RECAP: “RuPaul’s Drag Race Global All Stars” Episode 10 (Tourism Ads)
I don’t know about anyone else, but I thought this week’s episode of “Global All Stars” was a fucking delight. This season has been so ensconced in negativity that I’m sure there are people out there somewhere complaining loudly about one decision or another, but on its face I thought the Final 5 queens did a great job overall on the challenge, the runway prompt was fun (albeit a clumsily timed attempt at corporate synergy with a show that has been off the air for five months), and the queens were all lovely to one another.
Watching this episode, especially the queens’ interactions in the work room, it made me wonder how this season would have been received by the viewers if the editors had focused more on the camaraderie and positivity and less on the shade and bickering. I guarantee you that there were hours of lovely chats and playful ribbing on the cutting-room floor each episode, and instead we got so many cutting confessionals (especially from Kitty Scott-Claus and Kween Kong). I’m not saying it needs to be kumbaya all the time, but the balance was so skewed toward the drama that I think it has really curdled the season’s reputation. So I’m especially grateful that this episode was a reprieve from all of that.
Read on for my notes on “Global All Stars” Episode 10, “There’s No Place Like Home.” I’ll go over each queen’s performance in the tourism-advertisement challenge; their “Star Trek” runway; and my feeling on their overall chances to take the win in two weeks.
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:
I’ll go over each queen from most successful to least in this challenge; note that my order and the judges’ order does not match up.
Kitty Scott-Claus
I thought Kitty had easily the best tourism ad of the night. I laughed out loud multiple times watching it. Were there some expected British jokes? Sure, but every one of these girls went for some low-hanging fruit. Overall I thought Kitty delivered the most cohesive, persuasive ad, and it felt so natural. It made me want to go to back to the UK — which, coincidentally, I am! I’ll be in London for MCM Con October 20-27, and I’m desperate to see some of the DRUK girls while I’m there. If you know where I can find them, drop a message in the comments! If you’re attending MCM Con, please come to my panel on Saturday, October 26! And if you’re a handsome fella who wants to show a guy a good time, slide into my DMs….
On the other hand, I thought her “Star Trek” look was significantly less successful. I appreciated her going for something more elaborate and dramatic than we’ve ever seen from Kitty, and I could at least get a sense of “space” from it. But there were issues. The clasp at the neck looked sloppily made, the signature piece — that massive collar piece with bejeweled planets and stars on it — didn’t quite hold up. Points for doing something outside her comfort zone, but as has been the trend this season, Kitty’s runway was not up to scratch. (Pun unintended, but it stays.)
And that's a shame, because Kitty has been SO strong in the challenges. I know it’s hard for people to acknowledge it, because the edit has been so abrasive to her this time out. But I don’t think anyone else has been more consistent when it comes to the comedy and acting challenges. Even if you claim she was pushed to the Girl Group win, I think she earned the Snatch Game and Roast wins (or she was at least one of the top performers those weeks), and she without question deserves to the in the finale.
But I cannot see them giving her the crown after the absolutely scalding edit she has received. I know, I know: she said all of those things. She sure did! But again, the edit seemed to focus overly so on her bitchy comments, so much to the point that Kitty has continued to experience net loss Instagram followers over the course of this season. Based on the comments I’ve seen about her on social media, I can’t even imagine what a cesspool her DMs are. Because of this, I cannot imagine Kitty has any real shot at the crown in two weeks. A pity. I don’t think Kitty expected it would play out like this. I certainly wanted better for her.
Alyssa Edwards
Alyssa won the challenge for her American ad. I’m not mad about it. It was a perfectly solid job, and it even had a few moments that made me chuckle. It was VERY on brand for Alyssa. I just didn’t find it as charming as Kitty’s, personally.
There is no question that Alyssa was the best-dressed on that runway, by a wide mile. Alyssa has absolutely brought the goods from a wardrobe perspective this season. This piece was stunning. She namechecked Barbarella and Bob Mackie, but to me it was giving more Flash Gordon or Xanadu. Regardless, it was so beautiful. That headress was breathtaking, and I liked the versatility of the collar, which could be worn up or draped like a capelet. Beautiful work.
The most interesting part of this episode was Alyssa’s interaction with Michelle Visage during the filming of her commercial. You really got to see Alyssa’s insecurities here, and it made me wonder if she’s been dealing with this all season. I got the impression that Alyssa is putting a tremendous amount of pressure on herself to not screw up, and to really deliver. I have had the sense that she is censoring herself throughout this competition, and being alert about making any chaotic missteps that may have hurt her chances in previous seasons. I think that has had a chilling effect on what makes Alyssa special. She’s not perfect. She’s polished, to be sure — few shine brighter. But her flaws, her ridiculous moments, are what made us fall in love with her. By working so hard to avoid another “Rigga Morris” or “Back Rolls?” moment, I think Alyssa has gotten in her head a bit.
