‘RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 7’ Episode 10 power ranking: The highest Honors

One queen has reached an insurmountable amount of stars, while another seems out of luck

Welcome to RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Power Rankings! Every Saturday, we’ll debrief the week’s new episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 7 to determine which queens are riding high, and which need she-mergency care. The headline story after this week’s Kennedy Davenport Center Honors roast challenge is that, barring a format change, one queen seems to have officially fallen short of the finale.

Shea Couleé

Current Star Count: 1

Maxi-Challenges Won: 1

Lip Syncs Won: 1

So yes, unless there’s a twist coming, Shea Couleé has officially failed to reach the All Stars 7 finale. That very fact makes me think there is a twist coming, because it’s not particularly interesting to watch someone with no shot of making it to the end compete next week. But her making it to the end would still be predicated on succeeding in a talent show—which, notably, Shea did not win in her original All Stars season. Then again, Trinity the Tuck flopped at two roasts before this one, so who knows! But I do think it’s going to be a long shot for Shea to make it to the finale.

Yvie Oddly

Current Star Count: 2

Maxi-Challenges Won: 1

Lip Syncs Won: 0

A talent show is an interesting final challenge for Yvie—we’ve never seen her do one before, and she’s certainly someone who has a lot of tricks to show off. So I could see her surprising and snagging her third Legendary Legend Star … but I’ll admit the edit is not pointing that way. More than anyone, Yvie has felt like a secondary character this season, and thus it would be strange to see her as part of the final four. If she does make it there, though, look out: despite her losing her one and only lip sync this season, I do think she’s the best lip sync performer when considering her overall body of work on Drag Race. She’d be a force in the tournament.

Monét X Change

Current Star Count: 2

Maxi-Challenges Won: 2

Lip Syncs Won: 1

I would place good money on Monét making it to the finale. Her edit has been the diametric opposite of Yvie’s: lots of main character focus even when her challenge performances did not merit that much storyline. What I do wonder, however, is when we’re going to get the “tiebreak” moment for our twinners. The idea that we’ll leave this season without some kind of face-off between Monét and Trinity is unfathomable to me. Could they both make the finale and battle in a lip sync? If so, my bet is fully with Monét: they may have both won a lip sync this season, but Monét is a Lip Sync Assassin for a reason.

 

Raja

Current Star Count: 2

Maxi-Challenges Won: 2

Lip Syncs Won: 1

Raja’s loss this week doesn’t matter much, since she was blocked from winning a Legendary Legend Star anyway. She is entirely reliant on the talent show to get her to the end. And unlike with Monét and Yvie, where I feel the edit suggests one clear ending, I’m really split on how this will go for our Season 3 champion. Yes, Raja was robbed of a few early wins, and even had a moment on the main stage where she questioned just being safe once again. But that was a while ago, and in the intervening weeks, she’s won two challenges and secured two stars. The “robbed Raja” edit hasn’t stuck around, so I’m not sure the heat is there to get her to the finale. We’ll see!

The Vivienne

Current Star Count: 2

Maxi-Challenges Won: 3

Lip Syncs Won: 2

I think this was Viv’s last significant chance to make the finale, honestly. The fact that she aced the roast, delivered a phenomenal runway and was still left out of the top two in favour of Trinity indicates that the show just isn’t invested in her getting to the end. It’s a shame: the middle of this season really did feel like it was shaping Viv into a contender. But as others have risen, Viv has felt secondary to the storyline. In the battle between her and Jinkx Monsoon, Jinkx has emerged as the clear victor in the judges’ eyes.

Jaida Essence Hall

Current Star Count: 3

Maxi-Challenges Won: 2

Lip Syncs Won: 1

Is it still possible that Jaida doesn’t make the finale? Surprisingly, yes; for as much as it’s been taken as a guarantee for weeks, a pair of two-star queens winning a third next week would result in a four-way tie for three slots. Not sure how they’d resolve that conundrum, but it’s safe to say that a four-person Lip Sync for the Crown finale format would not work with five queens. So it’s a slim chance, but yes, Jaida is not guaranteed to make the finale. I do still think she’ll get there, based on how prominently she’s featured in the edit, but you never know. The most Drag Race thing possible would be to pull the rug out from an expected frontrunner just before the finale.

Trinity the Tuck

Current Star Count: 3

Maxi-Challenges Won: 4

Lip Syncs Won: 1

She hit her threshold later than I expected, but Trinity is officially in the three-star club. It took a dubious win on this roast to get her there, though. I appreciate Trinity’s growth in this challenge, but the idea that she was better than Viv or Monét is pretty silly. Where I did really enjoy Trinity this week was on the runway—her All Glowed Up look was among my favourites. I like when Trinity uses her pageant background to deliver very sculptural, high-impact looks that aren’t just gowns. We’ve seen Trinity deliver a lot of the same silhouette this season, but this was a refreshing change of pace. Not enough of one for me to give her the win, though.

Jinkx Monsoon

Current Star Count: 4

Maxi-Challenges Won: 5

Lip Syncs Won: 3
Jinkx has performed the best this season by literally every measurable metric. She has the most stars, has won a record five maxi-challenges (only matched by BenDeLaCreme in All Stars 3 when it comes to American seasons) and has surprisingly won $30,000 in three lip sync victories. The question now becomes: can she win the whole season? I’ve said it before, but Jinkx was my prediction to win an all-winners season long before one was even announced, so her performance this season hasn’t surprised me. But of course, I also didn’t know we’d be getting a Lip Sync for the Crown tournament at that hypothetical season’s end. Sure, Jinkx has technically won the most lip syncs, but none of her performances has been that memorable. Against high-calibre performers like Jaida, Monét and even Viv, I could see it being a fight. She’ll need to pull out some major tricks to secure the crown she’s worked so hard to win.

Kevin O’Keeffe is a writer, host, instructor, and RuPaul’s Drag Race herstorian living in Los Angeles, California. His favourite pastime is watching a perfect lip sync.

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TV & Film, Culture, Drag Race, Analysis, Drag

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