‘RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 8’ premiere recap: Uninformed voting

When an episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars starts with RuPaul reciting poetry while green-screened onto various large displays all over the world, you know you’re in for one hell of a ride.

The returning veterans spinoff series of Drag Race, started so ignominiously with the ill-conceived All Stars 1 back in 2012, but revived with a vengeance with All Stars 2 four years later, has given us as many pleasures as it has disappointments. Seasons like AS2 and AS6 are among the very best RuPaul’s drag reality empire has produced, while seasons like AS1 and AS5 have proven to be tremendous disappointments. Along the way, we’ve also gotten a solid season with a finale-ruining twist (AS3’s jury), a dynamite cast that didn’t get the season they deserved (AS4, especially with that double crowning) and a take on the fabled all-winners season that thrilled as often as it frustrated (AS7, so inconsistent).

I run us through this little herstory lesson to explain why I’m both excited and nervous for All Stars 8, and why this ominous opening does little to assuage my anxieties. The formula for a truly great All Stars season is a fickle one, and while I’m intrigued by the possibilities presented by this cast, it’s not exactly a lineup of surefire superstars. Like AS6 before it, AS8 is making Rudemption the name of the game, and the challenge is twofold. For the queens: can you demonstrate the ways in which, even if you didn’t get far in your original season, you are ready to make a big impact on this go-around? And for the show: can you support this cast with interesting challenges, smart format changes and compelling story editing?

By the end of the premiere, I find the cast to be more prepared for their task than production. Much of my frustration with the latter comes down to one dubious segment removal—and hoo boy, am I frustrated—but in general, it doesn’t feel like those behind the scenes know quite what story AS8 is telling yet. Granted, I said the same about AS6 at the time, so I’m hesitant to jump to conclusions. But I do think any hopes of this season being a hit from the word “go” must be tempered.

The first 15 or so minutes of the episode are not demonstrably different than what we saw in the Queen Ruveal in April, so I’ll just say of the entrances that there’s a distinct difference between those who are coming back ready to finish what they started (Season 13 runner-up Kandy Muse, Season 12 Miss Congeniality Heidi N Closet, Season 9 fifth-placer and producer Alexis Michelle and our first-ever Canada’s Drag Race entrant on All Stars, Jimbo) and those who are reintroducing themselves to us (Season 5’s Monica Beverly Hillz, Season 9’s Jaymes Mansfield, especially Season 11’s Kahanna Montrese). The most interesting introduction of all is Jessica Wild’s, as she is greeted with thunderous applause after 13 years away.

Full disclosure: I am a Jessica stan. I would die for most of the queens from Season 2, and was obviously over the moon when Kylie Sonique Love triumphed in AS6. But Jessica has a special place in my heart as a kind, energetic, fierce queen who absolutely stomped her season before her unceremonious elimination. It’s absurd to me that it’s taken this long for her to be cast on All Stars, and now that she is, I’m overjoyed that she’s being given a returning hero’s welcome. While she just scores safe in this episode, the “OB” as she calls herself (“Original Bitch”) is already demonstrating in her looks, confessionals, and challenge performance that she’s one to keep an eye on this season. Might we see Season 2 triumph again? I can only hope!

After introductions, we get a fashion show mini-challenge recalling those in regular seasons 7, 12 and 13. The two categories the queens must walk are Famous Then and Famous Now, with the former reflecting Hollywood glam of the past and the present being an excuse for the queens to dress up like a celebrity. Unsurprisingly, the former category brings out much stronger looks than the latter, with Alexis’s Norma Desmond–inspired drag, Monica’s Cleopatra look and Season 13 Miss Congeniality LaLa Ri’s positively gorgeous gown taking top marks. In the second category, only Kandy’s pastel fur look really shines for me.

No time for sitting with those looks for too long, though: we’ve got a maxi-challenge to introduce! In a major shake-up from previous All Stars seasons, it’s not a talent show—like AS7, it is instead a musical task. The queens are split into two girl groups, and asked to record new, genre-based versions of The Fabulous Pop Tarts’ single “Money, Success, Fame, Glamour.” (Fun fact: The Fabulous Pop Tarts is the former band of Drag Race executive producers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato!) One group must perform it in glam rock style, while the other must do a disco take. They also all have to record their own verses for it.

