Gisèle Lullaby Turned ‘Canada’s Drag Race’ Season 3’s Snatch Game into Performance Art

2022 is turning out to be a definitive year for Snatch Game in the Drag Race franchise. There was the epic disaster of Season 14’s Snatch Game followed a few months later by Jinkx Monsoon’s transcendent, all-time best turn as Judy Garland in All Stars 7 (a season that also made Snatch Game herstory by giving us two games in one episode). Now we can add Canada’s Drag Race Season 3’s Snatch Game to the list of 2022’s trailblazing installments, all thanks to — SPOILERS if you haven’t seen the episode — Gisèle Lullaby’s instantly iconic turn as… Marie Curie.

Yes, Marie Curie, the Nobel Prize-winning scientist who discovered radium, pioneered radiation research, and coined the term “radioactivity.” So… an odd choice for Snatch Game, where she was seated between Bombae’s Aziz Ansari and Miss Fiercalicious’s Kourtney Kardashian. But that is precisely why Gisèle’s turn as Marie Curie is one for the ages: it should not have worked, and wow, did it ever.

First, we gotta talk about the bravery of Gisèle Lullaby choosing to stick with doing Marie Curie in the first place. During the walk-through, host and judge Brooke Lynn Hytes was rightfully unsure that Marie Curie could get big laughs. Gisèle had a backup, too: Celine Dion, an impression that Brooke Lynn famously bombed during her season of Drag Race (although it led to the greatest lip sync of all time). Whether or not Gisèle soared or sank with her Celine, it would make for good television simply because she’d be doing it in front of Brooke Lynn Hytes. You know production wanted her to go with Celine. In fact, it’s frequently a curse to not take the hint when the host suggests you do another character for Snatch Game.

But Gisèle stuck to her guns and brought Marie Curie to the stage — and it was instantly clear why. Usually a winning Snatch Game comes from a queen knowing how to be funny in the moment and volley with the host. If a queen plans too much, it can fall just as flat as a queen preparing too little. What’s wild about Gisèle’s performance is that she planned a lot and also made it seem like she planned nothing. She told a story through her Snatch Game, as the effects of Marie’s radiation exposure caused her to gradually fall apart every time the mic was passed to her. First she’s glowing, then she loses teeth, an eyebrow, hair — eventually she grows tentacles. It’s weird and wonderful at the same time.

The bravery on display, though — ! Gisèle wasn’t guaranteed that much airtime, and if the first reveal — spitting out teeth — didn’t hit, the rest of her Snatch Game would have been nuked. Our girl had the confidence necessary to pull it off and provide ridiculous answers in-the-moment. I’ll be thinking about the way she said “dramaturge” all day.

This, everybody, is how you make Snatch Game feel fresh and exciting and new. Granted, this is not easy to do. To prepare so much and make it feel so effortless? That takes a superhuman amount of skill. Luckily all that radiation turned Gisèle Lullaby into a superhuman drag queen.