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. It’s rare we make the decision at the top of the power rankings that we did this week, but the edit of the episode gave us no other choice.
12. Robin Fierce (last week: 3)—ELIMINATED
I agree with Maddy Morphosis’s take on Robin’s elimination: for the show to basically ignore her for weeks, then send her home when she didn’t do the worst, is quite cold. But that’s what the MTV Era of Drag Race is! Nonsensical edits and eliminations out of nowhere! I feel for Robin, but she also basically made the case for her own departure with her speech about not being a risk-taker. That’s just not going to make Ru think you’re a viable choice to become America’s Next Drag Superstar. She’s a sweetheart, but she wasn’t going to win this contest.
11. Jax (last week: 11)
I feel so awful for Jax, because she’s genuinely doing quite well in the competition. Yet Ru and the judges are coming for her at every turn. It reminds me of Ru’s treatment of Baby in UK Season 4: all a bit too harsh, without recognizing how she’s excelling. In all fairness, Jax’s runway look was pretty bad this week, but she got knocked more for her performance (which I quite liked!) than her look. I unfortunately think it’s just a matter of time before Jax is eliminated at this rate.
10. Anetra (last week: 7)
As a Stanetra, I am of course devastated to see the ugly pink LOW on Anetra’s Drag Race Wiki track record now. I wanted her back in the edit, but not like this! That said, I can’t deny she deserved it. She forgot her words, and while her tie-dye showgirl runway look was fun, it wasn’t enough to save her from critiques. Let’s get back to the top of the charts next week, okay, Anetra? I’m rooting for you! And rooting for you to get more confessionals!
9. Marcia Marcia Marcia (last week: 8)
I wrote at length about Ru’s strange fixation on Marcia in the recap, but his odd side-swipe at her during critiques wasn’t Marcia’s only rough moment this week. She also got summarily shut down by Malaysia during Untucked, and folded at the first sign of conflict. As much as I like Marcia’s drag, and I think she’s a solid performer, I wonder if she’s got the thick skin that competing on this show requires. She’s fading into the background despite being one of the top queens track-record-wise, which indicates she may not be ready to mix it up with the other girls. We’ll see how things develop.
8. Spice (last week: 9)
It is quite silly that Spice wasn’t in the bottom three this week, after serving neither metal nor old lady during her performance. I barely got to look at her runway thanks to the frenetic editing, but it certainly didn’t seem impressive enough to keep her out of danger. I could be wrong, but I think Spice is getting a bit of a pass to the middle of the season now that Sugar is gone. Her performances since Sugar’s elimination have not deserved the safety she’s gotten.
7. Salina EsTitties (last week: 12)
Pretty quiet post-lip sync week for Salina, no? She was in the group that was attempting to stonewall their way to getting the metal song, but she was basically silent during that process. (In fact, if her confessional was any indication, she actually wanted the hip-hop track.) Her performance was solid, and like all the other runways, hers blinked away far too quickly for me to get a good look at it. Overall a very safe episode for Salina.
6. Luxx Noir London (last week: 1)
My thoughts on Luxx as a character on Drag Race and on Luxx as a Drag Race competitor are quite separate. As the latter, I think she’s excellent. Her design challenge win was fantastic, and she continued to stun both in the challenge and on the runway this week. I may roll my eyes at her declarations of being “high safe,” but she is clearly impressive even when she’s not winning. Luxx as the Drag Race character, however, I am desperately pleading with to put the Drag Race reference thesaurus down. I hit a wall with her paraphrase of Ru’s “I can’t wait to see how this turns out” this week. Too often she’s relying on quotes and reminders of Drag Race queens past versus charting her own course. I get that she’s excited about being on the show, but it’s in the moments that I actually see Luxx—like her clear declaration in an Untucked confessional that she is not a bully—that I enjoy her most.
5. Loosey LaDuca (last week: 5)
Like Luxx, Loosey is quietly killing the game week in and week out. She was committed to her character this week, so much so that she almost felt separate from the rest of the hip-hop group. It’s not a bad strategy: stay in your lane and make the judges laugh, without worrying about what else is happening around you. On the runway, I thought Loosey looked nice, but I hope she has more looks like her take on Jason Voorhees planned. She’s best when she’s pulling out something genuinely surprising.
4. Malaysia Babydoll Foxx (last week: 4)
Malaysia really came forth as a main character this week, and I personally loved it! I stood with her during the metal song showdown; while I don’t think the other team was out of line for also wanting it, I appreciated Malaysia’s frustrations and thought she expressed them in a fair, honest way. This carried over to Untucked, where I was fully on her side against Marcia. For Marcia, who has spent Untucked talking at length before about her own frustrations, to try and shut Malaysia down was not acceptable. I’m glad Malaysia stood her ground. Combined with a solid challenge performance and good runway, it feels like Malaysia is really entering her second act in this competition.
3. Mistress Isabelle Brooks (last week: 6)
The panel loves Mistress, as do I! She’s in the phase of her arc where she’s just racking up high placements, even when there are others who might deserve it more. (I’d have slotted Luxx or Loosey above Mistress this week.) She’s gaining steam until she finally takes a challenge win, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s just around the corner with an acting task coming up. Do I think Mistress was a bit too dismissive of Malaysia this week? Perhaps. But do I think it’s all in good fun and that it doesn’t deserve any of the heated takes and rhetoric that it will inevitably prompt? I sure do.
2. Aura Mayari (last week: 10)
It’s very rare that I don’t put the maxi-challenge winner at the top of the power ranking. They did the best in the week, according to the judges, so they should be leading the pack. But Aura’s win this episode was so narratively bizarre that I feel she’s running second this week. She did quite well standing out in her girl group, flying against the edit earlier in the episode that she was struggling. And her look on the runway was my favourite of hers all season long. I just have little faith that this win will actually change Aura’s trajectory in the competition; if she was long for this season, she’d have gotten an edit to match it.
1. Sasha Colby (last week: 2)
In a more comprehensible season, Sasha easily would’ve won this week. Not only was she terrific in both the challenge and on the runway, but she also received a glowing edit in the episode. I was shocked to see her just called safe on the main stage. If anything, I would say this episode is a good sign for her longevity: the show is investing in her at the expense of actual challenge winners. Still, there’s gotta be a better way to do it than this. Because from where I’m sitting, Sasha was plainly robbed this week.
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