Two weeks ago on “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” RuPaul Charles stopped Kandy Muse in her tracks as she made her “sashay” off the runway to say that she wasn’t ready for her to leave the competition yet. It was a surprising, but well-received decision by the cast for a rare “double shantay” after Kandy and Symone, once thought to be frontrunners, had both fallen into the bottom two. That same week, Rosé finally earned a challenge win, the coveted prize she thought she’d have earned for herself much earlier in the competition.
Below, check out our minute-by-minute “RuPaul’s Drag Race” recap of episode 9 to see the queens of season 13 create their own herstory with their performances in “The Snatch Game.” After following along with our live updating blog, be sure to sound off in the comments section with your reactions to VH1’s reality TV show and then resume discussing who you think will ultimately join the “RuPaul’s Drag Race” winners list.
8:01 p.m. – For the first time in the season, three members of “the winner’s circle” were called out as bottom three queens. Kandy, Symone and Tina Burner had finally felt the hurt of their sisterhood being vulnerable, but that none of them actually went home left “the losing queens” still feeling at a loss. At the end of the day though it meant that the playing field was finally leveled and it was truly anyone’s game to win.
8:04 p.m. – Shortly into the next day, Ru arrived with a mission to have the queens “audition” for a new punk band called “The Panty Hoes.” Each girl had a few minutes to get into quick punk drag using fishnet tights and then perform as the lead singer of the band. While you wouldn’t be able to say any of them looked particularly good, they were all fully committed to the role. None more than Tina who thought it wise to shake her bare booty for the camera and then thrust from the floor. Ultimately she was named the mini challenge winner, earning a cash prize of $2500. The punk mini was just a warm up for the maxi challenge they had all been waiting for: Snatch Game! As always, the goal would be to make Ru laugh with the best celebrity impersonation.
8:16 p.m. – Later on Ru returned to the werk room to check in with the queens as they prepared their characters for the game. Elliott with 2 Ts shocked Ru by saying she planned to do Rue McClanahan, a character that Ru is very familiar with having watched, by own admission, every episode of “The Golden Girls” at least 25 times. Symone also presented an out-of-the-box idea to do Harriet Tubman, but she stressed to Ru that she wasn’t entirely worried about offending anyone because she felt it’s “needed slash important” for her to try to start a conversation about an important cultural icon. On the flip side, Utica Queen was quite concerned with offending people — so much so that her plan to do Bob Ross included using squirrels to create his iconic afro because, to her, it’d be appropriation to use an actual afro wig. Utica was the only one in the room that had that opinion though.
8:26 p.m. – Tina optioned both Jennifer Coolidge and Richard Simmons, but ultimately stuck with Richard because Ru said her Jennifer wasn’t as memorable as some of the others she’s seen on audition tapes over the years. Olivia Lux took a risk choosing Tabitha Brown, a little known Instagram vegan chef that Ru was really worried Olivia would struggle to make work.
8:29 p.m. – On the set of “The Snatch Game,” Ru welcomed alums Raven and Victoria “Porkchop” Parker as this year’s contestants to seek matches with the celebrities: Harriet, Gottmik as Paris Hilton, Rosé as Mary Queen of Scots, Richard, Kandy as PatrickStarr, Tabitha, Denali as Jonathan Van Ness, Rue, and Bob. Based on their introductory moments with Ru, Symone, Rosé and Gottmik were all looking like they were setting themselves up for success. Denali, Elliott and Utica all began on uneven footing and would need to turn things around quickly.
8:40 p.m. – Of all the impersonations, Gottmik as Paris was the most consistent and perfectly realized while Kandy’s Patrick was so on the nose for Kandy that it almost felt like she was returning to her comfort zone of creating characters that are too much like her own personality. Rosé’s take on Mary was interesting because she modernized her with contemporary language in the hard Scottish accent so it was odd enough to bring the laughs. Olivia’s vegan jokes eventually turned one note, as did Tina’s exercises as Richard, and Elliott and Utica were not embodying their celebrities faithfully at all. Of all the impersonations though, Symone as Harriet was the most inspired and varied — her bit about stamping $100 bills with her own face was brilliantly played, for instance.
8:54 p.m. – The next day as the queens prepared their looks for the runway presentation, Denali, already considering Utica as one of the bottom performers, instigated a conversation with her about Olivia’s poor performance. Unfortunately Olivia overheard them and took offense as if they were talking behind her back — Olivia’s random attitude wasn’t surprising to Tina who had already been convinced of Olivia’s secret diva-ness.
9:01 p.m. – On the main stage, Ru was joined by Michelle Visage, Carson Kressley and guest judge Ts Madison for a “Fascinating Fascinators” runway walk. Olivia walked first in a white lab coat gown and a silver fascinator to represent liquid mercury. Rosé wore ruffles again, but this time in deep rose and with a huge rose on her head. Utica took a picnic basket on her head and a polka dot body suit to create a quirky little look while Symone followed in an all white gown that revealed two bullet holes in her back and the words “Say Their Names” on her hat for a great statement piece. Gottmik was next in a punk look with a huge safety pin stuck through her head, followed by Denali on skates again as a diner girl with a tipped coffee pot fascinator, Elliott in a really weird pink catsuit that was asymmetrical in pink and flesh tone with a feathered cap, Tina in a brown dress to represent an equestrian horse, and finally Kandy in a black and white ruffled dress with “MUSE” spelled in feathers on her head.
9:11 p.m. – After the presentations, Ru named Symone, Tina and Kandy as the safe queens this week and sent them backstage to untuck while the other queens heard critiques as the tops and bottoms of the week. On the bottom was Olivia, Elliott and Utica all for not delivering on the promise of their celebrity choices. Utica and Elliott took the hardest hits for being way off with their impersonations–Utica for not being calming or funny enough as Bob and Elliott not being as sultry or charming as Rue is known to be. At the top was Rosé, Gottmik and Denali, but Michelle clocked Rosé for her runway look being so similar to everything else she’s done, albeit it better than any of them. Carson really loved Denali as JVN, but Michelle thought that her runway look was a little costumey. Next to her, Gottmik’s punk outfit was wildly impressive to Ru and the rest of the panel who told her she always turns it out on the runway.
9:23 p.m. – With a little more deliberation, Ru came to the decision that Rosé and Denali would be safe, making room for Gottmik’s second main challenge win of the season. From the bottom, Olivia sneaked her way into safety, leaving Utica and Elliott both vulnerable to elimination. Going into their lip sync to “Fascinated” by Company B, Utica was concerned about going against a queen known for her dancing ability, but it quickly became apparent that she was the more invested of the two and was prepared to take over every inch of the stage with a fully committed performance. Elliott on the other hand found it hard to keep up with Utica’s energy and looked as if she had already checked out of the competition. As such, it was no surprise when Ru announced that Utica would stay and asked Elliott to “sashay away.”
NEXT WEEK: Given safety protocols, instead of the queens performing family resemblance makeovers this season they’d be giving each other makeovers!
