at a restaurant Ongina worked at. The man knew he was at a drag show and had fun with it. However, when Ongina did a flip-over on the man's body, her wig fell off.

Ongina's view of Drag as an artistic expression, as an outlet for a woman stuck in a gay man's body to come out and let loose. She views drag as liberating to perform and transform her imagery of performing into reality.

Ongina's view of performing is that the energy, the creativity of picking the song, the outfit, the hair, makeup and coming on stage living is amazing.

In her introduction video for RuPaul's Drag Race, she described herself as Lady, Amazing and Fantastic. As the queens were required to describe 3 words about themselves.

Drag Name Originality

Ryan chose his drag name "Ongina" for the following reasons...

  1. The first part of the name "Ongina" came from his middle name "Ong". Ong is actually his mother's last name.
  2. Ryan addressed that God didn't bless him with a certain "Ina". Ryan combined the names "Ong" and "Ina", creating the name "Ongina".

Elimination

Ongina was unfortunately eliminated on the 5th Episode of Rupaul's Drag Race.

The 5th Episode of RuPaul's Drag Race was called "Drag School of Charm" where the queens had to take biological, athletic women and make them over to become their drag sister.

The queens had their athletic partners picked by Rebecca Glasscock, who won the work-out Mini-Challenge. Ongina teamed up with a long-haired, blonde woman named Jarret. It was a challenge for Ongina, because Ongina is a bald queen, who does not wear wigs and she had to transform a woman with hair. She also had to put more effort into training Jarret how to walk a runway and lip-synch to Beyonce's "Freakum Dress".

Although Ongina did her best, she and her partner did not create a family resemblence according to the judges. She fell into the bottom two alongside Bebe Zahara Benet. Both being talented performers, Bebe shockingly outshined ongina according to RuPaul. It was a tough decision to make, and it was a very controversial moment on the show.

Memorable Quotes

- During the Show

  • "I'm Ryan, also known as Ongina"
  • "Im gonna have to put my balls behind my freakin' body today." - Episode 2 (Girl group challenge)
  • "Last week, the judges told me that I looked like a boy in a dress, and I wanted to elevate that this week. Not so much boy in a dress but, drag queen in a dress." - Episode 2
  • "My name is Connie Chung" - impersonating news anchor/journalist Connie Chung in the Oprah Winfrey challenge.
  • "I'm a Mac Viva Glam woman because like you and many others, I care. Educate, Donate & Celebrate, because life is a celebration!" - Her famous quote from her MAC Viva glam commercial
  • "If I don't win this, I swear to god I'm gonna cut someone!"
  • "I just want to say, I've always been so afraid to say it, that I've been living with HIV for the last 2 years of my life and... it means so much to me" - This occured when Ongina revealed her status of being HIV Positive after winning the main challenge of the "Mac Viva Glam" episode.

- During the RuPaul's Drag Race Reunion Special

  • Rupaul: "You were a controversial character, how does it make you feel?" Ongina: "It doesn't make me feel any different, some people are gonna love you and some people are gonna hate you."
  • "I was lucky enough to have won Viva Glam. It doesn't matter if I went home that night, I was really happy."
  • "She's lucky I left my knife in the truck. I didn't have any place to put it. I mean, I couldn't put it under my wig." - Jokingly referring to her elimination.

Other Works

  • Ongina hosts a series on Logo called "HIV and Me." HIV and Me tells different stories from individuals who are living their lives being HIV Positive. The purpose of the series is to reach out to HIV/AID patients around the world and to find a relationship to those stories told by the interviewed individuals. One of the reasons Ongina was chosen for this was because she came out to the world about being diagnosed with HIV, and for being a true icon to Mac Viva Glam.
  • Ongina is currently a drag proffessor on Logo's RuPaul's Drag U - A spinoff reality tv show where everyday women compete in a series of challenges to unleash their inner diva. The show is hosted by RuPaul, and a team of Drag Professors. Ongina is one of the few RuPaul's Drag Race Season 1 contestants to be a professor at RuPaul's Drag U.

Fun Facts

  • Ongina does not normally wear wigs. Only on certain occasions will Ongina wear a wig. This makes her stand out from other queens.
  • Ongina loves to collect headpieces/hats. She prefers to wear headpieces instead of wigs. She even recieves headpieces from her fans.
  • According to an interview on Youtube, Ongina only has about 6 wigs.
  • Ongina, along with Shannel, Nina Flowers, Tammie Brown and Bebe Zahara Benet are all RuPaul's Drag Race Season 1 contestants to be drag professors at RuPaul's Drag U.
  • RuPaul's single, "LadyBoy" was inspired by Ongina herself.
  • When not in drag, Ryan works as an Area Visual Merchandiser for a specialty retail boutique.
  • Ongina is of Filipino descent
  • Ongina was born in the Philippines and moved to Seattle, Washington in 1994.
  • After Seattle, Ongina moved to New York at age 19, where she ended up working at Lucky Chengs, a famous Asian Cuisine Restaurant, where the food is served and customers are entertained by Drag Queens.
  • A memorable feature of Ongina is a Japanese tattoo on her right arm. Ongina wanted a Japanese tattoo, not with a Sumo wrestler. She was advised to google anime, and Ongina found a female samurai named Sakura Shinguji from the video game/anime/manga Sakura Wars and who is now featured on Ongina's tattoo. Her tattoo also features a Japanese Rising-Sun flag, and Japanese symbols representing one life, one choice and one destiny.

Follow Ongina

  1. Ongina's Official Website
  2. Ongina's Facebook
  3. Ongina's Twitter
  4. Ongina's Myspace


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