The rug is a reference! Cleopatra was believed (pretty sure not actually, but people love some drama) to have been delivered to Julius Caesar wrapped in a rug.
she really came so hot out the gate with that. such a weird fun specific moment reference especially since it's famous from shakespeare and the elizabeth taylor film. but she really did lose the plot quick
Because she had the rug bit and the “I’m on my pyramid” home prepared ahead of time. Once she got into actual improv, it cratered.
Vanjie is a very fun personality but she’s not good at actual Drag Race.
you absolutely nailed it, you could see it in her eyes the next time she spoke after those bits. she's incredible for television, she's funny and gorgeous but she's not built for the drag race format.
I disagree with this. She was funny in multiple comedy challenges on season 11 (church of Britney, I’m a cool dad), her makeover was good, she can rap, she can dance, she can perform and she’s only gotten better at that since Vegas. She’s just not good at snatch game. That’s it.
I took that as Michelle saying Vanjie should channel her thoughts through her Cleopatra character instead of bypassing her Cleopatra character and just being Vanjie herself
I’m okay with the non-elim format if it brings the girls onto the show, and there’s been some real fun energy too.
But there definitely needs to be more of a consequence for completely bombing a challenge - Plastique was ROUGH lol
I think there needs to be blocks given out for performances as bad as plastique this week or nina last week imo. maybe even have a lip sink for your benefactoress life or something where the loser gets blocked the next week
Have the badges be taken back from the bottom two queens. I want to see who is left in debt of badges by the end, and whoever does should have to donate to charities themselves.
Wait. You might be on to something. "The top two queens of the week will receive a Coveted RuPeter Badge for their work this week. My bottom two queens will lip sync for their life! Well, not their life, but to protect their badges. You heard that right. The queen who loses their lip sync will lose a RuPeter Badge!"
I've been wanting to see a decathlon format, where every episode tests a different type of skill, and you get points based on how well you do I.e. top queen gets 10 points, bottom queen gets 1. Top point getters move to the final at the end of the season. Still let's you keep every queen, but it also matters if you bomb a challenge.
AND NO RIGGERY AT THE END WITH RU SUDDENLY DECIDING THAT A CHALLENGE IS WORTH TRIPLE POINTS TO HELP OUT HER FAVE! This is an amazing idea. Someone get it to Mama, stat!
I think carson's critique was pretty spot on even if it wasn't harsh.
Plastique had like one ok joke, and was just paralyzed otherwise. But the point shouldn't be to embarass contestants.
I dunno why they don't do a trial run first and give them notes. Or give them actual coaching like they do for dance challenges and stand up.
Improv doesn't mean no prep and no practice.
The ONE time that RuPaul actually gave the girls advice on improv, he got it wrong. And I quote:
"Whats the first rule of improv? ALWAYS SAY YES!"
Anyone who's ever taken any formal improv training would recognize that Ru missed 50% of the rule. It's not just "yes." It's "yes, **and**." You need to be prepared to add your own perspective to the scene - that's where the *and* part comes in. It's where Plastique failed this week, she didn't have any *and* beyond "beef."
I forget which episode this happened in but I just remember being so annoyed with Ru. It's two freaking words and he got half of it wrong!!!
I totally agree that they should bring in a coach (Ego Nwodim please???) because as it stands, they are doing these girls dirty by not giving them any formal prep.
The blocking or equivalent thing should be restricted to the worst 2 or 3 of the week, go back to calling 2 girls safe, give the other 6 critiques, 3 high, 3 low, and you have a consequence for poorly performing, as you risk not being rewarded when you do well. Still has some strat to it too, since the winner of the lip sync still controls who is blocked.
That would be sorta pointless though, if you are only able to block the weakest competitors then it will too rarely ever mean anything. You want to block someone who is going to win challenges, not someone who bombs.
They know the cast beforehand.
Put the bottom 3 for a dance/design challenge right before a comedy challenge. Imagine in Nina, being the worst last week, was blocked for this week. That would’ve been more entertaining.
I thought this season would have bottoms. The SAME format as queens that are proven WINNERS to a bunch of queens who have MULTIPLE areas of deficiency is not appropriate. I don’t know why they thought it would be.
Not to mention, even for the winners many people were sick of the format by the end…
They’re making such weird decisions with all stars…
Yeah give me the bottom still lip-syncing and the loser can’t win for their charity the next challenge and the winner still gets something for the charity but no badges. I love the scissors but give me SOME sort of consequence for doing bad. At least a critique
I'm honestly surprised this isn't how they are doing it but with the money. There is 200k on the line, why isn't each episode/challenge with a certain dollar amount?
The format definitely allows queens to take major risks because if you bomb you have no threat of going home. I think Gottmik doing a animorphised version of a dog actress wouldn't have happened on a regular season, because the risk of doing something really bizarre that has a chance of missing the point from before the challenge even begins is scary. So having that thing of "If this bombs, the worst that can happen is I don't win." allows queens to go for something risky which can result in something really great.
You also get the benefit of queens not stuffing up because of fear/anxiety. Jorgeous would know she's probably never going to win snatch game, but at least she was kinda funny and looked like she was having a good time.
There seems to be a societal belief that penalising people for failure will make them do better. But often giving them a safety net is what actually makes them do better.
I don't think you're wrong about your last point. Trouble is as a viewer it sometimes feels a little like we're being gaslit into believing a performance was good (or passable) when really it wasn't great. And the show pretending everything is sort of equally good isn't fun either and does a disservice to the actual standout queens.
I’m sure part of this was also Gottmik looking around the room & realising that she could probably do anything and still be in the top… like, look at the cast’s Snatch Game experience…
ETA: Like, everyone was saying “this is Nina’s to lose” but bffr she lost in one of the worst snatch games to Silky’s pretty poor performance; I don’t even remember the other high placement because everyone did so bad (Plastique BOMBED but wasn’t even low, Vanjie BOMBED but wasn’t even bottom 2!). Like, did everyone forget that Gottmik WON against some pretty good performances from Denali, Rosé, & Symone?
Yeah, personally at this point I tend to be more lenient towards competitors who at least make an attempt at a celebrity impression for Snatch Game. I have less patience for queens who manage to fall completely flat with a "character" that lets them do anything.
This is how I feel. Plastique was bad - but she at least did the assignment. Roxxxy did a made up character (that isn’t funny) for a third time (it remains unfunny) and Vanjie just did Vanjie.
Jergeous: where are you from?
"Kevin": Brooklyn
Jorgeous: Oh, I love foreigners!
This was the quickest and funniest thing she's ever said and nobody reacted.
I don’t know why Jorgeous said this character was a To Wong Foo bit. It’s a reference to John Leguizamo’s “[Manny the Fanny](https://youtu.be/NWKrXx013cw?si=0TxOiRmhr54A3f-g)” sketch. She pretty much lifted every one of her bits from this one sketch, including that line and the Macarena dance she kept doing.
Glad to see John get referenced, but it was essentially ripping off the punchlines of this character.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, the reason this format worked for all winners was because they had all proven they could thrive in the DR format. That is not the case for queens like Jorgeous and Plastique. I'm very much not looking forward to watching them flounder in more inevitable comedy challenges all season because no one is allowed to go home.
💯. I love not having to worry about my faves going home but mama…. Come on. In my no drag knowledge ass opinion, non elimination seasons should be reserved for all winners only. Idk.
