Welcome to RuPaul’s Drag Race Power Rankings! Every Tuesday, we’ll debrief the week’s new episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 14 to determine which queens are riding high, and which need she-mergency care. No elimination this week means we’re frozen at the top nine, but after one queen’s incredible week, we’ve got a new leader of the pack.
9. DeJa Skye (last week: 8)
Were this challenge judged by usual standards, DeJa absolutely would’ve gone home this week. She would’ve been in the bottom with Angeria Paris VanMicheals, and though DeJa has proven herself to be a great lip-syncer, there’s no way Ru would let Angeria go this soon. I’m happy for DeJa that she benefited from this format change, but she’s really got to step it up. She was great in the improv acting challenge, yet scripted material tripped her up big time. And on the runway, her materials clashed hard and nothing about her chaps look worked. I remain a frequent flyer of the DeJa Skyes, but it’s hard not to think she’ll be going home next based on her current trajectory.
8. Kerri Colby (last week: 6)
It’s tough to see Kerri not really thriving in the competition when she’s clearly such a huge part of why Season 14 is working. As a narrator, her confessionals are the best of the season. As a presence in the cast, her impact is infinite: just look at how Jasmine credited her in Untucked for helping her feel comfortable enough to come out as trans. She is a force for pure good among this cast, and yet it’s hard to see how she makes it to the endgame at this point. Her acting was decent this week, as was her runway, but she missed out on a top spot and wound up in the safe group. She’s just not standing out in the competition in the way a lot of the rest of the cast is. I could see her staying for a few more weeks, but unless her fortunes really change, top seven is as far as I think she’ll go.
7. Jorgeous (last week: 2)
Jorgeous was a pretty clear sixth of six in the top group for me based on the final product of “The Daytona Wind.” Her character only had a couple of short scenes, and she was paired with much bigger personalities in both (particularly next to Daya Betty and Willow Pill in her second). But in the filming with Ru, Jorgeous was a goddamn delight. Her back-and-forth with Ru as he directed her to give increasingly absurd facial reactions was hilarious; I loved her admitting in confessional that while she thought she was doing great, you never know if you’re the booger until you see the final package. Luckily for Jorgeous, the all-tops judging gave her another high placement. I agree with Michelle Visage about her runway—it was one of my least favourite looks of the lot this week—but overall she’s only down here because a lot of people did better (or, in one case, benefitted even more from the format).
6. Jasmine Kennedie (last week: 9)
Earlier in the season, I thought the comparisons between Jasmine Kennedie and Alyssa Edwards felt a bit forced. She has a similar drag style, sure, and is a dancer, but there’s something genius in Alyssa’s absurdity that I wasn’t seeing from Jasmine. Well shut me up, because I’m sure as hell seeing it now. It started with Jasmine declaring that she and Maddy Morphosis “had a moment,” making the most Alyssa face to go along with it. Then in the acting challenge, she channeled the exact kind of “so bad it’s amazing” performance style that Alyssa has used to great effect on the show. We’ve seen many a member of the Haus of Edwards on Drag Race in the past, but perhaps it’s someone outside of the family who will best embody Alyssa’s legacy? This was a very good week for Jasmine—and as evidenced by Untucked, an incredibly important one—and I’m excited to see if it can give her some new momentum in the competition.
5. Angeria Paris VanMicheals (last week: 1)
In a way, I think the format of this week benefitted Angeria most of all. Between her shaky acting in “The Daytona Wind” and the worst look she’s presented so far on the runway, she absolutely should’ve been in the bottom. It would’ve been a huge shock to see her suddenly fall into the bottom two after weeks of only scoring high, and may have thrown off her momentum in the competition. Instead, she got to glide to safety, avoiding paying any kind of price for her worst episode yet. I can thus only move her so far down the power ranking, since I still think she’s in an incredible position. But another week like this would be bad for Angeria—she may be the clear frontrunner, but she’s got some very dangerous competition coming up through the ranks.
4. Willow Pill (last week: 5)
Willow shook off whatever malaise had set in the last couple of weeks and delivered a great performance—one that got unnecessarily knocked by Michelle for being too Moira Rose. Listen, I love what Catherine O’Hara did on Schitt’s Creek, but to think that putting a pause between “e” and “mail” in “email” is distinctly Moira is silly. That said, I did think Willow was better in the improv acting challenge, so I understand why she didn’t score in the top two this time around. Absolutely loved Willow’s runway, though—it was fun and campy (complete with a wedgie), but it was also dramatic and fashionable. And most crucially, after a couple of weeks of Ru foisting the most fawning praise on Jorgeous, Willow got the “you’re a superstar” note from Ru this week. Ru declaring you a star is usually a very good sign—just ask Symone.
3. Bosco (last week: 4)
My two favourite Bosco moments this week had very little to do with the final product of “The Daytona Wind.” First, her confessional about lightning striking in the oddest of places while evaluating Jasmine’s performance was hilarious. Kerri may be the best narrator of the season, but Bosco is a very strong second. The other great Bosco moment came in her delivery of her response to the Spring Break girls (Daya and Willow) saying the would-be bride and groom in the sketch were actually related. “That is what I just told them,” she said with the exact right mix of drama and irritation. It was my favourite single line delivery in the challenge, and it got cut in the final product! Sad. But Bosco did well this week otherwise, both in the challenge as a Reba-inspired matriarch/secret prostitute, and on the runway in a Rock of Love tribute look. Slowly but surely, Bosco is making her way into my absolute favourites of the season. I’d love to see an finale with her, Angeria and Lady Camden all in it.
2. Daya Betty (last week: 7)
We finally got to see more of the dark-and-edgy that Daya has been promising this week as she avoided any Crystal Methyd styling of her looks. That may have been what led to her top placement for this challenge: Ru likes when a queen shows she’s listening to critiques. (You know who else did that in her season? Crystal.) That said, I’d have placed both Willow and Bosco in the top over Daya. She was fun in the sketch, but I think she was hampered by being paired with someone also doing a voice and heightened character. I felt she was overshadowed by Willow, but Ru and the judges clearly disagreed. Daya finally got the top placement she deserved, but getting demolished in the lip sync kept her from the win. What’s Daya got to do to win a cool $5,000 tip?
1. Lady Camden (last week: 3)
Lady Standens RISE! After weeks of quietly doing excellent work but just missing the win, Camden delivered a TKO this episode. In the acting challenge, she gave the absurdity (“MAXIIIIIIINE!”) without letting it impair what was genuinely a very good performance. On the main stage, Camden’s dramatic fall into a Freddie Mercury-inspired reveal was perfectly executed, and the best runway reveal we’ve seen since Brooke Lynn Hytes’ in Season 11. And if all that weren’t enough, Camden smashed the lip sync so hard that even the kindest edit couldn’t have given Daya the win she craved. No, Camden came into this week hungry, and she walked out a clear champion. She has fully arrived in this competition, and I can’t wait to see where she goes from here.
Why you can trust Xtra
