‘Drag Race’: Miss Vanjie Is Still Stealing the Show Four Weeks After Elimination

Spoiler alert: This post contains spoilers from Episode 5 of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 10. Proceed with caution.

Before we even discuss the results of tonight’s improv-heavy episode of Drag Race, we need to discuss the name on everybody’s lips — Miss Vanjie. Miss Vanjie. Miss … Vaaanjie.

Vanessa Vanjie Mateo was the first queen to be eliminated in Season 10, but her hilarious personality and iconic exit had everyone talking for weeks. RuPaul can’t stop laughing about it. Miss Vanjie memes have been flooding our timelines. And the queens chant her name in solidarity while getting ready in the workroom.

But here we are on Episode 5, four weeks after her elimination, and Miss Vanjie has managed to still be the star of the show. A legend has truly been born.

When the queens were paired up and tasked with improvising as guests on the Bossy Rossy Show, a parody of trashy daytime television, Blair St. Clair and Monique Heart decided they needed a safe word in case things got out of hand. That word, of course, was Vanjie.

But once they got on stage, they started shouting the name at each other, and the power of Vanjie took over. Instead of using it as a safe word, the name gave them a renewed energy and took their scene to the next level.

Later on the runway, they revealed they were shouting the name as a safe word at first and this got Ru worked up all over again. She once again had to stifle her laughter as Michelle repeated the glorious name over and over. (If only we were dealing with Beetlejuice rules and could get Miss Vanjie to actually appear if we said her name three times!)

Tops and Bottoms

Now while we can break down each queen’s performance in the challenge tomorrow in our weekly Power Rankings, it’s worth mentioning that we had an interesting group in the top and bottom positions this week.

The Vixen was finally in the bottom, after weeks of being safe (or winning!) while delivering lackluster looks. It felt like she was only being saved because she brings so much drama, and unfortunately she once again evaded a lip sync. But her position in the bottom was long overdue.

On the flip side, Monique Heart was finally in the top after her incredible looks have been ignored week after week. Justice has finally been served.

Miz Cracker has found herself in the same position she’s been in almost every single week so far — right at the top but never being crowned winner. Many fans feel she was robbed, but it’s hard to deny that Eureka didn’t bring hilarious energy and confidence to her performance as a giant sexy baby. Eureka ultimately won this week, but it’s Cracker who is most likely to make it all the way to the finale.

But perhaps the most surprising moment was having Monet X Change and Mayhem Miller in the bottom two. These were two queens that seemed to have what it takes to go all the way to the end, so to imagine one of them going home was shocking.

In the end, despite winning the first episode of the season and placing herself as a frontrunner from the start, Mayhem sashayed away in 10th place. If there’s anything this season is teaching us, it’s that everyone is a contender for the crown and absolutely no one is safe. Even the queens leaving early will still have a big fanbase and leave behind a powerful legacy.

But none as powerful, of course, as Miss Vanjie.