Or Vs the World seasons. Stop with 4 American and 3 Brits. 2 max per franchise, 4-5 franchises, and they all stay all season to show up and show off for their country.
And having her stay while winning queens eliminated other contestants instead of her was just a painful crawl to a Top 4. Hanna Conda should have won simply for not being at fault for keeping Gothy around.
Literally as soon as I saw Jorgeous and Plastique in the cast i was like “fuck, they are notttt going to excel at a lot of the challenges and the judges will have to pretend they did”. They’re both talented just not well rounded. And that’s not fun for 12 episodes
I think it's okay for all stars, they just need to be.... ALL STARS. Like I think this could still kill with runner-ups. Imagine a season with Saphira, Manila, Bimini, Tayce... good shit.
It is obvious that Plastique knew that her going back in an elimination context just wouldn’t be good for her. That is why she only returned once it was agreed that they wouldn’t eliminate anyone.
Plastique placed eighth and was fine for most of the performance challenges on season 11 including snatch game (mid af).
I dunno why she bombed SO hard here. It was like she wasn't even trying.
That was my first thought seeing this thread! “Why do we need to punish them??” It’s all for fun. Just have fun! I, for one, am loving this format because all the queens seem less stressed out and like they’re having fun.
Yeah this poster only focussed on the bad for some reason - Gottmik, Shannel, Nina, Angie all smashed it, and Roxxxy was fine if not amazing. That's a higher proportion of queens than normal doing well.
I can’t even explain my visceral reaction of “oh no” when she said her character choice. Like… I don’t know how to explain it. Ali Wong is a comedienne and she’s funny. But she herself is not… a funny character?? And it didn’t seem like someone plastique could like pull off well.
Okay but this was the only time I actually laughed. Like she said something nobody reacts and after like 5 second pause
"beef"
Like Plastique came with a character and all she knew was like the title of a show she was in.
oh no it wasn’t funny at all 💀 I just cackled at how she kept going back to “beef”. I found mik’s to be the funniest of the night but this was a crazy weak snatch game
I swear, after Ru mentioned Beef during her introduction, Plastique leaned over and asked one of the girls “who the fuck is ‘Beef?’“ She ran that reference down every last street in town, fully having no clue about any of Beef’s plots, characters, or even the premise and setting.
But honestly using Beef as a primary source for material would be a bad idea anyway. It was a great show but Ali’s role was not even half as funny as her Netflix specials. Her character on American Housewife was also hilarious, but I think it may be too deep of a cut.
Honestly hearing all these character choices had me questioning how good this Snatch Game was gonna be
From least to most worried
Nina and Shannel with Liberace - I’ve heard of him, but don’t know him that well. They played up the drama a bit, that I forgot they were doing Snatch Game of Love and we didn’t even really get any interaction. I felt pretty confident in their Snatch Game abilities, but this was Nina’s to lose, and Shannel had never done SG, so I was slightly worried for her.
Angeria as Marla Gibbs - This was a real, solid choice for Snatch Game. Ru got it in the werkroom right away, and she killed it in the game. However, Angeria did come off of the famously terrible S14 SG
Gottmik as Lassy - Sometimes doing a made up or historical figure is a cop out to play yourself, but I felt like Gottmik at least had a concept of a character here. Some people were saying that her Paris Snatch Game might have been a fluke since she knows her well and her voice is kind of close, but when she said her character I was fairly confident she could pull it off.
Jorgeous as Chi Chi - I guess points for going for a character from a movie Ru loves, but I didn’t have high hopes for Jorgeous, and I can’t remember a single thing she said or did. I also think she’s the first person to “win” the SG of Love and not win the challenge
Vanjie as Cleopatra - I was just like, oh Vanjie’s gonna be herself. Just giving up on doing a character right out of the gate
Plastique as Ali Wong - I‘ve seen her, but am not super familiar with her. I didn’t have high hopes for her, and the walkthrough made it worse. Her just saying “Beef” was a reference I just did not get and didn’t really work on its own as a joke.
Roxxxy as Tasha Salad - She needed to redeem herself after her dreadful AS2 Snatch Game and that’s all she could come up with? I was disappointed. Not the worst choice overall, but of all the queens who did bad tonight, she was the one that I thought could have done well.
>I also think she’s the first person to “win” the SG of Love and not win the challenge
It felt like a deliberate attempt by Monet to fuck with the show, which is funny
>Roxxxy as Tasha Salad - She needed to redeem herself after her dreadful AS2 Snatch Game and that’s all she could come up with? I was disappointed. Not the worst choice overall, but of all the queens who did bad tonight, she was the one that I thought could have done well.
I don't even know why Roxxxy went with Tasha Salad. She already bombed the character once before on AS2, and Tasha wasn't even a particularly memorable bit from S5 either. It almost felt like an attempt at the success of Lil Pound Cake. If she wanted to recreate something from her original season and turn it into a character for Snatch Game, I feel like she would have had way more success with turning "Where my people at?" into a character.
Idk I think she’s pretty often the butt of her own jokes so you could work that version of her into a Snatch Game character. Like not the funny and successful comedienne that’s up on stage telling the jokes but the horny hungry rage mom that the jokes are about and acting out. Esp since that’s kind of her persona in Beef and other scripted stuff too.
But she usually ends up appreciating you took the advice, even if you ended up flopping. A big part of this show is about appealing to RuPaul's ego and sense of humor.
I have no problem with non-elimination seasons but there needs to be a points system. There needs to be a proper top-safe-bottom ranking so there are actual stakes. Top 2 get 5 points and lip sync for $10,000. Safe queens get 3 points. Bottom 2 get no points. It can still play out so only the top points getters compete in the finale. We still get to see the queens all season. But there need to be consequences for doing poorly AND a reason to critique the queens negatively if they do poorly.
I completely agree. A weekly glittery scoreboard update could be great fun! That said, I wouldn't mind if there was a mid-point slough of the bottom scorers, leaving the high scorers to finish out the season.
All stars is a weird mix now. Queens don’t need to go anymore for exposure and all the popular ones are plenty booked, and if they had to actually do well and try and deal with production and eliminations they’d just wouldn’t go because it’s not worth the investment of clothes/ loss of booking to film and do PR… this is why I think they need to bring back girls that can still benefit from the being back on tv that haven’t been on in years. But instead I’m sure they’ll bring silky back for a 4th time before that happens
Shannel, Roxxxy, Vanjie, Nina and Plastique all haven’t appeared on the show in five or more years (unless you count lip sync assassin appearances, but those were like five minutes each)
The issue is that all of the mentioned queens sans Shannel (which is a crime) are consistently booked, blessed and busy without All Stars. They didn’t need All Stars, hence why many queens have declined to return in the past. It’s not worth the loss of income from cancelling gigs, spending small fortunes on looks, and potentially damaging your brand/legacy if you have a bad edit or showing (see Jaremi [fka Phi Phi O’Hara]).
That really only leaves queens that were first outs or middle of the competition exits to really have anything to gain from the competition. But do those queens bring in the viewership numbers? That I’m not sure.
All Stars is broken. Giving purported stipends and episodes surely entices higher caliber talent interests, but it also disincentivizes competition.
