‘Ru Paul’s Drag Race 15×10’ Review
Last week’s episode of Ru Paul’s Drag Race marked the two hundredth episode of the American version of the show and so to celebrate the entire episode was dedicated to celebrating some of the most iconic moments in the show’s fifteen-year history! This included a mini-challenge where the queens photo-bombed attention-grabbing moments from previous sessions, the queens discussed their favourite moments and a ball maxi challenge with one category being focussed on re-imagining previous ball categories! I really enjoy when the producers of the show decide to tie sections of the show together as it helps to create a cohesive viewing experience for anyone watching. After putting up a good fight (to the surprise of everyone) in the lip-sync, Spice was sadly told to sashay away which means that both twins are officially out of the competition. At the top end of the episode was Sasha but the show-stealing performance would have to be awarded to Antrea for that stunning gown she made for the finale category which looked absolutely flawless!
This week’s episode however began with a very interesting conversation surrounding the importance of the mini-challenges. Loosey LaDuca proudly proclaimed to every that she is the forerunner in the competition as she had in fact won three challenges which included one mini-challenge win. Now while I can understand that sometimes the mini-challenges give the winning queens some sort of advantage such as choosing teams or deciding the order of performers, I do think that these challenges are usually just a bit of fun to make the audience laugh. I don’t think they really hold much value or go towards which queens make it to The finale. This week’s maxi challenge saw Ru Paul randomly group the queens together where they had to interview some of the most eccentric TV personalities to ever exist! This is a challenge that I personally think I would do very well in as I hosted multiple interviews on my YouTube channel and always make sure the guest feels comfortable. What was particularly interesting about this challenge however was the fact that each queen from each group had to interview their allocated celebrity with some rather unique twists such as making salad, decorating cupcakes or driving a golf course. I do think that the actual presentation of these interviews was fairly awkward as the queens would do some sort of introduction between each interview which did make the segment fairly truncated which was somewhat tiresome after a while!
The first TV personality was none other than Love Connie (who hosted a hilarious aerobics mini-challenge during season eleven) who is wildly chaotic in her appearances on the show! I think that Selina Estities got off to a fantastic start with the interview as she was very clearly showing she was listening to her guest and asked her questions about Legally Blonde which showed fabulous research skills but after a while, she began talking over her guest which is an absolute no for interviews! Lux was then given the chance to sit down with Love Connie in a golf cart. I thought that Lux did a fantastic job of improving alongside Connie which I can assure you is very difficult with a normal guest never mind the outlandish Connie! Mistress completed this group but sadly really struggled with the interview as she visibly stumbled over her words and looked very uncomfortable on the interview itself.
The next group of Marcia Marcia Marcia and Sasha Colby were given the task of interviewing the queen of the “Cuchi Cuchi” Charo! Sasha was given the opportunity to not only interview but also make a salad with the actress and she remained totally relaxed which made her guest feel extremely comfortable throughout. There were moments when Charo asked Sasha questions, they battled each other with salad tongs and Sasha even threw her cue cards into the air due to how unpredictable her guest was. These two appeared to be totally comfortable around each other which is a very difficult atmosphere to create especially when this is the first time meeting each other but Sasha did this with ease! Unfortunately, however, her partner Marcia x3 really struggled in her interview with Charo with the former visibly struggling to understand what her guest was saying at times. While I understand that Charo can be difficult to understand at times, Marcia made it very obvious to the viewers that she could not understand which again is an absolute no for interviews!
The final grouping of queens were assigned to interview Frankie Grande who has actually taken part in a make-over challenge during season ten. Loosey LaDuca was first up and I have to say she did exceptionally well with both herself and her guest looking extremely comfortable with each other. Loosey had also done research before the interview as she talked about how Frankie had recently got married and so this really worked in her favour! These two matches energies flawlessly which led to a very entertaining and interesting interview. I have to admit that initially, I was very worried that Antrea would struggle with this challenge as she is one of the more serious and quieter queens on the season but her power-walking interview with Frankie was also very entertaining. The final member of the group Malaysia babydoll Fox however really struggled with this challenge as she struggled to keep the conversation flowing. By the end of the segment, the roles had almost flipped with Frankie asking Malaysia the majority of the questions which was not the purpose of the task!
The Runway category this week was something the fans have been clamouring for the longest time! The theme of “Night of 1000 Beyonces” had the queens busy out the best queen Bey-inspired outfits and, fun fact, during lockdown I dressed up as Beyonce for an online zoom quiz. Mistress decided to pay homage to the single ladies singer’s 2001 Grammys look in a wonderful green lace gown complete with two extra heads to represent the other members of Destiny’s Child. Not only did this look have an incredible sense of camp-ness to it but Mistress looked amazing with some of the best make-up we have seen from her all season. Antrea decided to take inspiration from the on-the-run tour (which I actually attended the second iteration of when it came to Cardiff) with a gorgeous gold outfit complete with a beautiful deep blue cape. The thing that really sold this outfit for me however was the presentation with Antrea channelling her inner diva and giving the judges buckets full of attitude as she showcase the outfit. My favourite look this week however would have to be Loosey LaDuca who wore a wonderful sequin blazer and trouser combo that was a reference to that VMA’s performance where Beyonce announced she was pregnant. This was such a recognisable look and Loosey even did the reveal at the end of the runway which was such a clever inclusion!
While I am a massive fan of the self-proclaimed “your favourite drag queens favourite drag queen” Sasha, I don’t think that she deserved the win this week and if it was up to me I would have given it to Loosey but both the runway and challenge were flawless. However, on the other end of the competition were Malaysia and Selina (for the second week in a row) which I have to admit makes total sense as they both struggled during the interview challenge. I thought the choice to have the lip-sync song as the iconic “Single Ladies” was again a fabulous inclusion as it tied the runway theme with the lip-sync which is something I really enjoy! At the beginning of the number Selina’s up do literally fall apart and later we have a synchronised Single Ladies dance which was fun to watch. I have to see that overall this was one of the better lip-syncs this season. It was announced that Selina would be staying which means that sadly Malaysia had to sashay away!
Overall, this was a very entertaining episode of Ru Paul’s Drag Race which showed the full spectrum of queens excelling to queens struggling with the interview style challenge which is essentially why these challenges are in place. This was a challenge that I think I personally would have done very well with and so as an audience member this really kept my attention. The runway theme and lip-sync were tied together which also made for a cohesive viewing experience!
