‘RuPaul’s Drag Race Global All Stars’ finale recap: Queen of the mothertucking globe

Let’s flash back for a moment to the finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under Season 1. (Apologies for returning us to a traumatic season of television, but it’s a suitable framing.) Off-show controversies had become on-show controversies for one finalist, Scarlet Adams, who was called out in the werk room for previously performing in blackface. RuPaul engineered a redemptive moment for Scarlet on the main stage, but the audience didn’t buy it. Nor did they buy that fellow finalist Karen From Finance, a much-hyped queen going into the season who saw the fanbase roundly turn on her over her racist caricature tattoo, deserved a shot at the crown.

A third finalist, Art Simone, had been sent home completely fairly in Episode 2, but was brought back two episodes later under the most dubious of circumstances, and was heading into the final episode with no challenge wins. She, too, was widely dismissed as a potential winner. The fans, including alumni like Season 10 champion Aquaria, made their opinion clear: Kita Mean, the last remaining finalist, was the only queen they would accept as the champion. While Kita did well during the season, with an impressive makeover challenge win, her track record was not superior to Scarlet’s, and was roughly on par with Karen’s. Anxiety was high that, despite the obvious backlash it would inspire, Ru would choose to crown Scarlet anyway.

But, in a very wise choice for the future of the Down Under franchise (now hosted by Michelle Visage!), Ru crowned Kita Mean as the series’ first champion. It was a rare moment in which it felt like the show really listened to its fanbase in terms of whom they wanted representing the show—and, most importantly, whom they didn’t want.

We’ve seen a similar reaction to Global All Stars, in which both Kitty Scott-Claus and Kween Kong have been roundly dismissed as viable winners thanks to their treatment of other queens this season. With my usual caveats that queens on the show are characters created in composite by producers, editors and the queens themselves: the number of unnecessarily mean remarks from Kween and especially Kitty toward non-RuGirls went beyond shady asides and into real condescension this season. They consistently gave the impression that they did not feel non-RuGirls were on their level. And, unfortunately, the show backed them up by giving them every win they could feasibly give, while either cutting deserving queens’ runs short (Pythia’s, Soa de Muse’s), using them for non-winning storylines (Tessa Testicle, Vanity Vain) or ignoring them entirely (Miranda LeBrão, Athena Likis).

One queen broke through the pro-RuGirl bias and made it to the finale: Nehellenia, from Drag Race Italia’s second season. And like Kita before her, she has been the fandom’s clear choice for who they want to represent the season.

But this finale is not a battle between a top three—it’s between a top four. The last RuGirl I have not mentioned is the most famous of all: Alyssa Edwards, representing the United States. Alyssa, like Lemon in Canada’s Drag Race: Canada vs. The World Season 2, has mostly floated above the fray this season, not engaged in any major dramatics. She won challenges at the beginning and end of the season, but otherwise was either called safe or given good critiques every week. She earned the other queens’ admiration as a legend among them, and she showed great respect in kind for her competitors’ skills.

This makes the situation regarding the winner a bit trickier than it was in Down Under’s first season (not to mention that mean comments about competitors, while unkind, are not at the level of racist performances and body art). Ru, World of Wonder and Paramount+ likely all know that crowning Kitty or Kween is a no-go. But Alyssa has not been subject to any significant anti-campaign this season. Among those Nelly fans who thought she was a long-shot to win, there was often a feeling of resignation that Alyssa would be the champion instead—even some excitement that a Drag Race legend would be getting a crown. She effectively represented the middle ground choice, boosted by the fact that she actually had one more maxi-challenge win than Nehellenia.

We’re getting into speculation on my part, but I can’t imagine Ru or the production team likes being instructed on who should be crowned. Yes, there’s a history of polling the fans for their support, but Ru has bucked the fan choice many times in Drag Race’s herstory. (As if to put a fine point on it, World of Wonder didn’t even hold a fan vote this season.) The Down Under case was a unique one; this season, despite Ru’s professed love for Nehellenia, I never got the sense that he saw her as a true potential champion. Especially not with Alyssa still in the race.