We get songwriting and choreography segments with the queens ahead of the performance, as well as mirror time with the queens. By the time we actually see the performances—which are followed by another runway, a signature drag category called “Fame Forever—we’ve spent a lot of time going over what they’ll look like. It’s disappointing, then, that both are pretty underwhelming. The glam rock group (which includes Alexis, Heidi, Kahanna and Kandy, as well as Season 6’s confessional queen Darienne Lake and twice-eliminated Season 8 queen Naysha Lopez) is worse on average, but Alexis’s performance and verse are a highlight. Kahanna is high-energy as a dancer, but I find her verse to be Drag Race bog standard. Meanwhile, Darienne can’t keep up with the choreography, and combined with her unimpressive take on Billie Eilish in the mini-challenge, it’s looking rough for Ms. Lake.

The disco group (Jaymes, Jessica, Jimbo, LaLa, Monica and returning Season 7 legend Mrs. Kasha Davis) has a higher performance average, and LaLa is terrific. I also must throw kudos to Kasha’s rap, which is delightfully camp. Unfortunately, both she and Jaymes mess up the choreography—Jaymes especially so. Monica, unfortunately, regresses to her timid stage presence that we saw on Season 5, and she seems immediately overwhelmed upon being back on the main stage again. She seems like the easy pick for first boot, especially with the beloved Darienne joining her in the bottom two. Meanwhile, in a choice I find quite dubious, Kahanna wins over Alexis and LaLa, giving us yet another underdog first-episode All Stars challenge winner.

It’s at about this point that I realized how little run-time the episode had left in it, and wondered how the show planned on cramming in deliberations, a vote, a lip sync and an elimination. I would’ve never in my life guessed that, in a format change I can only describe as baffling at best and infuriating at worst, deliberations have been moved to Untucked. Not the Untucked lounge in the werk room—to the aftershow entirely. Deliberations among the queens, which have been a staple of All Stars since the Lip Sync for Your Legacy twist’s introduction in All Stars 2, are no longer in the main episode.

I’m flummoxed by this decision. To take the deliberation segment, which has given us such iconic moments as Alaska’s tantrum in All Stars 2, Valentina’s standoff with Manila Luzon in All Stars 4 and India Ferrah’s last-minute attempt to get Shea Couleé to target Alexis Mateo instead of her in All Stars 5, and shove it off the show entirely? Drag Race has effectively rendered its eliminations incomprehensible. “If you’re not watching Untucked, you’re only getting half the story” has been a cute tagline for the aftershow, but for all the joys Untucked has brought us over the years, it has never been literally required viewing to even understand the main series. Without watching Untucked, viewers will now have no idea why queens vote as they do in each episode—and even if they do watch it, they have to see the result on the main episode first.

This removal of content and shuffling it off to Untucked is, in my mind, a far worse offence than the shorter episodes we got in Season 15. At least those episodes still attempted (albeit not always successfully) to tell a whole story in 42 minutes, and there was precedent from the show’s earliest seasons to have installments run for that shorter length. All Stars is still airing for a full 60+-minute run-time, as it has consistently since All Stars 3, yet it is giving us less content than it used to. My guess is that viewership for All Stars’ version of Untucked must have been abysmal for the past few seasons, so this is Paramount+’s attempt to draw eyes over there. Woe to any international viewers who don’t get Untucked at all, who are now missing crucial context from each episode.

I was pretty enthusiastic about this season coming into this premiere, but between this format change and the wonky judging, we’re off to a rough start. Luckily, things are redeemed by the introduction of our first Lip Sync Assassin of the season: Aja Labeija! The Season 9, All Stars 3 and Legendary Season 3 competitor is back, now sporting her ballroom house as her last name (with Ru referring to her as such), and she’s ready to positively stomp to Beyoncé’s “Freakum Dress.” 

The House of Labeija’s run on Legendary was unfortunately underwhelming, so it’s nice to see Aja back on her own to deliver the calibre of performance we’ve come to expect from her. This is easily her best lip sync on Drag Race, trumping her efforts on “Holding Out for a Hero” and “Anaconda,” thanks to some killer ballroom moves she now boasts in her repertoire. Her floor work mid-performance is a highlight, as is her incredibly smooth dip. Kahanna, bless her, does her best to keep up, with plenty of hairography. But it’s not a particularly close match, as Aja wins the day.

Aja reveals the group vote, and the queens decide to send Monica home. It’s not a unanimous one, though; as we see in Untucked and in the next episode, Kandy, LaLa and Jaymes were all swayed to vote to keep Monica. But 7–4 is still decisive, and the Season 5 queen sashays away. I feel for Monica, but watching her this week, it’s clear she just doesn’t have the confidence in her own power that Drag Race (especially All Stars) requires. She’s a stunning queen, though, no matter how well-suited or not she is for this platform.

