Episode 5 of RuPaul’s Drag Race aired last night on VH1, and IMHO… was its best yet this season. The reason for this is due to the challenge at hand, which tested the queens comedy skills and also their quick-witted ability to keep up with all the elements incorporated within, and whereas some flourished, others definitely faltered.
After the queens do some military-inspired drag in this week’s mini-challenge, they were propelled into the maxi-challenge which was to split up into teams of two and given a premise by Ru for a segment they will film on a trashy daytime talk show called The Bossy Rossy Show with Ross Matthews as the host. The teams were Miz Cracker & Mayhem Miller (one had a fear of pickles), Aquaria and Eureka (both claimed to be the sexiest adult baby in the world), Monique Heart and Blair St. Clair (who are the girlfriend and wife, respectively, of a cactus), The Vixen & Asia O’Hara (one thinks the other is copying off their total look) and Kameron Michaels & Monet X Change (queens dealing with unusual addictions).
The good thing about this episode is that even the queens in the bottom two didn’t exactly do terribly as it was overall a strong showing of everyone that was left. That challenge was followed by the one on the runway, where the queens had to serve their best denim look to judges RuPaul, Michelle Visage, Carson Kressley and guests Shania Twain (!!!!!) and Carrie Preston. In the end (SPOILER ALERT) Mayhem Miller was sent home (against Monet X Change). I never really saw her winning, however I never expected her to go home this early. Last week I had her in the middle of the pack at number 5 out of 10, and now… she’s eliminated.
Now, we have nine queens remaining, without any indication so far that any of them are coming back (I’m fine with that not happening this season, thank you very much). Each week, we are doing a power ranking of who is on the top, the middle and the bottom. In week four, Asia O’Hara retained the top spot for the second week in a row, while Monique Heart was at the bottom. How does this week’s group fare? Take a look at who I think ranks 1st all the way to last currently.
1. Miz Cracker (last week: #2). Cracker has really risen in the rankings over the past couple of weeks and has finally become one to look out for on season 10. Her irreverent type of comedy worked absolutely wonderful in this challenge, as her performance as Dr. Dill showcased just how funny she really is. She’s also one of two queens remaining (including Blair) to have never fallen in the bottom. Here’s hoping it stays that way.
2. Asia O’Hara (last week: #1). Was Asia funny in the whole spoof of the Aquaria/Cracker rivalry? Yes, compared to her counterpart. But she’s lost some major steam in the past two weeks, and that’s a bit concerning for me. Step it up a bit girl, you have this.
3. Kameron Michaels (last week: #7). I’m not going to lie, I had Kameron pegged to be one of the first to go home as the quiet ones can either do extraordinarily well (Jinkx Monsoon, Sasha Velour) or go home first. Kameron has really blossomed over the past two weeks, especially with the fact that she outshined a Monet who is known for her comedy skills in New York City. She also had a moment with her idol Shania, and that was wonderful to watch. She’s doing well, I just hope she’s able to keep it up as the competition goes along.
4. Eureka (last week: #4). Yes, Eureka won on the 5th episode whereas she went home the same episode in season 9. Yes, she did hilariously on the maxi challenge in her baby attire as well as her costumes. And yes, I did appreciate her trying to mend things with Vixen. There’s still something off about her that doesn’t put her higher for me right now, and I can’t really put a finger out it. I give her a ton of credit for trying as hard as she’s been doing though, as it finally paid off this week.
5. Aquaria (last week: #6). I’ve been a bit harsh to Aquaria most of these rankings, but she did a pretty great job during the maxi challenge this week. I only have her this low as her “rival” (see the quotation marks there) Cracker is doing way better than her. If they are going to treat them as real rivals, then Aquaria needs to step it up a bit to even the playing field with her fellow NYC queen.
6. Blair St. Clair (last week: #3). Blair drops in the rankings as she didn’t do too well this week against Monique and her quiet demeanor, which I used to enjoy in the first couple of episodes, is starting to get boring. Step. It. Up.
7. Monique Heart (last week: #10). It took five episodes for her to finally get a high ranking, and I’m proud of her for that. Consistency is key in this competition, and as funny as she was in episode 5, she needs to continue to do as well if not better if she wants to get a higher ranking than the ones above her.
8. The Vixen (last week: #8). I am fairly indifferent about Vixen at this point. I understand her frustrations about a lot, especially about her performance in the maxi challenge with Asia, but I’m really starting to wonder what she’s bringing to the table outside of these “drama” based storylines. I get why she didn’t really want to mend things with Eureka, it shows that she’s grown, but her performances lately outside of that have just been meh for me. Stay tuned though.
9. Monet X Change (last week: #4). I DON’T WANT TO HAVE TO DO THIS. Seriously, Monet is the s**t. She’s so funny but is getting so in her head and its frustrating to even watch because I know what a damn good drag queen she is. I hope to god that she’s able to pull it together next challenge otherwise she’ll be the third NYC queen eliminated in only six episodes.
This 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.