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. Five queens got called out for positive critiques in the premiere, but how does the full cast of 12 fare on our first ranking of the season?
12. Paolo Perfección
Paolo told you everything you need to know about Paolo in her verse: trolling is her favourite game. She is a deeply unserious contestant, and I like that energy mixed up in what otherwise seems like a pretty competitive group. I think she’s going to spend whatever time she has on the show doing exactly what she wants, no matter what is being asked of her. Case in point: her “biblically accurate angel” look for the More Is More runway category was a complete miss, as the other queens pointed out in Mini-Untucked. She actually looked gorgeous, but the look had nothing to do with the theme. Her response? She did not care. I can’t help but be entertained by her, but she’s almost certainly going out in the first couple of weeks.
11. Star Doll
While I will always root for a queen related to someone from my beloved Canada’s Drag Race Season 2 (and now my beloved Drag Race Philippines: Slaysian Royale!), Suki Doll’s drag daughter seems a bit not ready for primetime, shall we say. She’s got talent—I was glad to hear her sing in her verse to show off her theatre queen vibe, and she sounded great. But all of her drag felt either quite literal (her entrance look) or confusing (her runway). There were elements I liked, but I think she needs a bit more polish overall before she’s ready to compete at this level. I hope she proves me wrong, though!
10. Hazel
My only note on Hazel’s verse was “C’mon, present participles!” Which is both a little reductive of me and also a very good summary of what was memorable about her verse. “Dominating, captivating, liberating, advocating, educating, navigating, motivating, penetrating,” she rapped for what was basically a third of her time on stage. It’s a cute idea, but doesn’t really tell us anything about who Hazel is. And that’s reflective of Hazel’s performance all premiere, honestly. I can tell you that she’s quite cute out of drag, and she pulled out a hell of a look for the More Is More category. With a better verse, she might’ve gotten into that top five, and we could’ve learned more about her with the judges. As it stands, she’s a bit of a blank slate for me right now.
9. Karamilk
Cracked up at Karamilk using “It’s chocolate” as her entrance line. Not so much when she used it in her runway narration, though. It’s okay to just use a joke once! Karamilk’s premiere performance was a bit of a mixed bag, slaying the verse but putting out a set of just-okay looks. She’s Kimmy Couture’s drag daughter (and thus drag granddaughter to Season 2 winner Icesis Couture, plus drag niece to Season 5 runner-up Makayla Couture), and she said that like her mother, she loves a bra-and-panty set. That got Kimmy quite far, but I’d personally hope that Karamilk has more to deliver in the looks department than just that. I’m cautiously rooting for her.
8. Dulce
I like a queen who isn’t afraid to talk her shit. Dulce made clear in one of her first confessionals that she has a problem with Van Goth, and come Mini-Untucked, she said it to Van’s face. Unfortunately for Dulce, I think Van pretty easily ate her up by pointing out that Dulce has not brought this up in four years, so she looks like she’s just trying to make a TV moment now. Moreover, Van won the first challenge, which has been proven in three of the last four seasons to be a harbinger of a potential winner. So if someone is going to come out on top in Van and Dulce’s beef, I’d put better odds on Van. But I hope Dulce sticks around for a while: I really liked her verse, particularly the Spanish language part, and while her La Virgen de Guadalupe look was a bit tame, I appreciated the reference. She brings something different to Canada’s Drag Race, and I’d like to see more from her.
7. Mya Foxx
Colour me intrigued by the self-described “true queen of the North.” As an Inuk queen and the first representative of Halifax in the show’s herstory, Mya is leaning into her uniqueness as her calling card. Not a bad bet when we’ve got 12 queens to meet in a short period of time. I thought her verse was okay, but she had a lot of dead air in there. Thankfully, Canada’s Drag Race is giving the queens plenty of time for their verses—we’re not in the place we were circa All Stars 5 and 6 where the queens had to stuff as many words as possible into just a couple of lines. But even considering that, I don’t think Mya made the best use of her time. Still, I liked both her looks, and I’m drawn to her. I have a feeling she might surprise us in a Helena Poison-like way.
