RECAP: “RuPaul’s Drag Race Global All Stars” Episode 6 (Design)
Hoo boy.
If you have read my previous recaps of “Global All Stars,” you know that I have largely been a supporter of this season, offering up a more measured approach to the season’s flaws when compared to the pitchforks and torches I see broadly across social media.
I cannot defend this particular episode. It’s not a BAD episode — I enjoyed the challenge, I thought the twist on the materials was fun and created some mild drama; the mini-challenge was goofy fun. But this episode put the two major problems with “Global All Stars” front and center, there simply was no ignoring:
1) The Nehellenia Issue. As a fan of “Drag Race Italia” Season 2, and of Nehellenia specifically, I expected her to be a silent threat in “Global All Stars.” She’s doing largely fine in the competition, but when it comes to interacting with her fellow queens, it is anything but silent. Based on the edit, this season should be subtitled “Nehellenia vs. The World” given the intense frustration nearly every one of the other queens have expressed about her this season. And this episode, it went from passive-aggressive to just aggressive, as UK’s Kitty Scott-Claus, Down Under’s Kween Kong, and even Canada’s Pythia all had some pretty harsh for the Italian representative. There were moments in the work room conversations, and the talking heads, that were simply uncomfortable to watch, and you had better bet the fandom are losing it over the perceived gang-up against her.
2) Questionable Judging/Perceived Favoritism. Up until this point I’ve been able to justify pretty much all the major judging decisions, even if they didn’t necessarily line up with what we were shown in the edit. But this week, there’s just no rational explanation. It defied credulity that one of the established Ru Girls, wearing easily one of the weakest/laziest looks of the night, escaped the Bottom 3, and it was just utter nonsense that the one queen in the bottom was spared the lipsynch, when she unquestionably had THE worst look, and arguably didn’t even meet the challenge requirements. I actually screamed at my television, “Are you fucking kidding me?” There is no justification for this. For the first time since at least the ball, the queen who went home very clearly did not do the worst in the challenge.
With that thesis laid out, let’s get into this week’s design challenge. 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:
The mini-challenge saw the queens strapped into a mock airplane set and then tasked with putting on their make-up as Pit Crew members violently rocked the set back and forth to simulate turbulence. Cute idea, and a better version of the similar mini-challenge done in “Drag Race Mexico” S2. There were some funny moments throughout, and somehow Germany’s Tessa Testicle ended up winning even though she looked absolutely terrible. Was the goal to produce the most ridiculous mug? To be the most entertaining? It probably would have been helpful for the queens to know how this would be judged, as I think most of them actually attempted to look decent. Which was obviously not what RuPaul was concerned with.
After that, the queens paired themselves up to enjoy cocktail hour. The pairs were Tessa and USA’s Alyssa Edwards; Mexico’s Gala Varo and Kween Kong; Sweden’s Vanity Vain and France’s Soa de Muse; and Pythia and Kitty Scott-Claus. That left Nehellenia as the queen left out — which you better bet she noticed — and Ru told her she got to pick the group she wanted to join; she went with Kitty and Pythia, which was met with significant talking-head shade from both Kitty and Pythia.
RuPaul mentions that each of the girls were told to bring fabrics from home, which would be used for a design challenge. This is that challenge: make a chic cocktail dress. But there’s a twist! The queens did not get their own fabrics; they had to swap fabrics with their partners for the episode. I actually think this is brilliant; I’m pretty sure “Project Runway” did a variation on his way back when, I know there was a challenge where they had to make new designs out of the clothes their fellow competitors were wearing on the stage.
Watching the queens unveil their fabrics to each other was great TV. While several of the teams were complementary of each partner’s choice, the Tessa/Alyssa swap proved hilarious. Alyssa, of course, packed beautiful, luxurious beaded fabric and black ostrich feathers; Tessa packed tacky scraps in blue and gold and cheap turkey feathers. The gaggery on Alyssa’s face was palpable.
The three-person team had to decide which member got which bag. Kitty took Pythia’s, Pythia took Nehellenia’s, and Nehellenia got Kitty’s. Chaos ensued. Nehellenia was immediately chagrined by the fabrics picked by Kitty, which was mostly lycra in nude tones and black, and a lacy fabric that screamed “mother of the bride.” Several of the girls accused Nehellenia of crying over this — did she cry, or was she just openly frustrated by the twist? — and Kitty was offended by Nehellenia dismissing her fabrics.
Here’s my read on this: Nehellenia did get screwed here. The fabric she brought — this gorgeous gold that had a heft to it and caught the light beautifully — was stunning; I would argue the fabric did much of the work on Pythia’s final outfit. Kitty’s choices were drab and matronly in comparison. It’s true. They may have been expensive, but visually, they were duds; further, Nehellenia remarked that lycra is very difficult to work with. I’m not a seamstress, I don’t know her. But I do think she had a right to be upset. Aside from Alyssa, Nehellenia got by far the worst end of this swap.
And man, did the peanut gallery chime in via the talking heads (and Kitty even gave it to Nelly in person). The Nehellenia thing has been going on for episodes now, since at least the Girl Group challenge. She has said both in talking heads and to the group that she feels the other queens don’t like her or respect her drag, and we have seen the other queens tell her that she’s being overdramatic and making shit up, mere moments after literally the camera caught them talking shit about either her performances or her character. What was previously subtext is now text, and Kween and Kitty — and Pythia to a lesser degree, although her criticisms of Nelly were largely centered on finding Nelly’s design prowess delusional — popped off some pretty bruising critiques of Nehellenia, which has already sent the fandom into a furor.
