Posted in: TV | Tagged: drag race, rupaul
Last week’s round of MTV’s RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 18 saw our remaining queens unleashing their inner “Karens.” Here’s what went down…
Published Fri, 03 Apr 2026 12:07:06 -0500 by Eden Arnold
|
Article Summary
Drag Race Season 18 Episode 13 features a hilarious “Karens Gone Wild” improv challenge with RuPaul.
The mini puppet roast challenge flopped, proving why mini challenges have been scarce this season.
Runway theme “from wholesome to Folsom” brought bold, kinky fashion inspired by San Francisco’s Folsom Street Festival.
Nini Coco wins the lip sync, Jane Don’t is eliminated, setting up an intense top four for next week’s show.
Another fabulous week is here, and with it comes a fresh new episode of MTV’s RuPaul’s Drag Race. And this week’s “Karens Gone Wild” improv challenge actually does feel pretty fresh! Each queen had to survive an improv scene with RuPaul himself as a disgruntled “Karen” in a different situation.
We get a mini challenge this week, and we see exactly why there haven’t been an abundance of mini challenges this season: they all bombed. The queens had to roast each other via puppet (a classic), and oh my goodness, it may have just been the edit, but it was bomb city. Nobody won, and the crew split the cash tip for the challenge of having to endure that and watch the unedited footage. Yikes. Sorry, Sarge.
Image: Drag Race Screencaps
The runway theme is “from wholesome to Folsom,” which is a reference to San Francisco’s Folsom Street Festival, the world’s largest leather and kink festival. They didn’t do a great job (or any job at all) explaining that to viewers who aren’t in that circle, but fortunately, Google with Safe Search mode exists. And even luckier for you, I’m here to explain it all, just for you, mild Mary. Now, breaking down the week:
â–¶” style=”border: 0px;” allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; fullscreen;” loading=”lazy” src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/vNrH-aqjKRQ?feature=oembed” title=”Youtube Video”>
Myki Meeks – Her Karen look felt like it could have just been a rehash of her “Snatch Game” performance in vibes, but it was fresh and good! Even if she did reuse her Drew Barrymore fit. Her runway from rose to thorny rose was good, that hair is everything, and she won the week, again. Deserved? I suppose. My favorite? Not really, but it was good, and I’m not mad.
Nini Coco – As a Karen, it was a little one-note, but she brought a pretty accurate Karen. Her Lady Liberty runway reveal is not my favorite, it’s actually lowkey unsettling, but isn’t art uncomfortable?
Jane Don’t – Her runway was a miss this week with her wholesome look being a Victorian nightgown and awful Victorian hair, and her reveal was…a bedazzled red corset and breastplate. Ooohhh, a riding crop. Yawn. As for her Karen challenge, she was an airport Karen who missed her flight, and it was a bit one-note. Funny enough, nobody actually bombed this week, but it was a bottom-tier performance.
Juicy Love Dion – Her runway was an “Alice in Gay Wonderland” moment with an oversized bottle of poppers, which turned her into a fetish bad kitty. In the challenge, her Karen performance was my personal favorite and absolutely perfect. I could watch it again and again, and I’m here for the Juicy redemption arc.
Darlene Mitchell – Oh my goodness, she displayed “sheer stupidity,” and it was good. The best, no, super Karen, also no, but very much fun. On the runway, her look was one of the kinkiest, and I’m not sure I need to explain it, but yes – people are into that.
â–¶” style=”border: 0px;” allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; fullscreen;” loading=”lazy” src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/udFcpAI5HbI?feature=oembed” title=”Youtube Video”>
The lip sync of the week comes down to Nini vs Jane, and they have Garden of Eden by Lady Gaga, so these queens should bring the house down boots, mama. Now, I’ve found Jane repeatedly boring, even more so in recent weeks, but Nini’s fashion choices are questionable at best and so bad at worst. At least Nini goes for it, and she worked that stage and danced down, winning the spot to continue in the competition.
Jane Don’t will absolutely come back in All Stars, I’m nearly certain of it, but she just feels like something isn’t coming through this season. Great queen, seasoned, but never quite found the “it factor” to have that translate to a reality television show. I’m sure we’ll see a lot more from her in the future.
And just like that, we have our top four! Next week’s episode sees the queens take on the role of morning show hosts in a zany talk-show challenge, and I’m so curious whether we’ll have an elimination and a top three, or if we’re keeping the current four queens. Guess only RuPaul, God, the queens, and the dozens of crew members know for sure – the rest of us will have to tune in to find out!
RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 18 airs on MTV in the Americas and is streaming on WOW Presents Plus in all other markets.
Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!
Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!