The queens from the third bracket enter the competition and the wickedly talented Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande guest judge…
Last week the bracket two queens competed for the last time in a movie Rusical challenge that all six queens kicked Starrbooty in. At the end of the episode, it was announced that Lydia, Jorgeous, and Mistress Isabelle Brooks would be the top three heading to the semi finals. This week we’ll welcome our final six all stars to the werk room, as well as some bewitching guest judges all the way from Oz. Let’s get into it.
This week’s episode begins back on the runway with Ru and Michelle in their sports broadcaster drag. After a quick live eye segment with Law Roach, the first queen on the runway is Denali (season 13) the ice skating diva is back and she’s not playing it safe this time around. Next out is Acid Betty (season 8) who was somewhat of a villain on her original season, but her creativity is what’s going to set her apart on All Stars! Alyssa Hunter (season 14) is up next on the runway and she’s hoping to do a little better with the acting challenges this time around. Cynthia Lee Fontaine (season 8 and 9) is back, back, again for another shot at the crown with her explosive positive energy. Daya Betty (season 14) is back and after being eliminated first and coming back in her season it lit a fire under her that got her all the way to the finale and she’s still riding it. Finally, Ginger Minj (season 7, All Stars 2, All Stars 6) rounds out the bracket three queens. The glamour toad is hoping to win the crown during her fourth round of competition.
Ru explains the tournament of all stars rules, point distribution, and how they’ll get to the grand lip sync smackdown finale. Ru also lets the queens know that for this week’s maxi challenge the queens will be designing and creating looks inspired by Wicked For Good. Working in pairs each queen will create a bewitching look for the main stage with one making a good witch look and the other, a wicked witch look. In addition to their designs, each pair will also create an enchanting backstory. But Ru and the judges aren’t looking for Wicked-inspired looks, they want original designs and concepts that these pairs of frenemies will have to come up with from scratch.
Back in the werk room the competition is officially on for the final six queens. Denali spots the scoreboard and immediately feels at home on the ice rink. Alyssa is hoping Daya Betty has changed a little since their season. Ginger feels like she already has a big target on her back just based on how many times she’s been in the competition. Acid tells Cynthia she’s so happy that she’s in the competition, and in confessionals Cynthia says Acid was one of the most supportive queens she had throughout her cancer treatments. Contrary to popular belief, Daya and Acid are not related, so Acid is feeling like she might not have an alliance to rely on.
After they get out of drag the queens gather around the table to discuss the challenge. There are a fair amount of sewing queens in the group. Each queen pleads their case for who they want to work with, and come to a consensus. Acid is paired with Denali, Daya and Ginger are working together, and Cynthia and Alyssa are paired. Alyssa and Cynthia are working on the same frequency which makes them both feel good. Daya and Ginger workshop their ideas together and decide to not overcomplicate their looks or backstory. Denali and Acid have a lot of good ideas but are having some trouble nailing down a concept. Ru interrupts them to check on their progress and catch up with the queens in their pairs. Before leaving Ru presents the queens with a video from Wicked stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo where they tell them they’ll be joining Ru on the judging panel for the week.
They get back to designing and while some queens are firing up their sewing machines, others are heating up their hot glue guns. Ginger is having a bit of trouble with her sewing machine and Daya isn’t letting her fail. As a group they talk about what the four extra points could be, and a number of them already think it’ll be their responsibility to give them away. It’s elimination day and the queens get right to putting finishing touches on their looks and getting started on their makeup. Right on queue Cynthia (Erivo) and Ariana enter the werk room in their pink and green suits to greet the queens. They gather around the table to chat about working together and how important the story of Wicked is to the queer community. Before heading out to the stage Ari and Cynthia check in on the queens one last time using the two-way makeup mirrors. The queens talk about the pressure they feel from the competition and how it affects each of them in both positive and negative ways.
Out on the runway, Ru introduces this week’s panel of judges Michelle, Law, and of course, this week’s extra special guest judges, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo. The queens walk their handmade good witch and wicked witch looks in pairs down the runway. Ginger and Daya are out first with their nature inspired look and their backstory is clever, and really ties everything together. Cynthia Lee Fontaine and Alyssa Hunter are out next and their looks aren’t as polished as the previous pair, but they make up for it with their Puerto Rican-infused backstory. Finally, Acid and Denali have the theatrics down and their looks are some of the strongest on the runway.
Critiques begin with Ginger. Cynthia compliments her comedic timing, and Ariana loved her character, which was also Law’s favourite of the night, and Michelle is proud of her look. Michelle, Ariana, and Cynthia love Daya’s look and say they worked perfectly together. Ariana and Cynthia love the chemistry Cynthia and Alyssa had together and Michelle gives Cynthia a top toot for having fun with her journey. Law takes an issue with Cynthia wanting to kill cockROACHes with her sandal, but all the judges like her look. Law tells Alyssa her look is the most well made of the group and the judges love their take on the good vs wicked being youth vs knowledge. Michelle tells Acid she loved how clear their characters were to the audience and although Law likes the fabric Acid used, he thinks the draping looked a little lazy. Ariana tells them that they had their favourite story of the night. Law calls Denali’s body pussy and immediately clocks her Schiaparelli inspiration.
Following deliberations Ru announces the top pair of the week are Ginger Minj and Daya Betty. The top two queens have each earned two points and lip sync for the extra point to Defying Gravity from the original Broadway cast recording of the musical. Each of the queens give a raw and powerful performance finishing with that iconic battle cry, but in the end Ginger Minj takes that extra point. Before leaving, Ru announces that each of the safe queens will be giving away their MVQ points, which we’ll see at the beginning of next week’s episode.
Next week on All Stars: The queens strategize how to distribute their points and they step into the recording booth to perform at a brand new country music festival.
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