RECAP: “RuPaul’s Drag Race Global All Stars” Episode 7 (Snatch Game)
First: apologies for the late blog, was traveling last week.
The good news: most of the queens did well in the “Global All Stars” Snatch Game of Love; it was not a flop overall. We got an absolutely iconic lipsynch for the first time since, I think, Episode 1. An overall wonderful runway. And I learned about a new gay dating app (condragulations Archer, you are the true winner of this week’s minichallenge).
The bad news: a lot of fans are unhappy with the results of this episode (shocking, I know), and the allegations of casual racism this season persist. It’s kind of hard to argue against that. I think we also need to acknowledge that RuPaul himself does not seem engaged with this season, which was more obvious than ever given the incredibly cool reception Ru gave to Los Javis (Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo), regular judges from “Drag Race Espana” who were the Snatchelors and the guest judges this episode. Ru didn’t seem to know who they were. Ru didn’t seem to care. There was absolutely zero sign of enthusiasm/interest about “Espana” — which is incredibly popular and has produced some outstanding queens. Compare that to Ru’s interactions with “Drag Race Thailand”’s Pangina Heals or “Canada’s Drag Race” winner Priyanka when she was a lipsynch assassin on “All Stars 8” and it could not be more clear that Ru is just not connected to this season.
Let’s get into the episode. I’ll go over each queen’s performances in the Snatch Game and the Eat Me! food-related runway, from least successful to most. Note that there will be spoilers below, and I STRONGLY encourage you to watch the episode before reading on. Not yet signed up for Paramount+? Click right here:
Gala Varo (“Drag Race Mexico” S1)
A lot of fans are furious about the way Gala was treated this season. They feel she was not given credit in the challenges where she did well — talent show, girl group — and she was repeatedly thrown in the Bottom 2 for basically no reason. I don’t necessarily disagree with any of that. But this week Gala was clearly the worst in the challenge.
For Snatch Game, Gala chose Laura Leon, a Mexican actress and singer who RuPaul did not know at all. I’ve seen people criticizing Ru for pressuring queens to change characters when she doesn’t know them, but…Ru is the judge. If the judge — and the host of the challenge — doesn’t know who you’re playing, no matter how good you are, it’s not going to resonate. I think this is actually good advice. It’s the same reason Ru gets exasperated when young queens pick social-media influencers for Snatch Game. She doesn’t know them. She doesn’t care to know them (and I don’t blame her). She’s not going to be able to volley with them. I’ve seen people say, “Well maybe RuPaul should broaden her cultural horizons.” I mean…no. It’s her show. The queens should be catering to her, not the other way around. And for what it’s worth, when Ru doesn’t know a reference, I guarantee you the majority of the viewers of this show also don’t know them. In this particular case, I don’t think it was bad advice from Ru to get Gala to pick someone more broadly known.
But then Ru gave the instruction to lean into overdone accents and telenovela reactions, and boy people didn’t like that. Coupled with the whole “margherita pizza” thing with Nehellenia, the message is that this show is not interested in exploring the unique drag styles from these countries, but instead wants to lean on cheap, easy stereotypes for laughs. And many viewers are disappointed by that. I don’t blame them.
It’s honestly hard to judge Gala’s Snatch Game because there didn’t seem to be anything there. There was not a single joke (that we saw). There was just…nothing. She just sat and posed dramatically. And she knew she was in trouble, because nobody was laughing. On the runway, her chocolate and candy outfit was solid, and then she did that astonishing reveal to basically nothing — my goodness. Gala is THE body queen, and it’s a very impressive body.
Vanity Vain (“Drag Race Sverige” Season 1)
I actually thought Vanity had some good moments as EuroVision singer Loreen. The look was good, the “describe yourself in three words” answer was funny — I don’t think it was as bad as it was painted to be. If it was strictly Snatch Game vs. Snatch Game, I would have put Vanity over Tessa, who was a total flop in the challenge. But Tessa smoked that runway. I liked Vanity’s fish look. It was campy and cute, and she made it herself. But there’s no question that Tessa looked better.
Overall I thought it was a good episode for Vanity, who has emerged as a lovable underdog this season. She’s trying, and while she doesn’t always succeed, you WANT her to succeed. There’s obvious talent there, and real star power. And we certainly saw that in the lipsynch this episode.
