Nine queens from international Drag Race competitions compete for a worldwide title. Musician Charlotte Cardin is a guest judge…
Calling all drag superfans! Luckily for us we have a brand new series to hold us over with All Stars coming to an end next week. Nine queens from both Canada and various international franchises come together on our turf to compete over a number of weeks in order to become the queen of the mother tucking world. This week we’ll be reintroduced to some familiar faces and meet some new international queens as they navigate all the twists and turns of the competition. Let’s get into it.
This week’s episode begins on an empty runway north of the border. Alexis Mateo is first on the runway (RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 3 ,All Stars 1,All Stars 5) and she’s ready to skip down the aisle in her bridal glam all the way to the finale as the first Puerto Rican to win a crown. Next in is Cheryl (Drag Race UK Season 1, UK vs The World). It’s a new chapter and she’s ready to take on whatever the competition has in store for her. Third out is Tynomi Banks (Canada’s Drag Race Season 1) and she has something to show the judges after being eliminated fourth on her season. Fourth on the runway is Le Fil (UK Season 4) who has the most sickening look thus far. They’re here to stick it out to the end. Next up is the legend herself Kennedy Davenport (RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 7, All Stars 3). She’s BEEN an international pageant queen and she’s ready to take the crown this time around. Next on the stage is La Kahena (Drag Race France Season 1) and she’s vowing to do better than she did the first time around. Fiercalicious (Canada’s Drag Race Season 3) is back, back, back again, yes in that dress. She wants to play the game differently this time around since she’s more confident in herself and her drag.
Following Fierce is Eureka ( RuPaul’s Drag Race Seasons 9 & 10, All Stars 6) serving body-ody-ody and she wants to keep showing how living authentically in her trans existence has made her drag stronger. Last to make their entrance on the runway is none other than Lemon (Canada’s Drag Race Season 1, UK vs The World Season 1) herself, ready to finally fulfill her zestiny and third time is usually the charm. Brooke Lynn Hytes crashes the party to welcome the queens and let them know soon one of them will be queen of the mother tucking world and thanks to Trojan, the winner of $100,000. Brooke tells them that there’s another queen joining them this season and it is of course, the golden beaver complete with new filler. Each week the winner of the maxi challenge will have the power to save one of the bottom queens from lip syncing for their lives by handing over the coveted golden beaver. For the first maxi challenge they’ll have to split up and perform as global pop girl groups. They’ll get to choose between three songs. Brooke picks names from a bowl and the queens can pick the song they want but only three queens can be on one song.
The teams are as follows; on Bopulence is La Kahena, Eureka, and Alexis Mateo. On Tongue Pop is Cheryl, Kennedy, and Lemon. And on This Beat is Le Fil, Tynomi, and Fiercalicious. With the girl groups officially formed it’s time for the queens to get to werk on their sickening first performances. The lights turn on in the werk room and everybody settles in. As soon as they grab their bags they head over into their corners forming little cliques. The American girlies are together, as well as the British and Canadian girls, but Eureka takes it upon herself to befriend La Kahena who is the only one from her country competing this season. Over in the Canadian corner, Fierce proposes an alliance but Lemon isn’t convinced but she says a Canadian always goes home first and she did start it, but she also wants to break it. Everybody gets out of drag and they’re interrupted by a video message from Ru herself, who once again has not made it across the border. After welcoming them to the competition herself the queens get to work in their girl groups writing their own verses for their songs.
All of the queens are looking for a little bit of redemption in this competition, so the stakes are already high. Lemon writes music outside the show and she’s feeling confident about this challenge and in her group. Alexis Mateo feels she is very opulent and she’s very excited to incorporate a lot of herself into her lyrics, and her teammates feel the same. After finishing their lyrics the groups head out for some choreography time on the main stage, which they have to do themselves. Alexis takes the lead with her group and Eureka is having a bit of trouble picking it up but La Kahena is getting it quick. Le Fil takes it upon themself to lead their group and Tynomi is getting it but Fierce is trying her best to listen and follow along. Kennedy, Cheryl, and Lemon collaborate on their routine since they’re all dancers, but there might be too many cooks in the kitchen for this to work.
