‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 13, Episode 8 power ranking: Who’s in your top nine?

Welcome to RuPaul’s Drag Race Power Rankings! Every Saturday, we’ll debrief the week’s new episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race to determine which queens are riding high, and which need she-mergency care. The season’s Rusical challenge gives a couple of underdogs a chance to shine, while at least one frontrunner has her worst week of the competition yet.

9. Kandy Muse (last week: 3)

Kandy gets the big save this week, avoiding elimination at the hands of her Winners’ Circle sister, Symone. I’m split on this: I do think Kandy’s lip sync was strong enough to earn her safety (much better than her Blu Cantrell performance), but I don’t love double shantays when queens have already had to lip sync before. Brooke Lynn Hytes and Yvie Oddly’s double shantay worked so well as a TV moment because both were frontrunners, and neither queen had been anywhere near going home before. And when they both killed it in the lip sync, it felt just and right that they stayed. Kandy could’ve left this week and I’m not sure it would’ve changed the trajectory of the competition that drastically. My hope is that Kandy took this as a real sign to step it up, but we’ll just have to wait and see.

8. Symone (last week: 2)

God, this was too close for comfort. I’ve made no secret of my stanning of Symone, and the idea of leaving in ninth place had me quite anxious. Losing Asttina Mandela in tenth was hard enough! Still, I can’t argue that Symone didn’t deserve bottom two this week. While her look was an absolute stunner on the runway, she lacked confidence in all parts of the Rusical performance—from recording her vocals to executing her choreography. She did an excellent job in the “Condragulations” performance, which featured both of those same elements, so I’m a little confused as to why she stumbled here. It might just be a case of getting in her head. Fingers crossed she snaps out of it soon if that’s the case; I can’t handle another scare.

7. Tina Burner (last week: 4)

Only one New York City theatre queen could thrive in this challenge, and it was not meant to be Tina Burner! The judges really didn’t like her stopping her lip sync before her character actually died, and they made sure she knew it. I actually thought she was mostly fine in the performance, but did not like her taxi cab runway—she got outdone on that particular type of look by another queen. But it was interesting to see Tina rattled. She’s usually so solid and confident. You can tell she really did not expect this challenge to be a weak one for her. We’ll have to see how that affects her confidence.

6. Elliott With Two Ts (last week: 9)

I’m so sorry, but I’m running out of things to talk about here. Elliott did fine with her Billie Eilish-themed TikTok number, and delivered the better of the two taxi cab looks on the runway. That’s really all I have. There is no chance Elliott With Two Ts is winning this season, and yet she is guaranteed to make it to at least the ninth episode. That is remarkably far, and as I said last week, we’ve lost more interesting queens than her in the process. Can you imagine if we had lost Symone before Elliott? I don’t mean to belabour the point, because I don’t want to make it sound like she did poorly. She was safe, she deserved to be safe, and there’s just not much more to say.

5. Utica (last week: 8)

I felt like we were leaning towards either a big breakthrough moment or a failure for Utica, based on how much time and attention she got in the recording session and during choreography lessons. As it turned out, she did a serviceable job, and was also safe. Her runway was an interesting medieval reference, but she’s shown better looks. Utica has been a major focus in the narrative, giving in to others’ wants a few times and sticking with her own chosen role this time around. But so far, it’s not manifesting into a real arc for her. I’m still waiting to see if she’s a mid-out queen, or a Crystal Methyd waiting to break out.

4. Olivia Lux (last week: 1)

Olivia continues her trend of shining in group performances, but did not get a top placement for her efforts this time around, and I was a little surprised by that. I thought she might make it into the high-scoring group over Denali, particularly after seeing her gorgeous yellow runway gown. There’s a lot of competition and not a lot of top spots to share this season, but if I could see the judges’ imaginary scorecards, my bet is she was a clear fourth place. On another note, I’m really intrigued by this secretly shady diva edit Olivia’s been getting. Could we have another Valentina-esque queen on our hands? (I’m guessing no, but I’m nonetheless a little obsessed with Tina trying to out her as a diva.)

3. Denali (last week: 7)

Denali finally got her high placement! And she did it without the main role, instead teaming up with Gottmik to steal the show. Their Russian bots segment of the Rusical was my favourite part, and you could tell Ru really got a kick out of it. Like last week with Symone and Kandy, my guess is they were only going to win if they could win together, but Rosé’s solo edged the pair out. On the runway, I really liked Denali’s snake headpiece, but like Michelle Visage insinuated, the rest of the look wasn’t as impressive. Now that Denali’s had her breakout moment, however, that narrative is basically complete. What’s next for her in the competition? Can she actually score a second win of her own? Or will it be back to safe and low placements soon?

2. Gottmik (last week: 5)

I was lost for a while, on a journey of coasting from pre-season hype for Gottmik (her makeup! her fashion sense!) to initial disappointment (her premiere lip sync, her dance ability) all the way to building resentment (Utica robbed in the Bag Ball!). But after all that, I’ve come to a place of really liking what Gottmik is doing. After her witty, fun performance in last week’s improv challenge, Gottmik followed it up with a great duet, overcoming her lack of natural performance ability by working hard with Jamal Sims and really leaning into her strengths. Between her and Denali, she was the standout, though I do think the two lifted each other up most of all. I also really liked her crash test dummy runway. It was very different from what we’ve seen on the show so far. Call me a Gottmik fan: I’ve finally arrived at the party.

1. Rosé (last week: 6)

She did what Jan could not: She won the Rusical. Rosé’s arc has been a confusing one so far, going from losing her premiere lip sync in a shock to a string of either high or safe scoring performances that never felt quite correctly judged. But this was a triumph, the kind of star-making turn that Rusicals are made to birth. With a strong voice and an even stronger stage presence, Rosé kept eyes firmly on her, and won the day with a “Don’t Rain on My Parade”-inspired showstopper. This was a well-earned win for the theatre queen, and hopefully a sign of a new narrative for her in this competition.