Welcome to RuPaul’s Drag Race Power Rankings! Every Tuesday, we’re debriefing the week’s new episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 15 to determine which queens are riding high, and which need she-mergency care. After weeks of the power rankings remaining fairly stable, we get a huge shift this week—and a grand return to the #1 spot for one queen.
7. Marcia Marcia Marcia (last week: 5)—ELIMINATED
I loved Marcia’s attitude as she walked out of the competition this week: she was proud of what she’d done this season, up to and including holding her own against Anetra in the best lip sync of 2023 so far. Yes, there are arguments to be made that this could’ve been a double shantay, but with a Rusical with a set number of roles coming up, that was likely a production impossibility. Plus, as I said in this week’s recap, I appreciate the show’s commitment to an elimination per week this season. They heard the Season 14 complaints!
Do I think Marcia would’ve survived if she weren’t on her own? Tough to say, because any group’s set would’ve been entirely changed if it were a different pairing crafting it. But I do generally think it was Marcia’s time, particularly with Salina EsTitties overperforming against her expectations. Sad for her that she didn’t make it to the Rusical, but happy that she’s leaving with her head held high.
6. Anetra (last week: 5)
Anetra has the almost supernatural ability to turn what should be low moments for her into highs. She came into the competition as one of the quieter girls, only to smash her talent show performance so thoroughly that she was rewarded to the tune of $5,000 and literally hundreds of thousands of new Instagram followers. She technically just barely survived the LaLaPaRuZa, but that was because her performance prowess scared the other girls into never picking her as an opponent. Luck of the draw landed her there, and she delivered an iconic lip sync (along with two other strong ones) along the way. And now, facing a splitting ocular migraine and her first time in the bottom two, Anetra has gagged us all once again with a legendary performance.
I’m not so much of a Stanetra that I’d ignore her weak challenge performance, though. Migraine or no, she and Sasha Colby were at turns distracted, confused and unable to fill the dead air during their set. I actually liked a lot of their jokes, but the delivery ruined most of them. Luckily they both stunned in the Rip Her to Shreds runway category, but considering Anetra was the weaker of the two in the challenge, she still fell into the bottom two. Luckily for her, that turned out to be yet another blessing.
5. Sasha Colby (last week: 1)
There’s a joke in Drag Race fan communities that a frontrunner should have just one “LOW for vulnerability”—basically that falling into the bottom once, but not lip syncing, shows they’re not invincible. Personally, I’d rather give them a chance to kill it in the lip sync, but Sasha, like another Sasha before her, took her brush with the low-scoring end of the card in stride. She helped herself in a massive way with her distressed denim runway, which was just another breathtaking look in her nearly unbeatable runway package this season.
I do still think we’re on track for Sasha to win this all, but she likely needs to ace the next two challenges in order to make it a clear victory. This was right around the point in Season 12 when Gigi Goode racked up a spate of safe-to-low-scoring performances, only to be given a dubious final win that, in my opinion, laid the groundwork for Jaida Essence Hall to storm the finale and take the crown. With a fan favourite like Anetra, a major character like Mistress Isabelle Brooks and queens with momentum like Loosey LaDuca and Luxx Noir London hanging around, Sasha can’t afford for this one slip to be anything more than that.
4. Mistress Isabelle Brooks (last week: 6)
Considering how funny she is in confessionals, I would’ve never guessed that Mistress’s two worst challenge performances would come in a newsmagazine improv task and the stand-up challenge. She benefited from her chemistry with Salina, but judged on her own merits, Mistress would’ve likely gotten harsher critiques. She did exactly what Michelle Visage and Ali Wong warned Salina not to do during rehearsal: she took too long to get to the punchline. And Mistress herself seemingly didn’t have that problem during rehearsal! So, unlike nearly everyone else, her performance got worse on the day.
