RECAP: Canada’s Drag Race All Stars Episode 3
It’s time for the dreaded design challenge on “Canada’s Drag Race All Stars” — right after Pythia was eliminated, you could almost hear the remaining queens’ buttholes unclench when they realized they wouldn’t be competing against her. I loved the auction twist to this episode, even if I found several of the looks underwhelming. But the girls were still definitely girling, and “Canada’s Drag Race All Stars” — now halfway finished! — is still giving us a great season
Read on for my take on Episode 3 of “Canada’s Drag Race All Stars.” SPOILERS AHEAD!
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Before we got to the main challenge, we had a delightful surprise: a lie-detector mini-challenge administered by Jimbo and “Canada’s Drag Race” Season 4 meme queen, Melinda Verga. It was great to see Melinda. I had read that she had a really difficult time coping with her early elimination on “Drag Race UK vs. the World” S3, and I hope she knows how much she is beloved by this fandom. I thought she and Jimbo were very funny during this, and some of the queens — notably Tiffany Ann Co and Nearah Nuff — were right in the mix with them. In the end, Tiffany won, and good on her.
The concept for this design challenge was, “Looking Good, Feeling Gorgeous” — a reference to a classique RuPaul dance track. It could not be more broad, and yet, some of our queens actually missed the mark. And they admitted it!
The twist for this challenge was that the queens had to participate in a “Survivor”-style auction to get the materials for their look, overseen capably by Jimbo. (Sidebar: I would like to see the show do more with our regular judging panel of Brooke Lynn Hytes, Priyanka, and Jimbo, because they are bringing a LOT to the table and I love every moment they are on screen.)
I’ll go over my though on each queen’s look for the challenge:
Aurora Matrix
Aurora absolutely pwned this competition. It wasn’t even close. Her look was so much stronger than anything else on that stage, it was almost embarrassing. I believe Aurora made most of the looks she wore on her original season. Listen, I am in awe of anyone who can create any garment — that is a real skill. But I always felt her S4 looks always had something slightly off. Not here, with her sexy leather and feather look. This was a triumph all the way around, and she justifiably got her second win in a row (and she very easily could have won the first episode, too). Aurora has painted a massive target on herself, and if the other girls don’t get her out they will likely lose this competition to her.
Jada Shada Hudson
I felt that Jada was being pushed/protected by Production in Season 3, and I am starting to feel the same way here. I don’t understand how Jada got Top 2 in this challenge, when Makayla looked significantly better in her gown. I’ll give Jada points for a bold aesthetic — she got animal prints and denim, and mixed together a bunch of different patterns in a way that mostly worked. But did this look sophisticated or stylish? Not to my eye. If the category was, “Looking Good, Feeling Whoregeous,” then maybe. There were also these poofy looking fur balls around her chest that were driving me absolutely bonkers. I guess I can agree that it was striking, and if someone walked into a room wearing that, you would instantly pay attention to them. But Top 2? I don’t see it.
Juice Boxx
Juice was one of the queens that admitted to forgetting the theme, and she took her red applique fabric and turned it into kind of a Traveler widow get-up, paired with sad make-up. Like, deliberately sad — her girl looked like she was crying. There was something flapperish about the ensemble, and it was certainly dramatic. But was it good? No. It WAS a big improvement on Juice Boxx’s initial design look in Season 1, so…hooray for improvement?
Makayla Couture
Makayla is playing the game hard, and the queens are very aware of this. First, let’s discuss the fallout from last episode’s lipsync win, when Nearah Nuff explicitly told Makayla that she did the exact same thing as Nearah did in “Untucked,” alienating all of her potential support. Makayla didn’t miss a beat by shooting that down (Nearah was absolutely right there), and Makayla had a LOT of attitude. That all disappointed the next morning in the work room, and Makayla was all smiles and sunshine, likely because she understands she cannot hope to win this season if she doesn’t have the support of her sisters, or at least strong alliances.