Yes, Alyssa has lacked for iconic moments this season. It’s almost felt like, to make her a viable champion, she and the show had to iron out her oddities and bring her back to her polished, pageant roots. She spoke all season (and emphasizes in this finale) her 23 years of experience, and expressed awe at the fact that this is her first finale appearance in her Drag Race career. Global All Stars has been, for the other finalists, a level-up—a chance to perform on an even bigger global stage. Alyssa, meanwhile, has been on that stage for years. This is the culmination of her life in drag, and on Drag Race.

I haven’t talked much about the finale yet, but that’s because there’s not much to discuss. The challenge is writing verses and performing in the music video for a new song, “Dance Like the World Is Watching.” The video concept is a dance battle game, with each queen creating a TikTok-style dance to be their character’s signature move. None of the verses are particularly great—Kween’s is probably the best, though I really like the Italian portion of Nehellenia’s—while Alyssa is the only one who I think comes up with a dance that feels both signature Alyssa and is easily adaptable for audiences to pick up on their own.

All the eliminated queens return for one last runway—a Best Drag on Earth category—and dare I say they vastly outshine the finalists? Athena’s cloudy French look is gorgeous, Miranda’s feathered look is a dream (complete with shaved head!), Gala Varo’s volcano dress is stunning and I love Pythia’s cerberus mixed with “Canadian eskimo dog” look. She won her first-ever challenge with a two-headed look; what’s better than two heads but three? The clear winner among the eliminated queens, though, is Eva Le Queen, whose “black phoenix rising from the ashes” garment is an absolute showstopper.

The final four mostly dress as you’d expect, with Alyssa leaning into her pageant roots, Kitty going all-pink in a tribute to Kacey Musgraves’ Met Gala look, Kween giving “pure Polynesian royalty” in a dress that’s emblazoned with her family’s crests (and a truly killer wig) and Nehellenia giving ethereal fantasy in purple. Nelly’s is the only one I would say is on the scale and level of a champion—she continues to surprise even in the competition’s last episode.

After seeing the music video and getting a final round of critiques, we get closing speeches from the queens. Once again, Alyssa is on message: she’s the veteran, she’s been building to this for years. Others have made this argument unsuccessfully, usually when facing down someone who claims or feels they’re the future of drag. (Chad Michaels on Season 4 feels like the ur-example of this.) But Global All Stars seems like a stage for acknowledging a superstar—and that’s exactly what Ru does. After a four-way lip sync to Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance,” last heard in Season 3’s Delta Work vs. Phoenix lip sync, Alyssa snatches the crown.

In all honesty, I don’t know how to feel about this. Alyssa is one of my all-time favourite queens, and I wanted her so badly to snatch the W back in All Stars 2. I admire her grace, her professionalism and her tenacity so deeply. I can tell how much she wants this crown (her reaction when she wins is amazing), and I can’t help but laugh when she signs off the season the same way she always did on Alyssa’s Secret: “Always and forever, Alyssa Edwards.” And of course there’s a tongue pop—did you even need to ask?

But choosing Alyssa can’t help but feel like a compromise choice. The fandom wanted Nehellenia, the on-set production team seemingly wanted Kween and Ru himself seemed most drawn to Kitty’s drag sensibility. There was no way to satisfy everyone, so Global All Stars crowned someone who would likely offend no one. It’s probably right that Alyssa has a crown. Should it be for this season? Not really, but history has a funny memory. People will remember all her outrageous moments, terrific performances and great looks from throughout her three seasons, and they’ll remember that she’s a champion. The things that connect those thoughts will matter less.

I’m sad for Nelly, who really did have a rough go of it this season despite doing consistently well. She seems ready to forgive and forget, and she’s certainly walking out of this season with a whole new, enthusiastic fanbase. In another universe, I could see her easily taking this win. But in truth, there was probably no beating Alyssa this go-around. As for Kitty and Kween, I enjoyed them both very much on their original seasons, and I wish them the best. I don’t think a return to Drag Race is in the cards for either of them, though, nor should it be.

