Nicky Doll recaps the best Drag Race France season 1 moments, from song rights to teary lip-syncs

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Drag Race France let us eat cake — slathered with plenty of p-nuh, p-nuh, p-nuh, p-nuh, peanut butter icing — with a visual feast this year, and the queen at the center of the table is ready to break down the most emotional, jaw-dropping moments of season 1 of the international spin-off in anticipation of Thursday's finale.

Season 12 alum and Drag Race France host Nicky Doll joins the latest EW's BINGE podcast (below) for a recap of French highlights, including the moment she connected her own experience as a a past contestant with that of top-four competitor Lolita Banana.

"It was a way for me to help someone in that situation and personally and selfishly erase some of my past trauma," Nicky tells EW of the moment she cautioned Lolita against choosing herself to leave the competition in response to the dreaded "Who should go home?" question at judging.

"The little Nicky Doll you met on season 12 was a very green queen in the U.S. I was very polite, trying not to make too much noise or take up too much space. Which is really not very American of me, so I think when that happened, I just felt already like an outsider, I wasn't part of the group, I wasn't wearing pink and it was Wednesday and I couldn't sit with them, I felt like a loser at all times," Nicky recalls of the moment she told RuPaul she should be the one to leave the competition, which she admitted she regrets "every day" on Drag Race France. "I was already setting myself up for failure because I wasn't [pushing] to feel included."

La Big Bertha and Lolita Banana, Nicky Doll, and Soa de Muse.
La Big Bertha and Lolita Banana, Nicky Doll, and Soa de Muse.

World of Wonder/WOW Presents Plus Nicky Doll recaps the best moments from 'Drag Race France' season 1.

Nicky also says that Drag Race France allowed fans to see her in "full form" after her time was cut short on season 12, and that the final episode is filled with mouth-on-the-floor moments from finalists Soa de Muse, La Grande Dame, and Paloma.

"It's a lovely finale, the top three is extremely strong," Nicky teases. "Expect some lip-sync, expect some choreography, and amazing fashion. Maybe some tears. And a Drag Race winner that actually is French. That did not happen yet because I did not win!"

Still, a crowning moment of the season for many non-French fans happened on episode 5, when Elips and Paloma seemingly lip-synced to a hilarious, generic music track. Nicky says that, in the room, Mylène Farmer's "Libertine" blared over the Main Stage speakers, though the song's broadcast rights were denied for use in other territories.

"I was watching it from New York, so when the lip-sync starts.... I hear this synth soundtrack, like what is going on? And I thought it was a bug, so I restarted the episode," Nicky says with a laugh. "The first time it happened, I thought it was camp as hell, super hilarious.... Apparently it was related to rights that can't be bought worldwide, but Mylène Farmer — who's honestly our French Madonna, she's an icon — but she never sells the rights to 'Libertine' anywhere else."

Isabelle Huppert, Nicky Doll
Isabelle Huppert, Nicky Doll

Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images; World of Wonder/WOW Presents Plus Isabelle Huppert was asked to join 'Drag Race France' season 1, says Nicky Doll.

Listen to Nicky's full analysis of Drag Race France's best moments in the podcast episode above, including her reaction to "haters" questioning her qualifications to judge an entire season of Drag Race; that tear-filled lip-sync between La Big Bertha and Lolita; bringing drag kings into the Drag Race family on episode 2; production attempting to bring on famed actress Isabelle Huppert as a guest judge, and her feelings on Kiddy Smile's controversial critique for Lolita on the episode 7 runway. Drag Race France season 1 concludes Thursday on WOW Presents Plus.

Subscribe to EW's BINGE podcast for full recaps of RuPaul's Drag Race, including weekly All Stars 7 recaps and reactions with the cast, special guests, and more.

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