‘Canada’s Drag Race’ Season 6, Episode 6 recap: Slay-Off sisters

In the Golden Age of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Snatch Game was the checkpoint challenge of every season. Reaching that point meant we were done with the early chaff, and making it through was a sign to the queens that the crown was within reach. Nowadays, Snatch Game is tossed about the calendar without abandon, but this idea of a “checkpoint challenge” can be seen on other reality shows as well. (Maybe the most prominent on a show still airing today: Restaurant Wars on Top Chef.)

In Season 4, Canada’s Drag Race found its own checkpoint challenge: the Lip Sync Slay-Offs. The northern take on a LaLaPaRuZa turned the all-lip sync episode into the most important test on the docket for the cast, as it not only forced them all to lip sync, some of them for the first time, but it also sent two queens home. This was a reality check, especially since in that incarnation, we saw frontrunner Kitten Kaboodle suddenly sent home. Season 5’s experimental streak fucked the challenge up by doing a teams take on it that came too early in the season, but this season, I’m thrilled to announce that the Slay-Offs are back in their true, excellent form.

This season has been a success so far in large part thanks to the cast and an array of great challenges, but also because of some really dynamite storytelling. Every week, we’ve gotten an interesting narrative in the episode, and it’s served the overall story of the season. This week takes that narrative-building up to 11, paying off some story arcs and fully embracing one of the queens as the season’s villain. The result is a thrilling episode that keeps Canada’s Drag Race’s hot streak going, and one that sets us up for a potentially amazing endgame.

The stage is set for an explosive episode in the cold open, when Sami Landri explains her decision to save Saltina Shaker with the Golden Beaver last week as a friendship-based decision. Van Goth is absolutely over this. “Where are the big moves here?” she says in a confessional. “All these girls are just saving their friends left and right, and the person with the best ‘track record’.” Hold that thought, Van, we’ll be back to it in no time.

Van seems on edge from the outset of this episode, nervous that the Slay-Offs could put her in danger. It’s true that this is a very risky challenge format, as one loss and one unfavourable Golden Beaver decision could suddenly leave you with a 2-in-3 chance of being sent home. To buttress her chances, Van reinforces her alliance with Eboni La’Belle at the start of the episode, doubling down on the Scissor Sisters as the only real alliance of the season.

Soon enough, we’re at song and opponent selection, and let’s just say that while Eboni might be loyal to Van, she’s more loyal to herself. The songs for Round 1 are Fefe Dobson’s “Shut Up and Kiss Me,” a 2003 Las Vegas live recording of Celine Dion’s “I’m Alive” (the live nature of it matters a lot), Charlotte Cardin’s largely-French song “Feel Good” and Tate McRae’s dance-friendly “It’s ok I’m ok.” After first-pick Sami chooses the Celine track, both Saltina and Mya Foxx go with “Shut Up and Kiss Me.” That’s unfortunate for fourth-pick Van, who really only wanted the Fefe song. She goes with “Feel Good”—and so does Eboni. Van is self-admittedly gagged by this, and all of a sudden her chances look a lot worse at surviving this week.

Karamilk goes with the Tate song, a dream pick for her, and then PM gets to pick between battling Sami and Karamilk. You’d think that PM, being a dancer, would go with “It’s ok I’m ok ” instead of a comedic Celine song—against Sami Landri, no less—but you would be wrong! In what I would call the single most strategic blunder of the episode, one that has serious ramifications for poor Velma Jones, PM goes with “I’m Alive,” cutting the Francophone off from a Celine battle and relegating her to the decidedly-not-in-her-wheelhouse Tate track.

All the battles are better watched than read about, so for the sake of brevity: neither Mya nor Saltina connect much to “Shut Up and Kiss Me,” but Saltina is the better dancer, so she advances. Sami makes a meal out of “I’m Alive,” turning in one of the episode’s best lip syncs, while PM flounders like a fish out of water. Van puts up a good fight against Eboni—it’s a much better lip sync than what we saw her do against Brooke Lynn Hytes in “Cold Hearted”—but Eboni is just effortless. Sexy, in command, in the moment; it’s a real star turn for someone who’s already proven herself a star many times over.

