Heading into the seventh episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 18, Ciara Myst had just been eliminated by Myki Meeks after both were rated worst of their weeks by their own sisters in the “Rate-A-Queen Talent Show.” Athena Dion managed to keep the “Florida alliance” in the winner’s circle for a second straight week with her defeat of Jane Don’t, leaving the girls not from Miami fully gooped and hard pressed.
This week, comedy is back on the menu when the queens are asked to create parodies of political ads taking pro and con positions in pairs. Choreographer Jamal Sims and singer-songwriter Leland serve as guest judges alongside series panelists RuPaul Charles and Michelle Visage.
The queens still competing for the crown on Season 18 are: Athena Dion, Darlene Mitchell, Discord Addams, Jane Don’t, Juicy Love Dion, Kenya Pleaser, Mia Starr, Myki Meeks, Nini Coco, and Vita VonTesse Starr.
Read on for our recap of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 18, Episode 7, titled “Drag Queens for Change” which aired Friday, Feb. 13 on MTV.
Kenya PleaserMTV
“Bitch, I’m smart… y’all playin’ chess and I’m playin’ checkers.”
— Kenya Pleaser
While the queens may have thought their “Rate-A-Queen” backstabbing of their sisters would remain a secret, they were thrown for a loop the next morning when a book of “Rate-A-Queen Receipts” was conveniently dropped off on the Werk Room table. During the exposure, Mia had to explain to Jane that her promises to other girls forced her to put Jane in fourth place, Kenya realized the benefit of her “locked in first vote” from Mia considering Nini found her act “predictable,” and Myki learned that both Darlene and Vita most certainly did not have her best interest at heart when they voted.
Speaking of voting, Ru decided that for the next maxi challenge the queens should work in pairs to be “seriously silly” in parodies of political ads on some of the most polarizing issues facing the drag commnity. Instead of having the queens pick their pairs themselves, it was decided by a random draw of nuts from a bag, but what they did get to choose was the propositions to serve as their subject matter. The pairs were: Darlene and Vita debating social media vs. bar scene queens, Jane and Kenya on whether the letter C for “clown” should be added to LGBTQIA, Mia and Juicy on making padding and lacefronts mandatory, Myki and Athena arguing over foreign men relations, and Nini and Discord discussing the legality of kai kai relationships.
Mia StarrMTV
“It’s banging two empty coconuts together and nothing’s coming out.”
— Mia Starr
Despite coming off top placements in the talent show and arguing their way to the proposition that best fit them naturally, as a pair Mia and Juicy quickly realized that they hit a creative roadblock in the comedy category. The situation got worse when they were in front of Michelle on set and Juicy was told her “Greta Thunberg of drag lookin’ like Velma from Scooby Doo” performance was boring. Even though Darlene and Vita originally wanted the proposition that Mia and Juicy got, on set Michelle said Darlene was “on the precipice of something really good here” and compared her to Jennifer Coolidge. When Vita got up to complete her scenes, however, and the energy of their team went from a 100 to a 10, the strength of them as a pair came into question. Ultimately, many of the duos felt split in the quality of their work and grew concerned over whether they’d be judged together or as individuals.
Before the ads aired in primetime to the judges, the queens walked the catwalk in the “I Can See Right Through Her” category featuring garments using translucent fabrics. Among the standouts: Jane never looked better than this week’s club kid Leigh Bowery homage, Juicy kept it couture in an unconventional use of tulle, Darlene went for an interesting X-ray theme, and Myki brought body to the stage in a see-through business suit.
Discord AddamsMTV
“Who can please a sister… [*whisper voice*] better than a sister?”
— Discord Addams
Each of the five pairs received critiques from the judges. Michelle told Jane she didn’t need much direction and Leland loved her physical comedy, but Jamal was looking for a little more “frustration” from Kenya in her opposition to Jane. The panel thought Juicy needed to “go further” with her performance even if she looked Met Gala-ready on the runway. Jamal thought Mia should have exaggerated her titties more given their subject matter. Ru called Darlene “really funny, really stupid” in the best way, but Michelle thought Vita only fit the brief at 80 percent. Athena and Myki both got high praise for building an “easy to understand” world and knowing exactly what they wanted out of their ad. Jamal said Discord brought “another Met Gala moment” and her whisper “drove the hook” of their ad. He also thought Nini was hilarious with her one-liners and Michelle called them a “great duo.”
Based on the runway and their political positions, the top three queens of the week were Darlene, Myki, and Jane, with Myki declared as the overall winner. On the bottom was Mia, Juicy, and Vita, but only Mia was given safety, leaving Juicy and Vita vulnerable to elimination. During the Lip Sync for Your Life to Dua Lipa’s “Houdini,” the queens watching from the back of the stage wanted to give Vita her flowers for “holding her own,” but, as Nini put it, they “could not keep their eyes” off of Juicy. At the musical bridge of the track, Juicy performed a controlled slow back flip three times in a row followed by a never-been-done-before forward handstand walk into air split into jumping ground split that gave her a well-earned TKO win. Needless to say, Ru’s only possible decision after what will go down as one of the greatest lip sync performances in series herstory was to send Vita back to the Werk Room to pack her things and go.