“RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” continued its 9th season on Friday, May 31 with the fourth episode featuring returning queens from seasons past. Making their way back into the Werk Room for the second time are Angeria Paris VanMichaels (season 14), Gottmik (season 13), Jorgeous (season 14), Nina West (season 11), and Plastique Tiara (season 11). Three queens are returning for the third time: Roxxxy Andrews (season 5 and All Stars 2), Shannel (season 1 and All Stars 1), and Vanessa Vanjie Mateo (seasons 10 and 11).
In addition to their chance at the coveted crown, this season the queens are competing to have a $200,000 contribution, provided by The Palette Fund, to a charity of their choice. Series judges RuPaul Charles and Michelle Visage will be joined on the dais by friends and series regulars Carson Kressley, Ts Madison, and Ross Mathewsas well as a rotating cast of guest judges to help determine episodic winners and their choice for “next drag superstar.”
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In episode 3, Gottmik earned her second Beautiful Benefactress Badge as one of the the top two performers of the week, alongside Nina who had earned her first. When Gottmik was declared the overall winner, she earned another $10,000 for her charity, Trans Lifeline, and cut off Jorgeous from the eligibility to earn a badge of her own in the next challenge. In the race to be one of the three queens with the most badges by the end of the season, Gottmik is at the top of the pack, and Nina joined Plastique, Angeria and Jorgeous in the runner-up position with one each. This time, both Gottmik and Nina also received a second Badge that they’ll give to another queen of their choice.
Now, check out our recap of episode 4, titled “Smokin’ Hot Firefighter Makeovers,” featuring guest judges Brothers Osbornebelow:
On the heels of her second straight win in the Lip Sync for Your Legacy, Gottmik was in a clear frontrunner position, but that also meant that she had both Angeria and Jorgeous with a vendetta against her for blocking them. Gottmik explained that she went for a queen that already had a badge, but Jorgeous knew that she’d have to come for Gottmik if/when she can.When the topic came up of who Nina and Gottmik would give their extra badges to came, both said they weren’t sure yet and then Nina and Shannel ignited a conversation about alliances and cliques. Shannel tried to explain that Vanjie and Gottmik are “cliquey,” but Vanjie wanted it to be clear that just because she’s close with Gottmik doesn’t mean she expects her to give her a badge.
The next morning, Nina returned to the idea of cliques and said that overnight she thought about how that could impact her decision. She felt cautioned away from giving the extra badge to Shannel because she doesn’t want to reinforce the theory that she’s in an alliance with her. That’s when Gottmik spoke up about how boisterous certain queens were during the previous lip sync in their support of Nina. Gottmik suggested that Shannel and Angeria were only cheering for Nina and so she assumes they’re in an alliance now. She added that she’s heard from “little birdies” that there is an alliance and so she’s paying attention to the signs.
Before things could get settled among the queens, Ru arrived to force Nina and Gottmik’s hands in choosing the queens to give their badges to. Nina gave her extra badge to Roxxxy and Gottmik gave hers to Vanjie, both deciding on the premise of giving them to queens who didn’t have one yet. Gottmik was privately concerned with Nina’s decision because Roxxxy is still one of the biggest threats in the game.
In the spirit of teamwork, Ru had the girls pair up in four sets of their own choosing: Shannel and Angeria, Plastique and Jorgeous, Roxxxy and Vanjie, and Gottmik and Nina. Once in pairs, Ru introduced them to four male firefighters (Adam, Anaré, Brad Lee, and Nathan) that they’d have to help style into popstars to be a part of their girl group ensemble of three. So, in addition to the makeover, the trios would have to write, record and perform their own verses to the song “puss* on Fire.” To give the firefighters some autonomy in the challenge, Ru had each of them cycle through some “speed dating” of the queens before choosing for themselves who would join which pair. After the queens got to learn things like who can dance, who has worn heels, and which of them are gay or straight, the guys made their choices. Adam chose Roxxxy and Vanjie, Anaré chose Plastique and Jorgeous, Brad Lee chose Angeria and Shannel, and so Nathan joined Gottmik and Nina.