6. Sami Landri
No queen is coming in as hyped this season online as Sami Landri. She’s a viral sensation who brings a decidedly different aesthetic and style to the show. For those reasons, I’m very excited to see how she does. Her entrance and verse were both incredible in this episode (“I’m hot, and famous/ You smell, like anus”); throughout her performance, I got the sense that we could be looking at a modern successor to Katya’s brand of absurdism in drag. Unfortunately, while I saw her trashy vision for her More Is More runway, I personally hated it, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s what kept her out of the top five over Saltina Shaker or PM. Still, Sami’s clearly a star—I can’t see a world where she goes home any time soon.
5. Saltina Shaker
Saltina placed in the top five despite her doubts about her verse, which clearly was a major confidence boost for her. I hope this helps her shake off her nerves and really put pedal to the metal in the coming weeks. But I have to say, I actually agree with Saltina’s own assessment of her performance. Her lyrics were okay, but her tone while singing was so low and unenthusiastic. Her rapping flow was awkward, too. Some queens can fake it through a verse even without musical chops, but I would not say Saltina proved she can here. I felt similarly mixed about her entrance look and her “high priestess dragon excellence” runway—the latter in particular was technically excellent and looked expensive, but didn’t really tell me anything about her. I think Saltina has a lot of potential, and she clearly has the resources from her TikTok fame to turn out some quality drag. But I’m more interested in knowing who she is beyond her TikToks.
4. PM
PM’s big story coming out of the premiere is that, while they might seem to be a weird queen in the vein of Uma Gahd, they’re also a surprisingly great dancer. That’s definitely what caught Brooke Lynn Hytes’ eye—when the host is giving you props, dancer-to-dancer, you know you have her attention. I like PM’s “horny alien” vibe in theory, but in practice, their premiere package didn’t really work for me. I thought both their verse and their performance outfit were disappointing, and I actively disliked their More Is More runway for all the reasons BLH herself mentioned: it wasn’t More! It was weird, but it wasn’t extravagant. I think for an alien queen vibe to work on Drag Race, it has to be maximalist. We’ll see if PM has that kind of exclamatory drag in their repertoire.
3. Eboni La’Belle
I absolutely love Eboni. How do you not love a woman who walks in and, upon first meeting the queens she will call her sisters for the rest of the season, immediately says “Okay, we got some boogers up in here!” I adore her. And I adore her drag! She served three very different looks that nonetheless made sense as part of one queen’s overall package. That’s a great sign that, even at a young age, she has a real sense of who she is as a drag artist and has explored the various ways that can manifest in her style. Her verse and performance was one of my favourites of the day, and her confidence came through both while performing and in front of the judges. Pencil her in to go the distance, I’d say. She’s got the it factor that Canada’s Next Drag Superstar needs.
2. Velma Jones
My personal pick for the win this week would’ve been Velma. First of all, let’s talk about how interesting she is as a figure on this show. She’s the first cis woman on Canada’s Drag Race proper (Victoria Scone was the first on the greater franchise, appearing on Canada vs. The World Season 1), and works both as Velma and Johnny Jones, a drag king. I sincerely hope she brings Johnny out this season, because Drag Race could use some drag king excellence. Her period-themed entrance and runway looks, inspired by a tampon and a maxi pad, were both gorgeous and witty. Her verse was terrific, a fitting and fantastic introduction to who she is. I think her hat in her maxi pad look is ultimately what cost her the win—it looked great on the runway, but her having to hold it up during critiques gave BLH an opening to knock her for it. Still, if the only critique one can muster is that your hat is wearing you, that’s a pretty stellar first showing. Can’t wait to see more of Velma and Johnny this season.
1. Van Goth
Congrats to Van Goth on winning the first challenge! I’ll admit, I didn’t totally get this win, and was actually surprised to see her even land in the top. But the judges sold me on Van’s placement with their critiques. The ear look for the More Is More runway was really stunning, and she’s one of the only queens who did something truly out there in a category clearly calling for it. She commanded the camera in the group performance, although I didn’t personally love her verse. What I did love a lot about Van in this premiere was her unabashed willingness to play the game. Her strategy of making everyone think she’s in an alliance with them, but honour none of them, is hilarious, and could actually pay off! She also isn’t afraid of confrontation, embracing the villain label in her opening confessionals and scrapping with Dulce. If Velma’s performance was my favourite on a competitive level, Van’s was my favourite on a good TV level. And hey, it got us Paula Abdul on stage teaching her how to bevel. That, alone, is worth the win.
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