Welcome to Canada’s Drag Race Power Rankings! Every week, we’ll debrief the week’s new episode of Canada’s Drag Race Season 6 to determine which queens are riding high, and which need she-mergency care. The final four are set, which means it’s time to make our winner prediction. Because of the strange challenge structure, this power ranking will not be based on performance this week, but about likelihood to snatch the crown.
5. Karamilk (last week: 3)—ELIMINATED
I really felt for Karamilk this week. You could tell the lack of recognition from her peers, as well as the repeated eliminations of her friends in the competition, left her feeling alone and counted out. While I do think the idea that she “almost” beat Van Goth in last week’s design challenge was silly, I also think Van repeatedly shooting her down added to Karamilk’s negative feelings—as did the other queens not taking her plea for more support more seriously. The best she got was Sami Landri telling her, in so many words, that it was impressive that she survived until this point. I’m glad she got the moment with Eboni La’Belle later in the episode to bond over their experiences as Black queens, because I think Karamilk really needed that kind of connection.
Unfortunately, once PM won the lip syncing round, it was basically all over for Karamilk. Van is the statistical frontrunner, Sami came in as the most hyped queen of the season and Eboni has gotten a tremendous edit. And none of the challenges beside the final Lip Sync for Your Life were tailored to her strengths; even in the design task, which Karamilk did well in last week, she got knocked for just making the same dress again. She also picked the worst time to give her least impressive lip sync performance, since Sami really turned it out on “Fix You.” I really came to enjoy Karamilk this season, and I’m glad she made it this far, but this was the natural moment for her departure.
4. PM (last week: 5)
Huge for PM to finally get their first win, and in the very first round! The rap lip sync challenge was kind of an odd one, but by my count, PM did the best at figuring it out. Broad, physical comedy was the right strategy, and they also got the funniest season to remember in recap form. (Contrast how many iconic moments were in the Season 4 rap compared to, say, Season 5’s, which was somehow the least memorable despite being the most recent.) I actually think that challenge was PM’s one hope at survival—they would’ve bombed the design challenge and likely the monologue, and I don’t think they would survive a fourth Lip Sync For Your Life. So good on them for gaining safety when they could!
Sadly, I don’t think PM has any real shot at winning next week. They’re going up against two of the three queens with the most maxi-challenge wins in Canada’s Drag Race herstory, one of whom also has a sterling edit, and a viral star in Sami. As I said weeks ago, PM’s victory, and vindication for their style of drag, was making it to the finale. They have now done that! And that’s nothing to sneeze at. But I would be absolutely stunned to see them with a crown on their head at season’s end.
3. Sami Landri (last week: 2)
While Sami has been an enjoyable presence all season long, and she’s performed better in the challenges than one might’ve expected based on her bottom two appearance in just the second episode, this episode’s gauntlet exposed the areas she still has room for improvement. I liked her general vibe in the rap lip sync, but I don’t think she did a lot with what was probably the second-best season to recap, and she missed some words. Her design challenge offering was quite poor, completely missing the point of the assignment (and, at least in my eyes, being quite ugly on its own). And I thought she completely missed the mark on the monologue, going too staged instead of vulnerable. I’ll give her major props on the lip sync, though—I couldn’t keep my eyes off her.
I don’t think Sami has a realistic shot at the crown, but I rate her chances above PM’s for her pre-show popularity. Sami has a lot of fans online, and if there’s any kind of consideration of a fan vote, I think Sami could make a strong showing. At least in the early vote, she’s in the lead—but I’m not sure that’ll be enough. Still, I’ve loved getting to know Sami this season, and I’m hopeful we see her star continue to rise.
2. Van Goth (last week: 1)
There’s an argument to be made that Van has an undeniable case for the crown. With her shared win this week, Van finishes the pre-finale season with four wins, the most of any queen in Canada’s Drag Race herstory. That’s huge! Sure, three of them were for design challenges, but Icesis Couture won this show once upon a time solely with two design challenge wins. And while she hasn’t always been great in other challenges, the only time she really faltered was in the Lip Sync Slay-Offs, and she got the Golden Beaver to keep her safe. She has a great track record, a bold personality and terrific drag. She’d be an incredibly deserving winner.
Yet I still can’t get over her edit. People calling Van the “villain” are actually understating the case: Not one episode has gone by this season without Van being at least partially portrayed in a negative light. Earlier on, this was usually her dismissing queens she felt were not at her level—which the show implicitly took her side on by sending those queens home. Star Doll might’ve objected to Van breaking their alliance, and Dulce might’ve had a personal problem with her—but they were also out before mid-season. Recently, Van’s negativity has been more targeted towards Eboni, around how much help Van did or did not owe Eboni after she promised it in exchange for Eboni using the Golden Beaver on her. I figured we were done with that conflict after last episode’s Mini-Untucked, but it came up again with this week’s design challenge. The most notable bit was on the runway: When Eboni was sharing a cute moment with the judges about using the sewing machine, Van undercut it by saying, “Now who taught you that?” It wasn’t a serious moment, but notably, the show portrayed it as negative through the editing and sound cue choices.
Van is not just a villain, she is the antagonist of the season. In these last couple episodes, she has been an oppositional force to our protagonist, Eboni. Her close friendship with Eboni was one of the major redeeming factors in her edit, and now that’s not only gone, it’s turned on its head. It’s for these reasons and more that I think, despite the statistical argument for her victory, Van will not win Canada’s Drag Race Season 6.
1. Eboni La’Belle (last week: 4)
Eboni’s final line of her monologue—”It all comes down to you, to see me”—was, rather notably, one of the only lines in the challenge that we saw only one queen deliver. Pretty notable for the last line of the piece, especially when it was such an emotional beat. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but it almost felt like Eboni’s closing statement for her case for the crown. Eboni La’Belle, who has been vulnerable and emotional, a fierce competitor and great television, has been seen by so many thanks to this show. But for her to be crowned as the winner of the season, she’s relying on the judges to see her.
It will come as no surprise that I think Eboni is our soon-to-be champion. I’ve been convinced of this since the Slay-Offs, which were such a triumphant moment for Eboni, and nothing since has shaken me of that belief. I do believe Season 6 is the story of Eboni and Van, and if I believe Van has become the antagonist of that story, I naturally must think Eboni is our main character. We’ve seen dominant characters lose Canada’s Drag Race before—Miss Fiercalicious in Season 3, Makayla Couture in Season 5—but they lost to quietly effective competitors, not outright villains. More to the point, both Fierce and Makayla were divisive characters, while Eboni is walking into the finale with more fan votes than Van.
Am I worried that I’m reading the tea leaves wrong because I want Eboni to win? For sure. I had the same concern back in All Stars 6, when I predicted my beloved Kylie Sonique Love to take the crown against Ra’Jah O’Hara. But just like in that case, when Kylie beat out the statistically stronger competitor, I think Eboni will emerge triumphant. And yes, if she does, I’ll be among the many fans cheering for our newly crowned queen.
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