‘Ru Paul’s Drag Race All-Stars 7×01’ Review
Every time there’s a new season of Ru Paul’s Drag Race there always seems to be a clump of so-called fans who complain that there are too many seasons being produced in close succession to one another. While I understand the over-saturation and cost associated with all the different streaming sites (although for those struggling with the latter factor I would recommend the Wow Presents Plus app which is just under £5 a month and contains all the possible Drag Race content you could possibly want!)
From the constant release of Drag Race seasons, Ru Paul has created a sort of TV universe that rivals the Marvel multiverse. In the traditional season, the viewers are introduced to the new characters where we learn about not only their special abilities and talents but also the backstory as to how they become the fierce persona within the narrative. The audience is able to naturally select the characters they like based on their personality, origin story, special abilities etc. From this pool of much-loved drag superheroes, the fan favourites are invited back to compete in Ru Paul’s Drag Race All-Stars where the intention is that everyone has stepped up their talents in order to overcome whatever challenges they face. For the first time ever in the franchise, we have an all-winners season where the queens who won their original seasons/all-stars are invited back for a second time to see who will be crowned the queens of queens. This progressive formula of the normal season, all-stars and then all winners have meant that Ru Paul can continue to logically create endless seasons of the show that all feed into one another and different stipulation to be added to every show to make it slightly different (eg international all-stars, first eliminated queens, or even an all-winners international season etc) in a way that keeps the audience engaged due to the over attaching narrative that connects each season!
The cast of this first-ever all winners season of Ru Paul’s Drag Race All-Stars was released before the episode airing so we knew who we expected to see walk into the werk room on the opening episode. The first to enter the race was none other than Mrs Shea Coulee who from the first moment she appeared on season nine (ignoring being defeated by that iconic rose petal reveal but the eventual winner Sasha Velour) dominated the competition all the through to her own win of All-Stars Season Five. She is one of the few queens in the entire franchise who is great at everything from sewing to rapping to comedy to showcasing incredible looks. She is an incredibly well-rounded queen who entered the workroom wearing a bright orange outfit that worked beautifully with her natural skin tone!
The next queen to join the race was Jaida Essence Hall who is the only queen to ever win a final episode of her season from her own living room. Jaida’s original season took place during the global pandemic which meant that she had to compete in a lip-sync smackdown via zoom from her home. She is probably most well-known for her “look over there” gag from a political campaign challenge during season twelve. It was convenient that Shea and Jaida were the first two to enter the werk room this season as we learnt that those two had somewhat of a history where they would appear in each other’s bars back home. I was very excited to see the return of the winner of season eleven Yvie Oddly due to how wonderfully creative she is. She entered the workroom in a punk-infused purple and yellow jacket with unique hair that struggle to stay up during her conversations with the queens. What is particularly interested about Yvie’s inclusion in this season is that her drag daughter Willow Pill has just won the most recent season of Drag Race! The next person to join the race was Trinity the Tuck who is a rather controversial inclusion on this show as she supposedly set up an anonymous Reddit account where she would post hateful and transphobic comments under the name She-devil By Night. Trinity famously co-won season four of All-Stars alongside the next queen to enter the workroom Monet X-change. I really enjoyed Monet’s entrance outfit – red and black plaid matching jacket and boots that had wonderfully puffy ruffles on the collar and sleeves. However, instantly Monet fell into the curse of money shooters where she intended to use this prop to create drama but one of the shooters did not function as intended. An interesting piece of trivia about this queen is that she had actually interviewed the host of All-Stars, Ru Paul , on her own TV show!
The next queen to enter the werk room was the incredible theatrical winner of season five Jinyx Monsoon. Jinyx was recently in Cardiff (my home city) performing in the Sherman theatre alongside the musical genius Major Scales where she showcased her incredible vocal abilities! During her original season, Jinyx was criticised for her outfits not being up to standard and I have to admit that her entrance outfit did not seem as elevated as the other queens. Her resort-wear inspired outfit was clearly an upgrade from her first-ever entrance look but was fairly simple. On top of this Jinyx seem to struggle to move with the more flowing parts of the outfit being caught on her shoes. Following Jinyx was none other than the original fashion queen who won season three of Drag Race almost eleven years ago! Since winner Raja has become best known for her appearances on fashion photo reviews where they toot or boot the looks of other queens on Drag Race. This could be a potential point of drama as some queens have received cutting criticisms on some of their looks. I thought that Raja’s gold and sparkly floral outfit looked amazing while still doing a nod to her original one-eyed purple eater look from season three. Due to the mixed reaction that international All-Stars received, it was amazing to see that the first-ever winner of Drag Race UK Season One, the Vivienne would be joining this season of all-stars. On her season the Vivienne was extremely polished and this time entered with an incredible horned wig that made sense with her entrance line! After all the queens had entered there was one more queen who entered the room. This queen stood within the room with a sparkly white and black outfit with a massively exaggerated hat that prevented the queens from seeing who has behind the look. It was revealed that this mystery queen was Raven who works frequently opposite Raja on her YouTube series but it was also declared that Raven (despite being an Emmy winning make-up stylist) would not be competing this season.
