Welcome to Them’s official Drag Race All Stars 7 power rankings. This is where we take a weekly stock of where the queens stand in their pursuit of (yet another) crown. If you wanna check out last week’s ranking before diving into this (spoiler filled!) one, you can do that here.
They call Halloween “Gay Christmas,” but this episode argues that, well, Christmas already is Gay Christmas.
This week, RuPaul asked his winning queens to don their gay apparel and star in a holiday-themed slasher film, Santa’s School for Girls. The film is Black Christmas meets Mean Girls, but without any of the feminism and more camel toe jokes. Given that this is All Stars 7, the acting challenge was much better than usual. There were no dud performances and more characters than usual had a hint of nuance. And on the runway, the category was — I shit you not — “Knitty Knitty Bang Bang,” with every queen sashaying in their finest knitwear couture.
As I’m sure you’re aware by now, All Stars 7’s rules differ from previous All Stars seasons. Because every queen here already has a crown, no one is going home. Instead, every episode, RuPaul names two queens as challenge winners, each of whom are awarded a Legendary Legend star. They then lip sync for $10,000 and the ability to block one queen from earning a star the next week by handing them a platinum plunger. (One that, as Bob the Drag Queen likes to remind us, is most certainly gold.) Of course, if that queen has a plunger, then she can win a challenge but will not be able to gain a Legendary Legend star. The stars determine which queens will advance to the top 4, where the final title, “The Queen of All Queens,” will be determined by a lip sync bracket.
Without further ado (OK, except for an editor’s note), the rankings!
Editor’s Note: All of these queens are talented. This is, as Jaida Essence Hall said, the crème de la crème. This ranking is not meant to disparage anyone’s performance on the show, because they are all really, really talented. This is just to keep track of where people are on the scoreboard — so don’t come for us on social! And while this goes without saying, the below ranking contains spoilers, so proceed with caution if you haven’t yet watched.
8. Monét X Change (last week: 7)
Rich Polk/Getty Images
Stars: 1
Challenge Wins: 1
Lip Sync Wins: 0
Blocks: 1
It was nice to see the Trinity-Monét alliance come into play for once, though whether it actually paid off is another question. Though the judges had only positive things to say about her performance, I did find that hers didn’t quite reach the same heights as other queens. Her knitwear runway look was, just as Michelle said, a kind of perfect nexus of high and low culture and also looked amazing on her body. The math is increasingly hard for Monét X Change, so let’s hope she can make some moves in the coming weeks before she’s too far behind.
7. Shea Couleé (last week: 6)
Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images
Stars: 1
Challenge Wins: 1
Lip Sync Wins: 1
Blocks: 1
Despite Shea Couleé’s much-beloved runway this week, her challenge performance was not enough for her to jostle her way into the top 2. There definitely was a lot against her: She had to play the most normal character in the room, as opposed to getting jokes-a-plenty. As Shea pointed out in this episode, the math is increasingly not on her side when it comes to Legendary Legend stars. Unless there are some tricks left, like when the judges gave out four stars in one week instead of two, it would be hard for the All Stars 5 winner to edge out the rest of the competition. But, we’re still rooting for her.
6. Yvie Oddly (last week: 3)
Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images
Stars: 2
Challenge Wins: 1
Lip Sync Wins: 0
Blocks: 1
Yvie was tons of fun to watch this week. Her Regina George-esque character got an extra jolt of zane due to her ability to dial every emotion up to the nth degree. Very few performers in Drag Race herstory can match Yvie’s level of physicality, which will always give her a sort of boost in the campy acting challenges. And her runway really succeeded in a way it shouldn’t have on paper. Hers was probably one of the less “interpreted” ideas of knitwear, but instead of trying to morph knitting into a concept, she made the act of knitting the concept itself in her stunning crochet needles meets Snuffleupagus number.
