‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 13, Episode 9 power ranking: Impersonation sensation

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 Snatch Game tested the queens on their wit, their look and their impersonation ability. Who among our top nine soared—and who is looking very safe at the top of the charts these days?

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

The journey had to come to an end sometime. Elliott’s Rue McClanahan ran into many of the same issues that Crystal’s did on Drag Race UK Season 1: A Southern accent and talking about men does not a great Blanche make. On the runway, Michelle Visage was very generous when it came to Elliott’s look—I could kinda see the flamingo, but I still don’t think the execution was up to par. And then in the lip sync, despite her dancing prowess, Elliott couldn’t keep up with Utica. It was clear this would be her final episode.

8. Utica (last week: 5)

Well! Miss Utica Queen may be shadier than we’ve been led to believe! As Untucked revealed, Olivia pressed Utica on her sudden change of heart about Olivia’s Snatch Game performance, and Rosé came forward with a story of Utica sharing all her unused reads for the other queens over dinner. Colour me intrigued: If Utica is indeed presenting differently on camera than off, it could come up again in a future episode.

In terms of this episode, Utica was an absolute disaster in Snatch Game. Her Bob Ross was unfunny—remarkably so—and made Ru literally recoil in disgust. The squirrel afro thing also seemed absurdly off-base: As both Ru and Symone noted, Bob Ross did have an afro. It was his hair! It’s not appropriation to dress up as your character, and the squirrels just put everyone off from the get-go. She looked nice on the runway in a picnic-inspired look, but she could’ve come out in Violet Chachki’s Season 8 finale dress and still been in the bottom. Hers was the worst impression of the Snatch Game.

7. Olivia Lux (last week: 4)

It’s funny: In my mind, Elliott and Utica were the clear bottom two, and I knew Olivia would be fine. But the impression on set was clearly different, as Olivia seemed genuinely shaken-up to even flirt with the idea of lip-syncing, and her fellow contestants whispered pleas for her to be safe from the back of the stage. Her choice of character—Tik Tok star Tabitha Brown—was a clear miss from the second Ru said she isn’t a famous person. But instead of pivoting, Olivia stayed the course. She tried to make the character work as an appeal to Ru, leaning into Tabitha’s veganism, instead of just making it funny on her own. She looked great on the runway, though, and Elliott and Utica were the clear losers this week—but this is a notable bump in Olivia’s trajectory.

6. Kandy Muse (last week: 9)

God bless Kandy. She found the most Kandy character she could in Patrick Starr, turned her charisma up to 12 and joked her way through the Snatch Game. It was funny, but it felt more like a solution to the problem of the challenge than a real attempt to put on an iconic Snatch Game. However, after an elimination scare last episode, I understand why Kandy’s goal was just to get through this week, not swing for the fences. She looked good on the runway, and largely avoided the drama. A nice, safe week for Miss Muse.

5. Tina Burner (last week: 7)

Here’s a bit of trivia for you: Every winner of a regular, U.S. season of RuPaul’s Drag Race has won their first maxi-challenge within the first five episodes of their season. Usually it’s even earlier than that. We are now in episode nine of Season 13, and while a couple of those were impossible for Tina to win (the premiere and the Porkchop Queens’ episode), she is still seven episodes in without one. And considering her repertoire, she hasn’t won a lot of challenges I thought she’d excel in. Snatch Game is one of them. The New York queen just isn’t gaining any traction, which is making her feel more like an also-ran. Her Richard Simmons was decent and her runway was fun, but I’d absolutely not have placed her any higher than safe; it’s a bit too late in the competition to still be consistently delivering safe performances.

4. Symone (last week: 8)

Symone’s choice to go with Harriet Tubman was risky, but it paid off. I’ll talk more about choosing historical characters in the next write-up, but suffice it to say it presents a slightly different challenge than impersonation. She went with some pretty contemporary references to Tubman, like the plans (nixed under Donald Trump’s presidency) to put her on the $20 bill, and even made a joke out of Nicki Minaj’s much-memed “TO FREEDOM!” Queen Radio moment. She scored in the safe group, but I’d guess she was the closest to breaking into the top.

On the runway, Symone gave us a strong statement in a gorgeous look, coming out in all white, then turning around and lifting her hands up, revealing “Say her name” scrawled in red across the back of her headpiece and two bullet holes in her back. In her voiceover as she walked down the runway, she said the names of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Brayla Stone, Trayvon Martin, Tony McDade, Nina Pop and Monika Diamond. It was a powerful moment, one acknowledged by Ru before Symone left for Untucked. But as Symone herself said, “It’s not a moment, it is a movement.” Immense respect to Symone for using her platform to advance the conversation.

3. Rosé (last week: 1)

I enjoyed Rosé’s take on Mary Queen of Scots, but she sat comfortably outside of the top two for me. While I do think the importance of the “impersonation” in Snatch Game often gets overblown—the task is more about making Ru laugh than anything else—it still is a crucial aspect of this signature challenge. A historical figure is not someone we have footage of to compare your impersonation to. Rosé’s choice basically allowed her to change this challenge into an acting and improv task—which is a valid way through it, it’s just not going to rank among my favourite Snatch Games. Wisely, she leaned into familiar Snatch Game tropes despite her historical character, like a thick accent and character-relevant punchlines.

On the runway, Rosé took her name (without the accent) quite literally, going for a rose-coated look complete with a giant flower headpiece. It was like much of Rosé’s approach to drag: Professional and conceptual, though, yes, as Michelle Visage noted, a bit more fashionable than some of her previous “fashion clown” looks. This was a solid performance from a queen who increasingly looks like she might make it to the end.

2. Denali (last week: 3)

Denali is this year’s Jackie Cox of the Snatch Game. She played a fairly modern, very recognizable reality TV figure, and was absolutely the fastest with a reference and a punch line. Like with Jackie, part of me thinks Denali maybe should’ve won this one. But what held her back was that her biggest competition (like Gigi Goode was to Jackie) really made a full character out of her impersonation. That’s not to undersell Denali’s Jonathan Van Ness: She had all the catchphrases, the proper cadence and even the most actual “jokes.” I was skeptical of her choice when I first saw it in the promo, but Denali came prepared and had fun with it. Combine it with her very cute waitress runway, complete with roller skates, and Denali’s starting to look like a real threat in this competition.

1. Gottmik (last week: 2)

But come on. There was no other choice this week. Gottmik swept both the Snatch Game and the runway—and, in my mind, did pretty well in the punk rock mini-challenge to boot. Unlike Raven’s flat Paris Hilton once upon a time, Gottmik really brought a point of view to the character. Her Paris was a different person in front of the camera than off it, savvy about her brand but still vocally fried, and a disinterested DJ. (“I honestly just press play and hope for the best.”) She also had easily the best look, with a beat that made her look eerily like Paris—though I guess that’s the benefit of having done Paris’ makeup before!

Gottmik’s runway—a punk look complete with paper clip through her head—was also an absolute stunner this week. What I liked most about it was that it felt completely of a piece with the other kinds of looks she’s shown thus far, while still serving us something new. She has a clear aesthetic line across her looks that makes them related, but never serves the exact same thing twice. It’s taken me a while, but I’ve really come around to Gottmik. She’s a clear frontrunner, and her work, especially over the last few weeks, has shown she more than deserves a top spot.