That’s partially why I think this win was important for her, and beyond that, Ru’s specific critique. She told Alyssa that they’ve all along they’ve known that she’s a star, she just needs to be consistent capable of harnessing that magic on cue. And she’s finally there. I think Alyssa has needed to hear that from Ru, and I wish she had heard it earlier in the competition. Yes, she has two wins — but one was a shared win in Episode 1, and one is the final challenge of the competition. For the intervening 7 weeks (she didn’t compete in E2) she’s been the definition of safe, I’ve seen some people say coasting. Again, I don’t think anyone expected that of Alyssa going into this, least of all Alyssa herself.
That being said, I think Alyssa goes into the finale with a better-than-average shot at the crown. While her performance this season has not been overly memorable, she has also avoided making any memorable mistakes. She has never been Low — not once — and she hasn’t pissed off the viewers, which will play a role in whoever gets this crown. An Alyssa win felt predestined pre-season and after Episode 1, but became more and more unlikely the further we got along. But after the past few weeks, I think it is likely her crown, almost by default. In that way, it would feel a bit like Trixie Mattel’s win in “All Stars 3.”
Nehellenia
When all is said and done, I think Nehellenia will be remembered as the defining queen of “Global All Stars.” She best rose to the promise of the show, to take queens from less-visible franchises around the world and put them front and center on a global stage. Nehellenia has done VERY well this season. She was never in the Bottom 2, she was never even below Safe. For those keeping track at home, I believe this makes Nehellenia the first-ever queen in “Drag Race” history to get through two entire seasons without ever placing below Safe. That’s quite an achievement.
And it’s a reflection of her talent, and her versatility. Nehellenia really can do pretty much everything at least decently well. Her commercial for Italy may have even edged out Alyssa’s as my second favorite; I thought the humor was more potent, and it was just a joy to watch. Someone PLEASE make a gif of her jumping into the Mario warp pipe. Instant classic.
I thought her runway look was a wild interpretation of the prompt — it was giving more “Judy Jetson hooker” than “Star Trek,” as largely inconsequential regular judge Jamal Simms alluded — but she sold it on the runway and it at least had a point of view and was memorable.
Nehellenia has been the magnet for most of the drama this season. I’ve suspected for a while that much of this can be chalked up to language barrier; I think she’s either phrasing things in a way that sets people off, or she’s not understanding the nuance of what people are saying. What really struck me this episode is that, without fault, Nehellenia seems to immediately go straight to a worst-case scenario or doubt herself. We’ve seen it over and over this season, multiple times this very episode. It is understandable. It’s a lot more stressful, and a lot less safe, to be openly gay in Italy than it is in virtually any of the other countries represented on “Global All Stars,” and certainly in the Final 5. Logically I get why she would catastrophize as often as she does.
BUT, as her competitors, I also can get why the others would lose their patience with her, especially because she is doing so well. Have you ever been in a situation where you’re in a stressful situation, and someone needs you is in a meltdown but when you look over they are actually, comparatively, doing fine? That’s frustrating. I don’t think it’s intentional on Nelly’s part. I definitely don’t think she’s playing it up — she really is that uncertain of herself and her place in this competition. But it would wear on a person to be around that energy after a while, I think.
I think going into the finale, Nehellenia has a great underdog story. She’s done well overall in this competition, she’s charmed the judges, and she’s certainly got the viewers on her side. Can she pull out an upset victory? I honestly think it is possible, and to a certain extent, may be the best possible outcome for this franchise, because I think any other winner is going to be met with a tidal wave of criticism.
Kween Kong
I feel for Kween. It’s been a rough week. She was put through the wringer on social media after last week’s episode. A lot of allegations were thrown around by numerous sources. Kween spoke her piece about it publicly. But the bottom line is, a lot of people have soured on Kween in a very real way. And as someone who respects Kween quite a bit, I hate to see it. I honestly do.
Like Alyssa, Kween was putting a lot of pressure on herself to slay this challenge, especially because this is one of the ones that landed her in the bottom on “Down Under 2.” I understood her thinking in her concept, in which she talked about various locations in Australia, with specific comments about her “DU2” finalist sisters, Spankie Jackzon and Hannah Conda. (Sidebar: I tried to find Spankie and Hannah’s absolutely outrageous “DU2” tourism ads on the internet and cannot find them; they are brilliant and you should watch them if you have not done so.) There were some other really funny jokes in there, especially about koalas and chlamydia (that’s a true fact!), and Sydney Mardi Gras and chlamydia (also a true fact!).
Personally I enjoyed Kween’s runway. It was right up there with Alyssa in “I could believably see this in a sci-fi show” territory. I love that mouthpiece she wore, which she also had on in her promo photo for this season. I totally got the critique that she spent too much of her ad talking about other queens, and offering in-jokes that only made sense if you watched her original season. I think she overthought this.