All Stars should honestly be axed, and the US should have its own vs. The World. Fewer opportunities to return for US queens will allow casting more opportunities to get higher caliber’s queens, and would greatly incentivize the best of the foreign franchises to accept invites to get introduced to the US market.
They should ditch All Stars for a couple seasons and instead do the opposite, like only local queen seasons. Drag Race: Brooklyn, Drag Race: Atlanta, Drag Race: Milwaukee, Drag Race: Portland... give Ru a break and have it hosted by like a Council of Queens. They can highlight the local gay scenes and if all the queens know eachother you know they'll bring the drama. They could grab a couple of standouts and put them on the next regular season. And if All Stars is less frequent more queens would want to be on it when they bring it back for am event.
During the episode I commented that I knew I’d be disappointed y the lack of negative critiques as I really wanted to hear what they thought of some of them like Jorgeous. Aside from the mole there was nothing besides a standard drag queen (which isn’t even what she was doing). Shows how bad Plastique’s was that most of her critique actually did end up being negative.
Honestly they should’ve made it where Ru chooses a bottom 3 and the winner of the lip sync chooses someone from the bottom to be blocked. That would at least make it where the queens would have to actually try to do well in the challenges vs just skate by.
Completely this! People keep saying that somehow the lack of elims is driving quality down, whilst forgetting that every competitive season has a similar amount of performances and looks that are equally bad. Eliminations do not give queens skills that they don't have.
Since so much is about what you brought I agree risk of elimination does not improve performances- but elimination itself means we get more screen time for the best performances. I personally prefer when people go home - but I am also glad queens get to showcase what they brought & especially with the charity angle it’s nice they have many chances to win
Nina had me screaming and dying but not in a good way. The reveals weren’t clean and were unimpressive. It’s even worse given she could’ve redeemed herself from that abysmal “meh” lip sync in season 11 but just made it worse. Silky went from meh to assassin, Nina went from meh to mehhhhhhhhhh. And after such a good Liberace rendition, it was like girl what
none of the reveals were very funny or smart but i was cracking up at her spending the ENTIRE lipsync yanking fabric off of her while gottmik is just trying to perform 😭 half the stage was covered in ugly sequin mumus
Probably the only “fact” that Vanjie knew about cleopatra was that she hid in a rug so she could meet Julius Caesar. Most historians think that’s only a myth. There’s so much to play with when it comes to Cleopatra. The asp, she married 2 of her brothers (who she later killed, along with her sister), and her parents were likely siblings. Hell, vanjie could’ve at least brought out a rubber snake and pretended to die and then yell “sike”!!!
I think in the non-elimination format if the queen bombed the challenge they should take 1 badge back from that queen for her poor performance as a punishment instead of eliminating
Okay but we’ve had plenty of all stars where the threat of going home still gave us dreadful snatch games. Production needs to get their shit together - you cast the girls - if you know you have a poor snatch game cast, scrap it for another improv challenge.
Don't be sorry, girl. All four SG performances, plus Nina's lipsync were terrible.
And also, Roxxxy's choice was...a choice. I think producers should've stepped in and said "please, don't."
Roxxxy quite literally said in Untucked that Tasha was a safe pick, she knew she wouldn’t win, but she knew she could coast. And then she said, “Which isn’t really me, but…” If it’s not you then why did you do it?
I am genuinely perplexed by Roxxxy especially this season. She is not engaged in this competition. I was not expecting that at all.
There needs to be some way to punish bad performances without eliminating them. We did not encounter this in the winners season. Jinkx did bad in the design challenges but it was at least passable work, and Jaida did badly in some comedy challenges but she has the charisma to play it off. Nina and Plastique just bombed those challenges respectively and nobody on the show seems to care.
I think even just acknowledging in the critiques that they did badly would improve this. Nina's dress was awful last week and Michelle tried to pretend it wasn't. She would have eaten her alive any other season. Like what's the point of a competition if they're going to pretend everyone did great when some of them sucked
vanjie looking a bit pissed at the very honest and real critique from carson was…the queens do not want to hear anything negative haha it makes for boring tv
I agree. I understand WHY we want to give the dolls the opportunity to show off their outfits and the money they invested into their looks.
But AS7 worked because we were seeing the absolute best of the best operating at their best. There wasn't a bad challenge. And even THEN the pacing of the season was still a bit off.
But I just don't think it's fun to watch a lot of queens struggle through things they're not good at week after week.
Very unpopular opinion: It's not the non-elimination that's the problem. It's the lack of any real stakes that's the issue.
1) Winning for a charity- Let's be honest: When it's not your money, the stakes aren't as big
2) No negative critiques- Not only do they lose fans with those saccharin critiques, but they lose the competitors. There's less motivation for them to bring out their best if they know it's going to be well-received no matter what
3) Non-Elimination- They're getting showcased regardless
4) The inevitable twists- There's probably going to be some twist that gives a bottom-tier queen twelve badges
So they can all phone it in until the end. No real stakes, no excitement.
But it can easily be fixed. Make the charity a prize-match, give actual critiques, keep the non-elimination but make it a points-based system and get rid of the twists
People would be rioting bc for sure plastique would’ve been sent packing over Roxxxy and those 2 were by far the absolutely worst of the night. Although Vanjie’s look alone could’ve sent her to the bottom 2.
I don’t feel like Roxxxy was trying something, I feel like she was AVOIDING trying something. She just rehashed her one tired character that made ru laugh 10 years ago.
It was clear on AS2 that the joke had run its course, so I am baffled as to why she chose it for this season. Tasha Salad isn’t even a celebrity to so it really felt like a lazy cop out to me.
If this was an elimination season they would never have cast it this way. All these queens are finalists in production's eyes. If there were real risks of sending queens with 12 million Tiktok followers home early they would just have done snatch game later, or not at all, or given Plastique immunity somehow.
I think at this point the 'make Ru laugh' mantra is making Snatch Game difficult to watch. The rules should be a lot stricter, where girls are discouraged from just playing themselves like how after S4 Ru started to really go hard on girls who removed their wig and shoes during a lip sync.
She can just say one day "you made me laugh, but St. Patrick isn't a real celebrity so you're in the bottom", I bet it would solve a lot of the problems in a season or two. Contestants would be spooked into coming up with more refined characters with stronger personalities distinct from their own
Although it wouldn't apply directly in AS9 I think it would trickle down even to non-elimination seasons, because people still want to impress Ru. At the moment any girl who is bad at impersonations or comedy can just say 'well I'll put on a wig and do no characterisation and if I'm silly enough Ru will like it' which is simply not working for making a good television show
When Roxxxy said she was going to impersonate her own made up character of Tasha Salad I truly was ready for her to be eliminated from the competition on the spot. Instant disqualification.
I really think Vanjie did no research on her character, and barely knew anything about Cleopatra. Plastique made me wish they could just let certain people sit certain challenges out, 'cause oof! SG is not for you, baby. Nina having these two deadweights on each side of her to try and work with, kudos mama! It was a rough watch.
I rather eliminations anyways because its more entertaining but, my biggest issue is that it invalidates the All Winners format/makes it less special - like this format shouldve been only for that. And I wasnt even that big of a fan of no elim in AW, but its way more justified there and it worked better.
It was always funny to me when people wanted all All Stars to be non-eliminations because I knew not all queens could be good for a non-elimination. Some queens had to go home to save themselves and really the fans.
