Alaska Thunderfuck (sometimes known as Alaska Thunderfvck, Alaska Thunderfuck 5000, or simply Alaska) is an American drag queen, musician, and actor.
Alaska is best known for finishing as a runner-up of RuPaul's Drag Race season five, after previously auditioning for every single season of that show to date but never making the cut. She was famously in a long-term relationship with season four winner Sharon Needles at the time, but they eventually broke up after Alaska's season aired. Alaska later returned for the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars , which she won.
She's also a recording artist, having released two albums —2015's Anus and 2016's Poundcake— and regularly performs with fellow Drag Race alumni Willam Belli and Courtney Act as The AAA Girls. Alaska is also a member of the folk pop duo Alaska & Jeremy, who released their debut album, Amethyst Journey, in 2018.
In 2018, Willam and Alaska began the Race Chaser podcast, recapping every season of Drag Race from the beginning. The success of Race Chaser led to the creation of Moguls of Media ("M.O.M.")
, an LGBTQ-focused podcast network in association with Forever Dog, which has launched several titles featuring other Drag Race alumni.
Selected filmography
- Rupauls Drag Race (2013) as herself
- RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars (2016)
- Bro'Laska (2014 — present) as herself
- The Celebrity Apprentice (2017) as herself
- Dimension 20: Dungeons and Drag Queens (2023) as herself / Princess
Discography
as Alaska Thunderfuck
- Anus (2015)
- Poundcake (2016)
- Vagina (2019)
with The AAA Girls
- Christmas Queens EP (2015)
- Access All Areas (2017)
with Alaska & Jeremy
- Amethyst Journey (2018)
Alaska provides examples of the following tropes:
- Borrowed Catchphrase:
- Alaska's memorable way of greeting people ("Hieeee!") has caught on with Drag Race fans in real life; even RuPaul herself starting using it on and off the show. "Hieeee" eventually became the opening track on Alaska's debut album. Subverted in that Alaska openly attributes the origin of the saying to fellow Drag Race alumnus Ongina, who first said it in the series premiere of the show.
- She's known for saying that "If you're not wearing nails, you are not doing drag."
- When she wants to make sure she is being noticed when talking, she will end any sentence she's saying with "anus".
- The Cameo: Along with her fellow AAA Girls Willam Belli and Courtney Act, Alaska appears in the music video for "Power" by Little Mix, since band member Jade Thirlwell is a massive fangirl of drag.
- The Determinator: Alaska submitted auditions every single season when they were accepting, and even sometimes when they weren't. By her own admission, it got to the point where it became a personal vendetta to get on the show.
- Drag Queen: Primarily of the campy/genderfuck variety.
- Meaningful Rename: Her drag name is a reference to Alaskan Thunderfuck, a potent strain of marijuana.
- Official Couple: With '"Drag Race'' season four winner Sharon Needles, until they broke up in 2013. At the time they were known by Drag Race fans as the "Royal Couple of Drag".
- Only One Name: Because the last part of her drag name, Thunderfuck, had to be censored on Drag Race, she sometimes goes by it publicly.
- Pronoun Trouble: When she and Sharon were together, people stumbled over what pronouns they should use to describe them together; 'boyfriend', 'girlfriend', 'boygirlfriend', 'husband', or 'wife' were the usual choices. Sharon herself referred to Alaska as her "girlfriend with a penis".
- Recovered Addict: Used to be an alcoholic and did a lot of drugs (primarily marijuana), but has since gone sober. While its unknown if she has completely given up on pot, she has stopped drinking and will refuse free drinks even in the clubs she performs in.
- Recurring Character: She is perhaps the most frequently-recurring queen on Drag Race besides RuPaul herself; in the first and third seasons she appeared in the montage of Hopeless Auditionees, in the fourth season she appeared a couple times in support of Sharon Needles, she was finally a contestant in the fifth season, she made a guest appearance in the first episode of the seventh season, and was the winner of the All Stars 2 season.
- Refuge in Audacity: Well, she did release an album called Anus.
- Rummage Sale Reject: A self proclaimed "trash-queen", although since her time on Drag Race she has shown capability to fancy it up when she wants to.
- Silly Walk: She's quite bow-legged in her manner of walking, but it's generally agreed that it fits her personality.
- Wild Hair:
- Doesn't consider herself in proper drag unless she was wearing at least two wigs teased up into a wild coif.
- She later released a single that insisted "THIS IS MY HAIR, I DON'T WEAR WIGS".)
