RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars returns with 13 queens hungry for Ru-demption
This season of All Stars might not be ridic-dic-dic-du-du-dic-dic-dic-dic-dic-dic-du-du-diculous, but it's fun all the same
TV Reviews RuPaul
Put on your best walking-through-a-door-and-hitting-your-mark-then-posing-for-an-eternity look, because All Stars is back, babyyyyyyyyyy! It’s got everything: Queens you know and love! Queens you know, end of sentence! Coco Montrese in a wig made of Christmas tree tinsel! An abundance of testicle jokes! Delusional confidence! Miss Piggy! A large and very wobbly and stretchy pair of false breasts! The immaculate teeth of Ross Matthews! Wigs! What a bounty. What a cavern of delights. And what a perfectly acceptable but not all that thrilling premiere.
This recap will encompass the first two episodes of season six because All Stars arrived on its new home on Paramount+ with not one but two episodes. There’s a lot of ground to cover, so let’s get into it.
“All Star Variety Extravaganza”
Drag Race premieres are always crowded. There are the introductions and entrance looks, usually some kind of special guest, and in the case of All Stars, the now-traditional All Star Variety Extravaganza. After this season’s stars all make their entrances* and attempt to set up their redemption arcs, RuKleinEpstein&ParkerPaul teases one last queen entrance (what’s up, Miss Piggy) and then kicks things promptly into high gear by asking his guest to announce the first mini-challenge. The library, it seems, is open. Some highlights:
- Kylie, to Ginger: “Bitch, you are shaped like a deep breath.”
- Jiggly: “When the CDC said there should be no gatherings of more than 10 people, Pandora was like, ‘my show should be fine.’”
- Pandora: “Eureka O’Hara, from HBO’s We’re Here! We wish you weren’t.”
- Ginger: “Jiggly Caliente! May I call you… stupid?”
The question one must ask after the library challenge is a simple one: Did anyone say anything even half as funny as Jujubee’s “Miss Tyra, was your barbecue canceled?” read? The answer, as always, is no. Ginger wins, a victory that, based on the edit, is both well-deserved and unsurprising. This lucky bitch gets a trip to a goddamn Italian villa! I remember the days when a queen would win a maxi challenge and the prize was a three-night stay at a Motel 6 in Florida and a $10 gift certificate to Boobs4Queens.com.
Ru condragulates Ginger on her win, hints at a “game-within-a-game,” and then tells the queens to get ready to share their talents with the world. So they do! And it’s… fine. But it’s hard to break past fine because the variety show challenge is a lot. The queens need to be entertaining, first and foremost, but they also need to be strategic. Should they surprise the judges? Use it as a branding opportunity? Take a risk, or play it safe?
Wait, did I just use the word “safe”? Somewhere out there, Jan’s ears just perked up.
Jan sounds like a million bucks, but there’s something just too funny about her showing up talking a big game about how now she’s not going to pout if she’s safe because she can only control what she can control and do her best… only to spend most of the episode talking about being safe. And then singing a song about being safe. And then being announced as safe and heading back to “Jan-tucked” to be quietly salty about being safe while unconvincingly pretending to be cool with safe.
Still, it’s a surprise when neither she nor Eureka, who sings a song she wrote in honor of her late mother, winds up in the top. Joining them in the Jan zone safe zone are Jiggly (lip-syncing to her own rap track in a lackluster cheerleader look), Kylie Sonique Love (singing a jazzy tune without doing so much as a single backflip but looking stupidly hot), A’keria (another one lip-syncing to a branding track but absolutely serving while doing so), Scarlet (a really fun and sexy strip-tease with bubbles!), and Ginger (yet another personalized track, a disappointing showing). Abandon catchphrase remixes! Bring back Tati doing spoken word performance poetry!
