I’m not sure who came into this week’s episode feeling more grief over the loss of Denali: Me or Rosé. After last week’s controversial elimination, I was not excited to see what RuPaul was going to pull out of her hat, or rather, the pocket of her Kelin Epstein and Parker suit.
The episode kicked off with this week’s mini-challenge: Are you smarter than the Pit Crew? Olivia Lux thought she was going to be answering math and history questions. In reality, it was a bunch of RuPaul’s Drag Race herstory questions. Olivia did get her lone math question at the end of the challenge, though, where everyone was surprised Kandy Muse answered the question correctly after confusing $25,000 and $2,500 just a few moments earlier.
After the queens tested their knowledge, Ru shared that for this week’s maxi-challenge, the queens would have to create and brand their own soda pop. Everyone knows that a queen with their own brand can turn that popularity from the show into big cash money afterwards, so this is a challenge every queen wanted to be good at.
Tina Burner‘s concept for her commercial was more of a short film. She had a plot and characters far beyond a simple soda ad. Utica had a whacky idea, of course, that required a cow as a prop. Symone was dishing out buy two cans of soda get a gold tooth for free deal and steal. Everyone had a concept, whether they were clear or not.
As everyone was prepping for their commercial, they got to chat with last season’s winner, the incomparable Jaida Essence Hall! She gave the queens great advice to push through the uncertainty of Drag Race. It was great to see her back in the workroom even if it was just virtual!
This episode gave us a unique experience, both Ross Matthews and Carson Kressley joined the queens as the queens were filming their commercials. Usually, we get one or the other, so it was fun to see them together. During the filming, Tina really struggled while Rosé did well in her Jan robe. Symone was another queen who really nailed it. While Utica’s performance was a bit kooky, I really loved that she paid tribute to Clara the cow who visited her via the psychic last week. Justice for Clara.
It was elimination day and the queens were feeling good about their performances. While they were getting into drag, Kandy opened up about being attacked by classmates in high school for being gay. Three fellow students broke her arm. It’s always difficult to hear these stories of abuse the queens have faced for being who they are.
The queens hit the runway in front of Ru, Michelle Visage, Ross Matthews, and Carson Kressley. The category was beast couture, so everyone was severing some sort of monster adjacent look. This runway concept was interesting. Symone came out in a full furry suit. Everyone had their own take on what beast couture meant, which was fun.
As for the commercials, a lot of queens missed the mark with the branding concepts for their drinks. Symone really nailed it, as did Rosé. There was one queen in particular who had no real concept and had a look that was not on the same level as everyone else on the stage, but she was safe somehow. The critiques this week were confusing.
In the end, we got ourselves a double win! Symone and Rosé both were victorious! It came down to Utica, Tina, and Gottmik in the bottom three. Utica and Tina found themselves in the bottom two, fighting for their lives to My Humps by Black Eyed Peas. What a song. I don’t think Tina knew the words at all and brought out all her tricks to try to hide it, but she was not moving her lips much at all. I think that gave Utica the win, while Tina sashayed away.
What an interesting episode this week. Please let us know your thoughts in the comments below. Next week, the queens are roasting the miss congenialities of season’s past! That will be a fun one.
