It’s time to play The Snatchelorette…
After our highlight, and cotton candy queen Farrah’s elimination from the All Stars competition, this week’s episode opens up with the remaining eight queens reading Farrah’s short but sweet goodbye note on the mirror. Valentina explains that the competition is harder than she ever imagined it could be, and revealed that she made the choice to eliminate her friend Farrah because she was consistently in the bottom. All of the queens complimented Valentina on her win and, condragulated her on a stellar lip sync. Last week’s runner up Monét revealed that she had also chosen Farrah to go home, before the queens swiftly transition into a discussion about the drama between Farrah and Gia on the main stage. In a confessional, Monique says she’s finished with dealing with Gia’s drama, and by all of the other facial expressions in the werk room, a lot of the other queens might be feeling the same way. While de-dragging Trinity takes a slight jab at Monét, and the quality of her costumes, which starts a little bit of an argument, but I can’t disagree that it’s not fully deserved on Monét’s end.
The next day in the werk room, Ru enters and announces that not only is there no mini challenge again this week (a true bummer), but the maxi challenge would be the iconic Snatch Game. You already know this competition is going to be fierce, but this season there’s a bit of a twist, and honestly, I’m not mad about it. This season the queens would be competing in a Snatch Game of Love. The queens would still be impersonating celebrities, but instead of playing Match Game, they would be competing on some version of the Dating Game. All of the queens are super excited to compete on Snatch Game again, but nobody wants redemption more than Latrice Royale, who desperately wants to prove her Snatch Game chops after the debauchery of her season’s Snatch Game. Manila then reveals that she thinks she might be too old for where Drag is headed, and everybody else, including myself is very confused about this revelation, but it sounds like it might be a running thing with Manila, unfortunately.
During preparations for Snatch Game it is revealed that both Gia and Trinity have chosen to portray Caitlyn Jenner. The two battle it out and eventually it is decided that Trinity will do Caitlyn, while Gia went with her second pick, Jenny Bui (Cardi B’s nail technician). Naomi tells the others that she’s a little worried, and feels the pressure to perform well after she fumbled during her season’s Snatch Game. The Snatch Dating Game is being played in groups of four, so there is no hiding if you can’t pick up with the banter, and land your own jokes. The queens all picked dynamic personalities to impersonate that haven’t been overdone on Snatch Game, which was refreshing to see.
Group A
Monét X Change as Whitney Houston
Naomi Smalls as Wendy Williams
Trinity the Tuck as Caitlyn Jenner
Valentina as Eartha Kitt
Group B
Monique Heart as Tiffany Haddish
Manila Luzon as Barbra Streisand
Gia Gunn as Jenny Bui
And Latrice Royale as Della Reese
Group A definitely delivered a stronger game. Their banter was fun to watch, and three out of the four of them slayed their characters. Trinity’s Caitlyn was a standout, and Naomi delivered a really surprising, and hilarious version of Wendy Williams, even fainting at the end of her segment. Unfortunately, Valentina didn’t shine as much as she thought she would with her Eartha Kitt. She looked amazing, but her jokes fell flat. Group B was a bit messier than Group A. Manila was the standout as Barbra Streisand. Monique’s Tiffany Haddish was a bit much, but worked for the character. Gia tried too hard with her impersonation and a lot of her jokes didn’t land, irritating Latrice in the meantime. All of our hearts broke for Latrice, who broke character several times to tell Gia to shut up. We all know how bad she wanted redemption from her first shot at Snatch Game, and this one was just as bad for her.
Before the main stage, and judging, Latrice confronted Gia about what she did during Snatch Game, with even Manila chiming in to let her know what she did was most definitely not stunning. Gia, now realizing being a shady queen isn’t going to save her from most likely being eliminated this week, apologizes (for real this time), and tries to be nice to the remaining queens. This week’s main stage category was “Boots the House Down”, and while some queens slayed with looks that featured thigh high boots, others fell a little flat. The tops of the week were Manila, Trinity, and Naomi. While the bottoms were Valentina, Gia, and Latrice, leaving Monique and Monét in the safe zone. After some deliberation, Ru decided Manila and Trinity would be lip-syncing for their legacy to decide whether Valentina (face crack) or Gia would go home.
Backstage Trinity and Manila had a private conversation about how to play the game to make sure the right person was eliminated (Gia). Manila wasn’t completely on board, and still wanted to talk to each queen. Valentina, a little gagged that she was chosen for the bottom, took her ranking with grace and stated she knew she did as best as she could and is proud of the honest game she is playing. Trinity tells Valentina there’s no way she’s sending her home if she wins, while Manila tries to form an alliance with her, which Valentina politely declines in a bold power move we can all respect. In her one-on-ones, Gia breaks down an explains this time around the competition is harder for her as a trans woman, as she feels like she doesn’t quite belong anymore. This is the first time we have seen Gia act remotely like a human this season but it might be too late. After Valentina’s alliance refusal, either of them could be going home.
Manila and Trinity lip sync to Whitney Houston’s “How Will I Know” delivering 80s teen realness. Manila takes the weekly crown, and although she had been saying she might send Valentina home, actually sends Gia home instead. Gia’s exit was full of grace, and I can’t help but feel we were cheated of getting to see the real Gia Gunn behind the drama and hijinks.
Frontrunner of Episode 3: Trinity the Tuck did not come to play, and I can’t wait to see her play a strategic and sickening game all the way to the crown. I just hope she doesn’t flop midway through the season.
Takeaway from episode 3: We are getting to see different sides to every queen, which makes them seem less like flawless angels, and more like real human beings. It makes for an interesting season and gives each queen a moment to be fan favourite.
What we’ll see next week: Another acting/comedy challenge, which seems to be some sort of New Jersey version of Judge Judy hosted by Michelle Visage, and Valentina gets “deeply offended” about something.
Missed a week?: Read our RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 4 recaps right here!
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