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• RuPaul’s Drag Race Week: Ten Best Episodes!
• RuPaul’s Drag Race Week: Top Five Contestant Singles!
• RuPaul’s Drag Race Week: Most Underrated Queens!
• RuPaul’s Drag Race Week: Top Five Villains!
• RuPaul’s Drag Race Week: Best and Worst Lip Syncs!
If you haven’t heard by now (you should have, because we just spent a week plugging it) RuPaul’s All-Stars Drag Race premieres tonight at 9/8c on Logo in the U.S. and OutTV up here in Canada. The big twist this season is that, due to a shorter episode order, the queens must compete in teams of two for the crown. Now, when the cast list was first announced, we ranked the queens on their own merits to determine who would be making it to the top three, but thanks to the twist, we’re going back to the drawing board to rank the teams and weigh the odds for which teams will make it to the end.
Team Mandora / Pandora Boxx and Mimi Imfurst
If this was an individual competition, Pandora would probably go really far. But pairing her with Mimi just isn’t going to end well. While both Pandora and Mimi do comedy and camp well, a better match for either would be a queen who excels at high-glamour in order to achieve an equilibrium. Pairing Pandora with the rather unsubtle Mimi, however, is more likely to tip the scale too far into camp. As much as we love Pandora, this pairing doesn’t seem to bode well for their chances.
Team Brown Flowers / Tammie Brown and Nina Flowers
Tammie Brown’s reappearance was an unexpected surprise, and Nina Flowers’ second shot at the crown was well-deserved as well. The thing with this pairing is that their styles of drag are vastly different: Tammie is pure comedy and old-school camp, while Nina is edgy, gender-fluid and tough. Both queens are the best at their respective styles, so their execution shouldn’t be a problem; What I question more is whether or not they can find a coherent middle-ground for their respective styles of drag. If they can figure out how to balance Tammie’s old-school sass with Nina’s futuristic punk rock look, they can go far, but that remains to be seen.
Team Yarlexis / Alexis Mateo and Yara Sofia
The latina queens from season three, Yara and Alexis are probably the duo that will end up getting along best with each other. Unfortunately, this is also what I feel will end up hurting them in the end: They’re too similar, and I worry that they might be a little too friendly with each other to really challenge each other or point out each other’s weaknesses. The best possible outcome is that they’re so copacetic that they get each other to the finale. The worst possible outcome is that exacerbate each others’ weak points.
Team RujuBee / Jujubee and Raven
Remember when I said that Mimi and Pandora needed a high-glam queen to balance out their camp? This is the kind of combination I meant. Since they both appeared in season two together, both are aware of each others’ strengths and faults, so in all likelihood, Raven’s glam looks, bitchiness and severity should compliment Jujubee’s softer, girly girl charms and humor nicely. But can they make it to the top? Hmmmm …
Team Latrila / Latrice Royale and Manila Luzon
Once again, this is a balanced group where the queens will be able to compliment each others’ strengths and cover each others’ weaknesses. Latrice is old school glamour, Manila is avant-garde creativity. Latrice can deliver a script flawlessly, Manila can do improv. They’re perfect for each other.
Team Shad / Chad Michaels and Shannel
What Chad and Shannel have on their side is a buttload of experience and versatility. They’re both character queens, they’re both polished to the nines, and when it comes to straight-up ability, they’re both in a league of their own. On her own, Chad was my pick to win the show, and together with Shannel, they’re still probably the team to beat. What I question here is their risk-factor: Chad and Shannel need to learn how to gamble more with their choices if they want to win.
So ultimately, who do I think will win? Well, I see this as a toss-up between Shad and Latrila, with Rujubee as the dark horse. of course, I could be wrong, but we’ll see how this plays out on the mainstage.
BONUS VIDEO: WOW‘s lady reporter Damiana Garcia interviews RuPaul and the All-Stars:
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