In “It’s ok I’m ok,” Velma goes for kind of a quirky sexiness that actually could work, and she keeps up decently with the song. The problem is that Karamilk was born to do this. Truly, the way she moves is a work of art. She may be one of the best dancers Drag Race has ever seen. By the time we get to Karamilk’s backbend, it is simply a wrap—Velma’s own backbend can’t help but pale in comparison.

For Round 2, Saltina and Sami face off to The Pussycat Dolls’ “Don’t Cha,” and in an act of true kindness, we are spared from having to see Saltina perform Busta Rhymes’ featured rap. I kid, I kid: Saltina is actually pretty amazing in this performance. It’s exactly the right song for her, and she locks in. Sami gets compared to a “drunk aunt” by Brooke Lynn in critiques after, and I can’t really disagree. She’s just not a great fit for this kind of song. Saltina, despite all her self-mythologizing about her confidence this season, comes across bold and brave in this lip sync, and she earns her spot in the finale.

But to be honest, that battle is just determining who will be the runner-up, because Eboni and Karamilk are the best two lip syncers in this bunch. Their semifinal battle to a Freemasons remix of Kelly Rowland’s “Work” is actually unbelievable. It’s the best lip sync of the season, and had it not come in the last Drag Race episode of 2025—and thus after my deadline—it absolutely would’ve made my list of the top lip syncs of the year. They are both dynamite, perfectly in sync with the song and giving it their all. In any Lip Sync for Your Life scenario, this would simply have to be a double shantay. As it is, though, Eboni does edge Karamilk out, advancing to the final round against Saltina.

Honestly, the final lip sync to P!nk’s “U + Ur Hand” is just a victory lap for Eboni. Saltina’s run out of tricks by now, while Eboni continues to reveal new layers as a performer. This is overall a blast of a final battle—you can tell every single person in that room knows every word, and they’re all joyously lip-syncing along. It’s a delight, and it’s capped by a very deserving second maxi-challenge win for Miss La’Belle.

Eboni earns $5,000 and the power of the Golden Beaver. With Van in the bottom against three queens who are, to put it simply, not Van, Eboni’s decision should be clear-cut. And let me spoil it for you: she does exactly what you’d expect her to. But this is Canada’s Drag Race Season 6, meaning nothing is as simple as it seems. What follows is one of the most needlessly bonkers Mini-Untuckeds ever.

Eboni starts off asking each of the bottom four to plead their case. Mya makes an interesting choice, after a confessional where she notes Eboni has been playing the game strategically, to make an emotion-based pitch to Eboni. Thanks for playing, Mya, but that’s your fate practically sealed. Van says she’s eaten up every challenge (though, is that really true? I think her one undisputed great week was her design challenge win), and offers to help Eboni in a future sewing challenge. Eboni, either testing the waters as to what she can get away with or simply producing great TV, asks if Van will hold a grudge if she doesn’t save her. Van admits she’d be hurt, and outs her alliance with Eboni to the whole group. The other queens’ faces in the moment hint that they might be growing just a bit tired of Madame Goth.

Velma notes she didn’t have a choice in what song to do, and hopes in confessional that Van saved PM for similar reasons in the Snatch Game-or-design challenge episode. I personally think this argument resonates most, and considering how defeated PM is, I think were I in Eboni’s shoes I’d save Velma, assuming Van could beat PM and Mya. But that’s a big risk to take with your top ally’s life in the game, and despite her question, I don’t think Eboni ever really considers not saving her.

If she ever does waver, though, it’s in what happens when she asks the safe queens for their thoughts. After Karamilk says she’d save PM (which: sure), Saltina says that she’d save her friend Velma. This sets Van off, calling Saltina out for her hypocrisy in a monologue that literally and hilariously broke WOW Presents Plus’ caption feature. The thing is, I actually agree with Van: Saltina’s argument is hypocritical. Just three episodes ago—a little over a week in filming time—Saltina argued that despite her friendship with Velma, she wouldn’t save her. I can’t help but scoff as Saltina claims she’s grown since then, and thus her logic has changed. That’s a lot of growth for a few days, Saltina!

