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Drag Race Recap: Was the Right All Star Snatched From the Competition?

RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 6 has been loaded with jaw-dropping twists and controversial eliminations. This week? Not so much.

With Jan freshly booted from the competition and Trinity K. Bonet now declaring herself the frontrunner, the remaining six queens were invited to play Snatch Game of Love, a pale imitation of the flagship series’ beloved Snatch Game. (Seriously, do people enjoy this? Sound off in the comments section below. Together, we can make it stop!)

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Let’s start with the good: From the moment Ginger Minj cracked her first joke as Phyllis Diller, sending Ru into has-Utica-smoked-pot fits of laughter, it was clear that she had this in the bag. I will admit to questioning Ginger’s voice, as I’m only familiar with Diller’s later work, but a quick dive into YouTube confirmed that Ms. Minj really did nail the impression all around. I was also pleasantly surprised by Kylie Sonique Love’s take on Dolly Parton, which was both endearing and amusing. And if you aren’t going to win, that’s pretty much the best you can hope for.

Additional kudos go to Ra’Jah O’Hara, whose doe-eyed portrayal of LaToya Jackson got Ru’s seal of approval, and Eureka, who wasn’t afraid to “go there” as legendary drag queen Divine, even if some of her big swings resulted in big misses.

Now for the bad: Trinity may have looked exactly — and I mean exactly — like Whitney Houston, but when it came to jokes, she had nothing… nothing… NOTHING! She was so flustered at one point that she asked Cheyenne Jackson to repeat his question, then tried to pass. Pandora Boxx was also a dud as “Kim Cattrall” (aka Samantha Jones), especially given that her original Snatch Game performance as Carol Channing remains one of the game’s all-time greatest. As would later be said, Pandora was so focused on getting the character right, she kind of forgot to make her funny.

As far as runways go, this week’s pop art theme was largely forgettable. It was a ho-hum blur of queens wearing their own faces, though a few standouts — like Kylie living her full Jessica Rabbit fantasy, and Trinity taking the opportunity to remind the world that Black Lives Matter — saved it from being a total dud.

Ginger being named this week’s top all star was no surprise, nor was Pandora and Trinity winding up in the bottom. At that point, though, Pandora’s elimination was a foregone conclusion, especially since the queens have previously emphasized the importance of voting based on track record. (If the queens were being strategic, they would have used this opportunity to take out “frontrunner” Trinity, but that was never going to happen.)

This week’s lip sync assassin was revealed to be Season 12 favorite Heidi N. Closet, who has not yet changed her name, much to RuPaul’s dismay. (“I never thought I’d say that name again,” Ru joked [?] upon Heidi’s arrival.) The soft-and-supple Miss Congeniality pulled out all the stops when Sheena Easton’s “Sugar Walls” started playing, and I started to wonder if Ginger even stood a chance. Ginger clearly had the same thought, so instead of even trying to match Heidi’s moves, she opted for a campier route that emphasized how inflexible she really is. And wouldn’t you know, it worked.

“I actually thought about this for a very long time, and it’s a decision I didn’t want to make,” Ginger told Ru. “But I understand that I have to. The girl I have chosen to get the chop… is Pandora Boxx.”

Your thoughts on this week’s episode? Pandora’s elimination? The merits of Snatch Game of Love? Whatever’s on your mind, drop it in a comment below.

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