Welcome to RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Power Rankings! Every week, we’re debriefing the week’s new episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 8 to determine which queens are riding high, and which need she-mergency care. While you have to watch Untucked to understand why queens are voting as they do this season, our power rankings will remain as transparent as ever.
12. Monica Beverly Hillz—ELIMINATED
It’s sad to see Monica go, especially after hearing her plea in Untucked. She’s clearly talented, and quite stunning, but she showed the exact same lack of confidence on the main stage this go-around as she did back in Season 5. Her best moment, as the judges noted, was in the Famous Then mini-challenge runway category, looking gorgeous in a Cleopatra-inspired look. It’s safe to say that it was her best moment across her two runs on the show, and I hope we can see more killer looks from her in the Fame Games.
11. Naysha Lopez—ELIMINATED
At this point, Naysha has spent more competitive episodes of Drag Race getting eliminated (two of three in Season 8, one of two here) than not. All while looking pretty stunning, too! I enjoyed basically all of her runway looks across these two episodes, with special appreciation for her dark Net Gala dress. But while she was able to get through the acting challenge in Season 8, this one tripped Naysha up badly. I’m bummed she won’t get to compete any further, but her position as hostess of Roscoe’s much-buzzed-about watch parties in Chicago means we should still hear plenty from her about this season.
10. Darienne Lake
That was a closer call for Darienne in Episode 1 than I expected. Had Darienne gotten just two more votes to leave, she’d have become the highest-placing queen in her original season to be sent home first on All Stars. (Derrick Barry, fifth-placer on Season 8, previously held the record, while former finalist Kendall Gender holds the record in the vs The World franchise.) I’m glad she survived, since Monica did clearly perform worse in the premiere. And as we saw in hers and Alexis Michelle’s Jersey girls sketch during RDR Live, Darienne still has plenty to offer on the show. Hopefully she continues to produce runway looks like her “Fame Forever” entry in the premiere, and proves why she made it all the way to the final four on Season 6.
9. Mrs. Kasha Davis
I would personally have put Kasha in the top for the second episode, but the fact that she didn’t even register on the judges’ radars in either installment does not give me hope for her run this season. Her verse in the first episode was a campy delight, and a million times more memorable than the usual verses we get in girl group challenges. (I will admit that she struggled with the choreography, though.) She’s already delivered a great variety of looks—love her helmeted housewife look in the Fame Forever category—and both her appearances in RDR Live were terrific. The show just doesn’t seem invested in her, and considering what a talent she is, that’s a bummer. I hope I’m quickly proven wrong!
8. Jessica Wild
I went back and forth on exactly where Jessica should wind up on this list, because by all accounts, she was a major part of these first two episodes despite just scoring safe in each. Her teamwork with Jimbo in RDR Live was particularly enjoyable to watch, and she’s proving quite spectacular on the runway. However, two safe placements plus less narrator time than Kandy Muse means it’s hard to justify pushing her much higher on this power ranking. She has a lot of upside, though; if you’re placing bets on who will go up next week, you can’t go wrong betting on the Golden Child.
7. Kandy Muse
“The Muse is back!” And boy, is she! Kandy may have just placed safe across these first two episodes, but she is a key narrator of the season, and she is making moves to secure her future safety in the competition. This post-tour alliance of herself, Heidi N Closet and Jimbo is quite promising, particularly considering how well the other two are doing in the competition. I’m never quite sure how much alliances will matter on All Stars, but considering this group is happily voting against the majority (including Kandy herself voting to keep Monica), we could be looking at a more strategic season. And if that’s the case, buckle up, because Kandy is here to play the game.
6. Jaymes Mansfield
One thing I always try to keep in mind when watching All Stars is that Drag Race will naturally have vested interests in certain queens. Jaymes has stayed very much in the show’s orbit since her season, working with World of Wonder and appearing in VH1’s The Bitch Who Stole Christmas. She even guest-starred in Season 14’s “Save a Queen” challenge. While that has indeed given her a greater skill set for Drag Race this go-around, it also means that the apparatus that produces the show will be eager to see her succeed. So it’s not hugely surprising to see, say, Jaymes’s terrible choreography work not judged as harshly as it could be, or see her land in the top for a solid but not spectacular acting challenge performance. That said, I adore Jaymes, so I’m happy to see her coming out of this double premiere with two episodes’ worth of largely positive critiques—even if I’d have given her top spot for RDR Live to Kasha. I hope it motivates her to even better performances in the future.
