Welcome to RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Power Rankings! Every week, we’re debriefing the week’s new episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 8 to determine which queens are riding high, and which need she-mergency care. In a bit of a twist, though, this week we’re talking about the eliminated queens to see who has the best shot at winning the Fame Games.
12th Place: Monica Beverly Hillz
I’m really happy Monica got her chance to showcase her talent on the main stage. She seems like an incredibly kind, warm queen who can turn the party in her real-life performances, but just gets a bit too timid in front of the cameras. You could see that same reserved nature in her performance this week—then her song was great! It’s great that Monica got to reintroduce herself to modern Drag Race audiences, and I hope her return to drag as a career is a rewarding one.
11th Place: Naysha Lopez
In truth, none of these early outs is going to be able to get the required fan votes to win the Fame Games. (Spoiler, but I really think this competition is down to two queens—maybe three.) But in terms of her talent show performance, I was actually quite impressed with Naysha’s dance. Like almost all non-lip sync numbers these days, it was mostly ignored, but she did really impressive technical work here. It’s probably Naysha’s best moment on the show, and I’m glad we got to see it from her.
10th Place: Mrs. Kasha Davis
Congrats to Kasha on her Reading Challenge victory! That was a bit surprising, especially from the self-described queen of kindness, but I think that’s a good reminder for queens and audiences alike. Reading is always going to be part of drag culture, but especially in a venue like this, it doesn’t need to come from a place of spite. I believe Kasha’s love for her fellow castmates makes her a natural fit for winning the reading challenge: to know them is to love them, and to love them is to roast them. I also appreciated the message behind Kasha’s number, even though I think it was a bit too short to be most effective. I almost wish she had just done a full Drag Queen Story Minute as her talent instead. But for what it was, I valued it. And I will always have time for Kasha.
9th Place: Darienne Lake
For a while there, it seemed like Darienne was maybe the biggest threat to win the Fame Games. She had terrific runways, she was sent home earlier than fans wanted her to be and she stayed out of off-show drama that consumed some other queens. (We’ll talk about Kahanna Montrese in a second.) However, once Jessica Wild was sent home, I thought it spelled the end for Darienne—and her comedy routine that was more inspirational than humorous in this episode didn’t help. But her hilarious Twitter “smear campaign” against the other queens? An incredible development. I’m not sure it’ll be enough to put her in top contention, but if there’s any dark horse for the title, it may be Mother Lake.
7th Place: Jaymes Mansfield
Jaymes’s reception from the other queens upon re-entering was kind of chilly, no? I really wish someone would explain what happened with her and the cast this season, because between them not clapping for her arrival and their surprising, unanimous vote-off of her a few weeks back, I sense tension. You know who doesn’t have tension with Jaymes, though? RuPaul Charles. While I thought her routine was cute and fun, I didn’t think it was near win-worthy—I’d have given the victory to at least three other queens before Jaymes. And certainly I don’t think she should’ve tied in the “Rain on Me” lip sync. But hey, a 2x multiplier to her Fame Game votes is not going to make the difference when it comes to who’s actually going to win. So while I look askance at the decisions made here, I ultimately don’t think it’ll matter. Congrats to Jaymes regardless, though!
6th Place: Kahanna Montrese
I’m going to make two simultaneous points when it comes to Kahanna this week: she would’ve been my other pick for the win (alongside LaLa Ri), and I also think she could’ve gotten the 5x multiplier and still not won the Fame Games. Once upon a time, I think Kahanna could’ve had a shot at this victory. Her runways, while trapped in the showgirl lane, varied up their actual look and silhouette quite a bit. They also just looked expensive, which is always a good way to draw fans’ eyes. Her cheerleading routine this week was also terrific, technically well executed while also bringing a lot of personality and individual identity to what was, yes, just another lip sync number. All of that could’ve made Kahanna a real contender. But the mess with Heidi N Closet (which, granted, she did apologize for) likely tanked any shot she had at a fan-favourite vote. She still has her fans, but to win something like this, you need a passionate plurality. Even with a multiplier, I’m not sure she has enough.
5th Place: LaLa Ri
Getting three times the number of votes because of her win this week means LaLa is in an excellent position to become Queen of the Fame Games. (A Miss Congeniality winner, Golden Boot winner and Fame Games winner: quite a resumé!) The major things I could see holding her back are a perception on fans’ part that they don’t need to vote quite as vociferously for her because she’s getting the multiplier, as well as one queen who I imagine is going to receive such a landslide of votes that the multipliers won’t matter. (We’ll talk about her in a second.) Still, this makes it competitive in a way that LaLa’s runways alone wouldn’t have made her a threat for this prize. However, she was a dominant force in the talent show, and more than earned her top spot. I wish her the best of luck in the fan vote!
4th Place: Alexis Michelle
We had our fun with Alexis this season, didn’t we? All the tears, all the antics—it was a good time. However, the near-universal backlash to Alexis’s last couple of episodes, including her deceptively worded promise to LaLa and her blatantly untrue statement to Jessica that she couldn’t pick her lipstick, has me convinced that Alexis will be finishing quite low in the Fame Games standings. That’s not a fair reflection of Alexis’s runways this season; she really did step it up. But I think we all knew going in that a fan vote was never really going to come down to objective analysis of garments. Like the Miss Congeniality votes back in the day, it’s all about who’s the fan favourite, and that is not Alexis for this season.
3rd Place: Jessica Wild
I think Jessica is going to win the Fame Games, and I think it may not be particularly close. Go into any comments section on any Drag Race-related social media post, and you’re seeing the same sentiment over and over again: #TeamJessica. #JusticeForJessica. I don’t know if I’d feel this confident without Jessica’s untimely ouster at Kandy Muse’s hands last week, but the overall impression among fans is that Jessica should’ve been in the final two. And I think, multiplier or no, she will win this. If she does, she will have made it out of this season with nearly $100,000 in prizes—the grand prize for winning RuPaul’s Drag Race as recently as just two years ago! While it seems unfair to not have Jessica in contention for the crown, at the end of the day, she may be all the richer for her third-place finish.
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