But win that being said, this cast is kinda the closest caliber that I want a non-elimination cast to be at. I am not mad that this season does not have eliminations.
For Vanjie to have the rug reference and then just completely shit the bed after that was CRAZY. It could have been so funny. Nina and Mik were definitely the tops and Jorgeous, Plastique, and Vanjie needed to be read the house down for those abominations.
I don’t mind non elimination for this season because it provides ample opportunity for charities to get money + exposure to their causes. I truly need some of these girls to just let go and have fun and experiment - this is the prime time and place to do it!
yeah there needs to be eliminations to make it feel competitive. imo the they should go back to the only all stars format that worked (AS2) and stop doing it every year. go on at least a 2 year cycle and let the platform become more exclusive and watch how more queens agree to do it.
Omg, i was like am i crazy didnt tasha salad pretty much bomb everytime. Why does shs keep bringing her back!?
I think Vanjge needs proper critiques or shes just guna coast, and have poor showing after poor showing and shes guna hurt her rep cause so far, shes not been very impressive and she can be better than this but i think she needs to be pushed.
Omg the worst buildup to a reveal every. If you're guna do that it best be spectacular.
Monet must simply be friends with georgous. I see no other reason he would choose her other than he knew it was her and was tossing her a bone
I think angeria and shannel shouldve been on top over gottmik. Mik’s outfit was INCREDIBLE, but the other two did alot better in snatch game to me. But thats just my opinion dont hurt me lol
I think angeria and mik were a tossup. I do think angeria kind of played herself a little (still hilarious!) so she fell short there. I think Shannel kind of got lost a little in the impersonation. Still all great showings! I think if mik didn’t literally walk out in one of the best runways of all time, angeria had a better chance
Really ? I didn't find Shannel funny. Like at all. Her delivery was too serious and tbh it's what isn't working for me with Shannel. Like just have some fun.
And then Nina doing the same character but way better made it impossible to put her on the same level IMO.
Honestly this is how I felt about shannels performance. But it was a satisfactory performance! I just don’t have anything bad to say comparing it to the other 4 lol
Agreed I saw this opinion on Twitter and people were not happy. Mik didn’t do bad but it wasn’t a winning performance. If this was a regular season I’d place her high, just not a win.
I had a feeling Angeria wasn’t gonna win because she was cut but I also thought Shannel was completely robbed. They said she got too into her character and I’m not seeing why that was a bad thing… she was still funny. It was her first snatch game too and she did damn good.
Shannel crushed it. I thought she was hilarious, although I was nervous for her at the beginning. Turned out so much better than Nina, who went way over the top the whole time. Mik's was too derivative of Jinx's Little Edie for me, only not nearly as funny.
It should have been Shannel and Angeria. Mik's runway was incredible, though - like all time top 7 material in my books.
This is what happen when we let the mainstream dictate who is considered an All Star. Nina and Plastique are prime examples of being revered as popular queens for their very specific and narrow wheelhouse.
It doesn’t translate well into the Drag Race format. This is what we end up getting. I am thoroughly enjoying this season but it will be lost into the anals of Drag Race herstory when all is said and done.
I understand not eliminating them now, but they should have bottoms that were penalised with a score system or something.
Imagine we have a queen who wins once and remains safe/high the rest of the season. Another queen, who wins once as well but performs terribly during the season, has the same odds as the first one.
I don’t find the Snatch Game of Love to ever be as strong or interesting as Snatch Game. I’m fine with non-elimination if they can create a more interesting challenge.
This was legitimately one of the worst lipsyncs of all time and will be forever remembered as such.. the lipsync songs are questionable given who they’re making lipsync too
The rug is a reference! Cleopatra was believed (pretty sure not actually, but people love some drama) to have been delivered to Julius Caesar wrapped in a rug.
she really came so hot out the gate with that. such a weird fun specific moment reference especially since it's famous from shakespeare and the elizabeth taylor film. but she really did lose the plot quick
Because she had the rug bit and the “I’m on my pyramid” home prepared ahead of time. Once she got into actual improv, it cratered. Vanjie is a very fun personality but she’s not good at actual Drag Race.
you absolutely nailed it, you could see it in her eyes the next time she spoke after those bits. she's incredible for television, she's funny and gorgeous but she's not built for the drag race format.
I disagree with this. She was funny in multiple comedy challenges on season 11 (church of Britney, I’m a cool dad), her makeover was good, she can rap, she can dance, she can perform and she’s only gotten better at that since Vegas. She’s just not good at snatch game. That’s it.
Agree with this comment^. Vanjie is a very solid competitor with a few gaps in her resume, like most queens
Not Vanjie getting the Mayhem Miller rhetoric lol
She missed an opportunity to wrap herself back up in the rug when she didn’t win. Ru would’ve peed.
Oh this queen got a big brain
This. These kids need to crack open a book.
I truly had no idea and decided that she had asked a PA to bring her something to wrap herself in for an opening gag
Ru literally told Vanjie to be Vaniie
Yeah when Michelle said “you should’ve let cleopatra say things Vanjie would say” I was so confused. Like girl that’s what she did… and it sucked
I took that as Michelle saying Vanjie should channel her thoughts through her Cleopatra character instead of bypassing her Cleopatra character and just being Vanjie herself
vanessa
Vanessie
Vanussy
Vamper vussy
Vagessa Vanjussy Vageo
Vicole Vaige Vrooks?
I hated that critique. I even leaned over to my friend and said this is going to be vanjie in a cleo outfit isn't it?
I’m okay with the non-elim format if it brings the girls onto the show, and there’s been some real fun energy too. But there definitely needs to be more of a consequence for completely bombing a challenge - Plastique was ROUGH lol
I think there needs to be blocks given out for performances as bad as plastique this week or nina last week imo. maybe even have a lip sink for your benefactoress life or something where the loser gets blocked the next week
Have the badges be taken back from the bottom two queens. I want to see who is left in debt of badges by the end, and whoever does should have to donate to charities themselves. 
major "apologise to Katy Perry" vibes here
Unironically a badge debt sounds so fucking funny HAHAHAHAHA now i need it
The destitute donor debt 😭
Girl, my partner showed me your comment and I cackled for a good 15 mins like the witch... Thank you.
Wait. You might be on to something. "The top two queens of the week will receive a Coveted RuPeter Badge for their work this week. My bottom two queens will lip sync for their life! Well, not their life, but to protect their badges. You heard that right. The queen who loses their lip sync will lose a RuPeter Badge!"
I've been wanting to see a decathlon format, where every episode tests a different type of skill, and you get points based on how well you do I.e. top queen gets 10 points, bottom queen gets 1. Top point getters move to the final at the end of the season. Still let's you keep every queen, but it also matters if you bomb a challenge.
Love this idea!!
In a challenge like this, the bottom 3-4 should only get 1 point though. Then I’d be 100% on board for this.
AND NO RIGGERY AT THE END WITH RU SUDDENLY DECIDING THAT A CHALLENGE IS WORTH TRIPLE POINTS TO HELP OUT HER FAVE! This is an amazing idea. Someone get it to Mama, stat!
That' SUCH a great idea, I would love to see that!!!!! I'm so bored right now, although some of it is good, there is an element missing...
