Recap
The contestants who chose funny characters did well. The contestants who didn't chose funny characters did poorly. Not even a RuPaul-themed runway presentation could save the bottom three from their horrible work in Snatch Game. It's Season 6. You know the challenge has appeared every year from Season 2. How could you not prepare a comedy character before coming?
The List
1. Bianca Del Rio (^2)
I disagreed with the judges big time on this one. Bianca Del Rio clearly won the Snatch Game and had a great Ru-inspired runway presentation. I'd go so far as to say Bianca's Judge Judy was the single best Snatch Game performance ever, topping Chad Michael's Cher, Jinkx Monsoon's Little Edie, and Pandora Boxx's Carol Channing. And, yes, bonus points were duly awarded for tearing down Laganja's idiotic hat and ridiculous meltdown on UnTucked!, as well as for her generosity in loaning Adore a waist cincher so the judges would shut up about her body.
2. BenDeLaCreme (^3)
My ranking takes nothing away from challenge winner BenDeLaCreme's wonderful turn as Dame Maggie Smith in Downton Abbey. It was the perfect character for DeLa and she played it well. I just think that Judge Judy worked better in the contest, allowing for contextual humor rather than jokes derived from a century gap between RuPaul's Drag Race and Downton Abbey.
3. Darienne Lake (^3)
I'm not surprised Darienne Lake didn't land in the top 3 on the show. The judges have been cold on her from her first appearance. However, her Paula Deen was fully realized down to the voice and her supervillain RuPaul look was excellent. Another great performance passed over by the judges.
4. Adore Delano (v3)
Adore did land in the top 3 on the show, but I had one problem with her Anna Nicole Smith: the voice. The breathiness and cadence were right, but the pitch was totally off. Still, the physicality of the performance was excellent and Adore was quick on her feet the whole game.
5. Joslyn Fox (bless her heart) (^3)
Joslyn Fox (bless her heart) is really growing on me. Her Theresa Guidice was very clever, especially the opening gag about the ever-evolving pronunciation of her name on The Real Housewives of New Jersey. The one who accidentally referred to herself as the "black horse" of the contest has become the voice of reason on UnTucked!, trying to stop the less witty queens from turning their presence into a buffet for the smarter queens on the show.
6. Trinity K. Bonet (^4)
Trinity had an amazing runway look for the RuPaul main stage presentation. Bonus points were awarded for her reveal that she sewed something that intricate and beautiful herself. Her Nicki Minaj was boring, but at least she tried to do something with the Snatch Game.
7. Milk (v4)
Milk did a terrible job on Snatch Game. How anyone could pick Julia Child and then not go with drunk as a skunk older Julia blows my mind. That was the only time she was consistently funny on her cooking shows. Milk ranks this high because I appreciated the risk of dressing up as workroom Ru for the runway presentation. He won over Michelle Visage with boy drag, a judge who wanted to send home Alaska last season for doing boy drag on an acting challenge. That's something that I never thought would happen on this show.
8. Gia Gunn (v1)
Gia did everything she could do to save herself in Snatch Game. When Ru was not feeling her Selena (!) impersonation, Gia switched to Kim Kardashian. There was a chance to do something with that, but Gia's not particularly funny. Her runway look was stronger than it has been, but that lip sync was boring.
9. Laganja Estranja (v1)
Laganga was so annoying this episode that I hoped that whoever landed in the bottom two with her would send her home. Her Rachel Zoe impersonation was actually worse than Alyssa Edward's Katy Perry last year (only Ru didn't make Laganga beg for forgiveness on Twitter). It was boring and made no sense. The runway look was clearly inspired by RuPaul, but was in a completely different color scheme that Ru would never wear. Her lip sync was desperate, not entertaining. And her UnTucked! antics for a second week made me want to stop watching UnTucked!. I can't with Laganja.
10. Courtney Act (v9)
There is one reason Courtney is down here this week. She left so little an impression on me this week, I almost published this without having her on The List at all. It's quite a remarkable feat to go from winning a challenge to being unnoticeable in a drag competition in two episodes. She's better than this.
Elimination
Gia Gunn lip synced against Laganga Estranga and Laganga, by virtue of at least having any energy onstage, hung onto her spot in the contest. Gia had a terrible attitude on the runway about her elimination and probably should have left much earlier than this.
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