Tessa Testicle (“Drag Race Germany” Season 1)
Tessa picked nightlife impresario Susanne Bartsch for Snatch Game, which I think she thought was a smart move — Susanne is a close personal friend of RuPaul — but in reality was a terrible decision. There was nothing of Susanne in Tessa’s performance, and since Ru (and Michelle) know her so personally, they could see that very clearly. I wonder if this had been a traditional Snatch Game format if this would have worked better for Tessa, as Ru might have been able to volley with her. But in the “Of Love” format, the only volleying is with the Snatchelor. And Los Javis clearly didn’t know what was going on there. On the runway, Tessa’s Swiss cheese look was simple but so effective. She looked incredible. I think that runway saved her from the Bottom 2. Shout out to Tessa coming out in that ridiculous inflatable cow look (with corset!) for the lipsynch. Tessa is one of two queens actively working Ru this season, and that’s why she’s been getting a lighter touch by the judges than others. Mark my words.
Alyssa Edwards (“RuPaul’s Drag Race” Season 5, “Drag Race All Stars” Season 2)
What is it with Season 5 queens doing previous characters on modern Snatch Games? Roxxxy Andrews brought back Tasha Salad for the “All Stars” 9 game, and Alyssa brought back Annie Oakley for this one. Utterly pointless. The funny thing is, Alyssa — who has been safe for weeks now — made a big deal about swinging for the fences with this performance, and yet she picked the safest possible choice for this Snatch Game. It was fine, but you’re not going to win with Fine. Javier Ambrossi picked Annie as the winner of the Snatch Game of Love, which was crazy to me — I think he knew it was Alyssa and went with the pick he assumed the viewers would want. But Alyssa was a distant second in her group. On the runway, the ice cream look was fanciful and very expensive looking, but again not as exciting as several other looks on the stage. Alyssa has had a pretty middling track record this season, and you know that was not her intention. With this season running out of road, she has to start showing up.
Kween Kong (“Drag Race Down Under” Season 2)
OK, let’s get into this. I thought Kween’s Snatch Game performance as “King Schlong” was actually very good overall. I would have put her second in her group, after Kitty. I thought she had some very funny bits, some clever answers, and was in character. I laughed out loud several times. I saw some people complaining because she didn’t do anything “schlong” related — that name was almost certainly to avoid copyright issues with whoever owns the King Kong IP now. She was playing King Kong, but couldn’t legally use that name. That’s all there is to it.
The big issue this week was the joke about what Gala’s Snatch character would smell like. Kween specifically said, “I hope this doesn’t offend you” — which meant she knew in that moment that what she was about to say was dangerous — and then replied that Gala’s character smelled like tacos. Confession: I had heard a spoiler about this very moment months ago, and I hoped/prayed that either it was untrue, or that they would edit the line out. It was real, and they did not edit it out.
I don’t think Kween had ill intentions here. I think it was improv and she went to the first thing in her mind, and while she knew it was borderline (at best), she at least acknowledged that with her disclaimer. I think it’s clear from viewer reaction that people don’t care — many people were offended. Offended by the racial stereotypes, and offended by the laziness of the joke.
I also think at this point in the season, people are looking for reasons to be mad at Kween Kong. And the edit is doing her absolutely no favors. I truly do not understand what the team behind this series is thinking. Kitty and Kween are, without question, two of the queens who are pulling away from the pack at this point, with multiple wins. And yet, both of them have been featured in talking heads or in little asides — the taco answer, Kitty’s comment to the losing teams after the shequels win — dripping with negativity. That might have been cute in the early seasons of “Drag Race,” but with this audience? ANY little bit of perceived hostility toward underdog queens is met with swift, brutal brigading online. I really don’t understand what the editors think they’re doing, but the reality of the situation is, halfway through, they have created a season in which none of the frontrunners are people the majority of the audience is rooting for. And they could EASILY have edited around this. It’s bizarre.
Regarding Kong’s runway, in which she was allegedly dressed as a pavlova, I suspect this was another runway impacted by her lost luggage. I’ve seen people discount this as an excuse, but when you look at the quality of half her runways, and the slapped-together nature of the other half, I believe it. I hope Kween sued whatever airline was responsible for losing those bags, because there’s no question her run has been impacted by this.