It’s elimination day and back in the werk room the queens are painting for their first time on the runway. Cheryl says her relationship with Lemon is her priority and she wants to make sure they both make it to the end. Eureka tells Alexis how living out as a trans woman has been for her and how drag has been a saving grace. They go around the room talking about what they’ve all been up to. Kennedy reveals she’s in a happy relationship with a trans man and he’s currently expecting, meaning Kennedy will be a mother (literally). Lemon tells the other queens how she fell into a depression after being kicked off of UK vs The World first and how it’s made her stronger.
Out on the main stage Brooke makes a grand entrance in a gorgeous gown and introduces our first judging panel of the season, Brad Goreski, Traci Melchor, and this week’s extra special guest judge, musician Charlotte Cardin. Team Bopulence is up first to perform their song. It’s catchy and all three of the verses are totally true to the queens performing them.This Beat is next and these queens are fierce as hell. Tynomi and Le Fil are serving but Fiercalicious is giving very low energy with her dancing but she goes a little harder when it’s time for her verse. Finally Tongue Pop takes the stage to perform their song. These girls are all dancers and it absolutely shows. They’re matching each other’s energy and it makes for a seamless and cohesive performance.
After their girl group performances the category on the runway is “Wonders of the World: My Very Best Drag” and all of the queens strut in stunning and sentimental looks. Tonight the queens will be judged in their groups. Brooke calls Tynomi, Le Fil, and Miss Fiercalicious forward to tell them that they are safe and can step to the back of the stage. The rest of the queens represent the best and worst of the week. Critiques begin with Alexis Mateo. Brad tells her that her runway is the definition of opulence, but the judges weren’t quite getting that from her lyrics and performance and that her whole group had mismatched energy. Next the judges tell La Kahena that her lyrics were stunning but her energy was lacking but the judges like her look. Traci tells Eureka that her volume was great during her verse but not during the rest of the performance. Brooke likes her elephant look but clocks her peachy lady lace bra which is…not cute. Brooke tells Lemon that she doesn’t have the best track record with first episodes but she’s broken the curse this week. The whole group was cohesive and her lyrics specifically had the right energy and flow and Brad adores her look. Brooke tells Kennedy she looks absolutely breathtaking, and Brad feels the same way about her performance. All of the judges ate her ad-lib up and they all loved how much all three of the queens were able to shine on their own without overshadowing the others. Finally, the judges tell Cheryl that she attacked every aspect of her performance as well as her runway look. They already can’t get enough of her but Brooke gives her a little note to pull her dress down a bit.
Based on the judges critiques Brooke announces that the top queen of the week is Lemon! She’s won $10,000 and the power to bestow the golden beaver upon one of the bottom queens. Kennedy and Cheryl are both safe. As bottom queens, Eureka, Alexis, and La Kahena are able to plead their case to Lemon while the queens untuck. They all make their case but Eureka simply states she just doesn’t want to lip sync which Alexis thinks is disrespectful which she tells her while she pleads her case. The girls get into a bit of a fight which puts Lemon in the middle and she’s not loving it. Fierce puts her two cents in to hopefully sway Lemon into getting one of the strong American queens home first.
Back out on the main stage Lemon reveals that the queen she is saving from lip syncing for her life is… Alexis Mateo, who is officially out of the woods this week. This means that La Kahena and Eureka are both up for elimination and must lip sync for their lives. The two bottoms lip sync to Meaningless by Charlotte Cardin and both queens give passionate and emotional performances as neither of them want to go home first. The judges decide that Eureka will get to stay to slay another day. This means that unfortunately it’s the end of the line for La Kahena. On the plus side, she’s the first double Porkchop ever.
Next week on Canada vs The World: Tynomi and Fierce get into it and the queens take on their first acting challenge of the season with special guest Lisa Rinna.
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