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. We’re down to just eight queens—half the starting cast!—and the frontrunners are becoming clearer than ever.
9. Spice (last week: 9)—ELIMINATED
By her own repeated admission, Spice cannot lip sync, and she proved that this week once more. She had easy competition, with Salina EsTitties turning out by far her worst lip sync performance of the season, but Spice once again didn’t know her words. I’ve seen a lot of chatter that Spice should’ve stayed because Salina underwhelmed, but the only result I would’ve accepted other than this would’ve been a double sashay.
Should Spice have been in the bottom at all? You could argue not—Loosey LaDuca’s looks were pretty bad. But I think, for all the online theorizing that last week’s LaLaPaRuZa was meant to get Jax out, I actually think it was supposed to send home Spice. Production predicting that Anetra wouldn’t take the easy way out seems hard to believe. So unless Spice did so well that she literally couldn’t be put into the bottom, she was likely gone this week. Farewell to a cheerful, endearing queen who may not be quite as subversive as some want her to be, but was nonetheless a delightful presence this season.
8. Salina EsTitties (last week: 3)
I find myself rooting hardest for Salina, who consistently demonstrates herself to be a game, fun competitor. I want her to succeed! Unfortunately, whatever shook up her self-confidence when she entered Drag Race is not going away. Not only did she quite obviously perform the worst in two of the three categories this week (the Money Ball look was particularly terrible), but she also delivered an uncharacteristically low-key lip sync to Lil Nas X’s “That’s What I Want.” We saw her do a more emotional interpretation well just last week on “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now,” so it’s strange that this was so underwhelming. I’m glad she’s still in, but I’ll admit, her leaving next week seems like the most likely result.
7. Loosey LaDuca (last week: 6)
A chat with some friends the night this episode aired led to a moment of clarity: Loosey is getting the Alexis Michelle edit. She’s a polished theatre queen who is capable of delivering great looks, but more often misses the mark. She got praised early on for her performances, including for her winning Snatch Game, but is now consistently safe or kept on the main stage for negative critiques. And now, teasing her about her upset over a judging call has become a favourite pastime for the other queens. If everything continues to track in this direction, expect Loosey to make it close to the finale, but just barely miss out.
6. Marcia Marcia Marcia (last week: 2)
Really loved Marcia’s first look. That kind of bombshell hair and makeup really works well on her. A shame that the next two looks saw her falling back into her muted colour palette (she loves a beige), because they failed to stand out in the crowd of other garments. I was especially frustrated that she explicitly chose the Bag Ball as her inspiration because bags are made of fabric—why not use a chance to bring something from home as an opportunity to do something not fabric? Anyway, not Marcia’s best week, but she was a clear safe contender.
5. Malaysia Babydoll Foxx (last week: 7)
It felt like Malaysia was on a roll for a couple of weeks, but her disappointing performance in last week’s LaLaPaRuZa has dulled her momentum. She had one of the more middling packages this week, with the racer look being a real stretch (what made it a racing suit other than the helmet?) and her eleganza look having a bit too much tacked on to it. Her Hair Ball look was a real stunner, though. She was giving Cruella de Vil if she was obsessed with hair instead of dalmatian fur. Judged on the second look alone, she’d have been in the top, but as it stands, she was firmly in the centre of the pack.
4. Luxx Noir London (last week: 5)
My jokes about Luxx’s insistence on being “high safe” aside, she really was the best of those not in the top this week. Doing the racer catsuit in motocross style made it different enough from the original, but still a clear homage. I couldn’t figure out what her Hair Ball looked like when it first walked out, but then it hit me: Naomi Smalls’s Drag Race Vegas Revue promo look. Considering that, and her admitting it was a Mugler tribute, it’s fair to say it’s not all that original, but it still looked great. Her eleganza look was ethereal and gorgeous, though she did have to walk pretty gingerly on the runway. Fashion, not function! I agreed with her not landing in the top three, but she still did very well.
3. Anetra (last week: 8)
The eternal debate when it comes to the ball challenge is refreshed once more with Anetra’s high placement: how much of the scoring does the self-made look account for? This episode makes the argument that it counts for a lot: while Anetra’s first look was just okay, and her second was pretty terrible (though kudos to her for picking an unexpected former ball challenge as inspiration), her third was nothing short of breathtaking. The fact that she conceptualized and constructed such an opulent, technically impressive gown in the time allotted speaks wonders to her skill as both a designer and a seamstress. That “spine” of sorts running down the back of the dress! The hem! The stoning! It makes me all the more frustrated that she paired the gown with such a lifeless wig, because it really held the look back from being one of the all-time best on the show. Very happy as a card-carrying Stanetra that she landed in the top, though.
2. Mistress Isabelle Brooks (last week: 4)
For me, Mistress was the winner of the week. It was close between her and Sasha Colby, and I’ve gone back and forth in my head a couple of times about it. What ultimately makes Mistress’s entire presentation so impressive is how she served something entirely different across all three looks, but she kept a consistent quality that was uniquely Mistress. The racer catsuit was super fun, with all the quotes from past Drag Race big girls attached. The beach ball jumpsuit was incredibly interesting, and embraced the spirit of her self-assigned ball prompt better than most have. And her gown for the eleganza category was nothing short of spectacular. In every look, Mistress served a stunning silhouette, and her mug was flawless. Lots of love to the actual winner of the week, but in my mind, Mistress should’ve taken this one.
1. Sasha Colby (last week: 1)
It’s hard to argue against a Sasha win, because she’s just so damn good at everything she does on this show. Her looks this week were no exception: she looked hot as hell in a dress take on the racer catsuit, and her weed bag look was super clever. When it came down to the eleganza, there wasn’t much construction there necessarily, but there was a lot of design and thinking about how she would look in it. You can tell Sasha is incredibly aware of how best to dress herself to accentuate her body, with terrific styling choices to boot. Do I think it was a more impressive garment than Mistress’s or Anetra’s eleganza entries? I do not. But the whole package was strong, and I fully understand why Ru gave her the win. And again, it’s Sasha Colby. The fact that she only has two wins despite fully stomping this competition so far is the actual surprise.
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