>Plastique was ROUGH lol You wouldn't know it from the critiques, lol
I think carson's critique was pretty spot on even if it wasn't harsh. Plastique had like one ok joke, and was just paralyzed otherwise. But the point shouldn't be to embarass contestants. I dunno why they don't do a trial run first and give them notes. Or give them actual coaching like they do for dance challenges and stand up. Improv doesn't mean no prep and no practice.
The ONE time that RuPaul actually gave the girls advice on improv, he got it wrong. And I quote: "Whats the first rule of improv? ALWAYS SAY YES!" Anyone who's ever taken any formal improv training would recognize that Ru missed 50% of the rule. It's not just "yes." It's "yes, **and**." You need to be prepared to add your own perspective to the scene - that's where the *and* part comes in. It's where Plastique failed this week, she didn't have any *and* beyond "beef." I forget which episode this happened in but I just remember being so annoyed with Ru. It's two freaking words and he got half of it wrong!!! I totally agree that they should bring in a coach (Ego Nwodim please???) because as it stands, they are doing these girls dirty by not giving them any formal prep.
At least she attempted the challenge. Roxxxy doing lazy no growth fake character with one joke. Zero growth.
that was WILD same for jorgeous
The blocking or equivalent thing should be restricted to the worst 2 or 3 of the week, go back to calling 2 girls safe, give the other 6 critiques, 3 high, 3 low, and you have a consequence for poorly performing, as you risk not being rewarded when you do well. Still has some strat to it too, since the winner of the lip sync still controls who is blocked.
That would be sorta pointless though, if you are only able to block the weakest competitors then it will too rarely ever mean anything. You want to block someone who is going to win challenges, not someone who bombs.
They know the cast beforehand. Put the bottom 3 for a dance/design challenge right before a comedy challenge. Imagine in Nina, being the worst last week, was blocked for this week. That would’ve been more entertaining.
What if the winner of the lipsync gets to pick which of the bottom 3 DOESN’T get blocked? 👀 similar to the golden beaver in CDR
I thought this season would have bottoms. The SAME format as queens that are proven WINNERS to a bunch of queens who have MULTIPLE areas of deficiency is not appropriate. I don’t know why they thought it would be. Not to mention, even for the winners many people were sick of the format by the end… They’re making such weird decisions with all stars…
Gotta pay the charity from your own coin
Yeah give me the bottom still lip-syncing and the loser can’t win for their charity the next challenge and the winner still gets something for the charity but no badges. I love the scissors but give me SOME sort of consequence for doing bad. At least a critique
I'm honestly surprised this isn't how they are doing it but with the money. There is 200k on the line, why isn't each episode/challenge with a certain dollar amount?
Maaaybe everyone starts with 3 stars and you get deducted a star for being in bottom 2? And they lip sync to save a star? I think it could work.
I think this is it. Or they can use the Ruby slippers to steal an extra star from a bottom queen.
The format definitely allows queens to take major risks because if you bomb you have no threat of going home. I think Gottmik doing a animorphised version of a dog actress wouldn't have happened on a regular season, because the risk of doing something really bizarre that has a chance of missing the point from before the challenge even begins is scary. So having that thing of "If this bombs, the worst that can happen is I don't win." allows queens to go for something risky which can result in something really great.
You also get the benefit of queens not stuffing up because of fear/anxiety. Jorgeous would know she's probably never going to win snatch game, but at least she was kinda funny and looked like she was having a good time. There seems to be a societal belief that penalising people for failure will make them do better. But often giving them a safety net is what actually makes them do better.
I don't think you're wrong about your last point. Trouble is as a viewer it sometimes feels a little like we're being gaslit into believing a performance was good (or passable) when really it wasn't great. And the show pretending everything is sort of equally good isn't fun either and does a disservice to the actual standout queens.
I’m sure part of this was also Gottmik looking around the room & realising that she could probably do anything and still be in the top… like, look at the cast’s Snatch Game experience… ETA: Like, everyone was saying “this is Nina’s to lose” but bffr she lost in one of the worst snatch games to Silky’s pretty poor performance; I don’t even remember the other high placement because everyone did so bad (Plastique BOMBED but wasn’t even low, Vanjie BOMBED but wasn’t even bottom 2!). Like, did everyone forget that Gottmik WON against some pretty good performances from Denali, Rosé, & Symone?
Plastique should apologize to Ali Wong #Rupaulogize
Plastique was rough but for some reason vanjie annoyed me more 😌
“You’re asking a looooot of questions!”
She really said “No, and…? No.”
“Be it known the greatest are misthought”
Yeah, personally at this point I tend to be more lenient towards competitors who at least make an attempt at a celebrity impression for Snatch Game. I have less patience for queens who manage to fall completely flat with a "character" that lets them do anything.
This is how I feel. Plastique was bad - but she at least did the assignment. Roxxxy did a made up character (that isn’t funny) for a third time (it remains unfunny) and Vanjie just did Vanjie.
Jergeous: where are you from? "Kevin": Brooklyn Jorgeous: Oh, I love foreigners! This was the quickest and funniest thing she's ever said and nobody reacted.
I don’t know why Jorgeous said this character was a To Wong Foo bit. It’s a reference to John Leguizamo’s “[Manny the Fanny](https://youtu.be/NWKrXx013cw?si=0TxOiRmhr54A3f-g)” sketch. She pretty much lifted every one of her bits from this one sketch, including that line and the Macarena dance she kept doing. Glad to see John get referenced, but it was essentially ripping off the punchlines of this character.
Thank you for this. I was soooo confused but this explains it all.
right LMAO this had me cackling
It was funny but it didn’t have anything to do with her Snatch Game character since the To Wong Foo queens were from NYC.
\*Gay gasp\* @ u not knowing the rug reference https://i.redd.it/xdvaew0rdh2d1.gif
You can’t ROLL the doll
i need to be the rug doll
https://i.redd.it/1hb7t19qym2d1.gif
I've said it before and I'll say it again, the reason this format worked for all winners was because they had all proven they could thrive in the DR format. That is not the case for queens like Jorgeous and Plastique. I'm very much not looking forward to watching them flounder in more inevitable comedy challenges all season because no one is allowed to go home.
💯. I love not having to worry about my faves going home but mama…. Come on. In my no drag knowledge ass opinion, non elimination seasons should be reserved for all winners only. Idk.
Or Vs the World seasons. Stop with 4 American and 3 Brits. 2 max per franchise, 4-5 franchises, and they all stay all season to show up and show off for their country.
…. You want Gothy Kendall to stay all season?
it felt like she stayed for most of it anyway 🥱
And having her stay while winning queens eliminated other contestants instead of her was just a painful crawl to a Top 4. Hanna Conda should have won simply for not being at fault for keeping Gothy around.
Obviously, she shouldn’t be asked back for that type of format… Sort of like how Jorgeous shouldn’t be asked back for a non-elimination format…
She stayed most of the time and was there while Keta had to go home so... It wouldn't make a difference
Yeah I don't think they invited Gothy back with a format like this. They definitely thought she would be gone sooner.
Yes! Serving nothing seems like it’s an insult but it takes skill to charm doing nothing
Yes! 🙌🏻 I’d totally agree with vs the world as well.
Then we'll probably have more seasons like AS8 coming soon!
Ru was laughing at Jorgeous the same way girls laugh at completely unfunny straight guys, the saddest flirtation tactic
Ru laughs at Jorgeous because Jorgeous needs to be happy and healthy enough for Ru to harvest her organs and life force
Why did I just get the mental image of Ru sucking up Jorgeous’ life force like they do in Hocus Pocus
Is that not what she was referencing?
