Reboots and Ru-vivals may be all the rage, but they rarely match the quality of the original. Go to this week’s episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race
Three seasons later The Bossy Rossy Show astonished audiences with his terrifying pickles and sexy drag babies, Ross Mathews’ iconic The late-night talker was brought back for another round on Friday – and it was everywhere. (Sure, there were a few highlights, but it’s not a great performance night when someone gets top credit for playing a mime. Even when she’s emotional before the gods.)
This came after a very satisfying reading mini-challenge, which Gottmik won with a series of wild reads about Kandy Muse identifying with the pug community, Tina Burner with the build of a footballer and Utica Queen just “f-ing weird” . The latter was actually a recurring lecture in the minigame; Tina immediately asked Utica where she hides the bodies of her victims. Check out the full reading challenge below:
The real joke this week turned out to be Olivia Lux, whose cover as a quiet, fierce competitor has been officially blown up. Tina has even clocked her as a ‘secret diva’, and she’s not wrong. Not only was Utica furious when Olivia ‘stole’ her share of the improv challenge, but Olivia even threw a little salt into her wound, suggesting, ‘Maybe I’ll end up on the top again.’ And you know what? She did end in the top. This is the second win of the maxi challenge for Olivia, who has yet to end anywhere close to the bottom. And the more I think about her clever take on the catwalk theme (pictured above), the more I appreciate her ingenuity.
With all due respect to Miss Lux, I think I would have declared Symone the winner this week. Not only did she bring enough energy to keep her entire improv sketch alive, but I don’t even have words for how good her runway looks were. I just sat there with limp jaws trying to absorb every inch of this African warrior inspired masterpiece …
I also have to give my hat to Gottmik for her gorgeous anal bead inspired look. See that latex number in all its glory, plus the ‘Bead It!’ From the other queens. runway ensembles, in the video below:
Category is: BEAD IT!
Our Queens sparkled and shone on the catwalk in their very best beaded beads! Who was your favorite of the evening? #DragRace pic.twitter.com/goSxIWFHbR
– RuPaul’s Drag Race (@RuPaulsDragRace) February 13, 2021
At the other end of the spectrum, a combination of unimpressive improv performances and lackluster runway performances landed LaLa Ri and Elliott with 2 Ts in the bottom two this week, with Utica narrowly avoiding having to avoid lip sync for her life.
Despite LaLa’s track record of killing lip syncs, Elliott took to the battle with confidence. And from the moment Kelly started playing Clarkson’s “Whole Lotta Woman”, she turned it around fromLaLa may have charisma, uniqueness and talent, but Elliott brought the guts and stayed at or above LaLa’s level the whole time, throwing the occasional split to sweeten the pot. And those synchronized body roles! Real talk, none of these ladies disappointed. But in the end, the “LaLa Ri Experience” just wasn’t enough – Ru was forced to send the queen back to Atlanta.
Do you think this was the right decision? (Part of me was expecting a double shantay, if I’m honest.) Then vote in our poll below leave a comment with your thoughts on the episode.