Out.com EditorsThe eliminated queens of RuPaul’s Drag Race took their revenge Thursday night. Coco Montrese, Tatianna, Ginger Minj, and Alyssa Edwards faced off against their former All Stars competitors during standup comedy routine before an audience filled with Drag Race royalty. All for the chance to snatch a spot in the race from one of the remaining queens.
Travel Editor Brandon Presser, associate editor Michael Lambert, and assistant editor Glenn Garner recap the best (and shadiest) moments of the episode.
Bow down! The eliminated queens are back. What did you think of their return to the workroom?
Glenn Garner: That return of the queens was the most interesting thing to happen this season thus far. It was almost juicy enough to make me forget there was no mini challenge. The look on Phi Phi’s face was worth RuPaul’s Emmy win.
Brandon Presser: Phi Phi, stop trying to make fetch happen, it's not going to happen. No one's buying what you're selling--you're a gossip and a hater and you got caught in the act in the two way mirror. Talk about flipping the script, Phi Phi could win an Olympic medal for that kind of backpedaling.
Michael Lambert: I was so excited to see these queens return—and that Tatianna and Ginger gave their own two-in-one looks! The episode shifted the whole mood of the season—even if the elimination rules were so long they should have been printed on an instructional pamphlet. It’s a sad sign that I’m starting to remember less and less of Phi Phi’s drag. If she focused as much on her looks and performance as she did coming for every queen in the workroom, what a world this would be.
The comedy routine—who slayed and who was just … unfortunate?
GG: Poor Roxxxy bombed up there. Tasha Salad can’t save you now.
ML: Maybe it’s the Chardonnay talking, but I’m a little more forgiving toward Roxxxy. She knew she was bombing when she first came out, but she changed directions with Tasha Salad. Points for effort at least.
BP: Roxxxy was really floundering--it was painful to watch. I wish she could have bounced her comedy off of someone before hitting the stage. Tasha Salad was fine, but a general rule of thumb in stand up: don't base the entire routine around salad dressing. No bueno.
GG: Alaska’s solo standup is actually balls out hilarious. It’s unfortunate she had to perform with Alyssa. Although Ms. Edwards is growing on me, she was so unprepared and was relying too much on her newfound catchphrases. Beast!
ML: Alaska, Tatianna, and Detox were everything (did I just list the top three right there?). I lived for the socialite act that Tatianna and Detox had, and Alaska just standing in all her breathy awkwardness helped distract from a few false notes from Alyssa.
Everything was leading up to this elimination. Did it live up to your expectations?
BP: If we're going back to what all the girls wanted to do before, which is pick the queen that deserved to go home based on her performance and the judges' critiques of their contributions to the episode, then in fairness Roxxxy should have gone home instead of Phi Phi. Roxxxy really bit it on stage while Phi Phi committed to that pregnant chola character. I guess at this point everyone was just so sick of her shade that she had to go home.
GG: I’m actually glad Roxxxy stuck around. She was the bitch of her season too but she actually has matured. She didn’t make a big deal about it like Phi Phi but she’s actually proven herself. She’s growing on me.
ML: We all knew this was coming. Phi Phi’s Twitter bashing of the show and RuPaul is definitely not the attitude of someone who made it to the top three. I’m sad Phi Phi had to deal with the worst of the Internet (death threats against a drag queen? really, gays?), but she didn’t do herself any favors on this show.
GG: I know she feels like a victim but that’s only because her apology tour didn’t sell any tickets. She’s trying to be sneaky with her backstabbing this time but people see right through that. She can blame it on Logo’s editing all she wants but the other queens are calling her out on video diary every week.
BP: I'm glad to see Phi Phi go, but I didn't think it was fair that both Alyssa and Tatianna got to make the decision when both were the weaker halves of their comedy duo--the top two was organically Alaska and Detox and they should have won the cash prize and the opportunity to pick a queen to come back (presumably their performance partner) and boot a queen off).
GG: And how sportsmanlike of her to ignore Alyssa’s goodbye hug. Then she’s gonna give a speech about how you can always change. Practice what you preach girl!
All Stars Round Table: The Queens Strike Back
00All Stars Round Table: The Queens Strike Back