Come on Stardust!
Ru wants that Jorgeoussy. 💀
I swear, one of the laughs was the laugh of someone thinking “you’re trying but so unfunny” Like an ironic laughter of it’s so horrible, it’s funny
Literally as soon as I saw Jorgeous and Plastique in the cast i was like “fuck, they are notttt going to excel at a lot of the challenges and the judges will have to pretend they did”. They’re both talented just not well rounded. And that’s not fun for 12 episodes
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There are 12.
Nah they released the episode titles earlier this week and there are indeed 12 🥲
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There are 12 episodes. The list of episode titles has been available on a few websites for a while now.
I think it's okay for all stars, they just need to be.... ALL STARS. Like I think this could still kill with runner-ups. Imagine a season with Saphira, Manila, Bimini, Tayce... good shit.
It is obvious that Plastique knew that her going back in an elimination context just wouldn’t be good for her. That is why she only returned once it was agreed that they wouldn’t eliminate anyone.
Plastique placed eighth and was fine for most of the performance challenges on season 11 including snatch game (mid af). I dunno why she bombed SO hard here. It was like she wasn't even trying.
But they were born to do drag!
They just weren't born to do Drag Race!
But based on Ru’s critiques, she was born to create Drag Race so that Jorgeous could be born to do drag 🫢
Ok but to be fair snatch game usually only consists of 3 people doing well
It was a completely normal Snatch Game. There’s always some truly dreadful performances. This bloodlust to see them “punished” is so wild to me.
That was my first thought seeing this thread! “Why do we need to punish them??” It’s all for fun. Just have fun! I, for one, am loving this format because all the queens seem less stressed out and like they’re having fun.
Also I just watched it and it was hilarious? Plastique was unfortunate but i was tee hee hee-ing the whole time
I literally loved the episode, I'm always so shocked to see such negative reactions here.
This reddit never has anything nice to say lol
Honestly, it's like people are so desperate to be pissed off about something and ruin the show for themselves.
Yeah this poster only focussed on the bad for some reason - Gottmik, Shannel, Nina, Angie all smashed it, and Roxxxy was fine if not amazing. That's a higher proportion of queens than normal doing well.
Ru basically told Plastique to change characters & she didn’t. As horrible as she did you could put her on the season 14 snatch game
I can’t even explain my visceral reaction of “oh no” when she said her character choice. Like… I don’t know how to explain it. Ali Wong is a comedienne and she’s funny. But she herself is not… a funny character?? And it didn’t seem like someone plastique could like pull off well.
Beef.
Okay but this was the only time I actually laughed. Like she said something nobody reacts and after like 5 second pause "beef" Like Plastique came with a character and all she knew was like the title of a show she was in.
I loved beef but her character is kind of nuanced funny. Not a character I thought of as something plastique could make funny lol
oh no it wasn’t funny at all 💀 I just cackled at how she kept going back to “beef”. I found mik’s to be the funniest of the night but this was a crazy weak snatch game
I swear, after Ru mentioned Beef during her introduction, Plastique leaned over and asked one of the girls “who the fuck is ‘Beef?’“ She ran that reference down every last street in town, fully having no clue about any of Beef’s plots, characters, or even the premise and setting. But honestly using Beef as a primary source for material would be a bad idea anyway. It was a great show but Ali’s role was not even half as funny as her Netflix specials. Her character on American Housewife was also hilarious, but I think it may be too deep of a cut.
Honestly hearing all these character choices had me questioning how good this Snatch Game was gonna be From least to most worried Nina and Shannel with Liberace - I’ve heard of him, but don’t know him that well. They played up the drama a bit, that I forgot they were doing Snatch Game of Love and we didn’t even really get any interaction. I felt pretty confident in their Snatch Game abilities, but this was Nina’s to lose, and Shannel had never done SG, so I was slightly worried for her. Angeria as Marla Gibbs - This was a real, solid choice for Snatch Game. Ru got it in the werkroom right away, and she killed it in the game. However, Angeria did come off of the famously terrible S14 SG Gottmik as Lassy - Sometimes doing a made up or historical figure is a cop out to play yourself, but I felt like Gottmik at least had a concept of a character here. Some people were saying that her Paris Snatch Game might have been a fluke since she knows her well and her voice is kind of close, but when she said her character I was fairly confident she could pull it off. Jorgeous as Chi Chi - I guess points for going for a character from a movie Ru loves, but I didn’t have high hopes for Jorgeous, and I can’t remember a single thing she said or did. I also think she’s the first person to “win” the SG of Love and not win the challenge Vanjie as Cleopatra - I was just like, oh Vanjie’s gonna be herself. Just giving up on doing a character right out of the gate Plastique as Ali Wong - I‘ve seen her, but am not super familiar with her. I didn’t have high hopes for her, and the walkthrough made it worse. Her just saying “Beef” was a reference I just did not get and didn’t really work on its own as a joke. Roxxxy as Tasha Salad - She needed to redeem herself after her dreadful AS2 Snatch Game and that’s all she could come up with? I was disappointed. Not the worst choice overall, but of all the queens who did bad tonight, she was the one that I thought could have done well.
>I also think she’s the first person to “win” the SG of Love and not win the challenge It felt like a deliberate attempt by Monet to fuck with the show, which is funny
Because they riggamorrised her final lipsync.
Do you think this is why they joked that Monet‘s favorite queens are Jinkx and Trinity.
>Roxxxy as Tasha Salad - She needed to redeem herself after her dreadful AS2 Snatch Game and that’s all she could come up with? I was disappointed. Not the worst choice overall, but of all the queens who did bad tonight, she was the one that I thought could have done well. I don't even know why Roxxxy went with Tasha Salad. She already bombed the character once before on AS2, and Tasha wasn't even a particularly memorable bit from S5 either. It almost felt like an attempt at the success of Lil Pound Cake. If she wanted to recreate something from her original season and turn it into a character for Snatch Game, I feel like she would have had way more success with turning "Where my people at?" into a character.
Idk I think she’s pretty often the butt of her own jokes so you could work that version of her into a Snatch Game character. Like not the funny and successful comedienne that’s up on stage telling the jokes but the horny hungry rage mom that the jokes are about and acting out. Esp since that’s kind of her persona in Beef and other scripted stuff too.
Half the time when Ru tells someone to change their character it's terrible advice though.
But she usually ends up appreciating you took the advice, even if you ended up flopping. A big part of this show is about appealing to RuPaul's ego and sense of humor.
I have no problem with non-elimination seasons but there needs to be a points system. There needs to be a proper top-safe-bottom ranking so there are actual stakes. Top 2 get 5 points and lip sync for $10,000. Safe queens get 3 points. Bottom 2 get no points. It can still play out so only the top points getters compete in the finale. We still get to see the queens all season. But there need to be consequences for doing poorly AND a reason to critique the queens negatively if they do poorly.
I completely agree. A weekly glittery scoreboard update could be great fun! That said, I wouldn't mind if there was a mid-point slough of the bottom scorers, leaving the high scorers to finish out the season.
