RuPaul’s Drag Race is fond of its mega-balls. The results of last season’s 12-queen ball challenge produced highly divided reactions—for every Gigi Goode fan excited about her win, there was a Jaida Essence Hall stan calling for a recount. And let’s not even get into the outrage over Rock M. Sakura’s departure. What made the challenge so frustrating at the time was the lack of transparency:There was no way of knowing how the judges were weighing the looks, and with so many to consider, it was nearly impossible for a fan to keep track of them.
So for this season, the ball challenge is… once again with 12 queens and no clear criteria regarding how the queens are being judged. Sigh. At least Canada’s Drag Race’s top 4 ball challenge was a nice respite.
What I will say, save a quibble or two about the judgements at the top (I’d have chosen a different winner and swapped out one member of the top three), the judging feels more on point this time around. Overall, the judging has felt like a step up this season, with rotating guest judge Nicole Byer an invaluable new addition. Ross Mathews seems invested in not making the mistakes he’s been critiqued for in the past, while Carson Kressley continues his trend of offering smarter, sharper criticisms season after season. Sure, there was maybe too much talk about what references queens did or didn’t get during last week’s acting challenge, but that was the only egregious issue so far this season.
What we’re left with is a pretty enjoyable mega-ball. I would still prefer a ball challenge later in the season, just so it’s easier to keep track of the looks. And of the many themes we’ve had for ball challenges over the years, “Bags” is one of the weaker ones. But a major boon to this challenge is that all three categories are clearly delineated and distinct, making for unique offerings from each of the girls across their three looks. (Compare to the Season 11’s ball, which featured three largely interchangeable spooky categories.)
Credit: Courtesy of VH1
The first category, “Mixed Bag,” tasks the queens with presenting a look based on a punny phrase with “bag” in it. Denali wears a conceptual car safety look based on an airbag, for example, while Gottmik walks out with fake organs spilling out of herself as if she’s in a body bag. What I like about this one, goofy as it is, is that it allows a lot of creativity. Any category that can inspire both a lovely magician look from Kandy Muse (Bag o’ Tricks) as well as Rosé’s tribute to her Scottish ancestry (Bagpipes) is a good category.
The clear winners are Denali and Gottmik, though Symone also scores high marks for a chest-heavy Fun Bags look that involves her popping her fake breasts at the end of the runway. Symone receives an important edit this episode after winning the last two challenges: A “she’s not perfect” one. Invincibility is boring on Drag Race; just ask Gigi, who could largely do no wrong week after week in the first half of the competition. Some fans got bored (I was one, to be honest), and even when she started struggling, it never felt like there was a real chance she could be sent home.
Gigi’s sister Symone, on the other hand, comes in confessing that she can’t sew, and really seems to be struggling in the workroom. Though she is ultimately safe, her final category look is genuinely underwhelming, and she seems very grateful to have just made it through. If Symone is going to stay a frontrunner, this kind of edit can be crucial for making her mortal before the audience resigns themselves to her steamrolling. (Lawrence Chaney just got a similar edit on the second episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK.)
Credit: Courtesy of VH1
The second category is probably my least favourite: “Money Bags.” It’s basically a “rich bitch” category, although it’s notably not defined as Executive Realness. This proves to be a struggle for some queens: Tamisha Iman in particular pulls out a look that is very much real, but doesn’t fit the more opulent standards that Ru sets for this category.
Tamisha struggles in this episode, surprisingly. She’s been a major focus of both the edit and fan love so far, and has repeatedly talked about how she designs and creates her own looks. I figured she would do well, but despite a fun Old Bag look in the first category, both her “Money Bags” and on-the-spot creations fail to impress the judges. She escapes having to lip sync, instead just falling into the bottom three, but it’s still a concerning development.
Much more successful in this category are Denali in a Cruella de Vil-inspired look, Gottmik in a gorgeous pantsuit and Utica in a Velma Kelly-inspired garment. The latter makes me laugh when she calls it both Chicago and Carol Burnett-inspired—not every look can be Burnett-inspired, Utica!—but the overall effect really works. She has some giant earring details on the garment that are fun, and she styles it well with a short bob wig.
But where Utica really shines is in the final category: The Bag Ball Eleganza look. The queens have to make these out of bag materials provided to them, and Utica bravely takes on working with sleeping bags. The hard-to-manipulate material proves no challenge for Utica, as she stitches together a jaw-dropping, cocoon-like final product. It’s one of my favourite looks from a Drag Race ball challenge. Others do well, too—Gottmik earns praise for her hyper-editorial final look, while Rosé gets some fun movement in her Eleganza with an impressive skirt. It’s enough to land Rosé a top spot over Denali, to my admitted confusion. But no one quite hits the high Utica does for me.