The Jans queens head back to the Werkroom while the judges give the tops and bottoms—Pandora Boxx, Ra’Jah O’Hara, Yara Sofia, Silky Nutmeg Ganache, Trinity K. Bonet, and Serena ChaCha—their critiques. It’s reasonable to quibble about whether or not these six deserve their placements, but with the possible exception of Silky, it’s not hard to figure out who’s in which group. Silky’s performance of “This Little Light Of Mine” starts out strong. She easily involves the audience and plays the piano with some obvious skill. But as Ross says, it was less like being taken to church than it was “a church pew,” with the performance falling flat once singing and playing had to merge. Trinity ominously reminds us early in the episode that queens who do standup in the variety show always go home, then surprises no one at all by winding up in the bottom. And Serena ChaCha leans into her “I do wigs” thing with a Daft Punk-inspired number that seems promising at first but goes nowhere.
The top is made up of three very different performances. Perennial bridesmaid Pandora Boxx and glorious weirdo Yara Sofia both lip-sync to their own tracks, but each adds something more to the mix, with Pandora landing more than one solid joke and some unexpected silly string, and Yara, uh:
Yara jiggles those titties. It is, as Michelle puts it, “so stupid, and stupid is good on the main stage.” Rounding out the top three is Ra’Jah, who pulls a Bianca Del Rio and makes a dress on stage, but does it in a minute. Yara nabs the first win of the season, but is ultimately bested in the Legacy lip-sync (to Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk,” for some godless reason) by lip-sync assassin Coco Montrese. It’s revealed in Untucked that the queens overwhelmingly voted for Serena to exit, so the cash tip rolls over and Serena heads back to pack. We also see that Yara, who promises to “Manila everybody,” has picked the person she perceives as the bigger threat; had she and her undulating bosoms won the lip-sync, Trinity would have been eliminated.
But there’s a twist, of course: Serena’s exit is interrupted by the disembodied head of RuPaul, who tells her the aforementioned game-within-a-game has yet to begin. (Last Chance Kitchen?) It’s a decent premiere, with a somewhat lackluster variety show countered by an energetic and very game cast. And also by Yara’s titties.
Grade: B
* My fave entrance looks: Scarlet, Ginger, Pandora, Ra’Jah, and (girl gasp!) A’keria, just sparkling like Tinkerbell working in Vegas.
“The Blue Ball”
The most compelling aspects of a ball challenge are a) the creativity and resourcefulness of the queens, and b) as boring as it might sound, time management! So when you’ve committed to a 36-look runway that’s also a construction challenge, you’ve also committed to skipping much of what makes those runways so compelling. That’s not to say that construction challenges can’t be effective early in the season. Jiggly’s baked potato couture, while disastrous, is also absolutely iconic. But unconventional materials plus two other looks when there are still 12 queens in the mix? That makes for an episode that’s stretched too thin. Let’s break things down into categories.
Storyline: If you’re a Trinity K. Bonet fan—come on in, the water’s fine—then “The Blue Ball” bodes well for your viewing pleasure this season. Despite the fact that she winds up Jan safe, TKB gets quite a lot of screentime. She’s not Ra’Jah, but she comes damn close to winning the talking head game in these first two episodes. That’s largely due to a Trinity/Yara conflict set up in the final moments of the premiere, one heightened by the revelation that all of the queens except Serena voted for Serena to leave. All but Yara, who considers Trinity the bigger threat. No higher praise, really.
Just as TKB’s screentime should encourage her fans, Jiggly and Yara’s edits make it clear from the start that they’ll both either triumph or flop. Yara keeps her constructed look a secret, so it’s hard to predict which it might be. Jiggly, on the other hand, is pretty obviously doomed, not only because of the look she’s attempting but because her friendship with Ginger gets played up so much.
Almost no one else gets much screentime. Scarlet who? Pandora what? Silky Nutmeg Ga-where?
The judges: Big Freedia wipes the floor with Carson and Michelle, look-wise. That hair!