5. Trinity the Tuck (last week: 2)
Rebecca Sapp/Getty Images
Stars: 2
Challenge Wins: 3
Lip Sync Wins: 1
Blocks: 1
Watching Trinity take notes from director Janicza Bravo this week served as a solid reminder of what a professional TTT really is. Watching the All Stars 4 winner take a note, immediately incorporate it and then change her entire conception of a character is kinda the whole point of what Drag Race wants queens to do in order to succeed. And there is no queen in the history of the show who has gotten the note, You are so dumb! in such a loving way so many times. They want you to be able to take notes and mold yourself accordingly. I actually loved Trinity’s runway this week, and it was very funny to hear her say that a fan made it for her. Did the fan know that knitwear was a category? Was this a happy coincidence? I need answers.
4. Jinkx Monsoon (last week: 4)
Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images
Stars: 2
Challenge Wins: 3
Lip Sync Wins: 2
Blocks: 2
Jinkx Monsoon is no doubt a master actress and performer, but this week, her vapid millennial vocal fry schtick felt a little close to the performance she gave just a few weeks ago in the Fairy Tale Justice challenge. And, as a friend pointed out after watching the episode, it did feel at times like her character was going more for big moments than a consistent, realized role. And on the runway, while her dress was very pretty, it didn’t buck any expectations to hear that Jinkx’s interpretation of the challenge went the way of Old Hollywood. An acting challenge should’ve been a softball for Jinkx, so here’s hoping she can get another chance in the spotlight soon.
3. Raja (last week: 8)
Emma McIntyre/Getty Images
Stars: 2
Challenge Wins: 2
Lip Sync Wins: 1
Blocks: 0
It was great to see Raja break out from the pack in a smaller part. It was a reminder that you don’t need to chew the scenery to stand out, just find the character. Of course, finding the bad girl probably isn’t that hard for the rebellious 90s club kid, so we’re glad Raja was able to tap into that aesthetic to deliver what was a great ode to Clea Duvall in every movie she’s ever been in. Ru was right to praise Raja’s runway look, which was given golden non-playable RPG character that fans will clamor to see on Smash Bros. And, it was great to see Raja redeem herself in the “Super Freak” lip sync, though it wasn’t so much a sense of Raja triumphing as it was The Vivienne stumbling (literally) and licking Raja’s armpit, despite (say it with me) drag not being a contact sport.
2. The Vivienne (last week: 5)
Emma McIntyre/Getty Images
Stars: 2
Challenge Wins: 3
Lip Sync Wins: 2
Blocks: 1
I’m not going to lie to you when I say that I was very worried about The Vivienne coming into this series. She handily beat a group of UK queens to be the first UK winner, but I wasn’t sure how she would translate when she came across the pond. However, this episode really cemented how wonderful she is to watch and how much she has earned her place among the reigning Ru girls. Her Faye Dunaway-cum-Joan Crawford performance in the challenge was one of the most-realized characters on screen, not only because she had one of the biggest parts, but also because Viv’s mannerisms went beyond scene-stealing caricature. And let’s not even get started on her runway. I cannot tell you how she was able to make a chunky knit Etsy blanket into a regal gown, but she did. And this win was wholeheartedly deserved.
- Jaida essence Hall (last week: 1)
Mariano Regidor
Stars: 3
Challenge Wins: 2
Lip Sync Wins: 1
Blocks: 1
You will never get me to stop gushing over Jaida Essence Hall. Not only is it great to watch her win, it’s thrilling to watch her continue to succeed among a group of winners. This week, she was able to give her nerd character a sense of depth and absolutely kill it on the runway. I’m not going to lie, when she first walked out on the runway, I squinted and said, Is that the Big Comfy Couch? Seconds later, hearing Jaida confirm that her outfit was, in fact, an homage to the very formative children’s show starring gay icons Lunette the Clown and her doll Molly, I screamed. I’ve said it before: Every look Jaida is pulling for this season is top level and watching her get to flex her drag muscles on national TV again is a gift.
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