After a week off, RuPaul’s Drag Race is back! Last time, Kandy Muse and Symone faced off, resulting in a double shantay. Kandy returned to the werk room afterward stating she now has a fire under her ass after being saved by Ru.
Denali said she was delighted to see that the bottom three queens were all from the “winners circle” but thought it sucked that no one got sent home. Rosé was finally glad she got a win, and announced, “the winner’s circle is dead, but it was never a thing because I wasn’t in it and I’m going to be top four.” Love the confidence (and she’s probably right).
Ru introduces the mini-challenge for this week, inspired by his time as a member of the 80s punk band Wee Wee Pole. Really. The queens have 20 minutes to get into quick drag (my personal favorite) and audition for the new punk sensation, the Panty Hoes. One by one, the queens rock out and lip-sync to the east punk song ever (sorry, Ru). Gottmik, Rosé, and Symone served up some amazing looks and moves, but Tina Burner, who was shaking what her mama gave her and giving her all to her performance, was declared the winner.
This week’s main challenge is the pinnacle of Drag Race, the eagerly awaited “Snatch Game” which determines who are the front runners and who will be left in the dust. Kandy chooses YouTuber and makeup artist Patrick Starrr and Denali goes for Queer Eye’s Jonathan Van Ness.
Gottmik wisely chose one of her celebrity makeup clients, Paris Hilton and Rosé wanted to once again show off her Scottish heritage and chose the historical figure Mary Queen of Scots. Elliott went out on a limb and told Ru that she was going to portray Golden Girl Rue McLanahan, which Kandy thought was a big mistake because any boo-boos will stick out like a sore thumb, as Ru loves Rue.
Symone definitely went outside of the box, playing Harriett Tubman. And then there’s Utica. She chose “happy little tree” painter Bob Ross but made the very Utica decision not to sport Bob’s trademark afro, but instead, a headpiece made of stuffed squirrels. She told Ru she felt it wasn’t appropriate to wear an afro and Ru looked as confused as the rest of us.
Tina Burner told Ru she was debating between playing Richard Simmons or Jennifer Coolidge. Ru said after seeing Tina’s take on Stifler’s Mom, “a lot of people do her for an audition, I don’t remember yours.” So, Richard Simmons, it is. Olivia chose vegan chef/IG personality Tabitha Brown, which was also a risky choice, as Ru wasn’t convinced she could make her funny.
The “Snatch Game” itself, as always, had its hits and misses. We did get the pleasure of seeing OG queen Victoria Porkchop Parker and Raven as the contestants and a few of the impersonations were pretty great. As expected, Gottmik had Paris’ look and mannerisms down pat. Rosé’s Scottish accent was perfect (and hilarious), Symone brought a stamp to put Harriet on the $100 bill and Denali was definitely channeling JVN. Sadly, Elliott was an underwhelming Rue, Olivia failed to make a vegan chef funny and Utica wasn’t even close in bringing us Bob Ross’ ASMR-esque voice.
The runway theme this week is “Fascinating Fascinators”, and the queens brought their most awesome headpieces to the stage. Olivia was a latex-clad mad scientist with a stunning liquid mercury fascinator. Rosé was a floral fantasy with an enormous rose on her head and a blossom-covered gown with thorns on her gloves and around her waist.
Utica served picnic realness with a picnic basket topper filled with bees and button “ants” climbing up her leg. Symone was a goddess in all white and, as she turned around, her headpiece said “say their names” in red rhinestones with two bullet holes in her back. It was a powerful look and statement.
Gottmik wore a huge safety pin through her head, featured her signature clown white face paint and an outfit that was punk rock gorge. Denali donned rollerblades as a vintage car hop with a coffee pot on her head. Elliott was giving us a flamingo fantasy with a huge feather fascinator and an asymmetrical one-legged catsuit.
Tina showed us her equestrian side, with a horse head saddle topper, a horseshoe of flowers around her neck and riding boots. Kandy wore a black and white houndstooth dress with feathers on her head spelling out “Muse.” It was a fascinating runway, for sure.
The tops this week were Rosé, Gottmik and Denali, with Gottmik taking top honors. Elliott and Utica, definitely the weakest Snatch Gamers, had to lip sync for their lives to Company B’s hit “Fascinated” (get it?) The pair turned it out, Utica working her long limbs and Elliott giving us Vegas showgirl realness but, in the end, we had to say goodbye to Elliott.
This week’s MVP: Gottmik
Of course, the queen who delivers the best Snatch Game performance has got to be the MVP, but Gottmik has once again proven why she is sure to be in the top 3. I thought her “audition” for the Panty Hoes was the best, as her fishnet getup and punk hairdo made her look like she just stumbled out of CBGBs in the early 80s. In the main challenge, she completely transformed into Paris Hilton. It may be a little bit of an easy pick, as she has done Paris’ makeup already, but the moment she changed her voice from Paris’ off-camera, deeper voice to her on-screen breathy, baby voice was the moment she won the Snatch Game for me.
And, if you didn’t think her Paris was enough to earn her the win this week, just look at her runway. The details were perfect, including the glittery blood droplet that hung from her enormous safety pin headpiece, and her signature white makeup was the perfect complement to her punky plaid ensemble. She definitely is a winner, baby.
Honorable mention: Denali
Who doesn’t love Jonathan Van Ness? While this season’s Snatch Game isn’t going down in history as one of the show’s strongest, Denali’s impersonation of the most fab member of the Fab Five was positively perfect.
If she didn’t earn her spot in the top three this week wither performance, her carhop runway look was so much fun, and she even got to show off some of her skating skills (which have been impressive since the get-go.) We also got to know a little bit more about our ice princess this week as she revealed in the werk room that her parents still haven’t come around to acknowledge what drag is. She said her folks think it’s more of a “bedroom thing” or a kink and, sadly, they don’t respect it as an art form. Here’s hoping that once they see how amazing she is, that they will come around and give her the respect she’s due.
Had to mention: The real celebs
While Harriet Tubman, Bob Ross and (quite obviously) Mary Queen of Scots didn’t see the Snatch Game, some of the other real-life celebs did, and they shared their reactions on social media. Tabitha Brown was delighted to see Olivia Lux’s portrayal of her.
Paris Hilton responded to Gottmik’s performance as only Paris could:
And Patrick Starrr was adorably pleased with Kandy Muse’s take, saying, “I’m gagging, I can’t believe RuPaul said, ‘one/size fits all.’ Kandy nailed the look and the turban didn’t fall! Kandy and I are filming a collab video ASAP!” He also shared his reaction on IG:
And so, we bid adieu to another talented queen and have to wait until next week to see what challenge faces our queens next. Until we meet again, remember that if you can’t love yourself, how in the hell are you gonna love somebody else? Can I get an “amen?”
