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. The middle of this week’s power ranking stays remarkably consistent—but there’s a huge reversal at the top and bottom from last week.
5. LaLa Ri (last week: 1)—ELIMINATED
This is a true bummer. LaLa was experiencing something Drag Race contestants—much less All Stars contestants—often can only dream of. She was peaking late, showing her stuff when there’s less competition and each strong performance feels more impactful. Between her memorable and well-performed Rusical song and her win in the improv challenge last week, she was on a major roll. Unfortunately, her underwhelming design this week (plus a truly all-time bad wig line) left her vulnerable, and Alexis Michelle swiftly cut LaLa’s trajectory short.
This is particularly a tough loss since, in a season full of early outs, we’re left with a final four bereft of them. LaLa, as a ninth-placer (same as both Kylie Sonique Love and Ra’Jah O’Hara in their seasons—look how that worked out for them), was the last who could conceivably carry the torch for queens eliminated too soon. The final four’s first placements: runner-up, fourth, fifth, and sixth. This season has had few things really going for it, but the Rudemption of queens like LaLa, Kahanna Montrese, and Jaymes Mansfield has been a true bright spot. Now, it just feels like we’re ending in the place we knew we always would. All Stars seasons don’t always need surprises in the finals, but this one would’ve really benefited from it.
4. Kandy Muse (last week: 4)
With all due respect to Kandy, who I really do enjoy both on and off this show, she should’ve gone home this week. (And judging by her reaction, she was indeed expecting to leave.) Unlike LaLa, who was peaking at exactly the right time, Kandy is hitting her roughest patch at the worst possible moment. While her Rusical victory wasn’t that long ago, she was lucky to avoid the bottom two for her improv performance, and she finally landed there this go-around. As Alexis noted, both Kandy and LaLa had the same track record, which made her decision on who to eliminate all the more difficult. But considering how tense her relationship with Kandy has been, and how LaLa just saved Alexis the week before, I really can’t understand this choice.
All of that said, I also can’t understand how, for her second season on the show, the fandom has once again viciously turned against Kandy. I get not being the biggest fan of her drag, or finding her attempts to play producer frustrating. (I personally just want Kandy to let go a bit and lean into the process instead of focusing so hard on making great TV.) But none of that is deserving of the vitriol that is posted about Kandy in comment sections, on social media, and so on. At the end of the day, no matter how “polarizing” (her word from the premiere) she may be, Kandy is a person in a drag competition. Spewing hatred about her doesn’t say a damn thing about her, and it says everything about those who do so.
3. Jimbo (last week: 3)
Colour me a little surprised that Jimbo did not win this week. The way the judges raved about her creativity in her look made me think she was about to sail to a win. (Personally, I thought what she put together was pretty amazing, but I had issues with the pearls.) I almost wonder if there’s not something at play here: all the talk about Jimbo as frontrunner, and all the focus on whether the other queens would eliminate her if they could. Is the show trying to reverse-engineer a kind of underdog arc for a queen who couldn’t be less of an underdog if she tried?
I’m inclined to think that’s true, honestly. It feels a bit conspiracy-minded, I know, but production has not exactly moved with a gentle hand this season. And when I look at the field of queens left, I don’t know if I see a true rival for Jimbo’s track record—but I do see someone who just might be able to compete in the fan vote.
2. Jessica Wild (last week: 2)
I was genuinely taken aback (in the best possible way) by just how viral Jessica’s Taco Tuesday moment from last week’s improv challenge went. I would argue that, give or take Jimbo’s Shirley Temple tap dance from Snatch Game or Kandy’s “No More Wire Hangers” number from the Rusical, it’s the moment that made the most significant impact from this season. And unlike both of those other examples, Jessica didn’t win the challenge, nor was it a major moment set up for her victory. She improvised that whole speech herself, and spawned memes galore. That kind of organic spread among the fandom matters; it’s what got Anetra to record-breaking fan vote numbers and a runner-up spot in Season 15.
If Jessica is in the endgame—and honestly, with four episodes left, I have no idea how many queens will make it to the finale—I think she has a real shot at winning. Not more than Jimbo, necessarily, but there’s a chance Jimbo could get sniped in the next couple of weeks if she lands in the bottom. (And we may be nearing “If you’re not in the top, you’re in the bottom” times here.) I think Jessica wins against either Alexis or Kandy, or any potential returnees for that matter. And who knows? If she can produce another major moment, I could see her even giving Jimbo a run for her money. And as someone who came into this season rooting hard for a Jessica win—but never imagining it could be realistic—it’s amazing we’re even in range of such a result. Dare to dream, Miss Wild.
1. Alexis Michelle (last week: 5)
I hate to be negative about Alexis in a week when she did quite well, but I really think she shot herself in the foot with this elimination decision. My guess is she over-thought it a bit: What’s the advantage of paying back a debt to LaLa when you can have Kandy indebted to you instead? The problem is, of course, that Kandy will feel no debt to Alexis when Alexis just proved such a debt means nothing. (Kandy’s confessional in the preview for next week makes it clear that that’s true.) More than that, even Jimbo and Jessica, who heard Alexis say loud and clear just how much LaLa’s decision meant to her and how she’d never forget it, won’t trust Alexis from this point forward.
I will say a hearty congrats to Alexis on her victory in this challenge. She was facing down a design challenge at top five—exactly the scenario she went out in Season 9—and she triumphed. Hers really was the best look of the week, and felt like a true apex of Alexis’ Drag Race career. But part of why it feels like an apex is that there’s nowhere to go but down. It will likely take another win next week to keep her safe going into the endgame. And with a roast around the corner? Well, let’s hope Alexis can pull a second challenge Rudemption out of her hat. She’s gonna need it.
Why you can trust Xtra
