‘RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 6’ Episode 3 recap: Let’s get ‘Physical’

Occasionally, something happens on a RuPaul’s Drag Race episode that prompts me to abandon my usual format in these recaps. Sometimes, it’s a particularly unfortunate elimination; other times, it’s a change in format that requires comment.

And sometimes, Laganja Estranja shows up as the Lip Sync Assassin and smashes Dua Lipa’s “Physical” so hard that I literally can’t bring myself to talk about anything else.

Because this lip sync? Y’all. Y’all. This is a Season 6 battle for the ages between Laganja and Trinity K. Bonet. This is a drag artist who didn’t have the easiest time on her season coming back for her full, complete redemption. This is a knock-down, drag-out fight, one that shows just how successful the Lip Sync Assassin format can be with the right participants. It’s the cherry on top of what is already a great episode of All Stars 6, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.

This season of All Stars is explicitly framed as an opportunity for the queens to get a second chance. (Even though, for some of them, it’s actually their third.) But where All Stars 5 presented the Lip Sync Assassins as some kind of unbeatable force for the queens to conquer—and they often didn’t quite live up to that reputation—All Stars 6 is giving the returning queens their own chances at redemption. Laganja getting to shine is a large part of what makes this episode work, because even though Trinity doesn’t win, the lip sync is nonetheless a triumph. 

A lot of this episode is a triumph, to be honest. The challenge is to record a commercial for each group’s side hustle. Eureka!, Scarlet Envy and Kylie Sonique Love get to become “Exorcise Queens,” that is, fitness queens who also perform exorcisms. Trinity, Ra’Jah O’Hara, Yara Sofia and Pandora Boxx create Fix-It Bitch, a problem solving company that relies a little too much on duct tape and a prayer. And Silky Nutmeg Ganache, Ginger Minj, A’keria C. Davenport and Jan take on Rent-a-Queen, a pseudo escort service featuring drag queens filling the holes… in your social calendar.

Immediately, you can sense how each group is going to do: Eureka! and Scarlet are game for some improv, but self-professed showgirl Kylie isn’t sure she’s going to be able to keep up when they go off-script. Silky notes that her team has a lot of ideas and almost tells them to keep it simple, but worries about taking over in the wake of her poor reception from Season 11. (This apparently goes beyond fans, and included how colleagues and promoters worked with her as well.) Meanwhile, the team that would theoretically have the most tension—Trinity and Yara’s, considering they’ve each picked the other’s lipsticks in the past two episodes—actually puts it all that aside and gets the work done.

A big part of this comes from Trinity and Yara’s attitudes: Yara is fully fine to just make it water under the bridge, while Trinity specifically says she cares most about them working effectively together. Ra’Jah tries to be the peacemaker, but luckily her services aren’t needed. And Pandora, who has experience working on local commercials in Rochester, has the technical experience to lead the team.

It’s no surprise that when it comes time to record their commercials, Team Fix-It Bitch is the most prepared. They have a very specific focus, and they execute it well. Their final project is also the best, as they lean into the comedy of their fixes not actually being effective. When Trinity has cliffhangers, the solution is just to throw some duct tape on her foot. “Thanks Fix-It Bitch? I feel fabulous?” Trinity deadpans. It’s a great ad, and Trinity stands out as the person who gets the most laughs with her subtle comedy. They are the winning team, and Trinity takes her first-ever maxi-challenge win in the series.

Eureka!’s team does pretty well with Exorcise Queens, though as the winning team notes in Untucked, their ad isn’t so much an ad as it is a skit. Eureka! really kills the physical comedy, leading their team to a safe placement, but Kylie is surprisingly reserved. Michelle Visage knocks her ever so slightly for not being a big enough personality, noting the ways the show has evolved since Season 2. It’s interesting to compare Kylie to her early-season sisters Yara and Pandora: they have the specific performance skills and personalities to work effectively in challenges like these, while Kylie did better in the season’s Ball challenge.

Regardless, they all get waved to safety, while Silky’s team is in the bottom and up for elimination. It’s a bit of a gag that there’s a bottom four this week, and the queens don’t seem to know how to process it. Nearly immediately, they try to make some divisions: Ginger argues that her critiques were so good that she would have been in the top had they not been judged in teams. She is really funny in the skit, particularly in her “Richard Slimmons” voice and look, but it’s a bit of a stretch to say she’d have been in the top. (I’d have put Ra’Jah and Pandora there first.)

While the Rent-a-Queen ad has funny moments, there’s a lot going on. And because they have to get through all of the different shots, some of the takes just aren’t enough. Silky doesn’t get to do as much as she could, A’keria has some wobbly line readings and a couple of Jan’s bits are really off the mark (particularly in the funeral scene). I actually remember more of their ad than I do Exorcise Queens’, but the overall product just wasn’t coherent enough to justify them not being the losing team.