In the auction, Makayla put way too much of her money into buying the 10-minute freeze, a twist that allowed her to stop the progress from all of her competitors at a time of her choosing. In concept it sounds great, but in execution it was basically toothless, since they all had the entire night to finish their garments. A mandated 10-minute break might have been a boon for some of those girls.
I thought Makayla’s purple, ruffly dress was really beautiful, and she looked like a dream wearing it. I assume the judges saw that one entire side of the dress was basically wide open, a necessary pivot after Makayla made the dress too small. I thought this was a smart solution on Makayla’s part, and even if the construction had issues I still found it a more aesthetically pleasing garment than Jada’s.
Nearah Nuff
Also on Team Too Small, Nearah got beads and a buttery yellow color and attempted to make a sexy Easter Sunday dress. I’m not kidding, that was actually her goal. I am sure there is some whore out there who wants to show up to Easter Sunday with her pussy fully hanging out, and to that woman I say, Please call Nearah Nuff and ask to borrow this look. He has Risen, indeed.
Nearah was fortunate enough to get a 30-minute consultation with “Drag Race Canada” S2 queen, “Slaysian Smackdown” finalist, and Brooke Lynn Hytes designer Suki Doll. Suki did a LOT for Nearah, both in terms of guiding her outfit, but also in centering Nearah and getting her to focus when Nearah started to spiral emotionally. This was a rare moment of vulnerability for Nearah. I wasn’t entirely sure if it was authentic, because Nearah knows exactly what she’s doing — she’s great TV. But I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. I can see why this challenge would stress her out.
The resulting look was not great, and the big issue was that she cut far too much off of the skirt. The cat was out of the bag, folks.
Sami Landri
Sami got metallics from the auction, and I say this as someone who loves Sami: this was awful. In my opinion, easily Bottom 3. I saw the vision she was going for, trying to give an early Lady Gaga futuristic party girl vibe. That was a smart way to go. The actual product was SO cheap looking, and those spiky boob things were poorly placed and, honestly, sad. Sami’s design was worse than at least two of the three bottom looks, if not all three of them.
Tiffany Ann Co.
Last week I expected more from Tiffany in the girl group, because of her strong performance in the “Canada” S5 bitch track. This week, I expected more from Tiffany because she actually went to school for fashion design. I actually don’t think what she put out was terrible. I saw the flaws the judges did, although I don’t think I would ever complain that a drag outfit had too many stones on it. But Tiffany by her own estimation ran out of time, and wasn’t able to execute what she intended. That’s a bummer. I keep saying that she has a ton of potential, I just can’t want her to succeed more than she does.
The Bottom 3 of Juice Boxx, Nearah Nuff, and Tiffany Ann Co made their cases for the Golden Beaver, and in something of a surprise, Nearah was was saved. I thought Tiffany’s point that Nearah had Suki Doll’s help and STILL fucked it up was valid, but I also understood Nearah’s point: she COULD lipsync her way all the way to the end, but she really doesn’t WANT to. It’s the curse of being a good lipsync artist on this show. They’re going to find any excuse they can to shove you into the bottom so we can delight in watching you perform. Ask Tayce!
Tiffany and Juice had to lipsync to “Conga” by Miami Sound Machine, which is maybe the most random track I could think of for this challenge. Historically the lipsyncs on “CDR” have been from Canadian artists, and last time I checked Gloria Estefan was most certainly not Canadian. Anyway. I thought they both did alright, but neither really blew me away. Tiffany did have more moments than Juice overall, and thus it was the correct call when Juice Boxx was told to sashay away.
I’m glad Juice got another chance to show us what she can do. I find her extremely likable and relatable, and also fuckable out of drag. I’m sorry, but it’s true. Juice is a lovable queen and I hope she leaves this show with a better feeling about her “Drag Race” experience.
What do YOU think of “Canada’s Drag Race All Stars”? Which queens are you rooting for? Drop your comments below!