Look 1: Blue Betta Work. I’d love to write about all the looks. I did, in fact, but then this recap was 3,500 words, so let’s just go with some highlights and lowlights. The good: Ra’Jah kills it in her project manager look, placing a hard hat on top of a tall beehive. Kylie’s carpentry drag is sick (Carson has it right: “Debbie Harry for Angie’s List!”). Eureka wins the battle of the crossing guards with money an expertly tailored orange gown. Ginger’s Mario drag is a delight, top to bottom. Jiggly’s best look of the night is what Ru calls “Oscar De La Grouch,” a clever look made cleverer by the presence of a trash can adorned with the names of the other queens.
The not-so-good: Yara returns to the jiggle-those-titties titties, pairing them with massive tattooed arms in a construction worker look that’s confusing the the judges. Silky wears a sexy red jacket and carries some milk bottles with her face on them, like she had a look she loved and then bought a milk carrier on Etsy and called it a day. Trinity’s crossing guard drag is aided by a fun performance, but Eureka showed her up; had this been better, TKB might have landed in the top. Jan is a tire? But also a mouse?
Look 2: Blue Jean Baby. Again, Ra’Jah and Kylie are standouts, with Ra’Jah taking inspiration from Mary J. Blige and Kylie turning to Britney and Xtina and incorporating the trans pride flag. Jan wears an impressive patchwork bodysuit with exaggerated shoulders and a star butt, definitely her best look of the three. A’keria’s lace-up bodysuit and Bantu knots are incredible and no one can tell me otherwise. Pandora’s Dolly Parton-inspired look is reminiscent of her season-two country realness look, but a huge improvement. (And also Santino’s not there to tell her she’s creepy. SEE YA NEVER, BUTTHOLE!)
Jiggly’s Betty drag did more for me than the judges, though it’s definitely simple compared to some of the others. Carson says Yara’s two-piece denim look is a blue bandana print, but I think it’s actually meant to be pockets? It’s not denim, but it’s a print of denim. Not great, but not a disaster. Ginger’s jumpsuit underwhelms, but her thigh-high boots (“I think they’re knee-high on most people”) are A+.
Look 3: Blue Ball Bonanza. In a world before Utica’s sleeping bag dress, this look would have been even more impressive, but Ra’Jah’s structured mini and bolero are still striking and cement her win. Yara’s “FEMA tent realness” is pretty great, making it seem all the more producer-y when she winds up in the bottom two. Scarlet’s blue-sequinsed mermaid gown fits beautifully, and Trinity serves us fairy godmother meets Lily James in Cinderella and it is lovely.
Silky impressively makes a pair of pants from a quilt and then doesn’t know when to stop; the workmanship and the “what?” cancel each other out a bit, but combined they manage to distract from per 30-minutes-or-less paint job. And Jiggly is not dressed like a baked potato and I think that’s a win!
Deliberation and lip-sync: The Jans all head backstage as eventual winner Ra’Jah, Kylie, and Eureka get high marks from the judges. A’keria’s mixed reviews make it clear she’ll be safe. Jiggly gets the critique she was always going to get, and Yara’s missteps coupled with her “I’m gonna be the evil one and also I am definitely overconfident right now” edit secures her place in the bottom.
Jiggly breaks hearts by talking about how she wants to show the world someone other than the “broken girl” she was in season four. And she succeeds in that! But it’s not enough to get her through to the next episode. After a killer lip-sync between Ra’Jah and assassin Brooke Lynn Hytes, Ru announces a tie, and it’s revealed that both Ra’Jah and the group are sending Jiggly home. Well, back to the hotel until the game-within-a-game starts.
Seriously, that lip-sync! Despite the total bummer of Jiggly, a longtime fave of many a Drag Race viewer, heading home early, the episode ends on a high note thanks to the verve and vigor of Ra’Jah and Brooke Lynn’s “Miss You Much.” It’s not “Shut Up And Drive,” but it’s a classic in the making all the same. And that’s what we want from All Stars—some of the show’s greatest queens pushing themselves to new heights while Janet Jackson blares in the background.
Grade: B-.