I’m not really sure what Kween and Kitty were thinking here. Both of these girls have done this before. They know that anything you say to the camera can and will be used against you, and they were quite upfront in their critiques of Nehellenia. It didn’t come off as sisterly advice, it came off dismissive and catty. I don’t think that’s what was intended. I don’t think that’s who Kween or Kitty are. And shadiness is part and parcel of being a drag queen. I can only assume they thought the viewers would find Nehellenia as exasperating as they clearly did, but that was a massive error, and it is costing them dearly in public reception right now. Kitty is now actively losing social-media followers as of last week.
It’s worth noting that Nehellenia herself has weighed in on the social-media reactions to this season’s edit, and is actively calling for people to calm down. Check out her post:
Regardless of your thoughts on how the dynamic between Nelly and this cast is playing out on screen, please do not send hate to ANY queen. It’s a TV show. Nehellenia is fine. Please do not put more negativity into the world.
Meanwhile, the other big story of the night was the complete implosion of Vanity Vain, who is very much letting the competition get to her. Vanity did well in the design challenge on “Drag Race Sverige” and had a good concept for her materials. But between Day 1 in the workroom and the morning of Day 2, she had scrapped her entire initial dress, and was creating something entirely new that involved cutting up pieces of paper, spray painting them, and gluing them to a dress form. Did the final look even include any of the fabric she got from Soa? It was hard to tell, and she said that she had cut all of it into tiny pieces and basically had nothing left to use. This was sone of the most egregious cases of self-sabotage I’ve ever seen on “Drag Race,” any season. Total meltdown.
On the runway, I think most of the looks were solid or better — a better showing than the ball, for sure. The standouts included Tessa, who took the incredible materials Alyssa provided her and created something truly chic, and solid it like a pro; and Kween Kong, who created a cool punk-inspired dress and accessorized it to rock-star perfection. Pythia was also high, but I have to be honest, I didn’t love the dress. The fabric was gorgeous (thanks, Nehellenia!) and Pythia manipulated it beautifully, but Ru was right: the styling was completely wrong, and I don’t think Pythia sold it convincingly. I also actually liked Kitty’s pink/orange asymmetrical dress. I think it’s the best she’s looked all season. Also, given all the criticism Kitty has been getting this season, it needs to be said: NOBODY is working RuPaul better than Kitty is. She is playing Ru like a fiddle, and Ru is eating it the fuck up.
The less-successful looks included Alyssa, who gave us a very simple dress that she said was inspired by Katy Perry; this was communicated via a long blue tinsel wig. (Memo to Alyssa: between this and your S5 Snatch Game, maybe lets…stay away from Katy Perry from now on, OK?) Vanity Vain flopped hard in a batshit outfit that featured visible corset, obvious spray painting, including on her hands, a plant-like fascinator, and a skirt that looked like the world’s saddest, moldiest car wash. Nehellenia was very lucky to be safe in the unflattering, dull garment she made from Kitty’s fabrics. This was the look that most read, “I resent having to work with these materials.”
The Top 3 were Tessa, Kween, and Pythia, with Nehellenia, Kitty, and Alyssa being called safe. Alyssa being safe here is…well, let me have her call it:
That was easily one of the worst looks of the night, and beyond that, how are you gonna give us a design challenge with no design? It was two pieces of fabric sewn together in the middle with sparkly spaghetti straps. There was no there there. This absolutely should have been a Bottom 3 look, along with Vanity, who was without question the worst this challenge.
And yet, somehow, the actual Bottom 2 were Soa de Muse and Gala Varo, who gave us what I considered to be either Safe (Gala) or Low Safe (Soa) garments. Neither of these looks were perfect. Soa just glued her fabric to a corset, and it showed. It didn’t flow, it wasn’t draped properly. But Bottom 2? I don’t think. Bottom 3 MAYBE. Gala had no business being in the bottom three looks at all. She took the judges’ critiques about always showing body and covered up — she even padded and tucked, which is not something she normally does — and the major criticism was, “The gold part of your outfit should be lower.” OK, sure. Agree. But at least she designed something and made a look that a person would actually wear. Alyssa showed up in a Party City burlap sack. You will never convince the viewers of this show that Gala was worthy of that B2 appearance.
Nor will you convince ME that Vanity should have been spared the lipsynch. Because against all odds, the girl who didn’t even have a DRESS when that day began — and who again, I’m not even sure used the fabrics she was meant to as part of the challenge — somehow was spared and Soa and Gala had to lipsynch to “Bang Bang” by Jessie J., Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj (which is a reused song; it was the crowning lipsynch in the U.S. Season 10 finale — boo). I guess the good news is that we got a decent lipsynch out of it, after a string of duds this season. Gala gave us any number of impressive tricks, while Soa focused mostly on having a good time and serving sex and body.
My feeling is, this could have gone either way. It was the second lipsynch for both of them. I do think Gala wanted it more, and showed more fire in the lipsynch, but I can’t dismiss what Soa put out there. Ultimately Ru decided to spare Gala and Soa was eliminated. I think it’s telling that Soa seemed almost relieved to get the chop — in the work room, she seemed resigned that whatever happens, happens. Soa is a smart queen and I think she understands perfectly well that it sure looks like someone is pulling the pag. I think several of these girls do.
Next: it’s Snatch Game (yay!) of Love (boo!) with special guests Los Javis from “Drag Race Espana.”
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. If you think Gala Varo is getting massively screwed this season — and I can absolutely see that — check out “Drag Race Mexico” Season 2, which just wrapped up last week. It is a WONDERFUL season, a quantum leap over Season 1. I fell in love with this cast, including Gala’s stunning drag daughter, Horacio Potasio, and it has such a bubbly, light energy while also giving us some excellent drag. It’s available on WoW Present Plus. I binged the entire season in three days and I only want mas, mas, mas! Please greenlight Season 3! Don’t leave us this way!