Nehellenia (“Drag Race Italia” Season 2)
There were still a few strays coming at Nelly via talking heads, but overall I thought she had a good episode. She played fashion designer, and while the facial prosthetics were rough to look at, the performance was great. She had a few really good zingers and played off Javi and RuPaul well. Nehellenia seemed more comfortable this episode, and even though she is obviously still struggling with the language barrier, she nailed arguably the toughest challenge involving it. So good on her!
I thought her runway was beautiful even if I didn’t necessarily get the reference to the cake she meant to represent. But she looked lovely!
Kitty Scott-Claus (“Drag Race UK” Season 3)
The ostensible “villain” of “Global All Stars” won the Snatch Game with a very funny impersonation of Princess Diana, giving us a sulky, yet horny, People’s Princess. I’m sure some people will be offended by the less-than-gleaming portrayal of Lady Di, but I don’t think it was wildly out of her character. I thought Kitty nailed this and she should be very happy with herself; it was also a very different character from her Gemma Collins in the “UK3” Snatch Game. That was smart of her.
On the runway, Kitty gave us a full English breakfast as a frock. It was hands down her most successful runway this season. She looked great and you could tell she was really feeling the fantasy. I wish all of her runways were at this level of polish, because looks have been her Achilles heel this season. That and her commentary, which may have been intended to be playful, but which is absolutely not playing that way with viewers.
Pythia (“Canada’s Drag Race” Season 2)
As good as Kitty was, Pythia would have been my winner. I thought her performance as Zeus was hands down the best of this entire Snatch Game, and easily the winner of her group. It’s even more impressive — as multiple queens said — because that wasn’t even her intended character. Pythia initially wanted to do Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Ru encouraged her to instead lean on her Greek heritage (which, again, outraged some people and…sigh…). Pythia is smart, and decided to listen to Ru. The muscle suit must have initially been part of her Arnold character, and you could see parts of Arnold peeking through the Zeus performance. But overall it was brilliant, funny, and fully horny. Pythia becoming a sex symbol this season? It’s more likely than you think.
Her spanikopita runway was absolutely sensational. Luxurious, glamorous, and a clear reference to her food inspiration. A great week for Pythia, who I think could realistically have three wins by this point (Ball, Acting, Snatch Game). She is a major threat this season and should be super proud of herself.
Ultimately we had a Bottom 2 of Gala vs. Vanity in the most gonzo — literally and figuratively — lipsynch song in the history of “Drag Race,” the “Ma Nah Ma Nah” song from The Muppets. Absolutely WILD. Gala did fine here, but my god Vanity slayed this. The characterization was absolute perfection, and just felt so effortless. Gala, meanwhile, was trying very hard to stay in the game, in a song that didn’t really lend itself to the impressive dancing and tricks that Gala is capable of laying down in a lipsynch. Judge for yourself:
Vanity was called — correctly — as the winner, and Gala was eliminated. Should this have been her third time in the B2? No, I don’t think so. But was she the worst in this challenge? Yes. Did she lose the lipsynch? Yes. For all the wailing and moaning of this season being fixed, this is another elimination that I think was completely justified.
Next: it’s a rich international roast, with special guest Graham Norton from “Drag Race UK.” I’m excited to hear people complain more about how this will only benefit certain queens!
What do you think of this season overall? Drop your thoughts in the comments.
Also, if you haven’t watched most of these international seasons, here’s your next homework. This week “GAS” featured Los Javis as Snatchelors and guest judges. It is crazy that there is no “Drag Race Espana” representative on “Global All Stars,” given how deep the bench is for that franchise, and how well regarded it has been overall. (That’s allegedly the result of “Espana” producers focusing on their own, poorly received “All Stars,” and apparently beef between them and the producers of “GAS.”) “Drag Race Espana” began Season 4 just this weekend, and the first episode is wonderful; a real return to form for this franchise after the largely dreadful/controversial Season 3 and “Espana All Stars.” Go check out the premiere of Season 4 and get into what seems poised to be a great season filled with memorable, talented queens.