Stray observations
- Hey y’all, I’m Allison, subbing for your pal and mine Kate Kulzick while she’s on maternity leave. I’ll do my best to fill her shoes, but luckily she’s also going to share some brief thoughts from time to time in a segment we like to call…
- Kate’s corner: “Thanks for covering All Stars, Allison! I can’t wait to read your reviews. My quick take: The variety show was a step up from recent entries, but there are still too many queens lip-syncing and not enough getting creative, like Ra’Jah and Scarlet. I was impressed with the overall level for the ball. This is a talented cast and the votes are only going to get tougher (still #TeamJiggly). Before the premiere I would have said All Stars 6 was Ginger’s to lose, but now, I have my eyes on Ra’Jah and Kylie and my fingers crossed for more lip-sync battles as memorable as Ra’Jah and Brooke Lynn’s.”
- Since she’s quoted in this episode, I simply must ask the question I’ve been asking for seasons now: Jessica Wild on All Stars when?
- Untucked: Lots of feelings, little meanness! Love to see it. Best soundbite goes to Kylie: “My strategy is to not tell the whole room what my strategy is.”
- I’m a huuuuge Muppets fan but I’ve gotta say the Miss Piggy segments were a little underwhelming. It might have worked better in the studio, but you know. Covid. (Yes she’s a puppet but she’s operated by a human. Sorry if that’s a spoiler.)
- “It’s very Saint-Tropez.” “Did you spend your whole childhood watching Drag Race?”
- “I’m congenial!”
- “I look like Anna Faris got stung by a bunch of bees in the shower, grabbed the shower curtain, wrapped herself up, and stumbled to safety.”
- My gif-t to you for the week: just perfect.
30 Comments
I will be ignoring these reviews until the season is over. Then, I will sign up for a Paramount+ free trial during which I will binge the show, and then cancel. Fuck Paramount+.
Like Bob and Trixie said on the Pit Stop, when it’s time for the All Stars talent show to air, expect 16 singles to drop. It’s getting predictable, which is worse than boring. Ra’jah and Scarlet captured my attention the most (seriously, a dress in a MINUTE – I was truly on the edge of my seat) but I gotta hand it to Yara: those titties were hilarious, stupid, and absolutely the kind of energy I was hoping she would bring.I wish they would push the ball until later in the seasons, when they’re closer to the top competitors and they have more time to show the werkroom interactions around the looks they’re preparing. It seems like in these first two episodes, we’ve heard from a handful of queens and that’s it. Hopefully there is more breathing room with future challenges to let us in on those more candid moments.
Agreed, all the singles are kind of rote—especially when they’re all, like, name-drop your most famous soundbite from your season. “Drag Is Not a Contact Sport!”I also think they should move the library challenge to later. Part of it was this timing–as we’re seeing a little more optimism in the world, and it seems fun to see all these old friends glowed up, the fun of reuniting and surprises, to turn the tone to cattiness seemed deflating. And because it’s early in the season, the reads were all based on reputation from the past season, not a familiarity with how they are post-debut-season.
Yes, but WoW can push out yet another album — and all the royalties that goes with that — by encouraging the queens to put out the tracks. That’s free IP and advertising, remember, as the queens sign their rights away when they agree to appear on this show.
So that’s why they put out such bad music, even though some of the girls are actually talented enough to do much better?Makes sense, in a totally exploitative way.
After a problematic but kinda memorable DR Down Under and while the caothic energy of Drag Race España is happening, AS6 feels so vanilla, with the same judge panel, the same introductions and the same lack of joy one feels every time The Hilarious is on the screen. It was… nice, but boring, and the reality part is just uninteresting, with all the queens fabricating a screen persona. Ra’Jah is a delight to watch, though, and this is my main motivation for staying as long as she is in.
Ra’Jah is a delight to watch, though, and this is my main motivation for staying as long as she is in.Now there’s a phrase I never would have believed that I’d be agreeing with immediately after watching S11. Go Ra’Jah!Let’s also note that no one is being grotesquely obnoxious after the first two episodes of this season. It’s a new record for a latter-day Drag Race season! I’m actually quite enjoying this.Also: Kylie is mesmerizing. And. hot, hot, hot! I’m so glad she came on this season.
hear hear!
