“RuPaul’s Drag Race” kicked off the 5th installment of its “All Stars” spin off on June 5 with a jam-packed “All Star Variety Extravaganza.” In that premiere, the real world and social media feud between all stars Derrick Barry (5th place, season 8) and India Ferrah (10th place, season 3) took center stage. But as tension between the two continued to rise, the season-long drama we expected was cut short when India was named the challenge winner and Derrick was voted by the remaining queens as the first eliminated queen.
This season, RuPaul Charles has changed the All Stars rules once again. Instead of two of queens performing lip syncs for their legacies, the week’s challenge winner will go up against a non-competing queen deemed a “lip sync assassin.” If the season 5 all-star wins, she gets a $10,000 tip and gets to decide who to boot. If she loses, the tip gets added to the jar for the following week and the rest of the queens will rule on the elimination from two choices selected as the bottom two from the judges panel.
In the June 5 premiere challenge winner India Ferrah battled season 11 winner Yvie Oddly to “Livin’ La Vida Loca.” Yvie won and the jury’s vote sent Derrick Barry home.
SEE: Where are the first 16 ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ winners now: Find out what happened to your favorites
Below, check out our minute-by-minute “RuPaul’s Drag Race” recap of All Stars 5, Episode 2 to find out what happened on Friday, June 12. Then be sure to sound off in the comments section about your favorite queens on VH1’s reality TV show, who annoys you the most, and who you think will ultimately join the “RuPaul’s Drag Race” winners list.
SEE: ‘Drag Race’ winners rankings: All 17 ranked from worst to best
Keep refreshing/reloading this live blog for the most recent updates.
8:04 p.m. – Following Derrick’s elimination the queens returned to the work room to discuss the shock of the lip sync assassin game changer. They all agreed that India was under a lot of pressure as the first one to go up against the assassin and they also agreed that they’re not mad she lost so that the $10k went into the pot instead of her own pocket. But they also had to recap the gag of having to vote as a jury to eliminate one of the queens. Throughout the conversation Jujubee was holding her tongue, but couldn’t any longer when Blair St. Clair asked if anyone asked if they’d voted for Mayhem Miller to go instead. Mayhem was blown away that her friend Juju would eliminate her, but Juju said it wasn’t personal and that she just simply laughed more at Derrick. Mayhem didn’t buy it and was hurt.
8:08 p.m. – The next day Miz Cracker felt compelled to bring up the elimination again and confessed to thinking that Ongina should have went home instead. Her reasoning was that Ongina is the least committed to wanting to be in the competition, but all of the girls didn’t understand why she was bringing this up at all.
8:10 p.m. – For this week’s maxi challenge, Ru had the girls work in groups to write and record their own song verse to a celebrity man-crush of their choice, and then create a group look and choreo to perform their song live on the main stage. India got to name her two biggest competitors, Shea Coulee and Blair, who were named as the team captains. India chose Juju and Alexis Mateo, Blair chose Cracker and Mayhem, and Shea chose Mariah Paris Balenciaga and Ongina.
8:15 p.m. – While the teams were huddled up to plan their strategies, Ongina was still pressed about Cracker’s comments earlier in the day and hoping that she’d tank that team. In that team’s session, Blair was happy they all knew each other from their original season, but Mayhem was concerned that she went home in that season after working with Cracker in a team.
8:21 p.m. – The season 10 team was the first to rehearse their verses with Leland and Freddy Scott. As a professional pop artist, Blair was expected to excel, but her vocal delivery (to Hannibal Lecter) was pretty rough. Cracker chose Sylvester Stallone and Mayhem chose Mister Rogers as their celeb crushes, and their recording sessions weren’t any more promising than Blair’s.
8:24 p.m. – In the next session, Alexis sang a hilarious verse to Daddy Yankee, Juju delivered a vocal love letter to John Stamos and India’s verse to Justin Timberlake was uneven with a lot less energy than her teammate’s. Then Shea’s verse to Chadwick Boseman was an instant hit, Ongina struggled with the delivery of hers to Henry Cavill and Mariah’s ode to Jason Momoa wasn’t much better.
