It’s an all-new season of All Stars. The queens in the first bracket compete in a hair metal music video challenge. Singer Ice Spice is a guest judge…
Hot off the heels of Season 17, it’s already time for a new season of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars. This season marks the franchise’s tenth, and to celebrate the occasion, the competition is going to go a little differently than what we’ve seen in the past. This time, queens from seasons past (and near present) will compete against each other in smaller group “brackets” over the course of three episodes. At the end of the third episode, a number of queens from each group will move forward to the semi-finals and compete against queens from other groups for the crown. Let’s get into it!
The season starts with a moustached RuPaul and Michelle in matching purple blazers at the judge’s table. The competition starts now with our bracket one queens walking the runway starting with Aja (season 9, All Stars 3) looking perfect and beautiful. She’s followed by Deja Skye (season 14) who is hoping to step out of her safe streak. Next in is Irene the Alien (formerly Dubois, season 15) serving sci-fi comedy queen. She was the first to go home in her season and is the lowest ranked queen in the show’s herstory. Phoenix (season 3) is back to rise from the ashes and redeem her time in the spotlight. Next in is Olivia Lux (season 13) who still has her million-dollar smile, and the talent to match, and she’s not playing nice this time. Bosco (season 14) makes her way to the runway next and she’s rebranded since her last time on the show where she unwrapped that golden chocolate bar. Bosco rounds out our first bracket. Nobody is being eliminated in this bracket. Instead, the queens will collect points, and at the end of the three episode series, the queens with the most stars will move onto the semi-finals, where the top all stars will compete in a lip sync smack down for the crown.
Every week the top two queens will each get two points. Those two queens will lip sync for the win, and the winner will get an extra point, plus a $10,000 cash tip. An additional four points will be awarded each episode, which Ru will explain a little later. For their first maxi challenge the queens will perform in the music video for “Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner.” They’ll write their own verses, and style themselves in glam hair metal extravaganza.
Back in the werk room the first group of queens take in the new space. They’re curious to see what queens are in the other brackets. They notice there’s a scoreboard with orange racing jumpsuits in the back of the room. Olivia and Aja are sisters and Bosco and Irene have been friends for years, so they’ll all have someone to lean on in the competition. Deja asks Phoenix what it’s like to be back since she hasn’t been on the show since season 3, but she’s fierce and she’s ready to take on this new version of the competition. They continue talking as they get out of drag. Deja and Olivia form some sort of alliance.
Once they’re out of drag they get to reading the lyrics to the song they’ll be adding their own verses to. Breaking off into groups, they work on their lyrics in pairs and trios. Irene is feeling nervous since she’s the least experienced and buddies up to Aja for some advice. Deja was eliminated on her season during the rock challenge and hopes fate will be on her side this time. Olivia is a vocalist and she loves music, so she’s excited for the challenge but she’s not really into heavy metal which makes her anxious. On the other hand, this genre is totally in Bosco’s wheelhouse. Ru enters the room to check on their progress and gets to meet Irene the Alien for the first time. She tells Ru her glass of water tutorial talent show performance she bombed has made her hesitant to take risks with her drag in the last few years.
Deja revealed she almost died getting weight loss surgery, Aja decided to come back to drag after feeling secure in her transition and seeing Kylie winning All Stars 6. Phoenix is so excited to finally be back in the werk room, and Bosco says her physical transformation was made possible by having the finances to do so, which she credits to the show. Olivia wants to showcase her ballroom background more this time around and is excited to take on this first music-based challenge. Out on the runway they’re met with Jamal Sims who is helping them choreograph their movement for the music video. All of the queens take their own approach to the dancing, which Jamal embraces with the choreography. Irene and Phoenix start overthinking their steps, so Jamal breaks it down a little more for them.
After a quick break it’s runway day and after some sensory overload from the dance rehearsal, everyone is feeling ready to perform. While they’re getting ready the queens discuss where they think those extra four points are coming from and whether they’ll be voted on by their peers. Each of these queens bring something different to the runway, so this round should be interesting to watch. Aja and Olivia have a private conversation about making it to the end together and Olivia mentions she’s been chatting with Deja. Aja and Irene get into a little bit of a fight and Bosco doesn’t think now is the right time to ruffle any feathers.
Out on the runway Ru makes her grand entrance and introduces the judges for this week’s episode which includes Michelle, Ross, and this week’s extra special guest, singer Ice Spice. Tonight, on the runway the category is “Slits and Tits” and the queens strut in their themed looks. After the runway it’s time to watch the music video debut of “Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner!” The video is straight out of the ‘80s with lots of wigs and animal print to spare. Every performance is strong and gets audible laughs from the judges.
Critiques start with Aja. Michelle tells her she appreciated her energy and lyrics. Ice Spice connects with her “baddie with a fattie” lyric. Michelle and Ru loved her look in the music video, but Ross asks her not to turn from the camera next time and all of the judges love her Mugler-inspired runway look. Michelle loves how Deja threw it back to her Lil Jon Snatch Game in her lyrics and Ross compliments her on her transformation but wanted more titties from her look. Michelle says Olivia’s voice is so pretty and wishes it was a little grittier in the performance and Ice Spice loves her big ginger curls. Ru loves her Lil Kim-inspired look. Michelle tells Irene she literally slayed the metal performance and Ross tells her that her tongue was made for this challenge. Finally, Michelle tells Phoenix that she looked like she had a great time in the video but it looked like she was holding back, which Ice Spice echoes with her shy comment.
Following deliberations Ru announces that the two top queens of the week are Aja and Irene the Alien, with Bosco being in third place. Irene and Aja now each have two points. The top two queens lip sync for their lives to “Think You The Shit (Fart)” by Ice Spice. Both queens bring an unprecedented level of attitude to the stage and it’s tight, but at the end Ru decides the winner of that extra point is Aja, who will also receive that $10,000 tip. Ru ushers Bosco, Olivia, Phoenix, and Deja to the front of the stage and jokingly tells them one of them is standing on a trap door. The bottom four queens each week each get a point, but they have to give it away to the M.V.Q, the most valuable queen of the week. They’ll have to choose wisely as the three queens with the most points at the end of each bracket will move on. The episode ends with a tribute to Jiggly Caliente.
Next time on All Stars: The first bracket queens distribute their points, and they’re all suspects when there’s a murder on the dancefloor.
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