Mystique Summers Madison (or simply Mystique Summers)[2] is the stage name of Donté Sims, an African American drag performer who competed on season 2ofRuPaul's Drag Race. Based in Texas, Mystique Summers Madison continues to perform in drag shows and participate in Drag Race-related events such as RuPaul's DragCon LA.
Sims is a drag performer who competed as Mystique Summers Madison on season 2 (2010) of RuPaul's Drag Race, at the age of 25.[3] She has continued to perform in drag shows and host events, mostly in Texas.[4][5]
In 2015, Mystique Summers Madison was part of the line-up of "Big Phat Loser", an event in Philadelphia spearheaded by Mimi Imfurst featuring "plus-size" contestants from Drag Race.[6] She participated in a drag show to raise funds for Puerto Rico residents impacted by the destruction of Hurricane Maria in 2017.[7] In 2019, she emceed a drag show sponsored by AARP.[8]
In 2020, Mystique Summers Madison was slated to be a featured guest at RuPaul's DragCon LA.[9] She remained part of the line-up when the scheduled event became RuPaul's Digital DragCon because of the COVID-19 pandemic.[10] Mystique Summers Madison was also part of the line-up of "Introvert: An Online Drag Show Built Just for You", an online drag show held in conjunction with Pride Portland (Oregon),[11] as well as the Twitch-hosted show "Black Girl Magic", which featured Black contestants from Drag Race and other entertainers.[12] Mystique Summers Madison was a guest at DragCon LA in 2022.[13] She and Kennedy Davenport performed in "A Decade of Drag", as part of an annual drag show at the University of Texas at Arlington, with tips benefitting the Maverick Rainbow Scholarship.[14]
The fight between Mystique Summers Madison and fellow contestant Morgan McMichaels (pictured in 2023), has been called one of the "most dramatic" and "messiest" in the history of RuPaul's Drag Race and its companion show RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked, respectively.
OnDrag Race, Mystique Summers Madison placed tenth overall. She was eliminated on the third episode, the main challenge of which required contestants to act as feuding families in a television advertisement.[15][16] She placed in the bottom two and lost a lip-sync against Raven to "I Hear You Knocking" by Wynonna Judd. In 2017, Thrillist's Brian Moylan ranked Mystique Summers Madison number 86 out of the show's 113 contestants.[17] Ryan Shea ranked her number 97 out of 126 in Instinct's similar list in 2018.[18]The Spinoff ranked "I Hear You Knocking" number 138 in a 2019 "definitive ranking" of the show's 162 lip-syncs to date.[19]
On the first episode of the companion show RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked, Mystique Summers Madison said "Bitch, I'm from Chicago!" to fellow contestant Morgan McMichaels during an argument described by Gay Times as a "legendary throwdown".[20] The catchphrase was described by Tom Fitzgerald and Lorenzo Marquez as a "direct and simple" insult (or "read") in Legendary Children: The First Decade of RuPaul's Drag Race and the Last Century of Queer Life (2020),[21] and became a part of the franchise's history.[4][22]
The argument was included in Them's 2018 list of the ten "messiest fights" on Untucked,[23] as well as Screen Rant's 2021 list of the show's ten "most unforgettable" moments.[24] In 2021, Dylan Kickham called Mystique Summers Madison's threat an "iconic quote" in Elite Daily's overview of the "most dramatic" feuds on Drag Race to date,[25] and Hunter Ingram of Variety said the fight "should have inspired Chicago's new tourism slogan" in 2023.[26]Valentina referenced Mystique Summers Madison when "reading" Latrice Royaleonseason 4 (2018) of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars.[27][28]
