Welcome to RuPaul’s Drag Race Power Rankings! Every Friday, we’ll debrief the week’s new episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 6 to determine which queens are riding high, and which need she-mergency care. Snatch Game of Love proved a vital late-game test for the top six queens. Which of the dolls won hearts, and who went home brokenhearted?
6. Pandora Boxx (last week: 6) — ELIMINATED
Alas, the Boxx that rocks shall rock no more. I appreciated the amount of respect that was put on Pandora’s name this week, between honouring her Carol Channing Snatch Game appropriately and Ginger giving her props as the first true camp comedy queen to make an impact on the Drag Race world. Pandora’s reputation took a hit after her early departure on All Stars 1, so if nothing else, it’s nice that she’s leaving this season with a better placement and more appreciation.
That said, there was no other result this week that would have been fair. Pandora stuck around largely on the promise of what she could do in Snatch Game. And unfortunately, she whiffed her chance to turn the tide. Her take on Kim Catrall (really Samantha Jones from Sex and the City) was all wrong: she took the character as desperate to have sex instead of a woman in charge of her sexual journey. She also missed out on all the puns that are signature Samantha. It was a real misfire, and there was no way Pandora could’ve justifiably stayed. We’ll see how she does in the mysterious game-within-a-game, though!
5. Trinity K. Bonet (last week: 1)
A tough fall from the top spot, but Trinity knew this wasn’t her week. She got close to excusing her poor performance on improv not being her skill set, which is much more Season 6 Trinity than All Stars 6 Trinity. But I do believe she gave this challenge as fair a shot as she could. It just isn’t in her wheelhouse to be quick on her feet. If anything, I give her props for focusing as much as she did on the look: she knew she’d need something to balance out how she’d falter on all the Whitney Houston jokes.
I didn’t talk much about the Pop Art runway in the recap because I thought it was mostly a mess, but I do want to give Trinity her flowers for what was an impressive look with meaning. While I do wish she’d spend a bit more time on her signs—this one was as rough as her stop sign was in the Blue Ball—the construction of her garment was incredible. She made the Black Trans Lives Matter messaging into a look that was fashionable and fierce, and demonstrated how even the most literal of ideas can be rendered artfully.
Trinity has been strong on the runway all season, and it helps soften the blow in the weeks when she doesn’t do as well in the challenge. That, plus her track record, was enough to keep her safe this week.
4. Eureka! (last week: 5)
While they are the only queen to never hit the bottom, Eureka! is also now the only queen left to not score a win. They’ve done pretty well this season, but they’ve rarely stood out, and the one time that they truly deserved a challenge victory (Pink Table Talk), Ru had other plans. With a design challenge coming up, I’m dubious about Eureka!’s chances of turning things around. At this point, I’d say they’re most likely to be eliminated next week.
This week, I was much lower on their Divine than the judges were. Michelle Visage noted that they took a lot of big swings and not all of them landed, but overall said most of them did. I think that’s a rosy way of looking at it. I would argue they never stopped swinging, and any comedic fastballs they hit were almost incidental.
Look: I am not one to argue that you need to give others the chance to shine in Snatch Game or anything like that. This is a competition, and going hard is important. But there has to be direction and purpose to big swings, and I’d say Eureka!’s Divine lacked for those. A fine performance, but pretty clearly a safe one.
3. Ra’Jah O’Hara (last week: 2)
The more I think about Ra’Jah’s LaToya, the more impressed I am with it. She really honed in on Ru’s advice in the walkthrough, and found a way to perform well to her audience of one. But unlike, say, Alyssa Edwards’ Joan Crawford, which was just Alyssa reading Joan lines, Ra’Jah still had a smart idea of her character. She got the voice pretty close to right, and her LaToya mug was nothing short of amazing. She wasn’t the funniest or biggest standout, but she figured out a very savvy way through a difficult challenge.
However, I can’t praise Ra’Jah’s runway look the same way I can her Snatch Game. This purple coat look had some pop art elements to it, but they felt stuck onto a look that had absolutely nothing to do with the category. It was remarkably off-base for Ra’Jah, who has aced the runway categories pretty flawlessly all season. I don’t think it was the deciding factor between her and a win—this week’s victor was pretty much unchallenged at the top—but I do think it’s worth noting that for all her runway prowess this season, Ra’Jah hasn’t been invincible in her looks.
2. Kylie Sonique Love (last week: 3)
If anyone deserves a Most Improved prize in Snatch Game, it is absolutely Kylie. She went from being the first queen ever eliminated in this challenge to coming in what felt like second place. That’s mighty impressive, especially with an iconic character like Dolly Parton.
While Kylie’s look and voice were just a bit off, she more than made up for it with her wit. She kept up with Ginger Minj, volleying jokes back and forth between them. She used her nails to keep time as she improvised a song for Cheyenne Jackson, and she had the right mix of prepared and improvised material. Combined with a sexy runway look—albeit one that didn’t quite feel pop art—and this was a very strong week for Kylie.
At this point, I’d call Kylie a lock for top four, and am beginning to think she has a real chance to win. She’s got fan support, is getting a really favourable edit, and most importantly of all, she’s surprising us.
Contrast Kylie with Ginger: the latter has mostly excelled in the challenges you’d expect her to, while Kylie has proven formidable in tasks that go far beyond her skill set. Even in her one bottom appearance, she did fairly well, and got no votes to eliminate her. At this point, I’d still put the money on Trinity, but I’m feeling good about Kylie’s chances.
1. Ginger Minj (last week: 4)
Love for Kylie’s improvement and Ra’Jah’s strategy aside, there was no real contest here. Ginger absolutely smashed Snatch Game as Phyllis Diller, and earned her win. It was nice to see her inarguably take the victory, since her Pink Table Talk win was a more dubious call. And it’s fun that Ginger has now become the second queen to win two Snatch Games, after BenDeLaCreme. Good company to be in! Judging by track record alone, you’d be hard-pressed to make a case that Ginger is not a frontrunner at this point.
But honestly? I don’t know! If Ginger were going to win this whole thing, I’d feel a lot more confident about it at this point. Ginger has the makings of an All Stars winner: like Chad Michaels, Alaska, Trinity the Tuck and Shea Coulée before her, she got to the finale of her season, and had a real argument for the win. And like Trixie Mattel and Monét X Change, in another previous season of hers (in this case, All Stars 2), she went out earlier than expected and was largely perceived as robbed.
So why is it harder for me to see her with a crown than Trinity, Kylie or even Ra’Jah? Am I just being stubborn and ignoring the obvious victor in front of us? With $50,000 of lip sync money already in the bank, are we just waiting for her to add another $100,000 in winnings to it at the end?
Genuinely, I don’t know. If she does win, I’ll look back at this and feel very silly for not realizing it. But in a season that has often proven surprising, I’m inclined to think that maybe, just maybe, there’s more to this story than meets the eye.
Why you can trust Xtra
