But Monet’s strategy is still working on the other queens — at least for now.
Bernardo SimEditor’s note: this post contains spoilers for episode three of Paramount+’s RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 7.
When RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 7 first started, Monét X Change and Trinity The Tuck had the smart idea to form a “Twinners” alliance that would prevent themselves from blocking each other throughout the competition. This was a direct reference to strategies commonly seen on other reality competitions like Survivor and Big Brother.
But by episode three (which premiered this week), X Change realized that she needed to recruit more queens to join her alliance with Trinity in order to avoid getting blocked on All Stars 7. The “Twinners” first approached Jinkx Monsoon to join their alliance, but she quickly turned it down. Monsoon gave out a few excuses, but she probably just didn’t want to join a “Rolaskatox”-like group after what she experienced in season five.
Trinity then approached her season nine sister Shea Couleé to join her alliance with X Change. Unlike Monsoon, however, Couleé considered how this benefited herself and how it benefited Trinity and X Change. The All Stars 5 winner instantly clocked that X Change was building a “safety net” for herself to not get blocked even though Couleé and Trinity had both already gotten the platinum plunger once.
With a Legendary Legend Star under her belt, X Change would be an obvious target to get blocked next — but this alliance could prevent her from getting the platinum plunger and keep her ahead in the leaderboard, Couleé concluded.
Many fans have been raving about how Couleé’s looks and performances are making her an instant frontrunner on All Stars 7. However, this kind of rational thinking in terms of strategy is yet another indicator that the All Stars 5 champion is also keeping herself ahead of her competitors at every turn.
Episode three started with Couleé playing mind games and pretending that the platinum plunger actually presented an advantage to its recipients rather than just being a way to block queens. She then seriously outplayed X Change’s strategy by turning down this alliance and exposing X Change’s gameplay to Trinity, who is her ultimate “Twinners” ally on the show thus far.
With that said, X Change’s strategy still seems to be working on other competitors on All Stars 7. By the end of episode three, Jaida Essence Hall had the opportunity to block Monsoon or X Change, but she ultimately chose to block the season five winner over the All Stars 4 winner. Once again, X Change is flying under the radar despite having won a Legendary Legend Star.
To put that into Survivor terms, X Change’s social game is working very well on All Stars 7. Alas, one must wonder how long it will take for either Couleé to blow up X Change’s gameplay and “Twinners” alliance or for other queens to clock her masterful strategy.
New episodes of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 7 stream weekly on Fridays, only on Paramount+.
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