Sahara Davenport

Sahara Davenport †
Biographical Information
Drag Name	Sahara Davenport
Ethnicity	African American
Date of Birth	December 17, 1984
Date of Death	October 1, 2012
Age	27
Hometown	Dallas, Texas
Season Information
Season	Season 2
Place	7th
Eliminated	Episode 6
Sent home by	Jujubee

Sahara Davenport was the drag name of Antoine Ashley, (December 17, 1984 – October 1, 2012) an American drag queen, reality television personality, classically-trained dancer, and choreographer. She was best known as a contestant on Season 2 of RuPaul's Drag Race. Ashley died on October 1 of 2012 due to heart failure.

Biography

A native of Dallas, Davenport began his drag career while attending Southern Methodist University. After earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance, he relocated to New York City, where he began performing regularly at many gay bars and nightclubs throughout the city.

Davenport has been seen on television on A&E Network's 15 Films about Madonna, Voom HD's Magnificent Obsessions, and on ABC's daytime soap opera One Life to Live. He was featured in the pilot of Judge Karen as an angry Beyoncé impersonator who sues the paparazzi. Davenport made his art film debut in Kalup Linzy's video-performance piece "Melody Set Me Free," which was shown at the Whitney Museum of American Art. He also appeared in the music videos "Girl Problems" by the group Girl Problems and "Gettin' Over You" by David Guetta and Chris Willis

Sahara Davenport was known on the show for her incredible performance skills, dance moves, her Whitney Houston impersonation and her laugh.

RuPaul's Drag Race

Davenport joined the cast of the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race in 2010. He was pegged as "The Dancer" when in the first episode he had to "lip-synch for your life" against his former college classmate, Shangela Laquifa Wadley. In the second episode, Davenport became a team leader when he and Pandora Boxx won the mini challenge. Sahara won the second episode elimination challenge by leading his team to earn the most money by pole dancing and selling cherry pie gift certificates on the streets of Los Angeles. In the fourth episode, Davenport gave a humorous impersonation of Whitney Houston in the Snatch Game challenge. In the Wedding Dress episode, he was in the bottom two again, but remained safe because of his lip-synch performance to Martha Wash's "Carry On". Sahara was eliminated in the sixth episode for not conveying enough of a "rock 'n' roll" attitude and being too much of a lady.

Sahara Davenport was eliminated on the 6th episode of RuPaul's Drag Race.

The main challenge was to sing RuPaul's single, "Ladyboy" in front of a live audience, and create a fashion-forward rock and roll outfit for the runway and performance.

Sahara came off as one of the most nervous performers and fumbled the lyrics of the song, which put her in the bottom two alongside Jujubee.

Sahara Davenport gave the wrong feel and wrong dance moves to the song that was chosen to lip-sync to, "Black Velvet" and had to sashay away.

Rupaul's Drag Race Stats:

Sahara Davenport

Season Competed:	Season 2
Ranking:	7th Place
Mini-Challenges Won:	1 (ep. 2)
Times as Team Captain:	1 (ep. 2)
Main Challenges Won:	1 (ep. 2)
Times in Bottom Two:	3 (ep. 1, 5, 6)
Episode Eliminated:	ep. 6

• Sahara was the first contestant in series history to win a mini-challenge, win the role of team captain, and win the main challenge all in one episode. She achieved this in episode 2, "Starbootilicious", and won the mini-challenge with Pandora Boxx who also became a team captain.
• Sahara only won one main challenge in her entire season.
• Sahara along with Shangela Laquifa Wadley were the first bottom 2 contestants to have to "lip-sync for their lives" in season 2.
• Sahara placed in the bottom 2 a total of three times before being eliminated.
• Sahara "lip-synced for her life" in episode 2, "Gone with the Windows" to the song "Cover Girl (Put the Bass in Your Walk)" by RuPaul, in episode 5, "Here Comes the Bride" against Morgan McMichaels to the song "Carry On" by Martha Wash , and in episode 6 "Rocker Chicks" against Jujubee to the song "Black Velvet" by Alannah Myles where she was finally eliminated.
• After being eliminated in episode 6, Sahara archived a 7th place placing in the competition.
• Sahara's farewell message read: "Live, Love and Believe!!! XO. Sahara"
• Sahara is the first and so far the only former contestant of RuPaul's Drag Race to pass away. The first episode of RuPaul's All Stars Drag Race is dedicated to her.

Personal Life & Death

Prior to his death, Davenport resided in New York City with his boyfriend Karl Westerberg (Manila Luzon), who was a contestant and runner-up on the Season 3 of RuPaul's Drag Race. Davenport died from heart failure at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore on October 1, 2012.

Manila Luzon says he will continue to carry on Sahara's legacy from this point on. (Interview here)

Drag Name Origin

She started as Sahara Simone. The name Sahara was inspired by one of her favorite performers, Sierra Nicole Andrews. She thought“I’m black, so I should be the African one, Sahara.” She also loved Simone, Nina Simone’s daughter, who played Mimi in Rent on the first national tour. She then became a part of a drag family with Kelexis Davenport as her drag mother which she changed her last name to. Davenport came from Divine’s role as Dawn Davenport in Female Trouble.

Memorable Quotes

- During the Show

• "I'm Sahara Davenport, I'm 25 years old and I live in New York City!"
• "WORK!"
• "Well, my boyfriend's Asian, so I decided to go for the parasol" - Referring to Manila Luzon on the 1st episode.
• "I'm happy I survived, but of course I'm sad, you know I sent my friend home." - Talking about Shangela
• "Oh my god, I am in a group with like Satan's Baby." Talking about Tyra Sanchez
• "We don't have sex in drag, so no, I'm not Kai-Kai."
• "What else do you want me to do Ms. Merle?" Defending her rocker chick performance from Merle Ginsberg's critique

Fun Facts

• Sahara and Shangela attended Southern Methodist University together.
• Earned a Bachelor's degree in dance.
• Davenport has been seen on television on A&E Network's 15 Films about Madonna, Voom HD's Magnificent Obsessions, and on ABC's daytime soap opera One Life to Live. He was featured in the pilot of Judge Karen as an angry Beyoncé impersonator who sues the paparazzi.
• Inspired to dance from Michael Jackson, he said Michael changed his life ever since he was 4 years old.
• Became a scholarship student at Motion Mania Dance Center.
• Boyfriend of Manila Luzon until Antoine passed away.
• Released two singles "Pump With Me" and "Go Off", available on iTunes and Amazon