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Canada’s Drag Race Canada VS the World Episode 1 Recap: Bonjour, Hi

Queens from around the world come to the Canadian main stage to kick off the competition with a girl group challenge. Canadian pop star/songwriter Anjulie is a guest judge…

For three seasons, the world has watched Canada’s Drag Race and marvelled at our unique and dynamic drag. Now it’s Canada’s turn to take over what the UK started and host drag performers from franchises around the world to compete for the global crown. This season we’ll see fan favourite queens step into the Canadian werk room and extra special Canadian guest judges (as well as a few familiar faces) grace the panel on the main stage. Ready to meet the queens of this new series? Let’s get into it!

The episode begins on the CDR main stage and the first to enter is Rita Baga (CDR season one) and she’s here to get the crown after coming so close during her season. Next on the runway is Stephanie Prince (CDR season two). She’s here to show what she can do after her time in the competition was cut short. Next to return is Kendall Gender (CDR season two) followed by Icesis Couture (winner of CDR season two), and the ice queen is here to snag another crown to add to her collection. Next up is Anita Wig’lit (Down Under) who promises to be a secret threat to the other queens. Silky Nutmeg Ganache (USA season 11 and AS6) and she’s bringing all the flavour this season. Ra’Jah O’Hara (USA season 11 and AS6) who is surprised to see her good sis Silky also on the stage. Vanity Milan (UK season three) walks the runway next, and she’s coming in with a whole new aesthetic and a fire under her ass to take it all the way to the finale. Last to join the group is Victoria Scone (UK season two), the first cis woman to compete in the franchise is ready to finally get a second chance. 

Brooke Lynn Hytes, our gracious and gorgeous head judge, enters the runway to welcome all of the queens to the Canada’s Drag Race main stage. Brooke tells the queens that for this week’s main challenge the queens will have to compete in groups of three for the iconic girl group challenge. The queens get themselves into groups and Brooke tells them this season the judges won’t be eliminating any of the queens…they’ll have to eliminate each other. The queens unpack their bags in the werk room and claim their stations before they are interrupted by a welcome video message from RuPaul. After they settle in they get into their girl group trios to write their lyrics and brainstorm their performances. Rita, Victoria, and Anita are feeling like the other queens might underestimate their group, Ra’Jah, Silky, and Vanity take the opportunity to use their lyrics to spread an important message. Stephanie, Icesis, and Kendall want to avoid the bottom at any price. Brooke enters the werk room with Canadian pop star Anjulie who is going to be helping the queens with their lyrics. Each of the groups workshop their initial lyrics with Anjulie and everyone has strong verses, so it should be a pretty fair challenge. Out on the main stage to choreograph their songs. Victoria, Rita, and Anita keep their moves simple and Rita has a bit of trouble picking them up. Stephanie has taken the lead for her group, which Kendall and Icesis are totally ok with. Silky, Ra’Jah, and Vanity work cohesively to get their steps down.

It’s elimination day and the queens enter the werk room to get ready for the main stage. They all have a conversation about how they’re going to move forward with the voting to eliminate each other… they settle on playing fair (for now). Over at the makeup mirrors they talk about diversity in the bars and performance spaces in their homes, and have an open conversation about their own experiences. Out on the main stage, Brooke introduces the judges; Traci Melchor and this week’s extra special guest Anjulie. Rita, Victoria, and Anita are up first and their performance is campy, bright, and a lot of fun.

Next up it’s Kendall, Stephanie, and Icesis. They serve a different type of girl group (more Little Mix, less Donna and the Dynamos), with killer looks and more complex choreo. Finally Silky, Vanity, and Ra’Jah serve total black girl magic with their stunning and  magnetic performance. Following the performances, the category on the runway is “Queen of the World”, and each of our global drag superstars show us their most regal lewks.

After the runway Brooke explains the rules of the season. Following critiques the judges will pick tops and bottoms and the tops will lip sync for the power to eliminate. Brooke tells Victoria, Icesis, and Silky that they are all safe. Critiques begin with Anita and although she did a great job in the challenge, everybody agrees that it could have been better. Brook tells Rita she couldn’t keep her eyes off her during the performance. Anjulie tells Kendall she had her favourite lyric of the night. Traci tells her she looked like she was thinking about her performance during the song, and the judges aren’t obsessed with her look. Stephanie tells the judges all about her look, which they love and appreciate but her giant headpiece took away from the overall presentation. Brooke tells her it looked like she was playing catch up with her teammates during the performance. Vanity Milan “murdered” the challenge according to Brooke, and Traci tells her that her performance was a powerhouse (which is impressive when she’s sharing the stage with two other iconic queens). Finally, the judges tell Ra’Jah that she was a blast to watch, but there were a few moments that her lyrics got lost, however she held up her performance with the choreography. Based on the critiques, Vanity and Rita are the top two queens of the week. In the bottom this week are Kendall and Stephanie. 

Backstage all of the queens congratulate the two tops, and Silky gets emotional about being accepted by the others in the competition. Kendall and Stephanie are both disappointed to be in the bottom, and take turns pleading their case to the top queens. Rita and Vanity make their choices and head back out to the main stage to lip sync to Brand New Bitch by Anjulie. The top two queens both give an electric and funny performance. In the end, Brooke announces that the winner of the lip sync and the power to eliminate is Vanity Milan. The bottom queen that Vanity has chosen, and the first to leave the competition is… Kendall Gender. 

Next week on CDR Canada Vs The World: The queens become delegates at the Snatch Game Summit, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau makes a pit stop in the werk room.

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