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. With four genuine threats to win the crown still in the race, this finale may be our closest finish ever.
5. Perla (last week: 4)—ELIMINATED
It felt like Perla kinda gave up this week after critiques. She was pretty clearly the worst in the challenge, backing down from chances to show off more of her wit and charm, but she looked terrific on the runway. It seems like she got discouraged by Brooke Lynn Hytes’ critique of her runway look, but like Helena Poison pointed out, Perla misread it: Brooke liked the look, she just didn’t think it fit the Statuesque prompt. But Perla got in her head, and we didn’t get nearly the level of lip sync we know she can deliver. There may have been no beating Makayla in the lip sync, but it was a shame to not see a real fight. Perla was a real gem this season, and I’m sad to see her leave us before the finale. See you on vs. The World, queen.
4. Makayla Couture (last week: 3)
Makayla landed in the bottom this week through no real fault of her own. Her Nefertiti runway was a serve, and she was bubbly and fun in the challenge. But Helena and The Virgo Queen over-performed expectations, and Minhi Wang edged Makayla out in both categories. In a competition structure without a bottom two battle, I think Makayla would’ve just been called safe this week—but someone had to lip sync against Perla.
Though a second Lip Sync for Your Life on your record is never ideal for a potential winner, it’s not a death knell on Canada’s Drag Race. Both Priyanka and Makayla’s own drag mother, Icesis Couture, won with multiple bottom placements—although they also had two wins each. What Makayla has in common with those two, beyond being the main character of their season, is a ferocity as a lip syncer. She turns low moments into opportunities. I think it’s that, alongside her importance to the story, that will ultimately give her the win. But it’s going to be close.
3. Minhi Wang (last week: 1)
You know, I just can’t shake that moment in the challenge when Minhi couldn’t answer a slightly shady question. Maybe it’s nothing, but I’m once again thinking back to the premiere, in which we are basically introduced to Minhi as being nervous around shadier queens. At the time, I thought it was a point in her favour; that she would be presented as the kind alternative to the back-biting of queens like Xana and Tiffany Ann Co. But now, with this latest critique, I worry that it’s actually a detriment. Canada’s Drag Race does prize the more rough-and-tumble presentation of drag—more akin to the flagship series’ earliest seasons, not its later ones. I don’t know, maybe I’m overthinking it. But hey, that’s why I write 3,000+ words a week about this show.
Anyway, if this were coming down to report cards, Minhi’s is the best in the class. That’s never really been how CDR has judged, but I do think Minhi’s storyline benefits her: like Makayla, she started on CDR in a capacity other than as a competing queen, and we’ve gotten to see her growth. Unlike Minhi, she hasn’t really had any conflicts or major arcs with her fellow queens, other than beating Helena a couple times in design challenges. (Though I shouldn’t underestimate that; that’s exactly the storyline that led to Icesis triumphing over Pythia.) In the end, I very much could see Minhi with the crown at season’s end, but I’m feeling less confident about it now than I expected to feel.
2. The Virgo Queen (last week: 5)
The “don’t overthink it” answer to the question of who will win is Virgo. She has the same track record as Icesis—and only slightly worse than Priyanka—and has felt like a major threat all season long. Yes, she hasn’t had as much narrative as Makayla, but especially in these last couple episodes, we’ve gotten to see more from her. And perhaps most importantly, she’s ending her season on a narrative and competitive high, giving her momentum heading into the finale. Plus, we know she can kill a verse and lip sync, so I bet she does well in the final performance.
There’s just not quite enough there for me to think Virgo’s got this locked up. While she’s stealthily funny in the confessional chair, and we’ve gotten to hear more about her backstory as the season has gone on, she just hasn’t seized the spotlight the way Makayla has. If Virgo wins, I won’t be stunned, but she will feel like a different kind of Canada’s Drag Race winner. And honestly? I’m all for that!
1. Helena Poison (last week: 2)
A huge congratulations to Helena, who beat the odds and won the final challenge to guarantee her spot in the finale! Had she faltered here, I think she would’ve been going home. But once again, as she has all season, Helena stepped up and showed out, especially on the runway. I’m going to be thinking about her Medusa statue look for days. It was really impeccably done, and the impact on the runway was instant. The fact that she was first to walk the main stage? Sorry to everyone else, but they were fighting an uphill battle trying to compete.
The more and more I think about it, the more I feel like Helena is my personal pick to win it all. There’s just a quiet confidence and competence to her that I’m really drawn to. And we really haven’t seen someone like her win on Canada’s Drag Race. I think it would be a stretch, though, partially because of the kinds of queens we’ve seen win the show before. It’s very rare these days that Drag Race completely upends what kind of personalities they prioritize, and Helena would be a very low-key champion. In the end, it may be her making the finale at all that’s the win—but I’ll keep my fingers crossed for her.
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