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. A frontrunner returns to her top perch, while a beloved queen is sent home after fighting for her life.
9. Darienne Lake (last week: 9)—ELIMINATED
Three strikes and you’re out—Darienne was eliminated on her third trip to the bottom two. You can quibble about who was actually the worst in the losing group; I’d personally say Jaymes Mansfield stood out the least, while Darienne was my favourite of the lot. And her runway was hot as hell, showing a whole new side to the Season 6 queen. But despite her effective campaigning in Untucked, there just wasn’t much argument to keeping her here at this point. Neither Jaymes nor Alexis Michelle is a Pangina Heals-level threat to eliminate, so the safest way forward was also the smartest way forward. Still, I’ll forever be dipping into the waters of Darienne Lake. She’s a true gem.
8. Jaymes Mansfield (last week: 8)
Were I voting this week, I’d have put Jaymes’s lipstick in the ballot box. She cited her track record as a reason to keep her, and I understand that … but I wildly disagree with that high score in the first episode. Moreover, while there’s no doubting Darienne had been in the bottom thrice, I actually think she performed the best of her group this week. So if I’m judging by this challenge, and my choices are Alexis and Jaymes, I’m certainly not voting out a queen I think could’ve won one or more challenges so far. Next week is Snatch Game, a challenge we’ve not seen Jaymes do—I’m intrigued to see if her comedy chops will land her in the top there. She could use a win to get her momentum on the right track.
7. Alexis Michelle (last week: 6)
Alexis Michelle, queen of Untucked this season! She remains exactly the character we first saw in Season 9, albeit with much better style (and a greater thirst for her fellow Ru Girls). Her moving out of the way so a bus could hit Darienne, as the Rochester queen put it, was straight out of Alexis’s playbook. In fact, she did the same thing during the pilot challenge in Season 9! And then in Untucked, trying to make a side case to Jimbo as to why Jaymes should go home? Delicious. Camp. Giving us the drama we need. This season has some big characters, but there’s truly no one I enjoy watching make TV more than Alexis. If only the TV pilot she made was better—but I’m inclined to agree that that wasn’t really her fault. She brought up the issues with their premise, and she did her best with what they decided upon. It would’ve been a crime to see Alexis go home this early; she’s got so much more story to spin.
6. Kahanna Montrese (last week: 7)
Kahanna just isn’t going to be able to keep up with comedic performers like Heidi N Closet and LaLa Ri in a sketch like this. That’s no slam on her: it’s just not in her wheelhouse in the same way. Her goal this week needed to be to do her best, and let Heidi and LaLa steal the show. That’s exactly what she did, and her sketch was all the better for it. Between this and the Pussy Jones performance (“My cat body, my cat choice!”), Kahanna hasn’t exactly been knocking acting challenges out of the park. But she’s holding her own well enough to survive. Still, I worry about her for Snatch Game—that’s a bigger hurdle to overcome.
5. LaLa Ri (last week: 3)
An inherent problem with the Lip Sync Assassin format on All Stars is that you cannot have two winners in a single week. One queen must go up against one LSA, which means there can only be one maxi-challenge winner. Because of that, when you have a duo that overperforms, the way Heidi and LaLa did this week, you can’t give them both the win. I think theirs was the better sketch of the top two, and I would’ve given the win to one of them—but deciding which one would be like flipping a coin. The two queens didn’t make it easy on the runway, either, turning out less impressive looks than their usual standard. In truth, they could basically be tied this week—except for one factor.
4. Heidi N Closet (last week: 5)
Heidi’s promise of a big cup of tea is an interesting one. We wouldn’t see this if it weren’t going to come back later—Chekov’s Tea, if you will—and Heidi’s online presence since the show began has been a bit, shall we say, cavalier. I think something big is brewing, and the fact that it seems to be between her and Kandy Muse indicates it’ll be one hell of a show when it blows up. I’m not sure if that makes Heidi more likely to last in the competition, but I do think the show seems just a bit more invested in her at this point. So I wouldn’t be surprised to see her outlast LaLa in the long run.
3. Jessica Wild (last week: 1)
Jessica needs to have lots of weeks like this between her wins to keep her in contention for the crown. In truth, she’s starting quite a bit behind some of the other queens in popularity (Instagram metrics, etc.), which is understandable as she’s from a 13-year-old season. But as we saw with Anetra during Season 15, who has approximately 550,000 more followers now than she did before the premiere, your fan base always has room to grow. Jessica was enjoyable to watch both in and out of drag this week, turned in a great performance in her pilot trailer and looked great on the runway (though I agree with Michelle Visage’s makeup note). If she can keep this up, I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest to see her in this season’s endgame. For now, my only question is: what Snatch Game could she possibly deliver that will measure up to her RuPaul?
2. Kandy Muse (last week: 4)
Okay, this is what I was hoping to see from Kandy this season! She was pretty terrific in the sketch, with some real laugh lines. And on the runway, she was my best in show this week. I loved the wild proportions of her look—it felt so deeply drag. On performance alone, I’d be high on Kandy this week, but her “influencing,” as she calls it, plus her seeming involvement in this developing drama with Heidi, is promising. Kandy has felt like more of a side narrator so far this season, which has been a real step down from her commanding presence in Season 13. This episode promises that Kandy is about to step into her main character era once again.
1. Jimbo (last week: 2)
The duality of man: I can both recognize the validity of Jimbo’s win this week and be annoyed with what it means for the trajectory of this season. All Stars in the Lip Sync Assassin format has so few wins available—10 in All Stars 6, and I’ve no reason to assume there will be more this time—that for someone to get two very early victories is a huge deal. It sucks up a lot of momentum, making what should feel like a battle of titans into a bit of a steamroll. That said, the challenges have been really favourable toward Jimbo so far, so it stands to reason that she might hit a weak point (like a Rusical) soon. Not until we’ve done Snatch Game, though!
But I digress. Jimbo’s Muffy was genuinely the best singular performance in the sketches, issues with her pilot not feeling like a TV show aside. And when it comes to the runway, while her breast-backward look will likely prove as divisive as her entrance look, I imagine her fans will be delighted. This was a very good week for Jimbo, and she earned her win. I’m just concerned about what that win might mean for the competition as a whole.
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