Credit: Courtesy of VH1
So it’s a bit disappointing that Utica doesn’t win, although she’s at least edged out by the also very impressive Gottmik. The latter’s taste in fashion is clearly winning the judges; it’s no surprise that she wins the ball. Despite some shakier performances in the challenges, Gottmik has remained a favourite in the fandom for consistently turning it out on the runway. This challenge should only boost her fashion bona fides.
Two queens who struggle throughout are LaLa Ri and Joey Jay. The former turns out a solid “Money Bags” look, sporting a bald head and a gorgeous print in a jacket. But her Eleganza is the worst of the night, a black bodysuit with a bunch of gift bags taped to it. Nicole can hardly believe what she’s looking at, while Carson dismisses it out of hand. Joey isn’t the absolute worst in any category, but her overall presentation underwhelms. Not helping matters: She doesn’t seem to catch onto the Poison Ivy reference in her own IV Bag runway for the “Mixed Bag” category. Carson tries hard to get her to admit to the joke, and when she still doesn’t get it, Nicole chides her for not just pretending like it was intentional.
The two face off in a lip sync to Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy,” and while Joey puts up a fight, it’s over basically the second LaLa reveals her bald head on “First things first, I’m the realest.” At one point, Joey throws money into the air for effect—and LaLa immediately makes the most of the moment by picking it up like the bills are tips. It’s a clear win for LaLa, while Joey sashays away.
We’re down to the top 11, and I can see a few potential paths forward. Elliott With Two Ts has yet to really impress since being brought back in the winners’ circle premiere, while Tamisha hit the bottom for the first time this week. LaLa’s also got a streak at the bottom, but like Denali, I can imagine few being able to out-lip sync her this season. Perhaps someone else entirely will go home instead? This is a competitive crop, but it’s still easy to imagine a few different queens getting a shock boot. For their own preparedness, everyone best be ready to pack their bags.
Untucking our final thoughts
✨The less said about the baby dance mini-challenge, the better in my opinion. Good on LaLa Ri for earning a mini win though! (Does it feel to you like this show makes queens dress up like babies a lot? Remember Eureka and Aquaria in the “Bossy Rossy” challenge in Season 10?)
✨ Not Rosé calling Symone, Kandy and LaLa the “Bald-Headed Brigade!”
✨ A very cute exchange as Utica helps LaLa with the sewing machine…
UTICA: “Look at that! Your first bobbin!”
LALA: “Oh my god, I just bobbed!”
SYMONE: “You just bobbed?”
LALA: “Yes, I’m bobbin and weaving over here!”
✨That exchange only gets better when LaLa immediately breaks the sewing machine. “Bitch, eliminate me right now! I broke these people’s nice little machine, girl!” (Basically every single LaLa confessional in this episode is gold.)
✨From what we hear about their bond, it sounds like LaLa and Tamisha are drag daughter and mother in a very informal fashion—more like Dax Exclamationpoint and Violet Chachki’s relationship than Alyssa Edwards and Shangela’s.
✨Speaking of Tamisha, there’s a terrific scene in the workroom in which she talks about her love of ballroom, then goes full MC as the girls walk. She also shouts out legends of ballroom, including icon and Legendary judge Leiomy Maldonado! (If you haven’t yet watched Legendary on HBO Max, treat yourself this weekend. It’s fantastic.)
✨The inner saboteur talk rears its head once again, as Ru seeks to diagnose any doubts Symone is having ahead of this challenge. Kandy punctures it nicely, though, by fully not listening while Ru is giving his speech. Her response when he asks what she thinks: “I love it!”
✨Kind of impressive that Drag Race got Coach as a sponsor this season, no? It kinda made no sense as an element of the challenge — the judges never really commented on the bags—but still! Cute!
✨Why does Michelle Visage keep making “What! A! Dump!” references on the runway? Denali didn’t know it last week, girl, let it go!
✨Hey, Symone didn’t win this week, and Denali didn’t lip sync! First time this season neither of those things happened. And it’s only Episode 5!
Halleloo! You made it to the end of the week! Celebrate by joining us for Kiki with Kevin on Facebook Live every Friday at 4 p.m. EST.
The next episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race airs Friday, Feb. 5, at 8 p.m. EST on VH1 in the U.S. and on Crave and OUTtv in Canada.
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