In the judges’ deliberations, it quickly comes down to two possible queens: A’keria or Silky. While I think Silky is deserving of that spot, A’keria’s performance in the final commercial strikes me as better than Jan’s. She struggles more in recording, but I have to wonder what matters more: The final product or how you get there? I’d argue the former, but the queens themselves don’t seem to agree. The vote is actually split, with Eureka!, Ginger and Ra’Jah joining Silky in voting out A’keria.

However, everyone else votes out Silky, and after Laganja smashes the lip sync, she is indeed the one eliminated. (Even if Trinity had won, though, the result would have been the same, as she also chose Silky’s lipstick.) It’s an emotional elimination, with Ru gasping at the result, and Silky hugging A’keria closely as she’s dismissed. Before she leaves the stage, she shares some final words: “I pray this prayer every morning: to be the head not the tail, the beginning not the end, the peacemaker not the drama, and all things shall be added unto you. So thank you.”

Silky admits in this episode that her reputation from Season 11 continues to cast a long shadow, and it’s something from which she likely couldn’t have escaped. Thinking too much about your past performance makes it hard to shine now. Think of Silky’s attitude about it compared to Ra’Jah’s: the latter has come in ready to write a new chapter, while Silky doesn’t seem to be ready to move on.

But if anyone in this episode promises a way forward, it’s our Lip Sync Assassin. Eliminated years ago on an episode in which she threw a tantrum in Untucked, Laganja has returned more assured of herself than ever. She performs with confidence, grace and a real sense of self. Sometimes it just takes some time to make peace with what happened in the past and move forward in a new way.

But if this game-within-a-game concept (when are we going to stop teasing this and get to it?) is anything like past Rudemption challenges, Silky may have a chance to move forward even sooner than expected. If she can find the spark she had in Season 11, watch out. Of anyone eliminated so far, I’d place my chips on Silky tearing back into the competition.

Untucking our final thoughts

✨I mentioned Laganja’s phenomenal lip sync, but I haven’t yet given proper praise to her introduction as a Lip Sync Assassin. When the curtain rises up at the top, no one is there, leading to some confusion (and Michelle volunteering to be the LSA). Then, from off-screen: “Oh, y’all wanted a twist, eh?” She does the splits into the spot where the curtain was, and exclaims, “Come on, All Stars 6, let’s get sickening!” It is an instantly iconic moment, a callback to her Season 6 introduction, and immediately has Trinity worried. “That first stunt don’t count,” she deadpans.

✨After the lip sync, Trinity gets another funny line in, when she says of Laganja, “Don’t bring her back.” This is only Trinity’s second lip sync loss ever, and it was a hard-fought one at that.

✨Huge props to Ra’Jah for being the one to acknowledge that Trinity is upset in deliberations about not being congratulated and then raising a glass to her. She starts to try and refute Trinity’s feelings, and even shoots a look at the camera, but eventually puts that aside and takes the lead in making things right with Trinity. She’s really come into this season with a whole new point of view. She remains the breakout star this season.

✨Tia Mowry is our guest judge this week, and she’s okay! Seems nice enough, and is properly gagged by Laganja’s entrance. But she doesn’t really offer much in terms of runway banter or critiques. A bit of a step down from Big Freedia.

✨For whatever reason, the teams are divided by height for this challenge. This prompts Ra’Jah to exclaim, “Talls versus smalls, bitch!” I love a Real Housewives of Atlanta reference in Drag Race.

✨This isn’t so much a final thought as just something I wrote in my notes while watching the episode: A’keria has genuinely the most stunning smile of this season. Watching her light up when bantering with Ross Mathews about her runway look is such a treat. 

✨The runway category this week is Rudemption Runway, making its return from All Stars 3. This is a great prompt—redo a bad look from your season!—but the choices this time around puzzle me. Scarlet’s makes the most sense, as her entrance look was an infamous disaster. Perhaps unsurprisingly, her rework is by far the most impressive.

✨Coco Montrese sending Serena ChaCha home, Brooke Lynn Hytes and Ra’Jah having a Season 11 battle and now Trinity and Laganja bringing Season 6 excellence to the main stage. Will we continue to see season-appropriate matchups in All Stars 6? Or has this just been a fun set of coincidences?

Can’t get enough drag content? Introducing Wig!, our gag-worthy new drag newsletter! Sign up for exclusive content only for Wig! subscribers.

The next episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 6 will be available for streaming on Thursday, July 8, on Paramount+ in the U.S. and on Crave in Canada.