Kylie definitely has the most stage presence so far. and I fucking loved the moment when Ra’jah was having an internal moment and Kylie just said “you go girl”, and then stepped back when she realized that Ra’jah was having a legit meltdown and gave her the space.
This is the best thing about doing deep dives into the first seasons of Drag Race for the AS cast: the kids have all grown up and out from the cartoon caricatures with which they were first represented on their respective seasons and many of them now realize that they have more to share than soundbites, memes, and .GIFfable moments with the audience. I’m just fairly surprised that WoW has allowed them to express themselves here as well-rounded adults. But then again, it’s still early in the season, and it’s never too late on this franchise for producer fuckery.
Haven’t watched the eps yet but I don’t care about spoilers so I read the review anyway. Honestly, love it Allison! Actually laughed out loud in many parts.Also, #TeamEureka.
I have a feeeeling we will see Jessica wild pretty soon
Big Freedia wipes the floor with Carson and Michelle, look-wise.Also: talent-wise. WHY has she not been on the panel before?! Big Freedia approached judging with the perfect mix of enthusiasm, professionalism, and an astute eye toward fashion, which is a refreshing change from the tired references we’ve seen from Carson. And why does it seem like Michelle’s been muzzled?
Just 86 the talent show already- as the All Stars pool gets more and more shallow, it’s the same 7 lipsyncs, two bad live songs and a few that genuinely surprise by doing something different (Gia, Tati, Manila) or by blowing everyone out of the water with the talent they’ve always had (DeLa, Aja, Trixie, Thorgy, etc). Also I’m surprised that TKB chose comedy considering that it’s well known producers (and Bianca) wrote her set in S6.
as the All Stars pool gets more and more shallowI hear you, but I note that the most exciting and successful acts in the talent show all came from the pegged also-rans of the season: Yara and Pandora are amazing and wonderful, but are also drag race race geriatrics (Pandora is older than I am! She’s 49!) and are not going to win this season unless Ru has an Hepiphany and decides to judge solely on merit. And you can tell that production still isn’t thrilled with either Scarlett or Jan. Ra’Jah may have a shot at the finale — she’s young enough and is getting what looks like a sweeheart edit — but this is still early going.If anything, this season is underscoring the fact that the regular season Drag Race format often takes out excellent queens before they can showcase their talents to the world. The Talent Show helps to correct that and lets them — and not the show — produce themselves and make a two-minute mission statement to the world. This helps them create branding that they can monetize after the show. It’s one of the few things that this format does fully for the contestants’ benefit.
Let’s get into it:Did anyone say anything even half as funny as Jujubee’s “Miss Tyra, was your barbecue canceled?” read?No sis; and they never will, because “Your grill is fucked up!” is arguably the best read of all time.That said, I liked these first two eps far more than I expected to, given the rapid pace at which Ru has been pumping out various editions of DR around the whole world*… Not to mention, I usually find myself underwhelmed by All-Stars anyway, as the standards do seem to only get lower with each following season. (I mean, Serena Cha-Cha, seriously???)Anyhoo, I digress…I adore the new attitude brought by Kylie Sonique, especially compared to her first appearance on S2, and she looks fan-fucking-tastic – I had not been keeping up on the gossip nor reading any boards, so I was NOT ready… but I am here for it. I hope she goes far in the competition.
Also so glad to see Pandora back; maybe in a season with Jan there for Ru to torture instead, my girl can finally get a long-overdue win. (Poor Jan, btw. Too dead at your co-opting her name as code for “safe.”)Scarlet Envy still looks fab, and I loved her bubble act.Silky and Ra’Jah were both not annoying to me, which was a pleasant surprise that I hope continues.Yara’s overconfidence after only one win was disappointing, but I still felt that the right queen went home. As beautiful as Jiggly is, her drag itself just was not up to par.*Side note; I thoroughly enjoyed DR: Down Under and I am thrilled Kita Mean won.
