‘RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under’ Episode 5 recap: Marketing genius

I think we all knew it would take an episode about selling yeast spreads for RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under to attempt a reckoning with one of its cast members’ past racist performances.

In all seriousness, what on Earth is this episode? It’s actually not a bad installment: there’s a solid Reading Is Fundamental mini-challenge, probably the best runway of the season and a terrific challenge winner. Even the premise of the queens selling yeast spreads (Vegemite is the best known to the rest of the world), while silly, at least feels like a real chance for a taste of Aussie and Kiwi culture.

But my god, the episode takes a sharp downward turn when Scarlet Adams’ past performances in blackface come up in the workroom. (Though they’re not brought up on the show, it’s worth noting that Scarlet has performed in appropriative costumes of multiple different cultures, in addition to performing in blackface.) Scarlet herself brings it up in reference to Art Simone’s question about regrets in drag, saying she’s been called out on it pretty recently. She regrets it, but also couches her admission in some strange language, mentioning that a lot of other queens have also performed in blackface. Her intention seems to be to dust this off, chalk it up to being a mistake and move on.

Etcetera Etcetera, however, is not inclined to move on. Both they and Art question whether performing in blackface could ever be an honest mistake. And when Scarlet tries to get Maxi Shield’s input on the racism of Queensland that was ingrained in her as a child, Etcetera says that a casually racist conversation in the past is a very different concept than performing multiple times in blackface. Scarlet says she’s apologetic, but Etcetera presses the point that Scarlet needs to take more clear, actionable steps to make amends.

Elektra Shock admires Etcetera for being so worldly and smart at such a young age, and while I do agree they’re very intelligent, I think this is about Etcetera actually doing the work that Scarlet has, so far, not seemed particularly inclined to do. Later on on the runway, RuPaul actually asks Scarlet to explain herself, and Scarlet offers up another apology. Ru makes a dig at the folks who would want him to “cancel” Scarlet, and instead frames this as a learning opportunity for her. Which, sure, we should want people to learn from being called out on their past racist behaviour and take steps to change. It’s just frustrating that there’s seemingly no concrete commitment to that change.

Scarlet’s past performances are not the only concerns. There were revelations about Karen From Finance’s racist doll collection and tattoo (which she had removed) and, more recently, photos and posts of Art in an appropriative kimono and costume. These incidents have been a major weight dragging down this already unimpressive season. The situation only got worse when Art was given a free pass to return to the competition after being eliminated, while the two queens of colour who were eliminated in the first three weeks of the show (Jojo Zaho and Coco Jumbo) were not given an opportunity to come back. Much as Drag Race as a franchise has attempted to meet the moment in its casting on other iterations of the series, Down Under could not feel less well-suited to this current time in history.

In theory, discussing a queen’s past racist performances could have been a compelling, instructive moment. When Etcetera told Scarlet that it was not enough to apologize and that she needed to make more clear amends, we almost had that. But the lack of accountability from the show itself makes the whole thing an empty exercise. RuPaul got more incensed about Joe Black wearing “fucking H&M” than he did in this moment with Scarlet. The whole situation is such a catastrophe. Once again, watching Down Under is unpleasant at best, and infuriating at worst.

But as mentioned, this episode actually does have some fun stuff to offer when the focus isn’t on Scarlet. We get a nice reading mini-challenge, which Art wins (she has a great joke about Etcetera: “Out of drag, Etcetera uses they/them pronouns, so for example, they haven’t been in the top, so we won’t be seeing them in the finals!”).The shooting of the yeast spread ads is also a hoot, as the dolls get increasingly dirty, to Michelle Visage and New Zealand infomercial legend Suzanne Paul’s increasing horror. Suzanne is high-key the confessional queen of the season, as her cutaway reactions underscore just how filthy this all is.

After several weeks languishing in the bottom, Elektra absolutely storms this episode. She has the clearest plan walking onto set, directs the Pit Crew well and delivers a pretty great ad for “Get Topped.” My favourite joke is when she’s meant to spell out C.U.N.T.—a.k.a. “charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent”—but instead spells “C.U.N.A.,” with the A standing for “And Talent.” It’s a howler of a line in the ad, and along with one of her better runway presentations so far this season, it secures her the win.

What makes this such a great moment is akin to what made Heidi N Closet’s win (on a very similar challenge!) such a triumph in Season 12. Not only is it a victory for a former bottom-dweller who endeared herself to the audience, it also saw someone other than the perceived frontrunners taking a win. It was a breakthrough moment not just for Elektra, but for all the underdogs on the show.

Joining Elektra in the top is Kita Mean, who goes with a Divine reference in a very funny ad. Otherwise, the rest of the group is mediocre, with all of the Aussie queens doing okay at best. Scarlet’s ad is a mess, but her Priscilla Queen of the Desert-inspired runway wins over the judging panel. Karen’s ad is okay, but again, her firefighter tribute outfit is what keeps her out of trouble. Art does pretty average across the board, which is enough to keep her safe this week.