I’m not sure if it’s just live performance anxiety that gets to Mistress, but it’s a bit shocking to see. She’s so polished in so many ways, including on the runway (although I will quibble with a burned look for a “Rip Her to Shreds” runway category), that you’d expect her to skate through challenges like these. But this is a good reminder that, for as important as charisma is on Drag Race, it can’t make up for being fully prepared for the challenges. I’d bet that, with more practice time and no live audience or guests to play off of, the Rusical next week will go much better for Mistress.
3. Salina EsTitties (last week: 7)
Honestly? Salina robbed! She was by far the funniest in the challenge in my eyes, with a narrative stand-up style that allowed her to lace together a bunch of jokes as she got to her ultimate punchline. She also played well off of Mistress, and didn’t let her own performance suffer when her partner hit hiccups. I do think, as part of the format, this was likely going to be a double win unless Marcia won it, so I get why Salina solo couldn’t take the victory. But in terms of who performed the best in the challenge, I don’t think there’s any doubt in my mind that it was Salina.
Where Salina does really get held back, though, is in her looks. The concepts are often great—I loved her tribute to her mom this week—but they lack the polish that the judges effectively require on Drag Race. If you’re not gonna deliver that finish, you need to be so indisputably great that Ru doesn’t care: think Jinkx Monsoon in Season 5 or Spankie Jackzon in Down Under Season 2. While I think Ru does really like Salina, her performances haven’t been so dominant as to excuse her runway presentations. And it’s for that reason that, unless she overperforms against expectations again next week, I still think she’s next in line to leave.
2. Loosey LaDuca (last week: 3)
Good for Loosey on securing her second win! And it came at a great time. The treatment of Loosey, by queens on the show, by the edit and by the fandom, has turned pretty harsh in recent weeks. I agree with The Vixen’s take last week that it’s all gotten a bit mean. Is Loosey as a character on Drag Race a bit delusional and full of herself? Sure! But she’s not done anything that’s of real offence to any of her fellow competitors, from what we’ve seen. She’s harmless, and she’s being castigated in a way that reminds me (once again) of Alexis Michelle’s time on the show. I find them to both be fun characters because their declarations about their own performances inspire a giggle and an eye-roll. Anything more than that feels too harsh.
Back to the performance, though: I personally wouldn’t have given Loosey and Luxx the win, but I understand why Ru did. In a duo comedy challenge (minus Marcia), working well with your partner is a major component. Loosey and Luxx may not have been the funniest, but they had the best banter, and it felt like they leaned into the right kind of frenemy vibe. They may have been fighting just before they were paired (to Salina’s delight), but that rivalry helped them in the challenge. A solid week for Loosey, and a boost for her as we head into the final weeks of the season.
1. Luxx Noir London (last week: 2)
Let’s compare this season quickly to another favourite of mine: Season 9 (the Loosey/Alexis comparison has it on my mind.) If Sasha is the Shea Couleé—a clear frontrunner who racks up a ton of wins across different challenge categories—and Anetra is the Sasha Velour—a quiet but effective queen who is often closely associated with the frontrunner—then I increasingly think Luxx is our Trinity the Tuck (then Trinity Taylor). And not just because they both did Amanda Lepore in Snatch Game! Both came in with established “brands” of sorts: Trinity the pageant queen, Luxx the online fashion girlie. But both demonstrated facility in challenges beyond what you’d expect, and Ru seems to have real respect and admiration for Luxx in the way she does Trinity. Luxx wearing a Ru-inspired look this week was very savvy on her part.
Of course, Trinity didn’t ultimately win in the end—at least, not that season—but around the same time in Season 9, I started to think of Trinity as a real contender for the crown. Both of them didn’t have the biggest storyline early in their season, but they consistently performed well, and like Trinity, Luxx has come more into focus as the season has progressed. I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see Luxx not quite win this season, but come back and dominate an All Stars run.
Naturally, if we take this comparison to its natural conclusion, Anetra is going to suddenly roundhouse-kick a bucket of rose petals during her finale lip sync with Sasha before going on to win a final lip sync against Peppermint. Unlikely? Perhaps! But if it happens, you heard it here first.
Why you can trust Xtra