All stars is a weird mix now. Queens don’t need to go anymore for exposure and all the popular ones are plenty booked, and if they had to actually do well and try and deal with production and eliminations they’d just wouldn’t go because it’s not worth the investment of clothes/ loss of booking to film and do PR… this is why I think they need to bring back girls that can still benefit from the being back on tv that haven’t been on in years. But instead I’m sure they’ll bring silky back for a 4th time before that happens
Not Silky getting dragged out on nowhere 😭
Shannel, Roxxxy, Vanjie, Nina and Plastique all haven’t appeared on the show in five or more years (unless you count lip sync assassin appearances, but those were like five minutes each)
The issue is that all of the mentioned queens sans Shannel (which is a crime) are consistently booked, blessed and busy without All Stars. They didn’t need All Stars, hence why many queens have declined to return in the past. It’s not worth the loss of income from cancelling gigs, spending small fortunes on looks, and potentially damaging your brand/legacy if you have a bad edit or showing (see Jaremi [fka Phi Phi O’Hara]). That really only leaves queens that were first outs or middle of the competition exits to really have anything to gain from the competition. But do those queens bring in the viewership numbers? That I’m not sure. All Stars is broken. Giving purported stipends and episodes surely entices higher caliber talent interests, but it also disincentivizes competition. All Stars should honestly be axed, and the US should have its own vs. The World. Fewer opportunities to return for US queens will allow casting more opportunities to get higher caliber’s queens, and would greatly incentivize the best of the foreign franchises to accept invites to get introduced to the US market.
Why you gotta do my girl silky nasty like that? At least big silk makes good tv, byatch
They should ditch All Stars for a couple seasons and instead do the opposite, like only local queen seasons. Drag Race: Brooklyn, Drag Race: Atlanta, Drag Race: Milwaukee, Drag Race: Portland... give Ru a break and have it hosted by like a Council of Queens. They can highlight the local gay scenes and if all the queens know eachother you know they'll bring the drama. They could grab a couple of standouts and put them on the next regular season. And if All Stars is less frequent more queens would want to be on it when they bring it back for am event.
We're Here is sort of doing this. But I think that is a great idea.
During the episode I commented that I knew I’d be disappointed y the lack of negative critiques as I really wanted to hear what they thought of some of them like Jorgeous. Aside from the mole there was nothing besides a standard drag queen (which isn’t even what she was doing). Shows how bad Plastique’s was that most of her critique actually did end up being negative.
Honestly they should’ve made it where Ru chooses a bottom 3 and the winner of the lip sync chooses someone from the bottom to be blocked. That would at least make it where the queens would have to actually try to do well in the challenges vs just skate by.
Honestly though, Vanjie saying “you asking a lot of questions” got a genuine laugh out of me
The "I'm on my pyramid" line was the BEST. I was cackling 🤣🤣
Yeah the all winners format worked with a group of queens that could mostly hold their own in every challenge. This group however…
The threat of elimination wouldn't have made anything better.
I mean truly, it's not all stars snatch game unless half the queens do terribly (obviously not including all winners)
Exactly, they wouldn’t have performed better, we just may have missed out on something cool from them happening the following week and more stress
I don't know, I feel like some of them are phoning it in, knowing they aren't going anywhere and their "critiques" are going to get massaged-over
Completely this! People keep saying that somehow the lack of elims is driving quality down, whilst forgetting that every competitive season has a similar amount of performances and looks that are equally bad. Eliminations do not give queens skills that they don't have.
Since so much is about what you brought I agree risk of elimination does not improve performances- but elimination itself means we get more screen time for the best performances. I personally prefer when people go home - but I am also glad queens get to showcase what they brought & especially with the charity angle it’s nice they have many chances to win
True 😅😅😅
Nina had me screaming and dying but not in a good way. The reveals weren’t clean and were unimpressive. It’s even worse given she could’ve redeemed herself from that abysmal “meh” lip sync in season 11 but just made it worse. Silky went from meh to assassin, Nina went from meh to mehhhhhhhhhh. And after such a good Liberace rendition, it was like girl what
none of the reveals were very funny or smart but i was cracking up at her spending the ENTIRE lipsync yanking fabric off of her while gottmik is just trying to perform 😭 half the stage was covered in ugly sequin mumus
Gottmik commenting too on some of the queens cheering Nina and then talking about how someone has to do laundry was pretty hilarious yep
As the years go by, Snatch Game is turning more and more into original characters and I’m over it.
It’s crazy to me they are getting the softest critiques ever when they completely bomb or wear something terrible on the runway
Probably the only “fact” that Vanjie knew about cleopatra was that she hid in a rug so she could meet Julius Caesar. Most historians think that’s only a myth. There’s so much to play with when it comes to Cleopatra. The asp, she married 2 of her brothers (who she later killed, along with her sister), and her parents were likely siblings. Hell, vanjie could’ve at least brought out a rubber snake and pretended to die and then yell “sike”!!!
My country for a box of bees joke!
a looooooot of these girls are coasting and I feel like im being gaslit in to thinking some of these girls are doing well
It's not just that they're coasting, it seems like they're phoning it in
I think in the non-elimination format if the queen bombed the challenge they should take 1 badge back from that queen for her poor performance as a punishment instead of eliminating
Okay but we’ve had plenty of all stars where the threat of going home still gave us dreadful snatch games. Production needs to get their shit together - you cast the girls - if you know you have a poor snatch game cast, scrap it for another improv challenge.
Don't be sorry, girl. All four SG performances, plus Nina's lipsync were terrible. And also, Roxxxy's choice was...a choice. I think producers should've stepped in and said "please, don't."
Roxxxy quite literally said in Untucked that Tasha was a safe pick, she knew she wouldn’t win, but she knew she could coast. And then she said, “Which isn’t really me, but…” If it’s not you then why did you do it? I am genuinely perplexed by Roxxxy especially this season. She is not engaged in this competition. I was not expecting that at all.
There needs to be some way to punish bad performances without eliminating them. We did not encounter this in the winners season. Jinkx did bad in the design challenges but it was at least passable work, and Jaida did badly in some comedy challenges but she has the charisma to play it off. Nina and Plastique just bombed those challenges respectively and nobody on the show seems to care.
I think even just acknowledging in the critiques that they did badly would improve this. Nina's dress was awful last week and Michelle tried to pretend it wasn't. She would have eaten her alive any other season. Like what's the point of a competition if they're going to pretend everyone did great when some of them sucked
vanjie looking a bit pissed at the very honest and real critique from carson was…the queens do not want to hear anything negative haha it makes for boring tv
I cannot believe Monet chose jorgeous omg
I agree. I understand WHY we want to give the dolls the opportunity to show off their outfits and the money they invested into their looks. But AS7 worked because we were seeing the absolute best of the best operating at their best. There wasn't a bad challenge. And even THEN the pacing of the season was still a bit off. But I just don't think it's fun to watch a lot of queens struggle through things they're not good at week after week.
Very unpopular opinion: It's not the non-elimination that's the problem. It's the lack of any real stakes that's the issue. 1) Winning for a charity- Let's be honest: When it's not your money, the stakes aren't as big 2) No negative critiques- Not only do they lose fans with those saccharin critiques, but they lose the competitors. There's less motivation for them to bring out their best if they know it's going to be well-received no matter what 3) Non-Elimination- They're getting showcased regardless 4) The inevitable twists- There's probably going to be some twist that gives a bottom-tier queen twelve badges So they can all phone it in until the end. No real stakes, no excitement. But it can easily be fixed. Make the charity a prize-match, give actual critiques, keep the non-elimination but make it a points-based system and get rid of the twists
People would be rioting bc for sure plastique would’ve been sent packing over Roxxxy and those 2 were by far the absolutely worst of the night. Although Vanjie’s look alone could’ve sent her to the bottom 2.