During the brainstorming session, Roxxxy and Vanjie told Adam that he’s going to be the star of their group and they felt comfortable each coming from a position where they were just given a badge and have the fire in them to earn one now. Roxxxy’s plan was solid: create three looks that are all the same color in different shapes so that they have resemblance and stick out. Jorgeous and Plastique were excited about Anaré because he was showing a sassiness that would work with their anime concept for the group and they were happy to realize how receptive he was to their ideas.
For Shannel and Angeria, they wanted to divide and conquer by having Angeria focus on the lyrics (her strength) while Shannel works on the looks (her strength), but the ideas that the other girls could see from across the room were worrying. Gottmik and Nina were instantly inspired by the “firefighter puns” that Nathan was quick to come up with as lyrics, but once he took his shirt off, they got a bit distracted. Gottmik was also concerned by the complete disconnect between her “vamp” aesthetic and Nina’s “camp” looks, leaving them in a tough spot to bring their group together as one vision.
Later in the day, Ru stopped by to check-in on each of the groups. Angeria said that their secret will be “cohesion” and Brad Lee told the room that he grew close like family to LGBTQ friends in the EDM community and so he had a craving to delve into this in the spirit of “chosen family.” Nathan explained to Ru what a “hose dragger” is in the firefighting world and why that’s their group name. Adam was slightly concerned about the tucking experience, but he told Ru that Roxxxy and Vanjie made him feel comfortable about it. He also told the story of his pansexual daughter who is married to his transmale son-in-law. He said he thinks it’s important to be an advocate especially coming from such a gender conforming industry.
When the girls took their men to the runway to practice walking and to figure out choreography, Gottmik had the a-ha moment with Nathan that perhaps they shouldn’t try to hide his masculine features when they could actually incorporate it into their dancing. Elsewhere, Adam showed Roxxxy and Vanjie signs of struggling with his walk in heels, Anaré had difficulty keeping up with the choreo lessons with Jorgeous and Plastique, and Brad Lee’s long limbs were not the easiest for Shannel and Angeria to figure out.
On the Main Stage the next day, Ru was joined by Michelle, Ross, T.J. Osborne and John Osborne to witness the girl group performances and makeovers on the runway. Up first was The Hoezes featuring Vanjie, Roxxxy and Valerie Valentine in skimpy pink dresses. Next was Meow Meow Mixxx featuring Plastique, Jorgeous and Angelique in the pink, green and blue colors of Power Puff Girls. The puss*cat Hose featuring Angeria, Shannel and Natasha Brad Lee were next in their shimmering blue and pink looks from Shannel’s drag bag. Last was The Hose Draggers featuring Nina, Gottmik and Anita Blaze in their amalgamation of Gottmik’s vampy makeup and Nina’s campy 60s garments.
Following the performance of “puss* on Fire,” the judges offered their critiques of the four groups. Ross loved the transformation of Valerie and said that Roxxxy and Vanjie fulfilled the requirement of getting all three of them to look like a group and have each garment work for all the queens. The Brothers Osborne appreciated that they made Valerie the star of their group. The Brothers Osborne “totally got” the Power Puff look that Jorgeous and Plastique assembled and Michelle complimented their choreography. Ross commented at how “filthy” the lyrics Angeria created were and the Brothers Osborne were enamored with the “hissin’ while I’m pissin'” line. Ru didn’t think their looks were very cohesive though. Michelle called the final group “so cute and so fun” and was impressed with Nina and Gottmik’s ability to blend such different styles.
After further deliberation, Ru announced the decision that this week’s top two all stars were Roxxxy and Vanjie for their work with The Hoezes. With the placement, they each earned a second Beautiful Benefactress Badge and faced off in a lip sync to “Black Cat” by Janet Jackson. Quickly, Roxxxy revealed her leopard print catsuit that was fitting to the song, but was bringing more of the passionate anger that the lyric calls for. In what became a battle of hair flips, Ru declared both of them overall winners in a tie decision.
As dual winners, Vanjie and Roxxxy had to work together to decide on the one queen that they’d cut off from earning a badge next week. Roxxxy’s perspective was that it was time for her to pay Angeria back for cutting her off earlier, but she knew that Vanjie should have a say in it as well. Their deliberation didn’t take long and sure enough Roxxxy got her way to use the Ruby Snippers on Angeria, marking the second time she was cut off by a queen.
NEXT TIME: Angeria confesses to the group that it hurt to be cut for a second time and Carson directs the queens through “dragged up real estate commercials.”
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