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 queen gets her first win of her Drag Race career this week, and it’s a hard-earned victory.
6. Kahanna Montrese (last week: 6)—ELIMINATED
It’s a shame to see Kahanna go just as she had a bit of a breakthrough. But realistically, she would’ve needed to give the performance of her career to shake off the memory of her attempted quit. Had Heidi N Closet not quit earlier in the season, I’m betting Ru would’ve let her go when she wanted to pack up her stuff and leave. This was the better outcome, as Kahanna was able to go out on one of her better performances and fought until the end. Kudos to her for going to Jimbo for some acting advice; that was a savvy decision on her part. And had she done it before attempting to leave, I could’ve seen her making it through this week.
I suppose I should talk about Kahanna’s off-show drama with Heidi that occurred this past week, but it really was a lot of fighting over nothing, and Kahanna has already said she wishes she handled it differently. I’d rather not rehash something in which truly no one came off looking great, and instead send Kahanna off with good tidings. I wouldn’t have expected her to make it past the halfway point at season’s start, but she proved to have grown quite a bit since her season. As she herself said during her elimination, “Top 6, girl! Be happy for me!”
5. Alexis Michelle (last week: 5)
In the challenge, Alexis was the worst of the crop. I do think her character was part of the problem: she was playing the straight woman with a bob as serious as she was. Unfortunately, instead of leaning into the deadpan in an entertaining way, Alexis just came across as stilted. I can see why she didn’t want to take on this role—but her half-assed attempt in trying to get Kandy Muse to take it instead revealed the limits of Alexis as a strategist. Had she been more honest about why she wanted the part, and pointed out that Kandy got exactly what she wanted last week (while apparently Alexis actually wanted Jessica Wild’s part), she might’ve been able to sway the room!
However, despite all her dramatics (that little gasp when LaLa Ri announced her choice!), I don’t think Alexis was in any real danger of going home this week. Kahanna was on her fourth trip to the bottom two, and also had just threatened to quit. That said, Alexis is now the only one left in the competition without a win. And with a design challenge coming down the pike, I’m very nervous for her going into next week.
4. Kandy Muse (last week: 1)
Apologies to Kandice Musical, but I would’ve put her in the bottom two this week with Alexis. The thing about arguing hard for a specific role is that, if you get it, you need to really prove why you wanted it. (Bosco’s ears just started ringing.) Kandy did exactly that last week, to great effect, but she basically just took a role and played herself this go-around. She got lucky that Ru really likes when Kandy works in the Kandy mode, because Michelle Visage was dead-on in her critiques. More than that, besides her hair, I thought her Little Miss Arrogant look was a real mess on the runway. Putting Alexis and Kandy in the bottom two after their drama this week would’ve been dramatically satisfying, but I think the show was determined to lose Kahanna this go-around. So Kandy skated to safety, but she’s running out of queens to be eliminated before her if she fumbles an opportunity like this again.
3. Jimbo (last week: 4)
Watch how Jimbo’s edit continues to improve even as she’s not winning challenges. She has remained completely out of the fray in terms of drama this season, in stark contrast to her last two runs on the show. She, alongside Jessica, was actually the one most trying to keep everyone together and happy this week. Jimbo really put the icing on the cake when she assisted Kahanna in her acting, though. It was basically an immaculate episode for someone who did not win the challenge.
Obviously I have felt from the very beginning that Jimbo was destined to win this season, and her early dominance did nothing to change my mind about that. But I got frustrated because, though the result might’ve been predictable, the show was doing nothing to make it seem like a real fight. (Think about how obvious it was Sasha Colby would win Season 15, but how well the show managed to make queens like Anetra and Mistress Isabelle Brooks feel like true contenders.) Now, with Kandy and LaLa’s wins in the bank and a more even edit across the cast, Jimbo’s all-but-certain win doesn’t feel quite as bad. But don’t let that convince you it’s not happening. Now more than ever, the signs are all pointing in that direction.
2. Jessica Wild (last week: 2)
In a week where the winner was far ahead of the pack, Jessica made for a strong, if distant, runner-up. Like Jimbo, she came across really well in the major drama of the week, taking everyone’s emotions seriously, but spinning things positively and throwing some much-needed humour in to break up the tension. And in the improv challenge, Jess decided on playing her character quite deadpan—I was in stitches hearing her describe Lil Poundcake’s Taco Tuesday order. This is the most solemn I’ve ever heard someone talk about guacamole’s extra cost.
My friend and colleague Mathew Rodriguez and I remain puzzled as to why Jessica keeps wearing breakfast foods, though. First there was cereal and milk, then eggs—and now sausages. Was Jess just really hungry when she was planning her runway package? Because that’s a mood, if so!
1. LaLa Ri (last week: 3)
Hell yeah, LaLa! This was a terrific week for the Season 13 queen, as she earned her first maxi-challenge win of her Drag Race career. It wasn’t even close, either: LaLa intrinsically understood what her security guard character needed to be (good on her for sticking to her guns and keeping the role), and ate up every moment she was on-screen. Ru and the judges fixated on the “eloguent” of it all, but beyond that, LaLa’s performance was committed, hilarious and smart. She picked a great time to pull out one of her best runway looks, too; it was as funny and full of personality as it was perfect for LaLa.
If all that weren’t enough, LaLa got served a tough Lip Sync Assassin for her battle to Lizzo’s “About Damn Time.” We’ve seen LaLa lose to worse performers than Jorgeous. (Although by the transitive property, does this mean Elliott With Two Ts could beat Jorgeous in a lip sync?) But LaLa was feeling her oats in a big way, and leaned into the song with real verve and enthusiasm. She killed the lip sync, earned herself a $10,000 tip, and proved that she’s more than worthy of being an All Star. The LaLa Ri Experience has turned up the heat, and I can’t wait to see what’s next.
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