In episode 6 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 14, the queens were asked to create from scratch a fresh look using the unconventional materials found in Michelle Visage‘s discarded online shopping orders. When Jorgeous was declared the winner for what a perceivably simple design, Daya Betty was not shy about her disappointment in the judges’ decision to once again place her as “safe.”
This week, the nine remaining queens dust off their overacting skills in a daytime soap spoof directed by RuPaul Charles. Read below for our recap of episode 7 to see who delivers the melodrama best in “The Daytona Wind.”
The nine remaining queens are: Angeria Paris VanMicheals, Bosco, Daya Betty, DeJa Skye, Jasmine Kennedie, Jorgeous, Kerri Colby, Lady Camden, and Willow Pill.
The argument that Maddy Morphosis and Jasmine had in “Untucked” last week was settled by Jasmine sending Maddy home in the lipsync. To see Jasmine put her money where her mouth was as a performance queen painted a picture for the other queens that she will be formidable as an opponent in the bottom two. Tensions weren’t lowered by Maddy’s elimination though because Daya was happy to throw Jorgeous under the bus as the winner for what she called a “the sexiest napkin [she’s] ever seen.” Daya said that she “created a garment from literally nothing” and insinuated that Jorgeous just glued stuff to a bodysuit. Daya’s reaction made Jorgeous feel like her win was being minimized, but many of the other girls had her back and felt like Daya was just showing herself to be jealous and upset at herself.
The next morning Daya did take a moment to apologize to Jorgeous in front of the other girls, saying that her complaints overshadowed her win. Though Daya said it was a genuine apology, Jasmine did not buy it and the expressions of the other girls suggested that it was indeed a bit cringe. Luckily, Ru arrived just in time to distract the girls with the details of their next maxi challenge. This week, Ru wanted the queens to star in the soap opera drama “The Daytona Wind” about three Drag Race dynasties: The O’Haras, The Davenports, and The Michaels.
As the winner of last week’s challenge, Jorgeous was given the responsibility of assigning the roles for the cast. In order to be fair to everyone, Jorgeous asked which role everyone would like to play after choosing her own. For the most part, all the queens got the role they wanted, but Camden was behind the ball in reading through the script and so as the last one to speak up she was left with the last role. Camden willingly accepted it, having no clue what the role was at the time.
After planning sessions in groups of three with their scene partners, the queens stepped on set for their direction by Ru herself. DeJa’s group was the first to film their scenes, a pressurized spot that caused her to get in her head and need a lot of direction through her inconsistent Southern accent. Unlike in the other acting challenges, Jorgeous performed really well through her dramatic reaction shots and Jasmine sent Ru into a laughing fit with a so-bad-it’s-good characterization. In their sister roles, Daya and Willow got respectfully competitive in their ridiculousness, while the praise that Ru gave Camden put Angie on edge with her own performance.
Back in the Werk Room, the chaps theme for the day’s runway inspired the girls to talk about their experiences in the leather community. As a local queen to San Francisco, Camden talked about the annual Folsom Street Fair that takes place there where people from the kink and fetish scene from all over the world gather to live their best sexual fantasies without judgment. Bosco acknowledged that “not every gay space needs to be family friendly” and that there needs to be space “for grit to be there,” too.
For the main stage, Ru was joined by Michelle, Ross Mathews and this week’s returning guest judge Ts Madison. Willow walked first in the “Chaps? On the Runway?” category in a black latex wedgie-conceptual look, followed by Bosco in pink leather and fringe motorcycle chaps, Deja in bright blue cheetah chaps with a bright orange party wig, Kerri in complete hair-fringe chaps and floor length braids, Jorgeous in a rhinestone and lace burlesque chaps, Angie in all gold disco chaps, Jasmine in a yellow and blue graduation gown with a netted chap look underneath, Camden in a white and black Freddie Mercury look that involved a faked trip on the runway reveal moment, and Daya in a business executive chaps and lingerie look.
Prior to revealing the final cut of “The Daytona Wind,” Ru announced that she had the bright idea of adding a surprise element to make the episode perfect. In the ruveal of the “director’s cut,” it became immediately clear that the reference to that Daytona wind was in fact the fart sound effects that Ru added to the backing track of their performances. The queens realized now that their script actually set up the fart sounds perfectly, adding the perfect comedic element to their over-the-top reactions. Because Ru was so happy with the final result and all the performances, she declared that DeJa, Kerri, and Angie were all safe while the remaining six queens were all the tops of the week and there would be no bottoms.
In the critiques, the judges would determine the top two of the week who could lipsync for the win instead of their lives. Despite what Ross called her “chapless chaps,” the judges thought Jorgeous had great timing in the challenge and she was funny. Ru loved the ridiculousness of Jasmine’s graduation look and the rest of the panel thought her character in the show was so stupid that it worked. They also liked Camden’s fun runway reveal and Ts thought she really brought it in the acting challenge with conviction. As one of the sister prostitutes, Michelle thought she commanded attention in her role and they thought her look in the episode and on the runway was great. Though they thought Willow basically portrayed Moira Rose in her character, they still loved how adorable it was and the silliness of her runway interpretation. Ross thought Bosco had the riskiest role because it was a small part in the end, but she nailed it and then followed up with a gorgeous runway according to Ts.
After further deliberation, Ru and the judges decided that the top two of the week were Camden and Daya. To determine the winner and earn a $5,000 cast tip, the two tops performed to “One Way or Another” by Blondie. Camden kicked it off quickly with a slide with splits and kicks and then kept a high pace of campy rock choreography throughout the song. Daya gave a more traditional performance at a slower and more intense sexual pace. Ru picked Camden as the winner of the week, her first for the season, but with Daya finally in the top she should be just as happy. Without anyone in the bottom this week, that meant no elimination and so all nine remained to compete another week.
NEXT WEEK: The queens return to the stage, but this time with live vocals for a retro styled song.
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