8:33 p.m. – Later each group got to use the stage to choreograph their routines with the other teams watching from the sidelines. Alexis took the lead for their group with the intent of creating something sexy. Next Shea created the routine for her team and it looked so good right off the bat that the other teams were immediately intimidated. The concept was cohesive and Mariah and Ongina were picking it right up. The last team was lead by Blair, but it was hard to get anything going because Cracker was adding too much input over Blair’s voice.
8:42 p.m. – Back in the workroom for makeup application, the topic on everyone’s lips was the tension throughout the Mayhem, Blair and Cracker team. Mayhem was spinning the biggest webs while discussing with Ongina and Alexis. By this point Ongina was ready to discuss anything negative about Cracker, as if that entire side of the room had their knives sharpened against her already. On Cracker’s side of the room she was telling Juju and Blair why she has such a hard time making friends and that drag has been her way of shifting into a character that people like to be around.
8:50 p.m. – On tonight’s judges panel was Michelle Visage, Carson Kressley and guest judges Madison Beer and Tessa Thompson. During the performance, Alexis, Mayhem and Blair got the biggest laughs from the judges. The “superhero” group fell mostly flat with Ongina sticking out like a sore thumb with a particularly bad performance look.
8:54 p.m. – For the runway the category was “Love the Skin You’re In.” India had a dress inspired by different skin colors, Juju went baby pink Mae West style and Alexis delivered a glam faux leather gown. Blair walked out painted in bright pink with a matching dress and hat and a bright yellow wig, Cracker was in a nude dress with a really weird tulle piece covering her face and Mayhem recreated a Kim Kardashian Met Gala look with dripping jewels. Shea did a cat suit calling back to African style, Ongina went with a traditional Filipino costume and Mariah was in a class drag evening gown that was to die for.
9:02 p.m. – Based on the performances and the runway show, Ru called Alexis, Mayhem and Cracker safe. The judges loved India’s runway look, but were not taken with her song performance. Michelle loved Juju’s lyrics and Tessa said her runway presentation was beautiful. Blair got raves for her look on the runway, but Michelle was confused how it related to the category of skin. Tessa told Shea that she “literally gagged” over her runway look and the rest of the panel agreed. Though the judges liked Ongina’s look on the runway, they had problems with it and they thought she got lost in the group performance because she’s overshadowed by the rest of the cast. Mariah had a great runway look, but compared to everyone else her song presentation didn’t cut it. Ultimately, Shea was named the challenge winner while all three of India, Mariah and Ongina were all named bottom queens vulnerable to elimination.
9:13 p.m. – As the winner, Shea felt like she was in a bittersweet position because her two teammates were making up two thirds of the bottom three. Ongina was disappointed to be in the bottom again and even told the other girls that maybe her heart isn’t in the competition and that the other girls don’t deserve to go home. That was some validation to Cracker’s comments earlier in the episode, but lovingly Cracker gave Ongina some support and said that she can still come back from her poor performances and win the whole thing.
9:19 p.m. – Through conversations with the jury of other queens and one-on-ones with Shea, the energy among the vulnerable queens was that Ongina had basically given up and should be the one to go. Even still Shea was conflicted about sending one of her own teammates home.
9:24 p.m. – In the assassin duel, Shea turned to see the dynamic legs and then iconic face of… Alyssa Edwards! Shea, you in danger girl! The battle for Shea’s legacy against Alyssa was to “Neuton Dance” by the Pointer Sisters. Though Alyssa was brining her slick and comedic energy, Shea was turned all the way up with double the energy and a wide variety of moves. For that reason and for capturing the essence of the song, Shea won and earned the $20,000 tip!
9:28 p.m. – As the lip sync winner, Shea had to reveal the queen she chose to be eliminated. Her choice was Ongina. Everyone was sad to see her go, but it seems like it was the only option to make based on Ongina’s own declarations.
NEXT TIME: The queens pair up to design and present their own suite worthy of being in a five star hotel. Cracker gets in hot water again… this time with Alexis?!
