Welcome to RuPaul’s Drag Race Power Rankings! Every week, we’re debriefing the week’s new episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 17 to determine which queens are riding high, and which need she-mergency care. Only six queens remain in the fight to earn the title of America’s Next Drag Superstar. Is the next boot as obvious as she seems?
7. Lydia B Kollins (last week: 1)—ELIMINATED
This is a bummer. I’ve really grown fond of Lydia these past few weeks, enjoying her deadpan sense of humour, her strong lip sync skills and her unwillingness to give up despite the odds. She actually did well in the challenge this week, showing real improvement over her last acting task performance, but the baseline was very high in “Ross Mathews vs. the Ducks.” A solid performance from her was still bound to land her in the bottom two.
Her lip sync strategy this week was an unfortunate misfire, but if we get a LaLaPaRuZa for the eliminated queens again, she’s my bet to win that in a walk. Ru clearly loves her performance style, and she’s demonstrated a facility in different genres of song. Perhaps we’re looking at the third-ever Queen of She Done Already Done Had Herses?
6. Lana Ja’Rae (last week: 2)
I just honestly don’t see how Lana survives next week. True, I didn’t expect her to do well in a roast challenge, so maybe I’m underestimating her. But even from an edit perspective, everyone else left in the competition has story left in the tank. Jewels Sparkles needs to come back from this recent downturn. Lexi Love is still hungry for that second win. Suzie Toot wants to launch herself back into the frontrunner’s spot. Sam Star wants to catch up to Onya Nurve. And Onya is our likeliest winner of all. What story does Lana have left to tell? It just feels too obvious that we’d lose her this upcoming episode.
I’ll give Lana major credit, though: she once again did much better than anticipated, and has kept up a hot streak for over a month’s worth of episodes now. Her performance is a reminder that the first few weeks of a queen’s run on Drag Race do not always define them. After all, where would we be now if queens who lip synced twice early on like Raven and Monét X Change were eliminated super early? I do think there’s something special to Lana, queen of showing us something new for her on the runway every single week. I hope this experience doesn’t scare her off of coming back, because she has real All Stars upside.
5. Jewels Sparkles (last week: 7)
A couple of weeks ago, I’d have told you that Jewels was a lock for the final four, even over queens like Lexi and Suzie. Now? I’m just hopeful she doesn’t suffer a Lydia-style lip sync malfunction against Lana next week! Like Bosco and Acacia Forgot before her, Jewels fought for a specific role, then promptly failed to deliver in that role. She was better on the day than she was in the recording session, but I think her inability to distinguish the original New York monologue from her “Chicago” version led to her only being able to get through the performance, not excel in it.
Her runway really was phenomenal, though. She hasn’t really been in the discussion of fashion queens this season, and obviously queens like Lexi and Lana have been pulling out more references than her. But Jewels’ package has been remarkably distinct and strong. If she still makes it into the finale, it may be on the strength of her runway looks alone. But at this point, I’d place my bets on her being the one to just miss out on the endgame.
4. Lexi Love (last week: 6)
Lexi needed a week like this, for a few different reasons. She needed to get over her Suzie issue, which probably required the exposure therapy of acting in a scene with her. She needed to do well in a challenge and get proper praise from the judges. And she needed to be more firmly called out about the excess of trains in her runway package, enough that she would pledge that this was the last one. Those ingredients, assuming she doesn’t get in her head again, are a winning recipe for getting to the end. I’m not totally sold on her getting there yet, because we have seen Lexi backslide before. But this is the best I’ve felt about her in weeks. If the last spot in the final four is between her and Jewels, I think Lexi is the safer bet.
3. Suzie Toot (last week: 5)
If I could pinpoint why Suzie hasn’t secured her third win, it’s that she isn’t growing in the competition. That sounds like shade but it really isn’t meant to be: whereas queens like Onya and Sam have faltered at one point, Suzie has consistently done well. This makes her a target of her fellow queens, who will never let her take the part she wants in a performance, and keeps Ru from getting that excited about her. For better or worse, Drag Race is a show that requires top performers to inject some jeopardy and drama into their stories. Symone was masterful at this, turning a dominant, four-win run into one where she genuinely seemed in danger a couple of times. Even queens like Bianca Del Rio and Sasha Colby knew how to prop up their rivals (Adore Delano and Anetra, mainly) so they didn’t seem too dominant.
Suzie is highly competent, and is proud of her own competence. The one time she tried to create an underdog narrative for herself—calling her comedy “cerebral” in the roast table read—Onya immediately shot it down. She may be doomed to get to the end without a hint of peril. While that may guarantee her a spot in the finale, I would be shocked at this point if she actually won the crown.
2. Sam Star (last week: 3)
I’m trying to remember the last time a season felt this much like a two-horse race between two very distinct archetypes of queens. Maybe Canada’s Drag Race Season 2? In retrospect, Icesis Couture’s victory seemed obvious, but she and Pythia were neck-and-neck every week. Similarly, Onya seems like she’s going to take the crown, but Sam is not giving her an easy path to the end. This week was the most obvious representation of that yet, as they both excelled in this challenge in the same way: they stole the scene, outshining their partner in the process. Honestly, either could’ve won and I would’ve called it fair, though I agree with Ru ultimately that Onya edged Sam out.
Where I think Sam has the edge is on the runway. Onya’s looks have a lot of personality, and her mug is terrific. But Sam has a level of polish, without losing her distinct point-of-view in drag, that really elevates her presentation. The jester look this week was phenomenal, second only to Jewels’ look on the runway. You know who else was consistently stronger on the runway than her closest rival? Nymphia Wind. And Sam is doing a lot better than Nymphia was versus Sapphira track record-wise. I’m just saying, don’t count Sam out in the endgame. Track record isn’t everything in modern Drag Race.
1. Onya Nurve (last week: 4)
That said, there’s a reason the safest bet is still on Onya to take the crown. She is simply so damn good at Drag Race that she’s basically undeniable. Solid runways? Check. Dynamite challenge performances? Check. Terrific talking heads? Double check. Significance in the narrative, both on the main show and Untucked? A million checks. Onya’s the kind of queen that you feel proud of Drag Race for recognizing queens and giving them an international platform. She deserves for the world to know her name, and if the groundswell of positive attention she’s gotten from the fandom is any indication, she’d make for a beloved champion.
You can’t count any chickens before they’ve hatched, of course, what with Sam still around and outside threats like Lexi and Suzie present. But they have just a few episodes left to challenge Onya’s dominance. I’m eager to see what happens, and I know all the queens will put on one hell of a show. If I were a gambling man, though, my chips would be on my Nurve.
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