But that said, I still thought it was overall successful. In fact, I think ALL FIVE of these adverts were decent to very good. We have had lousy executions on this very challenge many, many times on many, many franchises; the one on “UK Vs. the World 2” was appallingly bad. The fact that Kween was in the Bottom 2 for this challenge performance is actually an indication of how well they all did.
Kween has done an exceptional job this season. This was her first Bottom 2 placement, and I maintain, it was only a bottom because there are only 5 girls left, and everyone did so well. She was so hard on herself in Untucked, and I hated to see it. Kween has grown so much from her original season, and I’ve left watching this more confident and polished Kween dominate this season. She has three challenge wins, and I think she earned all of them. (The Acting win remains controversial, but I think Kween individually was better than anyone on Team Pirate, even if they were better as a group.)
Kween has also been the recipient of a fairly bruising edit, especially in recent weeks. Her negative comments, especially to and about Nehellenia, have turned a good chunk of the fandom against her. Even though she has now publicly apologized, I see the tenor of the discussions on social media: people are writing her off. (I’ll just say this: I suspect her being a person of color makes it much easier for certain people to send negativity her way.) Note that I am not defending Kween’s comments toward Nehellenia, or last episode, Pythia. She said them, and she should be held to account for it. But she’s also a person, in a very stressful competition, and she lost her cool. We all do it. We all say things we regret in the heat of the moment, and I think we also expect a little grace when it happens. Kween (and Kitty) are being given absolutely no grace here, and I think that makes her chances at the crown fairly slim at this point.
Again: I hate that this is going down the way it’s going down. Kween did so well this season, and for her chances at the crown to be obliterated over a few moments of frustration and a couple of confessional digs is…sad.
Tessa Testicle
First, let’s acknowledge that little Tessa Testicle, who placed 8th of 11 queens on “Drag Race Germany” just a few months before filming this, got all the way to Final 5 on “Global All Stars.” That is an achievement. It really is.
Tessa has grown on me tremendously over the course of this season. She started out as the irritating little sister, stirring up drama to stay relevant. But she has turned in several strong performances, especially considering her relative lack of experience and resources. I think it’s been an incredible arc for her.
I thought her commercial for Switzerland (her actual home country, and one of the countries covered by “Drag Race Germany”) was genuinely funny. One-note? Sure. But that note was funny. Jokes about tax evasion and dairy, delivered by a pun-making cow? I’m in, you crazy bastard.
Her runway, however, was a total flop. I genuinely do not think Tessa understood what “Star Trek” meant, and went with generic “stars.” She is only 25, after all. Even then, it was very crafty, with the paper stars bunching and the giant moon in the back flopping around.
I thought Michelle’s criticism that she brought back that cow costume for her commercial, after wearing it in the Bottom 3 a few episodes before, was absurd.
She had a lovely moment in “Untucked” with the other queens, and they were all so supportive of her and her journey. They should be. It truly is incredible what Tessa has achieved this season. She was offered an incredible opportunity, and by god she made the absolute most of it. You can’t ask any more of yourself, I don’t think.
Tessa was put into the Bottom 2 for the first time all season (she was Bottom 3 a few times), and had to lipsynch against Kween Kong to Thelma Houston’s “Don’t Leave Me This Way.” Thankfully nobody lifted up their competitor this time, as infamously happened the first time this song was used in a lipsynch on “Drag Race.” But Tessa was frankly a mess. She had a massive reveal cover that at first she just twirled in repeatedly. Once that came off, she was sporting the sluttiest outfit I have ever seen on “Drag Race,” and I mean that as a compliment. The lipsynch got better at that point, but she did make the cardinal sin of deliberately blocking her opponent while they were doing a major, stationary stunt, and that’s just poor sportsmanship.
Check out the lipsync here:
Kween was, as expected, named the winner, and Tessa was eliminated, giving us a Final 4 of Alyssa Edwards (USA), Kitty Scott-Claus (UK), Kween Kong (Down Under), and Nehellenia (Italia). I would have loved to see Pythia or Eva LeQueen in there, but other than that, I get it.
Next: the eliminated queens return for a LaLaPaRuZa smackdown for Queen of She Done Already Had Herses. Eight queens! Seven lipsynchs! No rules! (Well, some rules.)
What do you think of this season overall? Drop your thoughts in the comments.
Your international-season homework this week: Go back and watching “Drag Race Italia” Season 2, Nehellenia’s season. If you like Nehellenia here, I think you’ll be surprised at how much bolder and confident she is in her native tongue. As charming and funny as she is on “Global,” she was a fucking RIOT on “Italia 2,” and had the judges and other queens in absolute hysterics the whole season. It’s a great idea to catch up on this before the finale. (It’s also a strong season overall.)
