{"id":195595,"date":"2026-04-13T16:25:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T16:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/195595\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T16:25:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T16:25:07","slug":"rupauls-drag-race-season-18-episode-15-power-ranking-battle-of-the-queens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/195595\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race\u2019 Season 18, Episode 15 power ranking: Battle of the queens"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race Power Rankings!<\/a> Every week, we\u2019ve debriefed the week\u2019s new episode of RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race Season 18 to determine which queens were riding high, and which needed she-mergency care. But this week, we check in with the eliminated queens for the LaLaPaRuZa\u2014or in this case, the All-RuPaul-a-PaRuZa.<\/p>\n

Athena Dion (lost to Ciara Myst)<\/p>\n

Honestly not sure if I\u2019d say Athena actually lost to Ciara\u2014neither of them really turned the party, but Athena seemed more in control during the lip sync. But Ciara had her The Substance reveal, which I guess was enough to stand out in an otherwise tepid battle. It was notable, however, that the queen of strategy this season got outplayed: Ciara wanted her to pick \u201cBorn Naked,\u201d and she immediately did so. I can\u2019t blame Athena for being a fan of that song (I am too!), but she could\u2019ve zagged when Ciara thought she would zig. At least she\u2019ll likely get a nice slice of the winner\u2019s prize!<\/p>\n

Mandy Mango (lost to Mia Starr)<\/p>\n

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There was some darkly funny irony to the fact that Mia spent all season saying Mandy won her lip sync against Briar Blush and should\u2019ve stayed, only for Mia to be the reason that Mandy didn\u2019t get to show more of her lip syncing ability in the LaLaPaRuZa. I think Mia wanted to beat the best, but even she seemed to regret her choice once she and Mandy were set to face off to the wordy \u201cJust What They Want.\u201d I actually think, of all her opponents except her last, Mia came the closest to losing to Mandy. They both really delivered here. But as Nini Coco noted in the back, Mandy\u2019s dips were a bit crunchy, and that seems to have been the deciding factor. Sorry to Mandy, who really does seem like a delight.<\/p>\n

DD Fuego (lost to Vita VonTesse Starr)<\/p>\n

I actually thought DD had this one in the bag, considering how much Vita struggled all season to remember her words. But Vita getting to choose the song\u2014\u201cMain Event,\u201d one of Ru\u2019s slower tracks\u2014clearly worked to her advantage. Not only did she know all the words, but she was able to go with an emotional interpretation of the song. DD went high-energy, and was okay\u2014but her approach felt discordant with the track. I do really like DD, and I\u2019ve seen her on some All Stars wishlists, but I\u2019m concerned she\u2019s just not really what modern Drag Race is looking for. Still, she seems wonderful, and I\u2019m hopeful for whatever comes next for her.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Vita VonTesse Starr (lost to Mia Starr)<\/p>\n

Horrendous luck being picked right after finishing her first-round performance, but she immediately made the worst possible decision by going up against Mia. As Briar said, Discord Addams was right there! Mia made it even worse for Vita by going with \u201cCall Me Mother,\u201d an incredibly wordy song that Mia herself has a lot of experience with. Vita held her own better than I expected, but once Mia pointed to her mouth and nailed the rap, it was all over. It was a good battle, and Vita should be proud of her performances in this episode, but this was almost destined to be the end of the line for her.<\/p>\n

Ciara Myst (lost to Kenya Pleaser)<\/p>\n

While most of this episode\u2019s lead characters were who you would expect\u2014strong lip syncers like Mia and Juicy Love Dion, and big personalities like Kenya and Jane Don\u2019t\u2014Ciara was a somewhat surprising major player. She came in quite dramatically with the Carrie tribute look in the werk room, and then tussled with Jane over the suitcase she left her for the previous design challenge<\/a>. Then, she pulled out a surprise first-round victory, giving her some momentum going into her battle with Kenya. Kenya wanted a rematch from the \u201cWho Wore It Besties?<\/a>\u201d challenge, and while I get that \u2026 Kenya, girl, Discord was right there. Anyway, Ciara and Kenya battled to \u201cPretty Gang,\u201d and while Ciara seemed quite focused on knowing the words, Kenya was turning it up and out. She was performing at her best, and Ciara couldn\u2019t keep up. We\u2019ll always have The Substance, Ciara.<\/p>\n