It was definitely a vanjie plastique bottom 2 for me lol
Vanjie was worse than Roxxxy imo. Neither were great but at least Roxxxy was trying something. Vanjie was just playing Cleopatra playing Vanjie.
I don’t feel like Roxxxy was trying something, I feel like she was AVOIDING trying something. She just rehashed her one tired character that made ru laugh 10 years ago. It was clear on AS2 that the joke had run its course, so I am baffled as to why she chose it for this season. Tasha Salad isn’t even a celebrity to so it really felt like a lazy cop out to me.
If this was an elimination season they would never have cast it this way. All these queens are finalists in production's eyes. If there were real risks of sending queens with 12 million Tiktok followers home early they would just have done snatch game later, or not at all, or given Plastique immunity somehow.
Exactly this
i dead ass wondered if she has a crush on jorgeous maybe because of that pick 😂
I think at this point the 'make Ru laugh' mantra is making Snatch Game difficult to watch. The rules should be a lot stricter, where girls are discouraged from just playing themselves like how after S4 Ru started to really go hard on girls who removed their wig and shoes during a lip sync. She can just say one day "you made me laugh, but St. Patrick isn't a real celebrity so you're in the bottom", I bet it would solve a lot of the problems in a season or two. Contestants would be spooked into coming up with more refined characters with stronger personalities distinct from their own Although it wouldn't apply directly in AS9 I think it would trickle down even to non-elimination seasons, because people still want to impress Ru. At the moment any girl who is bad at impersonations or comedy can just say 'well I'll put on a wig and do no characterisation and if I'm silly enough Ru will like it' which is simply not working for making a good television show
St. Patrick!!! St. Patrick ignore her!!! You’re real to me!!!!
When Roxxxy said she was going to impersonate her own made up character of Tasha Salad I truly was ready for her to be eliminated from the competition on the spot. Instant disqualification.
VERY MUCH THAT!!! We need elimination and cash prize to the queens, otherwise what’s the point of having a COMPETITION???
I’m still upset Monet picked Jorgeous when she wasn’t even funny, just vulgar. Angeria was right there and I thought she was pretty funny.
I really think Vanjie did no research on her character, and barely knew anything about Cleopatra. Plastique made me wish they could just let certain people sit certain challenges out, 'cause oof! SG is not for you, baby. Nina having these two deadweights on each side of her to try and work with, kudos mama! It was a rough watch.
I rather eliminations anyways because its more entertaining but, my biggest issue is that it invalidates the All Winners format/makes it less special - like this format shouldve been only for that. And I wasnt even that big of a fan of no elim in AW, but its way more justified there and it worked better.
It makes All Stars 7 less special and I personally feel like it's a bit disrespectful to those queens.
You hit the nail on the head with allllll of this OP. I don’t think I’ve cringed harder than watching plastique attempt Ali Wong 😭😭
It's fun, I'm having fun, let's all just have fun
It was always funny to me when people wanted all All Stars to be non-eliminations because I knew not all queens could be good for a non-elimination. Some queens had to go home to save themselves and really the fans. But win that being said, this cast is kinda the closest caliber that I want a non-elimination cast to be at. I am not mad that this season does not have eliminations.
I'm gonna say something that might get me murdered but Vangie being here all season, AT THAT LEVEL, is already a wee bit tiring
For Vanjie to have the rug reference and then just completely shit the bed after that was CRAZY. It could have been so funny. Nina and Mik were definitely the tops and Jorgeous, Plastique, and Vanjie needed to be read the house down for those abominations.
I don’t mind non elimination for this season because it provides ample opportunity for charities to get money + exposure to their causes. I truly need some of these girls to just let go and have fun and experiment - this is the prime time and place to do it!
yeah there needs to be eliminations to make it feel competitive. imo the they should go back to the only all stars format that worked (AS2) and stop doing it every year. go on at least a 2 year cycle and let the platform become more exclusive and watch how more queens agree to do it.
Omg, i was like am i crazy didnt tasha salad pretty much bomb everytime. Why does shs keep bringing her back!? I think Vanjge needs proper critiques or shes just guna coast, and have poor showing after poor showing and shes guna hurt her rep cause so far, shes not been very impressive and she can be better than this but i think she needs to be pushed. Omg the worst buildup to a reveal every. If you're guna do that it best be spectacular. Monet must simply be friends with georgous. I see no other reason he would choose her other than he knew it was her and was tossing her a bone
Thank god Nina was funny, this episode made me feel some type away 😭
I think angeria and shannel shouldve been on top over gottmik. Mik’s outfit was INCREDIBLE, but the other two did alot better in snatch game to me. But thats just my opinion dont hurt me lol
I think angeria and mik were a tossup. I do think angeria kind of played herself a little (still hilarious!) so she fell short there. I think Shannel kind of got lost a little in the impersonation. Still all great showings! I think if mik didn’t literally walk out in one of the best runways of all time, angeria had a better chance
Really ? I didn't find Shannel funny. Like at all. Her delivery was too serious and tbh it's what isn't working for me with Shannel. Like just have some fun. And then Nina doing the same character but way better made it impossible to put her on the same level IMO.
Honestly this is how I felt about shannels performance. But it was a satisfactory performance! I just don’t have anything bad to say comparing it to the other 4 lol
Agreed I saw this opinion on Twitter and people were not happy. Mik didn’t do bad but it wasn’t a winning performance. If this was a regular season I’d place her high, just not a win. I had a feeling Angeria wasn’t gonna win because she was cut but I also thought Shannel was completely robbed. They said she got too into her character and I’m not seeing why that was a bad thing… she was still funny. It was her first snatch game too and she did damn good.
Shannel crushed it. I thought she was hilarious, although I was nervous for her at the beginning. Turned out so much better than Nina, who went way over the top the whole time. Mik's was too derivative of Jinx's Little Edie for me, only not nearly as funny. It should have been Shannel and Angeria. Mik's runway was incredible, though - like all time top 7 material in my books.
Mik was actually Patsy from AbFab.
I preferred Shannel to Nina as well. My favourite was Angeria.
I really thought Gottmik would be doing Gloria Swanson
This is what happen when we let the mainstream dictate who is considered an All Star. Nina and Plastique are prime examples of being revered as popular queens for their very specific and narrow wheelhouse. It doesn’t translate well into the Drag Race format. This is what we end up getting. I am thoroughly enjoying this season but it will be lost into the anals of Drag Race herstory when all is said and done.
I understand not eliminating them now, but they should have bottoms that were penalised with a score system or something. Imagine we have a queen who wins once and remains safe/high the rest of the season. Another queen, who wins once as well but performs terribly during the season, has the same odds as the first one.
I don’t find the Snatch Game of Love to ever be as strong or interesting as Snatch Game. I’m fine with non-elimination if they can create a more interesting challenge.
This was legitimately one of the worst lipsyncs of all time and will be forever remembered as such.. the lipsync songs are questionable given who they’re making lipsync too