Let me say this: I’m glad this is a double premiere, with another episode still to come. Because if this was AS8’s only first impression, I’d call it a deflating start to the season. While we’ve got a game, prepared cast and one hell of an introductory lip sync battle, it’s going to take more effort on production’s part to make this an enjoyable journey. And their biggest decision so far is not giving me confidence.

Untucking our final thoughts

✨ The Other Half of the Story, Fame Games Edition: Well, with Untucked now playing a more crucial role than ever, we best have dedicated recap segments for it this season! First, let’s discuss the big development: the Fame Games! Each week, eliminated queens’ runway looks will be shown online and in Untucked. (Queens can also post additional photos of their looks to their own socials if they so choose.) Fans will vote on their favourites, and at season’s end, the winner gets $50K. It’s a fun twist! And gives queens who spend a lot of money on looks for the show a platform to show them off. Seems like a net positive, as evidenced by the queens’ enthusiasm at the announcement. I hope it pays off big for a queen who deserves it at season’s end!

✨ The Other Half of the Story, Deliberations Edition: Monica makes an impassioned plea to stay, while Darienne does her best to open up to the girls. Kahanna finds herself at a real crossroads, considering Darienne was on her team, but she feels closer to Monica. Ultimately, she chooses to send Monica home. Meanwhile, after some genuine back and forth, Kandy, LaLa and Jaymes all ultimately choose to vote in minority. We’ll see the results of their votes in the next episode.

✨ Note that while we’re back to AS5-6-style rules—one winner, facing off against a Lip Sync Assassin to decide whether her vote or the group’s decides the eliminee—the cash prize has stayed at AS7’s supersize $200,000. Good!

✨ Naysha admits she’s worried about a twist. Jessica immediately gets off a burn: “I think the twist is that you are here!”

✨ Alexis admits in confessional that she has a crush on LaLa! Might we see another Drag Race romance this season?

✨ “The wickedly wonderful Idina Menzel” is our guest judge this week, and she’s mostly just there to have a good time. (She looks both in awe and slightly terrified during the lip sync.) She does get a funny line in during introductions when Ru asks her about her best celebrity encounter: “Once I was at the People’s Choice Awards, and John Travolta introduced me to Adele Dazeem. Such a bitch!”

✨ Not starting All Stars with Reading Is Fundamental is a real shake-up to the status quo. Every All Stars season since AS2 has made it the first task, and it works as a reintroduction to these queens. I’m not sure a fashion show does the same, honestly, and I found myself missing the reading challenge.

✨ Heidi N Closet is gonna give us some wild Lip Sync Assassin guesses this season, I can already tell. She guesses Kenya Michaels this week!

✨ It’s honestly not just that I disagree with the judging this week; it’s that it’s nonsense. Jaymes is kept for critiques after utterly butchering the choreography in the performance. But while Ross Mathews (in what may be one of his worst outings as a judge, and that’s saying something) notes it, he basically says he doesn’t care. And there’s no word from Ru or Michelle Visage—or even Idina!—to contradict him. There’s barely a single negative critique across the board this week. I know Season 16 is set to start soon, so I will once again implore the show to make some changes when it comes to the panel. Judging has become, consistently, the worst part of every episode.

✨ Interesting bit of trivia: across the three seasons with the Lip Sync Assassin format, the LSA has won in the first episode every single time. Yvie Oddly beat India Ferrah, Coco Montrese beat Yara Sofia and now Aja has beaten Kahanna. But on the other hand, the second-episode winners in seasons past have both picked up the $20,000 tip, Shea Couleé from trouncing Alyssa Edwards and Ra’Jah O’Hara from tying Brooke Lynn Hytes. How will next episode’s victor fare?

✨ A subtle moment, but an important one: Kandy clocks how much Ru loves Jimbo. I’ll have more thoughts on this in the next recap and this week’s power ranking, but for now, keep this one in the back of your mind.

The second episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars is available now! The third of this season will stream Friday, May 19, at 3 a.m. EDT on Paramount+ in the U.S. and on Crave in Canada. Check back every weekend after new episodes for our recaps and power rankings, and subscribe to our drag newsletter Wig! for exclusive Drag Race content delivered straight to your inbox every Tuesday afternoon.