Ru Paul appeared in the werk room to welcome the cast of all winners in an extremely fun rainbow splashed suit that I really want to own so if anyone knows where I can get my hands on this suit let me know! Ru Paul informed the queens that not only is the first-ever all winners season but that there would be a massive change to the structure of the competition. In a shocking revelation, we learnt that there would be no eliminations this season and instead two queens each week would win a badge (don’t get me started…. ) and would lip-sync against one another with one winning a cash tip and the ability to block someone from claiming a badge next week. At the end of the competition, the four queens with the most badges will compete in a lip-sync smackdown to see who would be crowned as the queen of queens and would win $200,000 in cash! What is interesting about this style of competition is that if a queen decided to block someone then they have to still deal with them in the next episode. It always means that the queens this season are encouraged to take risks every week!
The first challenge this season was the iconic reading challenge where the queens have to deliver hilarious, insult-based jokes about their fellow competitors. I think everyone shown on TV did brilliantly and this was one of the best reading challenges I can remember in a long time! Some of my favourite reads included Jaida you looked directly at Trinity and exclaimed “you are the most real bitch I know … from the knees down” and a clever call back to the Boogers vs Heather’s cliques that Raja talked about during her performance. It was announced that Jinyx was the winner of this mini-challenge and so she receives a $2,500 cash tip!
Before the queens could progress to the main challenge there was a surprise appearance from the iconic supermodel Naomi Campbell which made Shea Coulee extremely excited! Naomi was there to offer a masterclass on how to walk the runway which marks the second time that Eyvie Oddley has received expert walking tips on the show (with the first being from Alyssa Edwards on Eyvie’s original season.) It did seem that this section of the episode was dedicated to Shea as (like always) she was incredibly stunning and had a rather emotional moment where she talked directly talked to her fashion inspiration Naomi on the runway. After this masterclass, the queens were able to return to the maxi challenge this week which saw the queens creating an original verse to Ru Paul’s song “Legends.” The queens had to write, choreograph and perform these verses in front of the judge’s panel later in the episode. Before the queens could perform we were ‘treated’ to a performance of “What They Want “ by Ru Paul herself who was surrounded by a plethora of wonderful dancers. This was probably my least favourite of Ru Paul’s performances on the show! The queens were able to bring the standard back up during their performance. My favourite verse would have to be Jinyx’s who did a rather fast-paced verse which was surprising considering she is known for her incredible vocal ability. She served comedy throughout the whole performance with her verse being particularly chaotic which was brilliant to watch! Raja had created a verse that was all about how she is viewed as a fashion god which was reflected beautifully in the choreography and matched her lyrics very well! I thought that Monet’s verse was very impressive as she rapped at the end, with lyrics and style that contained self-confidence and comedy in equal regards! Almost five years ago Shea starred, alongside her Drag Race Season Nine competitors, in a cover of “Category Is” which remains iconic even today! Due to how incredible Shea’s verse was, I think it is very difficult for her to reach this standard again. She came pretty close during this performance, where she looked gorgeous in a nude illusion outfit and again showcased her rapping abilities. It is also worth noting that Shea essentially choreographed the whole routine so she should get some bonus points for that!
The runway theme for this episode was “I’m Crowning” which allowed Raja to showcase a homage to the eccentric leader Louie the 14th. She had wonderfully puffy hair and pale make-up that made sense within the look to help create a logical and effective costume. This week’s was the best outfit that Jinyx has ever had on the runway – she wore a beautiful red and gold regal look with a running headpiece. I also loved Trinity’s look this week, as she took every moment on the way to show off her glamorous gown with the biggest train to ever grace the Drag Race runway! Eyvie stuck to her brand of creatively interpreting runway categories, wearing an outfit that appeared to be made out of melted rainbow crayons. Everything from her headpiece, bodice and gloves were all matching in this rainbow material which was very punk rock-inspired and touched on some of the more classic looks from Ru Paul before she rose to fame. It was declared that the top two queens for this week’s episode were Shea Coulee and Monet X-change so they both receive one of the badges and must lip-sync against one another. What is very interesting about these two queens competing against each other was the fact that Monet actually appeared as a lip-sync assassin during All-Stars Season Five which was eventually won by Shea. I thought that the choice of “Old MacDonald” by Ella Fitzgerald was rather strange but both queens managed to make it work. I thought that Monet was so wonderfully theatrical and powerful where she owned every inch of the stage but Ru Paul announced that Shea was the winner so can decide who to block for the next episode. Shea decided that Trinity should be blocked from winning one of the badges and so she must carry around the golden plunger!
Overall, as an opening episode, this was the perfect show that reintroduced us to some of the most loved queens. The standard of both the mini and maxi challenge was reflective of the all-winners standard which I thought was very clever. This episode was quite long at just under an hour and a half and Ru’s performance was somewhat underwhelming but overall this was a great start to what promised to be a fantastic season of Ru Paul’s Drag Race All-Stars.
