REVIEW: “RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars” is a victory lap that runs out of gas
For years, “Drag Race” fans have pleaded for a season showcasing queens who were former recipients of the highly coveted title of “America’s Next Drag Superstar.” In April 2022, the official “RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars” Instagram account decided to give it’s very vocal fanbase what they wanted – a cast of former “Drag Race” champions slated to compete for a new drag royalty title, the “Queen of all Queens.” For the first time in the franchise’s history, a game-changing format would also be in place, completely turning the “Drag Race” formula on its head and creating one of the most unique and high-stakes seasons the show has ever produced.
A small cast of only eight queens competed on the seventh iteration of “RuPaul’s Drag Race: All-Stars,” including four “Drag Race” champions, three “All-Stars” champions and one international queen from the recently created “Drag Race: UK” franchise. All eight queens competed all season long, with no eliminations, for the first time in the series’ history. Instead, the top queens of each week would lip-sync for their legacies in an effort to earn a “Legendary Legend” star. The winner of each week’s lip-sync would be given the power to block a fellow queen from earning a star in the following challenge. At the end of the season, the four queens with the most stars would move onto the finale – an epic lip-sync smackdown for the crown, which would ultimately decide the series’ first ever two-time winner. The fresh (and much needed) format change resulted in one of the most celebratory, drama-free seasons in the history of all versions of the show. Unfortunately, the season’s finale wasn’t quite representative of the drag excellence seen all season long.
“All Stars” season 7 started with a bang – an 80-minute premiere episode showcasing the lip-sync and choreography talents of the star-studded cast, with a cameo appearance from the legendary supermodel Naomi Campbell. The momentum followed into the second episode, featuring sixteen different celebrity impressions performed by the cast in the fan-favorite challenge, “Snatch Game.” The showcase of sheer talent and quality continued across the next nine episodes, featuring a record-tying five challenge wins from season five winner Jinkx Monsoon, and a last minute, controversial comeback from “All Stars” season 5five winner Shea Coulee, who earned three stars in one single challenge (the most all season long), sneaking her way into the top four after only earning one star for the entirety of the season. Ultimately, champions Raja (season 3), Yvie Oddly (season 11), Jaida Essence Hall (season 12), and The Vivienne (UK season 1one) did not earn enough stars to secure a place in the finale and were eliminated, leaving a top four of Jinkx Monsoon, Monet X Change, and Trinity the Tuck (“All-Stars” season 4 winnersfour) and Shea Coulee (“All-Stars” season 5five).
The finale, a lip-sync smackdown for the crown, featured six lip-syncs – the most in one episode in franchise history – to songs by P!nk, Aretha Franklin and Salt N Pepa, to name a few. The final lip-sync, a high-energy performance of “Swish Swish” by Katy Perry, showcased the lip-sync talents of the top two queens of the season, Jinkx Monsoon and Monet X Change. Ultimately, Jinkx Monsoon took home the title of “Queen of all Queens,” becoming the first-ever two time “Drag Race” champion and the first queen to win both a regular and “All-Stars” season of the show.
Unfortunately, the highly anticipated lip-sync battles were not as stellar as fans had hoped. Even though her performances all season long had been top-notch, champion Jinkx Monsoon did not deliver her best in the lip-sync smackdown for the crown – although many fans would argue that her win had already been decided by the time the finale rolled around, and that lip-syncing is not Monsoon’s strength. Fans spoke up about the unnecessary nature of the finale lip-sync, arguing that it should not exist if the winner is already decided before the finale. Monet X Change, who lost the “Swish Swish” lip-sync to Jinkx Monsoon, spoke up on social media about how the final lip-sync for the crown was heavily edited, with many believing this was done in order to make Monsoon look better and have the viewers feel she was more deserving of the crown. However, fellow cast members Trinity the Tuck and Shea Coulee – who lost a lip-sync to Monsoon in the first round of the smackdown – publicly congratulated the champion on her win, saying that she was deserving of the title.
“All-Stars” season 7 has quickly cemented itself as a fan-favorite season in the “Drag Race” franchise and has fans craving for another season of former champions. Although the season may have had a lackluster ending, the journey to the finish line gave some of the best drag excellence ever seen in the series and reminded fans why each of the eight cast members came out victorious in their original season runs. “RuPaul’s Drag Race” is expected to return in early 2023 with its 15th season, featuring a cast of new queens.