And so we come to the end of Global All Stars. It’s been an interesting season, with more good episodes than angry fans would like to admit, but with an overarching story that doesn’t really land anywhere. The treatment of most of the non-RuGirls was highly regrettable, and I would petition World of Wonder and Paramount to seriously consider a different approach to judging and challenge construction next season—if there is a next season! I’d hate to see Global All Stars just get one run, but if it is going to come back, I’m hopeful that it will be with a real chance for all queens to thrive. If they can accomplish that? Well, that would be a season Alyssa herself would love to see.

Untucking our final thoughts

✨ The Tic Tac chats in this episode are the first ever for Alyssa and Nehellenia—a fact that practically overwhelms Nelly, she’s so emotional about it—and the second for Kitty and Kween. Kween, for her part, feels much better going into this one, as she says she didn’t feel like she deserved her finalist position in Down Under Season 2. Some highlights from the chats: Kween gifts Ru and Michelle Visage with Pacific gifts, Nelly sobs and sobs (aw) and Ru compliments Kitty’s crunchy-ass dips from her one Lip Sync for Your Life. Again, though Kitty winning was never a realistic option considering the fan response, you can tell Ru really likes her comedic style.

✨ One moment from the Tic Tac chats that should be an obvious giveaway: Ru nearly cries talking about Alyssa presenting herself as a star this season. He clearly sees Alyssa’s success as a testament to the power of this show—it makes sense that he would want to cement that with a crowning.

✨ All the queens in the final four receive a Global All Stars pin as a gift from Ru and Michelle. It’s nice! It’s mostly nice if they really only made four, though. If World of Wonder starts selling these like they do with all their other pins, it’ll be a bit underwhelming.

✨ Ariadna Gutierrez is our final guest judge of the season. She is the former Miss Colombia—the one whom Steve Harvey accidentally crowned Miss Universe—but most importantly to me, she was an absolutely iconic Celebrity Big Brother player. Should’ve won that first season, Ari! She’s sweet and complimentary in this episode, which is basically all you need to be in a Drag Race finale.

✨ Ru says he can tell Nehellenia grew up watching Britney Spears videos, referencing “I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman.” Nehellenia gets a perfect volley back: “I’m still not a woman!”

✨ Soa de Muse wins the Global Peacemaker prize after a vote of the whole cast (basically a Miss Congeniality prize by a different name), and she wins another $10K! So she’s coming out of this season with $60,000—pretty amazing for a ninth-placer! She ties Raja on All Stars 7 as the sixth-highest-earning queen in terms of prize money to not win the actual season. (The five before them: Sapphira Cristál, Ginger Minj in All Stars 6, Roxxxy Andrews in All Stars 9, Lady Camden and the highest-earning non-winner, Queen of the Fame Games LaLa Ri from All Stars 8.)

✨ Here’s a fun bit of trivia: with Alyssa’s victory, there are now four former lip syncs between two eventual champions: Sasha Velour vs. Shea Couleé in Season 9, Angeria Paris VanMicheals vs. Willow Pill in Season 14, Lawrence Chaney vs. Tia Kofi in UK Season 2 and now Shea vs. Lip Sync Assassin Alyssa in All Stars 5. Playing “Neutron Dance” in celebration of this new development! (Obviously All Stars 7 gave us a lot more winner vs. winner lip syncs, but they were all winners by then—these examples all became winner vs. winner after the fact.)

✨ Another fun fact, from Seddera Side on Twitter: Alyssa Edwards is the first to win on her third season who never competed on Canada’s Drag Race. (Though, of course, she did compete against a Canada’s Drag Race queen: Pythia.) Had Roxxxy Andrews won All Stars 9, she would’ve been the first to achieve this.

✨ Well, this turned out to be a strange journey! Thanks so much for following along, both on Xtra’s website and by subscribing to Wig! If you’re already jonesing for more Drag Race … are you okay? Even I need a break! But UK Season 6 is airing right now and is a lot of fun, and I’m hearing good things about España Season 4. And it’s just a couple of weeks until Canada’s Drag Race returns!

Global All Stars has come to an end, but let’s hitch a ride back to the Great White North with Pythia! The premiere of Canada’s Drag Race Season 5will be available to stream Nov. 21 on WOW Presents Plus in the U.S. and on Crave in Canada. In the meantime, make sure to subscribe to our drag newsletter Wig! for monthly Drag Race essays.