Welcome to Canada’s Drag Race Power Rankings! Every week, we’ll debrief the week’s new episode of Canada’s Drag Race Season 5 to determine which queens are riding high, and which need she-mergency care. It’s time for the Lip Sync Slay-Offs, and a queen snags her second win—while a frontrunner tumbles to the bottom of the list.
10. Tiffany Ann Co. (last week: 10)—ELIMINATED
Once Tiffany lost on the song that both she and Xana hyped up as being her signature track, I knew it was over for her. Going up in the final lip sync against Perla, a challenge winner, also didn’t bode well. Tiffany came in this season talking a big game, which was quite exciting, but she faltered in every challenge across the first three episodes. There just wasn’t an argument for her to stay, especially after Perla clearly beat her head-to-head.
9. Perla (last week: 1)
I feel for Perla on this one. She really did well in her lip sync against Sanjina Dabish Queen, but the judges preferred Sanjina’s ferocious energy. But the odd challenge structure, plus The Virgo Queen’s heart-over-head decision to save Jaylene Tyme with the Golden Beaver, nevertheless left Perla fighting for her life in the last lip sync. Luckily, she was well-prepared, and earned a clear victory over Tiffany. But it still seems shitty that she’s all the way down here in the power ranking when, by my estimation, three queens ahead of her delivered worse performances.
8. Jaylene Tyme (last week: 4)
As both a Jaylene fan in the present and a Kitten Kaboodle fan in the past, I’m glad we did not see the oldest queen in the cast once again go home in the Lip Sync Slay-Offs. Jaylene has been doing far too well to go home this early, but she almost certainly would’ve lost the “Hot” lip sync to Tiffany. So I appreciate Virgo’s decision in that regard. However, that doesn’t change that Jaylene’s performance was the worst of the lot this week. Shea Couleé’s note that Jaylene’s lip syncing should be as choreographed as a dance was spot on: simple, emotional interpretation can be amazing, but Helena Poison brought that and more to their face-off. Still, weeks like this are why the Beaver is a valuable twist. Jaylene surviving the week, while not necessarily a “correct” decision on the merits, is nonetheless the right call.
7. Xana (last week: 9)
Xana better step it up quick, else she’s going to find herself in the same position as her drag sister Tiffany. After her character growth with Jaylene last episode, Xana reverted to playing the villain, starting drama with Uma Gahd that made not one lick of sense. She then talked a big game about her lip-syncing skills and requested “Heads Will Roll” as her track, only to be soundly beaten by Uma despite a bunch of tricks. I thought it was very notable that Helena got a confessional expressing her disappointment in Xana’s performance. That was the edit underlining that it wasn’t that Uma just edged Xana out—Xana lost. She’s lucky she was part of the winning team, else she could’ve been in real danger this week.
6. Minhi Wang (last week: 2)
Ugh, much as I love Minhi, I can’t really defend her performance in “Too Hot.” She went for comedy, which can be a valid take, but Makayla Couture out-sexed, out-emoted and out-performed her on every metric. I give Minhi a bit of credit because she knows her limitations as a performer and at least tried something to circumvent what seemed like an obvious loss. But if her team had lost, it would’ve been her against Xana in the bottom, and I’m not sure if she could’ve beaten Xana to that final song. Still adore Minhi, but she better hope she doesn’t land in the bottom two any time soon.
5. Sanjina Dabish Queen (last week: 8)
I thought Shea’s comment that Sanjina is “generous” as a performer was a really smart and thoughtful one. Yes, Sanjina can be a bit intense in her energy, but you can tell it comes from a deep love of drag and of entertaining. She left absolutely nothing on the floor in her lip sync to “Bad Bitches Don’t Cry,” and did right by Season 1 champion Priyanka. Perla put up one hell of a fight, too. Sanjina hasn’t had the easiest start to her journey, despite decent performances, but this week felt like her coming out moment as a contender. I hope we continue to see her thrive, because she’s clearly got the juice to grab the judges’ attention.
4. Makayla Couture (last week: 7)
Makayla was the victim of being on the losing team—I’m quite confident she’d have won if the chips fell the other way. As we saw in the premiere’s top two lip sync between her and Virgo, Makayla is an expressive, emotive performer who ably hooks into the vibe of a song. “Too Hot” was a great fit for her, and she pretty easily wiped the floor with Minhi. This is twice now that Makayla has probably performed the best in a given episode, or at least in the top two, only for Virgo to win it. Does that foreshadow a season in which Virgo continues to win out over Makayla, or are we in for a watershed-breaking moment of Makayla victory down the line? I’m not sure where I’d put my chips yet, but I’m excited to find out.
3. Uma Gahd (last week: 5)
Every week, Uma surprises me. The last two weeks, it’s been with her runway looks; this week, it’s her impressive performance of “Heads Will Roll.” She caught every single bead of that song and played them for all they were worth. Her movement style was unusual and captivating. She made Xana’s gymnastic stunts seem unimpressive not by trying to outdo her, but performing in an entirely different style. I halfway thought she might take the win purely for the surprise factor. Though she ultimately didn’t come out on top, I have high hopes for Uma’s future in this competition. She’s proving herself to be one of this season’s most intriguing queens.
2. Helena Poison (last week: 3)
Huge kudos to Helena for what she pulls off this week. She was arguably at a huge disadvantage against Jaylene to Rufus Wainwright’s live recording of “San Francisco,” with the spoken word at the start and the generally theatrical vibe. It just felt like, as Uma put it, an “old lady” song, and that’s not Helena’s vibe. But she turned the show, both getting the comedy and camp of the song but also adding her own sex appeal. You really couldn’t keep your eyes off her as she performed. I’ve gone back and forth on this, and I ultimately think I agree with the judges’ choice of winner, but I would not have been one bit mad to see Helena take the prize.
1. The Virgo Queen (last week: 6)
Goddamn, Virgo’s making quite the early impression. If this were Drag Race UK, which always favours the queens who win early and often, I’d say you could go ahead and give her the crown. As it stands, she nonetheless made her mark by winning two of the first three challenges, both times clinching the victory by crushing a lip sync. Much was made of Tiffany’s prowess on “exes,” but Virgo had much greater command of the song. The slow split at the end sealed her triumph—and the joking need for someone to help her up only furthered her case. She’s a dynamite performer, a strong runway queen and she’s got the comedic chops. And not to be overlooked: she showed in her moment of gratitude with Shea that she can deliver a passionate speech. If you’ve not already got your bets on Virgo to win it all, I’d at least throw a couple proverbial dollars down. She’s a star.
Why you can trust Xtra
