All Stars 4 has already weeded out two fan favorites who didn’t make it that far in their initial season… Jasmine Masters (season 7) and Farrah Moan (season 9).
Was it a similar formula on Friday night’s episode for other early sendoffs like Gia Gunn (season 6) or Monique Heart (season 10), or did an original season finalist like Naomi Smalls (season 8) or Trinity Taylor (season 9) sashay away?
Spoiler alert… it was Gia. This didn’t come as much of a surprise to anybody given how Gia was treating half the cast this season and her time on the show ended the minute she found herself in the bottom two. Here’s how she got there.
Friday night’s episode took the traditional Snatch Game format and mixed it up with a Dating Game kind of scenario. The queens would still dress up as a celebrity of their choosing, except they had to be them as potential mates for one of two suitors. Those happened to be the yummy Olympic skier Gus Kenworthy and cutie actor Keiynan Lonsdale.
There’s drama before the girls even hit the stage as Gia and Trinity fight over playing Caitlyn Jenner. Gia’s reasonings are because both she and Caitlyn are trans, which Latrice Royale thinks is a non-factor right after the worlds left her mouth. Gia eventually changes her mind and plays Jenny Bui, who is rapper Cardi B’s nail tech.
Let’s break down how each queen did as their celebrity:
Valentina as Eartha Kitt. The look and voice were totally down, there just wasn’t any humor. Val wasn’t answering questions in a funny way, she was just rattling off over something Eartha might have said many moons ago.
Gia Gunn as Jenny Bui. Good lord what a mess. Gia’s portrayal didn’t really make any sense and she pretty much pissed off everyone else by talking over them and taking away their shine… notably Latrice.
Latrice Royale as Della Reese. The look was down, but man did Latrice get super bothered to the point where she couldn’t even stay in character because of Gia. At the same time, it didn’t seem like her portrayal of Della was going to be too funny anyways.
Manila Luzon as Barbra Streisand. Impersonating someone who has been impersonated a zillion times is tough to do, but Manila did it and then some. She interacted very well with Keiynan and the other queens, regardless of Gia’s buffoonery, and rebounded completely from her disastrous girl group performance the week before.
Monique Heart as Tiffany Haddish. Speaking of rebounds, Monique totally did a great job with Tiffany compared to how she did in season 10 with congresswoman Maxine Waters.
Monet X Change as Whitney Houston. Monet did the exact opposite of Monique in that her initial Snatch Game with Maya Angelou was brilliant, yet this was just bad. So bad. Nothing was funny, and nothing was landing, which is a shame given how hilarious Monet is.
Naomi Smalls as Wendy Williams. It was funny for the most part until the end when Naomi recreated Wendy’s infamous faint on live television and that sealed the deal on a much bigger level. Pure comedy.
Trinity the Tuck as Caitlyn Jenner. Just fun to watch, can watch this for hours. Trinity’s impression was simply on point and stayed that way from beginning to end.
It was kind of obvious, even before they got to the main stage, that Gia was going home. Unless something stark raving mad happened, she was the one to go. But the runway must happen before the lip sync and eventual sashay occurs.
The category this week is “boots the house down,” so boots were the obvious highlight. Monet’s ensemble luckily kept her safe, which was surprising given how poor she did as Whitney. Latrice lands up in the bottom three alongside Valentina and Gia, which was fairly accurate. Naomi, Trinity and Manila land in the top.
The bottom two eventually were Valentina and Gia, and the top two were Trinity and Manila. Poor Naomi, she’s been in the top three times and hasn’t been able to secure a win yet. Here’s hoping that happens eventually, because she’s quietly building her case as to why she should win AS4 and we are only 3 episodes in.
Manila and Trinity talk backstage to see where each of them is at. Trinity’s motives are clear: get rid of Gia. Manila, however, is back and forth on her decision. This is where strategy kicks in and Trinity tells Valentina what Manila might do. It causes an awkwardly tense scene between Manila and Val, as Manila tries to strike a deal with her but it doesn’t work to her favor.
At the end, Gia goes home. Once again, not surprised. It will be curious to see how these alliances play themselves out as the show continues into 2019.
Next week: JERSEY COURT! Michelle Visage is of course at the center of it.
This post was created by one of our Contributing Writers and does not reflect the opinion of Instinct Magazine or the other Contributing Writers when it comes to this subject.