Drag Race All Stars 7 is off to a fantastic start with fashionable looks, killer choreography and an amazing lip-sync battle. (World of Wonder)
The all-winners season of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars is finally here, and the killer queens are already going for each other’s throats in a fierce first episode.
Needless to say: There are spoilers for All Stars 7 episode one ahead so be warned!
Truly, everything is bigger this time around as eight glamorous contestants all fight for the lush $200,000 grand prize, a year’s supply of Anastasia Beverly cosmetics, a stunning crown and, of course, the envious title of being the Queen of Queens.
Shea Couleé, Jaida Essence Hall, Yvie Oddly, Trinity the Tuck, Monét x Change, Jinkx Monsoon, Raja and The Vivienne all had stunning entrances to the iconic werkroom.
But Yvie – or should we say Yvie’s wig – stole the show as the sky-high wig was just as chaotic as the queen wearing it. Every time the camera panned to Yvie, another part of her wig was dropped down into her face. It was also like a ‘guess how long it will take for this to fall apart’ moment, and it was truly hilarious.
But it wouldn’t be Drag Race if there wasn’t an odd twist as a surprise mystery queen appeared at the end, leaving all the aforementioned queens wondering what was going on.
The queens (and the fans probably) were amazed after it was revealed that Raven, who hasn’t won a season of Drag Race, would be the ninth competitor in the series. But no sooner were we gearing up to see Raven battle it out on stage when Mama Ru revealed it was all fake, and Raven left the werkroom quickly.
Then, RuPaul revealed the true twist of the season – no one is going home. Instead, all our fan-favourite queens are competing to win little star pins each week, and the four queens with the most pins at the end of the season will compete in a lip-sync smackdown extravaganza for the top prize.
If that wasn’t enough, the queens who earn a pin each week will compete in a deadly lip-sync for their legacy. RuPaul emphasises how much the queens will want to win as the top diva will get a $10,000 prize and the power to block another contestant from receiving a star the following week.
This week’s challenge is to write and perform a verse to RuPaul’s new song “Legends”, which is OK. It does seem like it took a while for the episode to get to this point, there isn’t a lot of time devoted to the writing process and the queens are quick to jump into choreography without much conflict.
But in the werkroom, we do seem alliances start to form as the All Stars 7 queens realise that teaming up to gather stars is a great strategy going forward – very Game of Thrones.
Of course, it’s pretty obvious that Trinity and Monét decide to work together as they were crowned dual winners of their season. Jinkx realises their plan and jokingly tries to bond with them but quickly flounders.
The Vivienne also talks about how she has some anxieties about being the only UK queen in a room of Americans, but it’s obvious that she’s got stellar talent so she just needs to believe in herself.
Then, we get the song, and honestly, everyone is really great in the performance. The only person who stumbles is Trinity who forgot her lines, but she slightly saves it as she’s carried across the stage by hunky pit crew members.
Honestly, the runway was the best part of the entire episode as the Drag Race queens are clearly here to serve up extravagant looks.
Raja was drop-dead gorgeous in a Louis XIV look, Jinkx killed it in a red and gold gown with a slit to show off her sexy side and Jaida was a dream in a purple gown with a giant blonde beehive.
Probably the least stunning look was The Vivienne as it was a very low-key look that utilised natural fabrics in neutral looks. But to each her own.
The judges’ critiques were overly very positive, and guest judge Cameron Diaz was having a wonderful time. Carson Kressley described Shea’s Black excellence look was one of his favourite fashion moments in “herstory thus far”.
Michelle Visage was the only judge to give out some harsh criticism. She called out Trinity for not knowing the words and said Yvie’s wig should have stayed at home.
The judges awarded Shea and Monét with the first-ever stars of the season. The two queens battled it out in a hilarious lip-sync to Ella Fitzgerald’s version of “Old MacDonald Had a Farm”.
It was amazingly wholesome, and both queens just ran with the pure chaos of the song. But truly, Shea EMBODIED the song, and she was named the first winner of the season.
Shea really had a powerful moment as she was able to block a competitor from winning a badge next week, effectively putting a target on them as a top competitor. After making the queens sweat it out, Shea picked Trinity, but was it a smart decision truly?
In the preview, we see that next week is the Snatch Game, and so many of the All Stars 7 queens excelled at the impersonation challenge in their seasons. Was Trinity the right person to block? We’ll see.
New episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 7 premiere on Fridays on Paramount Plus.