5. Kahanna Montrese
Speaking of vested interests: it may not have come up until Episode 2, but Kahanna is indeed one of the regular stars of RuPaul’s Drag Race Live! in Las Vegas. That experience has no doubt helped make her into quite a performer, as she demonstrated in both the girl groups challenge and her lip sync against Aja Labejia (a valiant effort, if a futile one against Aja’s excellent performance). However, considering a major part of the first challenge was her verse, I’m personally quite surprised she took the win over Alexis Michelle and LaLa Ri. Still, nothing could shield her from the bottom two after RDR Live, but she was also in no real danger of being sent home. Kahanna joins a legacy of All Stars queens to win the first episode only to immediately land in the bottom two after: Latrice Royale and Manila Luzon in AS1, Tatianna and Roxxxy Andrews in AS2, Mo Heart in AS4, India Ferrah in AS5 and Yara Sofia in AS6. Not bad company to keep, at least!
4. LaLa Ri
LaLa walked into this season confident, and it’s a delight to see. She’s making plenty of bag references, but no actual Bag Ball-esque look from her yet—but I have to assume it’s coming. In some ways, I hope she gets it out of the way soon; LaLa has much more to show than a revamp of her Golden Boot-winning runway. She demonstrated that in the girl groups challenge, where she performed the hell out of a great verse. It seems like she was blocked out of the win because of her ill-advised Famous Now runway look, which I understand, even if I quibble with how much one mini-challenge look should matter in a week’s scoring. Still, I bet we’ll see LaLa back in the top ranks sooner versus later. She’s got the energy of someone who will go far this season.
3. Alexis Michelle
I am so excited to have Alexis back on my TV screen. Madame Producer brought the entertainment in Season 9, and as her intro package reminds us, she backed it up with strong challenge performances. Even her rougher moments gave us TV gold: “I almost went blind stoning this corset” and “Well, Tamar, did you watch the show?” are both legendary. She seems remarkably assured this go-around, with some incredibly gorgeous looks (her Famous Forever was giving Jessica Rabbit in all the right ways) and delivering a girl groups performance that, in my book, should’ve won the week. If there’s a Rusical on the horizon, I’d bet all my chips on her taking the win she missed in Season 9. That said: the crying in Untucked Episode 1? Camp.
2. Heidi N Closet
Heidi has main character energy this season, and not just because she was the first queen in the workroom. (Although that certainly helped queens like Trixie Mattel and Shea Couleé in their All Stars seasons!) No, it comes through in how we are so far seeing the action of the season through her eyes. She’s got alliances with Jimbo, Kandy and LaLa now, which puts her in a very strong central position in the game. She likely got quite close to the victory in Episode 2, though I ultimately agree with Ru’s choice of champion. And in levelling up her wardrobe, which Michelle Visage approvingly noted, Heidi covered her one glaring weakness from Season 12. She’s going places this season—and as a fan, I’m excited to see it.
1. Jimbo
Does Jimbo seem … more reserved so far? I know that feels like an absurd thing to say about someone who entered the werk room wearing a look that inspired a whole controversy about misogyny in drag. And certainly, her eccentricities are still there, and she still plays up her “bimbo” character to her advantage (as seen in her deservedly winning RDR Live performance). But on the whole, Jimbo feels like she’s pumped the brakes on being too off-kilter—especially in her interactions with the other queens. Clock how she recognizes that her voting strategy last time was too messy, and decided to recalibrate this go-around. Or how she played into Pangina Heals appearing as the Lip Sync Assassin in a way that was fun and friendly, after their last onscreen interaction was not so friendly (though Jimbo did apologize to her off-show).
If this is a slightly toned-down Jimbo, colour me intrigued. I’ve always very much enjoyed her drag and performances, especially in Snatch Game during Canada’s Drag Race and the talent show in UK vs The World. But her fights with Pangina and Rita Baga in previous seasons have put me off before, and had me weary of her return this time. I’m leaving these first two episodes ready to love Jimbo again, and I’m excited by her drag and performances so far. As Kandy noted, Ru is clearly as in love with her as ever, too. If she keeps this up, Jimbo may just be able to make the third time the charm.
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