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3/14/14
11:47 PM
Page 36
By Andrew Johnston
IT’S TUNE-UP TIME!
Meet the men behind the bulges of the RuPaul’s Drag Race Pit Crew
Chances are that every Monday night when you’re not living for the queens, you’re gagging over the Pit Crew. Whether serving up celebratory cocktails after challenges or serving up body during them, RuPaul’s own equivalent of Barker’s Beauties work long and hard for their money. But there’s more than meets the eye candy with this handsome quartet, comprised of Shawn Morales, Miles Davis Moody, Jason J. Carter and Simon Sherry-Wood. They are the unsung and well-hung heroes of RuPaul’s Drag Race—the Pit Crew!
PHOTO: DAVID KHINDA
PHOTO: NICK LOVELL PHOTOGRAPHY
PHOTO: MICHAEL STOKES
PHOTO: MICHAEL STOKES
SHAWN MORALES
MILES DAVIS MOODY
JASON J. CARTER
SIMON SHERRY-WOOD
@brightside009
@milesdavismoody
@jjcforever
@simonsherrywood
Tied with Jason for most senior Pit Crew member, Shawn has arguably become as iconic for scrufflovers as Farrah Fawcett was for blondes. Drag Race fans know him for his signature mustache and tattoos, but they might be surprised to discover their significance. The mustache is pure homage to Tom of Finland, and the tattoos are a callback to an anime series called Full Metal Alchemist—more specifically a character named Greed. You’ve gotta love a hunk who isn’t afraid to geek out! In addition to his work on the show, Shawn is popular in L.A. for his nightlife promoting— he throws a party called Big Bad Wolf at Silver Lake haunt Faultline and a weekly Drag Race screening party at Eagle L.A.
Miles came into our hearts and homes last season as part of the show’s “Whatcha Packin’” minichallenge—along with 20 other Andrew Christian models, who were apparently tossed back by producers after they got one look at this beefcake. With wit as big as the moose muzzle he keeps in his pants, Miles describes the Pit Crew’s downtime on the Drag Race set thusly: “Shawn does push-ups, Jason does mock interviews with himself in the mirror, Simon pretends to be Courtney Act. I just sit back, sip my drink and perfect my side-eye.” Watch your back, Bianco Del Rio, because Miles may give you a run for your money.
Devoted Drag Race fans will remember Jason as the heart-stopping “Aha! moment” from Season 3’s Pit Crew open call. This multitalented actor/model/host wandered onto the Drag Race track almost by accident. “I was actually off from work that day and a producer emailed me. Something told me to just do it. I guess trusting your gut really does pay off!” Not that there’s much gut to trust—have you seen his body? Jason insists that he used to be skeletal—“I was like the male version of Kate Moss!”—but consistently working out, eating right (a weakness for In-N-Out Burger notwithstanding) and not drinking or smoking is his secret.
One of two new additions to this season’s Pit Crew, reality TV junkies might remember Simon from The Real World: Paris. So how did his smiling Irish eyes get the gig? “I went into the World of Wonder offices thinking it was a callback and actually met with Ru! He asked me to tell him a joke [which is far too obscene to print]. RuPaul laughed and said, ‘Consider that stolen!’” Simon is a world-class model who has shared the frame with Hollywood bad girls like Miley Cyrus and Lindsay Lohan, but did that prepare him for dealing with the queens of Season 6? Who was the bigger diva, Lindsay Lohan or Darienne Lake? “Darienne Lake, just because she’s six divas in one!”
Catch RuPaul’s Drag Race on Logo, Monday nights at 9 p.m. 36
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