“RuPaul‘s Drag Race All Stars” continued its 9th season on Friday, June 14 with the sixth episode featuring returning queens from seasons past. Making their way back into the Werk Room for the second time are Angeria Paris VanMichaels (season 14), Gottmik (season 13), Jorgeous (season 14), Nina West (season 11), and Plastique Tiara (season 11). Three queens are returning for the third time: Roxxxy Andrews (season 5 and All Stars 2), Shannel (season 1 and All Stars 1), and Vanessa Vanjie Mateo (seasons 10 and 11).
In addition to their chance at the coveted crown, this season the queens are competing to have a $200,000 contribution, provided by The Palette Fund, to a charity of their choice. Series judges RuPaul Charles and Michelle Visage will be joined on the dais by friends and series regulars Carson Kressley, Ts Madison, and Ross Mathews as well as a rotating cast of guest judges to help determine episodic winners and their choice for “next drag superstar.”
In episode 5, Ru paired the queens up for a comedy acting challenge where they had to sell undesirable properties as agents in spoof real estate commercials. In the challenge, Roxxxy and Plastique won out for their hillbilly takes on a Texan western town. After lip syncing against each other for charity, Roxxxy won and earned the right to block Gottmik from earning another Beautiful Benefactress Badge this week.
In the race to be one of the three queens with the most badges by the end of the season, Roxxxy stands alone in the lead with three while Vanjie and Gottmik have two each. Nina, Plastique, Angeria and Jorgeous all have one and Shannel has none.
Now, check out our recap of episode 6, titled “The National Drag Convention Roast,” featuring guest judge Ruta Lee below:
Following her win, Roxxxy was “broken-hearted” because she had to use the Ruby Snippers on another queen for the second week in a row. The painstakingness that Roxxxy was trying to express to the other queens with her decision rubbed all the other girls the wrong way because it’s part of the game. They also didn’t buy that she tried to make the decision blind at first and randomly stopped on Angeria. The feeling in the room was that Roxxxy was over-dramatizing her position inauthentically. Gottmik said that Roxxxy wanted to block Angeria until she heard everyone else’s reaction and then had to change course to her.
While the girls were busy hypothesizing about a dance challenge the next morning, Ru wanted to steer them in a new direction toward the importance of voting in upcoming elections. For their mini challenge, Ru brought in the Pit Crew to conduct a straw poll of questions with themselves or other queens as answers where the object is to vote within the majority. Then, by the end there would be one queen with the most correct answers to receive a $2500 donation to their charity and a coveted badge. Over the course of the challenge, the queens said that Nina is the most likely to run for President, Roxxxy can win over the country with her “big juicy ass,” Angeria is the Secretary of Delusion, Roxxxy is most likely to deny the outcome of their season, Jorgeous is most likely to have not voted, and Roxxxy was the Secretary of Shade. In that last question, Jorgeous secured a single-point win over Nina and claimed the donation and badge.
For the maxi challenge, the girls prepared to take turns roasting each other at The National Drag Convention. Ahead of their performance, they practiced their material in front of Michelle and the guest judge Ruta. As the winner of the mini challenge, Jorgeous also got to determine the order of the roast. Right away Jorgeous knew she wanted to go second and said that Shannel would be the best opener because of her experience as a host. Shannel was happy to have that spot, but Nina was not as pleased to be chosen to go last. In a confessional, Jorgeous said she made that decision to sabotage Nina who she’s been threatened by all season. After the hard choices were made, the rest of the queens fell into an easy order of Plastique third, Roxxxy fourth, Vanjie fifth, Angeria sixth and Gottmik seventh.
In their planning stages, Jorgeous was conceptualizing taking Ru’s advice from the previous week to “butch it up” in a comedy challenge while still maintaining their natural flamboyant charisma. Vanjie and Angeria were feeling good about the challenge because of their ability to perform with confidence and to sell anything. Nina felt pressured in the last spot because she knows she’s seen as a comedy queen, but when it comes to stand up she doesn’t feel as comfortable as everyone else. Nina challenged Jorgeous for playing strategically by putting her last and promised to “remember that” if she gets the power to snip a queen again in the future.
During the worshipping of their material with Ruta and Michelle, Roxxxy received positive critiques on her jokes but was warned about delivery. Ruta told Jorgeous to set her jokes up better and Vanjie that she needs to slow down and enunciate in order to be understood. Michelle was worried that Gottmik was taking sexual jokes too far and that Angeria could “go deeper” with her digs at the other queens. Plastique realized that she was successful previously because she took on a character so she considered becoming a new character for the roast. Nina gained some confidence after running through her material because Michelle and Ruta were living for it.
On the Main Stage for the roast, Ru was joined by Michelle and Ruta of course as well as Carson as this week’s judges. The roast was kicked off by an invocation from Bob the Drag Queen from her “book of poetry.” Then the queens found their moments in specific jokes: Shannel on Angeria being selected as an all star, Jorgeous as the “friendly gayborhood thug,” Plastique on Gottmik’s whiteness, Roxxxy saying Angeria has always lived in a van, Vanjie calling Nina out on a lack of taste, Angeria calling Michelle Ru’s service animal, Gottmik on Plastique’s rolodex, and Nina referring to Jorgeous as the charity of the season.
After the roast the queens walked the catwalk in the “Atomic Blonde” category and then the judges delivered their critiques. They appreciated that Shannel was “in control” because of her hosting experience and was the perfect opener. Carson and Ru were over the moon about Jorgeous about her newly dubbed “Hector” character that she nailed. Carson thought Plastique looked great and high fashion on the runway and Ruta thought she “really roasted.” Ruta thought that Roxxxy “took command” and Ru was proud that she finally delivered a good roast. Michelle appreciated that Vanjie took a risk and did something “new for you” on the runway. Angeria thanked Michelle for her advice during the workshop and Michelle said that she turned things around and was “really, really strong.” Ru called Gottmik’s dress on the runway “gorgeous” and Carson said that her infusion of her experience into her drag is “artistry.” Michelle was only worried that Gottmik held back in the roast. Ruta acknowledged that Nina had a tough spot as the closer and Carson liked that she was “so professional,” but worried that she would do better if she went “off script.”
Once their deeper dive into the performances was complete, Ru announced the judges’ decision that the top two of the week were Plastique and Angeria. To determine the ultimate winner, the two queens battled in a lip sync to “Be My Lover” by La Bouche. Once again, Plastique showed that she is not a beautiful benefactress of knowing the lyrics and when the rap verse of the song came in she just pointed to Angeria and let her take the stage. Throughout the song, Angeria commanded attention both lyrically and physically, earning a slam dunk decision as the overall winner.
As the winner of the lip sync, Angeria received the right to give one of the other queens the snip and cut them off from earning a badge next week. With her “great power,” Angeria used the Ruby Snippers on Roxxxy for the second time.
NEXT TIME: The queens co-star in scenes with Ru herself.
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