Serena Cha Cha aside, I’ve actually been pleasantly surprised by this line up. One of AS5’s biggest problems is that once the cast was announced you kinda knew Shea was going to take the crown, or at the very least who was going to make it to the end. This time I genuinely have no idea what’s going to happen and I think that can only be healthy if they insist on doing this many all stars seasons. I think the show is at least semi-aware of this too, with it rebranding itself as a vehicle for “second chances” as opposed to a series for the best of the best.Honestly it’s just a shame that the lip sync assassin twist is still here, because that idea was honestly dead on arrival.
Yeah, I’m so glad to see Pandora and Kylie back. S2 queens deserve the world (well most of ‘em).
(well most of ‘em). *SnickerzNow who on earth could you possibly mean?
I take Yara’s attitude less as a sign of overconfidence than as a clear and sure statement that she’s goin’ down with all guns blazing. She must know that her chance of winning the season is essentially nil: she’s 37 and allegedly has few social media followers, which is a statistic that apparently means something to WoW. I think that — knowing that she’s very much an underdog here — Yara’s very smartly decided to grab the showrunner’s attention by indulging in moustache-twirling theatrics and outre performances that will go a long way in building her brand with a younger audience. And it’s working! Half the cast has been MIA since the entrance (WHERE ARE YOU Pandora?!), but Yara’s been front and centre in every episode. Silky and Ra’Jah were both not annoying to me, which was a pleasant surprise that I hope continues.I’m telling you, it’s the best sign yet of the coming apocalypse. Or, rather, Rupocalypse. Confessional: I didn’t hate Serena on her one episode, either, although I’m sad that Akeria didn’t get to take her down because of WigGate ‘21.
Your take on Yara makes a lot of sense. I hope she goes far just because she always brings this demented energy.
Silky was true camp in that she thought her piano performance was incredible and it wasn’t. And not in a delusional way. It was kind of sweet.
Is it fair that on a talent show the win went to Yara bouncing a pair of rubber saggy tits? After rewatching the talent show i still laughed just as hard at her bit so I’d say yes. With so many boring lip syncs to mediocre original songs (Seriously Ginger Minj, what was that boring crap?) the comedy just stood outI’m not as down on Serena Chacha coming back. I was genuinely curious as to where she was at.Haven’t seen the ball episode but from the recaps it seems Jan should have been on the top and maybe even won.Hoping that Ra’Jah and kylie Sonique make it to the final 2
Is it fair that on a talent show the win went to Yara bouncing a pair of rubber saggy tits?Since it went beyond a parody of the entire challenge and into the realm of performance art, and yet still fit the bill perfectly, yes. Scarlet’s was also exuberantly stupid but wonderfully entertaining, and also deserved a top placement. This is why I continue to love this show. I thought all of the performances were pretty good, which is a refreshing change from past seasons. I’m also not sure I want to see anyone eating her own fist or popping out one balloon animal, although I’m still not sure if Art Simone’s talent was one of the best, or worst, things I’ve ever seen on reality TV.
Drag will never be a thing that I’m into, but I can appreciate a talented performer and the entertainment value of a general spectacle. My wife watches the show sporadically, and I’ll enjoy it for a few minutes and move on. It’s such a hyper-specific shtick that whatever demand I have for it will always be met pretty quickly. So what always strikes me when I see the show is that, being interested in this tangentially at best, I have still known who RuPaul is for like 25 years. Amazing career- must be an incredibly hard worker.
From this ‘Allison’ to ‘Katie’ can we get actual members of the LGBT+ community, or at least a person of color to review our shows.
Thank you-The community.
This is the second non-POC you have reviewing a show made with the power of People of Color. Do better.
My two cents: I’m a little peevish about producers making the decision to give the Janet Jackson number to Brooke Lynn rather than Coco Montrese, the latter of whom does Janet Jackson for a living in Vegas on the regular (at least in the time before…). Coco would have beaten that song up like an evil stepmother.
Um, where’s this week’s review?
I noticed the writing style was a little different (more tongue-in-cheek and opinion-based than a recap) then I realized this isn’t Kate! Welcome.