Екатерина Петро́вна Замоло́дчиковаnote , also known as Katya Zamolodchikova or simply Katya / Katya Zamo, is a Russian hooker. Brian McCook (born May 1, 1982), however, is the American drag queen and actor who performs as her.
She's perhaps best known as a contestant on the seventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race, where she (to the chagrin of her fanbase) finished in fifth place. She did win the title of Miss Congeniality for her season, though.
Since wrapping up the show, Katya has toured the world and launched a web series called UNHhhh with fellow Drag Race season seven alum (and close friend) Trixie Mattel.
In 2016, she returned to the Drag Race work room for its second all-stars season, where she finished as co-runner-up with season five's Detox.
Избранная фильмография:
- Rupauls Drag Race (2015) as herself
- RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars (2016)
- UNHhhh (2016 — present) as herself
- The Trixie & Katya Show (2017)
- Room 104 (2018) as Ochin'priyatna (episode: "Swipe Right")
- Hurricane Bianca 2: From Russia With Hate (2018) as Mitya / Katya
- AJ and the Queen (2020) as Magda
- Love, Victor (2020) as herself
- From Katya with Love (2021) as herself / host
Дискография:
- Vampire Fitness EP (2020)
Катя приводятся примеры следующих тропов:
- Affectionate Parody: "Ding Dong" is a spoof of "Boom Boom"
(warning: NSFW) by Ukrainian singer Svetlana Loboda. - The Artifact: Vampire Fitness was originally going to be composed exclusively of response songs to other former Drag Race contestants' tracks: one to Tatianna's "The Same Parts", one to Trixie, etc. The only remnant of this is "Come in Brazil", a response to Alaska Thunderfuck's "Come to Brazil".
- Bilingual Bonus: Her entry phrases for season 7 of Rupauls Drag Race and All Stars 2 were delivered in Russian, with the subtitles revealing references to Laganja Estranja's and Chad Michaels' entrances on the preceding seasons of each show, respectively.
- Four out of five tracks off Vampire Fitness include a language other than English: "ГЛАЗ" and "Ding Dong" are in Russian (the latter with some Gratuitous Spanish thrown in the mix), "Ravioli" is in Italian and part of "Come in Brazil" is in Portuguese.
- Simone de Beauvoir's quote which opens the video for "Ding Dong" is left in untranslated French.
- She has performed to a Russian-language cover of "My Heart Will Go On", while dressed as the Titanic.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: She's a huge fan of fellow Rupauls Drag Race All Stars 2 contestant Tatianna's spoken-word performance "The Same Parts," and often recites the line "Because what you see isn't always the truth" or an altered variation fitting the current situation.
- DIY Dentistry: "Be Your Own Dentist", of course.
- Genki Girl: She's very excitable and energetic, especially when talking about Contact.
- Hidden Depths: She's fluent in Russian and French, and speaks some Spanish and Italian as well. She was also a gymnast when she was younger, and she still utilizes her flexibility and acrobatics in her act.
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Katya is a very nice person. She's also a hooker.
- Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: The Light to Trixie Mattel's Dark. Curiously, aesthetic-wise their roles are reversed, with Katya as the Soviet prostitute and Trixie as the living Barbie doll.
- My Greatest Second Chance: Competed in the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars , where she finished as runner-up — an improvement on her first go-round of the show.
- Named After Someone Famous: Her last name, Zamolodchikova, comes from Elena Zamolodchikova, her favorite Russian gymnast. As Trixie points out, the very fact that she has a favorite Russian gymnast says a lot about her.
- Nice Girl: She was named "Miss Congeniality" for her season, and every person who has worked with her has nothing but nice things to say about her.
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Despite her Russian characterization, Katya doesn't usually put on a Russian accent when performing. But when she does, it's quite convincing.
- Self-Deprecating Humor: Easily one of the most self-deprecating queens to come from Drag Race.
- Sensual Slavs: The Katya persona is based on this.
- Shout-Out:
- Trixie's part in "Ding Dong" is a quote from The Silence of the Lambs. The video contains visual references to Twin Peaks and The Silence of the Lambs, again.
- The same video opens with an excerpt from The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir, like the video it's spoofing.
- The video for "Come in Brazil" visually references Terry Gilliam's Brazil.
- The video for "Be Your Own Dentist" references The Holy Mountain.
- Spoken Word in Music: "Be Your Own Dentist" starts as a guided meditation and transitions into a tutorial for
pulling out your own teeth. - Word Salad Title: Subverted with Vampire Fitness. What looks like a random pair of words mashed together is actually the concept behind the EP: "the soundtrack to a late-night gym for vampires". Makes Just as Much Sense in Context.
