From “La Academia” to being a Drag Queen: the story of Jorge Luis Tinoco Herrejon

One of the most memorable reality shows in Mexico is back in 2022: La Academia. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of its first season, TV Azteca has opted for a new season that aims to be one of the most ambitious in terms of both budget and talent, so here we tell you one of the stories of one of the participants who after the show became Drag Queen and now could be part of La Más Draga 5.

The television program, which since June 30, 2002 seeks to train professional singers, in which the students selected after casting show their talent through the weekly concerts that take place every Sunday, has a very peculiar story, because during the 2010 broadcast one of its participants became one of the favorites of the Mexican public despite not having won.

Originally from Guanajuato and at that time only 19 years old, Jorge Luis Tinoco Herrejon entered La Academia Bicentenario - his name in honor of the 200th anniversary of independence Mexico and other Latin American countries - the eighth season of the most successful program in the history of the Ajusco television station. It started on September 12 and ended on December 19, but it had something very special since this season had 49 participants, being one of the biggest in terms of talent. Lolita Cortés served as director, and TV Azteca selected Rafael Araneda and Ingrid Coronado as hosts; Olga Tañon, Chacho Gaytán and Arturo López Gavito were seen in the panel of critics.

Jorge Tinoco - as his fans commonly called him - unfortunately had a bad performance in the reality show because despite the fact that his godmother was Inés Sainz, he only managed to be present in 3 major concerts, sung with great success the songs Así es la vida, TBC and Dime ven, being eliminated on September 26 causing great controversy at that time because during the weeks inside the house he became one of the spoiled ones and so it was thought that he could win, since his voice and charisma was always reflected in each of his presentations.

Despite the fact that at that time he managed to consecrate various fan clubs on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter - which still exist if they are searched with their full name -, after the end of his season the great euphoria that existed passed and the cameras stopped following him. At the beginning of 2022 it was a trend again, but this time under a different artistic name and a profession full of glitter: Jorge Luis Tinoco Herrejon became the great Drag Queen and now gives life to Lola Manuka, an incredible performer who has managed to combine her talent demonstrated at La Academia with great makeup techniques.

Although his name had not sounded so much within the scene of the Mexican Drag world, after the announcement of the selected ones to audition live within the fifth wave of La Más Draga and result the Mexican public has once again begun to remember the great talent he has, although now his bet is to conquer the most important platform for Queens, Kings and others in Latin America.

From the family of the already publicly selected - “The Most Voted” - Liza Zan Zuzzi, the fun Lola Manuka has already demonstrated her great talent for singing, dancing and other artistic activities, making her one of the favorites to enter the program that has already left crowned queens such as Deborah La Grande, Alexis 3xl, Aviesc Who? and the current sovereign Rebel Mörk.

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