Discord Addams (lost to Jane Don\u2019t)<\/p>\n

They made Discord a bit of a joke competitor in this episode, what with Jane choosing to battle her to \u201cSissy That Walk\u201d and both Briar and Jane making her out to be an easy queen to beat. (Granted, that\u2019s true, but still.) But Discord, as ever, took it all in stride, happily indulging in the Discord Walk during her lip sync to the judges\u2019 and fellow contestants\u2019 delight. Jane managed to turn that trick against her, which Discord seemed bemused by in her final confessional, but I think Discord can, by and large, walk out proud of her impact this season. For years to come, any kind of wild walk on the runway will immediately invite comparisons to Discord\u2014and while that might not be the most flattering, as a queen trying to stand out in a saturated market, every bit of press is good press. I think that All Stars call may be coming for her sooner versus later.<\/p>\n

Jane Don\u2019t (lost to Juicy Love Dion)<\/p>\n

It really speaks to how much Jane did not want to lip sync to \u201cPeanut Butter\u201d that she accepted a near-certain assassination by going up against Juicy instead. When Juicy said in confessional, \u201cJane, you are a silly little goose!\u201d, you could immediately see what was coming. I mean, Juicy could\u2019ve stood there for the rest of the song after doing her handstand dress reveal and still won. By the time she did the handstand into the split, Jane herself could only shrug in defeat. Good for Jane for getting to the semifinals, but with the songs and competitors remaining, she was drawing dead.<\/p>\n

Kenya Pleaser (lost to Mia Starr)<\/p>\n

Considering lip syncing and knowing her words were a struggle for Kenya this season, I\u2019m pleasantly surprised by her performance in the LaLaPaRuZa. She definitely benefitted from getting a bye through round one, but she won her battle against Ciara fair and square, and she really put up a fight against Mia. Their battle was a lot of fun, and while you could see a couple moments of Kenya not knowing her words, she covered it much better than she did in-season. Still, I don\u2019t think this was as close as Mandy versus Mia; Mia was just on a hot streak at this point, and she had a better handle on both the words and music than Kenya did. Still, a strong showing for Miss Pleaser, and a hopeful sign of what an All Stars run could look like for her.<\/p>\n

Mia Starr (eliminated by Juicy Love Dion)<\/p>\n

While we all knew Mia was an accomplished lip syncer because of her girl group and talent show performances\u2014not to mention her epic battle with Juicy on \u201cPretty Ugly\u201d\u2014she didn\u2019t really get the chance to become a Lip Sync Assassin this season. She lost her one and only Lip Sync for Your Life, against Kenya to \u201cHead Over Heels,\u201d because the song was outside of her wheelhouse. So it was great to get to see her in four separate lip syncs in this episode, doing great in each and every one. She basically was the Megami or Kori King of this episode: the star throughout, but not ultimately the winner. Based on the final lip sync, I do think the right queen won, but I hope Mia gets generously tipped for her performances throughout this tournament. She really gave us the Mia Starr Experience, and I cannot wait for her to return to our TV screens.<\/p>\n

Juicy Love Dion (Queen of She Done Already Done Had Herses)<\/p>\n

One might be tempted to throw an asterisk on Juicy\u2019s LaLaPaRuZa win, since unlike previous champions Morphine Love Dion and Suzie Toot, she only needed to win two lip syncs instead of three. To that I say: handstand dress reveal. Flawless \u201cCover Girl\u201d lip sync against the toughest opponent of the night. Countless terrific, varied lip sync performances all season long. Juicy has more than made the argument that she is the Lip Sync Assassin of Season 18, and she cemented her legacy in this episode. I genuinely think she is a top three dancer in Drag Race herstory; the way she moves is electric. But unlike other dancers we\u2019ve seen, she can also emote beautifully! I still think her \u201cTotal Eclipse of the Heart\u201d lip sync is my favourite individual performance of the season. No, there\u2019s no need for an asterisk here\u2014Juicy more than deserved this prize, and while I\u2019m sad for her that she didn\u2019t make the finale, this has to be one hell of a consolation prize.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome to RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race Power Rankings! Every week, we\u2019ve debriefed the week\u2019s new episode of RuPaul\u2019s Drag…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195596,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":{"0":"post-195595","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-queens","12":"tag-queens-headlines","13":"tag-queens-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}