But here’s the rub: Van’s argument is also hypocritical. You don’t even have to go back a few episodes to realize it is—Van’s confessional at the start of this very episode contradicts what she’s saying now. She’s relying on her track record and friendship with Eboni to save her, the very two things she just argued aren’t actually legitimate criteria for a Golden Beaver decision. More to the point, Van goes on for far too long in this argument, to the point of at best taking up Velma’s time to campaign, and at worst actually being pretty dismissive of Velma. When Sami of all people, a cool cucumber in nearly every situation, is calling you out for constantly cutting people off, you know it’s bad for you.

In the end, of course, Eboni does save Van, leaving Mya, PM and Velma to lip sync to Sarah McLachlan’s “Sweet Surrender.” Mya and Velma never quite click with the song, while PM does something quite canny and lip syncs nearly perfectly still for most of the song. When they finally do dance, it feels like a natural evolution in their performance, and it’s an easy win for them. Sadly, this means Mya and Velma sashay away, two queens I thought were in great shape going into this episode. But that’s the thing about the Slay-Offs: they’re a true crucible. Much like Restaurant Wars, or Snatch Game once upon a time, it’s an unforgiving challenge, one that can send home gigantic threats out of nowhere. It makes for great TV, and with the Brooke Lynn design challenge returning next week, it seems like Canada’s Drag Race Season 6 is not letting up on the gas in that department. 

Might we be looking at not just the best Canada’s Drag Race season, but one of the best seasons of all time? Three episodes left for us to find out!

Untucking our final thoughts

✨ Apologies for the late arrival of this recap—the episode airing on Christmas Day threw us off our schedule. We’ll be back to our usual Friday publication time this week.

✨ I love the video game-style bits of editing in this episode! In Saltina’s cold open-closing confessional, we get lots of Mario-style coin noises, plus a Drag Race take on the flag at the end of Super Mario Bros. levels. Then, before their final matchup, Eboni and Saltina give us a “Choose Your Fighter” moment that the show scores appropriately. It’s the little touches that really make Canada’s Drag Race special.

✨ Van notes there’s been a Splits Curse this season: Star Doll, Hazel and Dulce all did the splits in their lip syncs and went home. Though she notes that PM did the splits, too. It’s just kind of a splits-heavy season, honestly.

✨ I love when a Drag Race episode really cuts the shit. After the RuMail message, we go straight to the makeup mirror, and there’s no needless emotional mirror talk, just strategy. The Slay-Offs are serious business, and the show treats them as such!

✨ Speaking of strategy: the weirdo alliance reaffirms their commitment to each other at the start of this episode, with PM confirming that they have no interest in saving Van despite Van previously saving them. They even sloppily offer a fourth slot in the alliance to Mya, making very clear that Mya is the fourth of four. Ultimately, this goes nowhere, as three of the four wind up in the bottom, but I admire the effort.

✨ No guest judge this week, but Sarain Fox is finally here! And judging by the preview, she’s back again next week as well. Lovely to have her back, though now I’m wondering when we’ll get newly minted The Traitors Canada champion Hollywood Jade back onto the panel. The premiere feels so long ago!

✨ Brooke Lynn shows up this week in an updated version of her Season 11 promo look. I love herstory, don’t you?

✨ There are so many good bits of tossed-off dialogue during the Slay-Offs, but my personal favourite might be when Eboni briefly considers doing the Celine Dion song in Round 1: “I am alive …”

✨ Speaking of Celine: Karamilk says she only learned about the French-Canadian songstress when she started watching Canada’s Drag Race. They don’t make Celine compulsory education in schools up there? Why not?

✨ I fully cackled at Brooke Lynn’s unintentional Karamilk read during what is otherwise a very positive critique: “We’ve seen you lip sync several times before in this competition,” she says to cast laughter. “We have!”

The next episode of Canada’s Drag Race will be available to stream on Thursday, Jan. 1—of 2026!—at 9 p.m. EST on WOW Presents Plus in the U.S. and on Crave in Canada. You can subscribe to our drag newsletter, Wig!, for exclusive Drag Race content delivered straight to your inbox every month.