The bottom two are Maxi and Etcetera, which is a bummer. Maxi is clearly there for a reason: her ad doesn’t go much of anywhere, and her Picnic at Hanging Rock-inspired runway isn’t enough to redeem it. Etcetera has a similar problem to Utica on Drag Race Season 13 from their version of this challenge: her ad for Piss is entertaining, but it’s just beyond the line of taste for the judges. (Why this is past good taste but her Lindy Chamberlain Snatch Game wasn’t is a mystery to me, but whatever.)

The two lip sync to Vanessa Amorosi’s iconic “Absolutely Everybody,” and this is a show. Unlike the stunt-heavy lip syncs we’ve seen so far this season, Maxi and Etcetera keep to more strictly interpreting the song. Maxi pulls out a microphone and performs like she’s in concert, and it really works. Etcetera moves more, but Maxi is so incredibly in sync that it’s hard to keep your eyes off of her. She stays, and sadly, Etcetera sashays away.

I can’t even be surprised that, right after they called out Scarlet, Etcetera sashays away. It’s just too expected at this point. And here’s the thing: few of the decisions made this season, on their own, are that egregious. Jojo lost the first lip sync. Coco’s verse in the girl group challenge was not great. Scarlet did deserve her design challenge win. Etcetera’s performance this week is not the best of the lot. On their own no decision would infuriate you.

Taken as a whole, though, we’ve lost some of the most unique, exciting queens of the season, and are left with a couple who are underwhelming (Karen, Art), a couple who have yet to break out of the pack (Kita, Maxi), one who’s proven to be a compelling underdog (Elektra) and one who it’s impossible to root for (Scarlet). Every one of those not-on-its-own objectionable decisions has helped lead us to a point where it’s really hard to imagine any of these queens being a super satisfying Down Under winner. I guess I’m Team Elektra? But honestly, I’m more excited about her narrative than I am about her drag.

If Down Under were to come back for another season—and at this point I would call that possibility unlikely—production needs to re-envision the show from the ground up. From casting to judging, this season has underwhelmed, and the result is a mess. But it’s a mess we’ve got three more weeks to endure.

Untucking our final thoughts

✨Up and Down (Under): It would be incredibly unwise to crown Scarlet as its winner, but after how her past behaviour was framed as an opportunity for her to grow… I think it might happen? She’s the clear frontrunner statistically, avoiding harsh critiques despite a pretty poor ad this week. Elektra does seem primed to join her in the final three or four, likely alongside Kita. Art isn’t really setting the world on fire with her performance, but I could see her making it to the end as well. Karen’s stock in this competition has absolutely dropped like a rock. I’m betting on her or Maxi to go home next.

✨One bit from the filming that I really like: Michelle sees Art getting in her own head, and calls it out. “I see where you’re going,” she says, and directs her back out of it. It’s nice to see the show actively working on helping queens in these moments, instead of feeding into them for “inner saboteur” storylines.

✨Kiwi actress Rena Owen is the guest judge this week, and though I’ll admit I didn’t know her before this episode (she’s got a super long filmography!), she’s a pleasant addition to the panel. We’re back down to just three judges next week, though; the judging situation has just been too uneven for my taste.

✨Colour me incredibly puzzled that for the first time in not just Down Under herstory, but UK and Canada’s Drag Race as well, there is no Mini-Untucked segment this week. That would’ve been a fascinating installment in the wake of Ru and Scarlet’s conversation on the runway, and I am inclined to believe something is purposefully cut out. Dubious.

✨Kita makes a very interesting observation at the start of the episode that the Aussie queens might be looking down at the Kiwi girls, thinking they were only cast because the show is shooting in New Zealand. Considering Elektra and Kiwi are the top two in this challenge, the Aussies might not want to underestimate them.

✨Art’s “they/them” joke to Etcetera is clearly why she wins the reading challenge, but she also gets off the requisite COVID-19 read to Elektra: “If I were you, I would get a COVID test, because you’ve clearly lost your sense of taste.”

✨Honestly, I might’ve given Kita the mini-challenge win! Her simple “Elektra Shock, man…” is so well-timed, and I love her Etcetera read: “It’s interesting, for someone so woke, I’m wondering when you’re gonna wake the fuck up.”

✨We’ve got three episodes of this series left, but I did want to take a second to shout-out the excellent All Stars 6 Meet the Queens presentation Paramount+ and WOW rolled out last week. Both the promo and the entrances are a lot of fun, and I’m finding myself very intrigued by this crop of dolls. We will, of course, be recapping and power ranking that season as per our usual standard, starting after the premiere on June 24.

The next episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under streams Saturday, June 5, on WOW Presents Plus in the United States and on Crave in Canada, dropping at 3 a.m. EDT/12 a.m. PT. In other territories, check WOW Presents Plus for your local listings.