Spoiler alert: This post contains spoilers from Episode 2 of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 10. Proceed with caution.
The queens performed in a musical challenge about the pharmaceutical industry on RuPaul’s Drag Race this week and it ended in a battle of the big girls when Eureka and Kalorie were forced to lip sync for their lives.
Ultimately it was Kalorie who was forced to sashay away, but the queen from New Mexico said she’s feeling much better than she was when she first got the boot.
“This morning, waking up, I have felt such an abundance of love and support from family members, community members — it’s definitely a whole different mental state for me,” she told FANDOM.
The Kardashian-loving queen said that being on Drag Race is a completely different experience than what it seems when watching as a fan from home.
“It was so much harder than I thought it was going to be,” she said. “I thought it was just gonna be this super fun kiki time, you get to hang out with everybody, but no, it was literally just like on-the-go, on-the-go, next challenge. It was a lot of work.”
“The best way that I can compare it is when you order a Coke and then they give you a Diet Coke,” she added. “You’re like, ‘Oh well, okay, that’s different. That’s not what I was drinking, but I’ll still drink it anyway.'”
With Kalorie gone, only 12 contestants remain, but ranking them feels nearly impossible. The Season 10 queens clearly came to win and very few seemed to struggle this week.
But one by one, they’re going to start dropping off, so here’s our best guess at who has what it takes to go all the way, and who might be the next to sashay away.
12. Eureka O’Hara
Eureka has the talent and charisma to make it all the way in this competition, but she’s going to have to get out of her head to last another week. The Elephant Queen spiraled after being picked last for a team this week and then had flashbacks to her knee injury that occurred in the same episode of last season. She seemed to have snapped out of it by the time the lip sync came around, but she’ll need to do a complete 180 to move forward.
11. Blair St. Clair
It felt weird putting Blair so high up in the rankings last week, but the judges placed her in the top three, so who were we to disagree? But this week, Blair struggled a lot during the rehearsals of the musical. And considering she calls herself a Broadway queen, it’s not a great sign that she couldn’t keep up in the musical challenge. It felt like Blair would stick around for a few weeks through the acting challenges before stumbling, but if she already can’t keep up on challenges that play to her strengths, then things don’t look good for the young ingenue’s future in the competition.
10. Yuhua Hamasaki
Alyssa Edwards really had to push Yuhua to go bigger during rehearsals, and although she eventually got there, it makes you wonder if she’s able to get there on her own. Plus, Michelle was not feeling Yuhua’s runway look, which is never a good sign when the queen considered it her best drag.
9. Monique Heart
Personally, it felt like Monique was one of the most dynamic performers on the stage this week, but the judges disagreed. They placed Monique at the bottom, accusing Ms. Heart of fading into the background. We can disagree all we want, but it’s Ru making the final decisions so Monique was forced to slide down the rankings this week based on her unfavorable critiques.
8. Kameron Michaels
Watching Kameron’s performance, it is clear that the muscle queen is more than just a pretty face. She brought lots of passion and personality to the role and was fun to watch. But even with a good performance and colorful runway, she’s not getting much airtime overall. She’s definitely going to have to serve more personality to stand out from this pack of charismatic queens.
7. The Vixen
How was The Vixen the winner of this week’s challenge? Aside from being the captain of the winning team, did she bring anything else? And why was her plastic flame dress allowed to be considered “best drag”? Although we may disagree with the judges, the fact that she did win the challenge, combined with the fact that she seems more than happy to start drama, likely means the producers are keeping her around for awhile.
6. Aquaria
It was clear during the first episode that Aquaria is able to serve looks, but we weren’t sure if she was going to pop in performance challenges. This week she proved that she absolutely is a performer, which means she’s going to be a force to be reckoned with. The only problem is that she seemed more concerned with being pretty than with playing an old woman. But if she dares to break out of her comfort zone, she’s a definite contender for the crown.
5. Dusty Ray Bottoms
Dusty didn’t really deserve to be in the bottom last week and she proved why during Episode 2. The queen shined in her performance and felt, based on judges’ critiques, that she would have won this week if her team landed on top. She appeased Michelle by not putting dots all over her face, while still being true to her aesthetic by placing them lightly around her eyes. She serves strong looks and seems more deserving of the “Broadway queen” title than Blair. Placing her in the bottom last week may just have been the start of an underdog arc that takes Dusty to the top.
4. Asia O’Hara
Asia really shined this week, helping her team land a victory while also managing to stand out herself. She really popped during the ho-down mini-challenge and kept that momentum up the rest of the time. Michelle was right when she pointed out that the queen really understands her skin color and the way she paints her face is intoxicating. She was definitely one of the strongest of the week and we bet it won’t be long before she has a win under her belt.
3. Monét X Change
While Monét didn’t necessarily do anything special in the musical number or on the runway this week, she certainly didn’t fade into the background. And seeing her face constantly pop up in the confessionals is a good sign that this queen will be around for weeks to come. It looks like she knows how to play the game and we likely haven’t even seen the best of what she can do yet.
2. Mayhem Miller
Since there was no clear winner this week — and since we’re ignoring Vixen’s win completely — Mayhem is still riding high from being the first winner of the season. For every season that Mayhem tried and failed to get on Drag Race, she clearly spent the downtime honing her craft and becoming a polished, confident queen. We haven’t seen what her weaknesses are yet, but it’s easy to see her many strengths, and she’s likely just getting started.
1. Miz Cracker
Cracker may not have won this week, but the loss certainly didn’t dim her shine. The queen rocked a unique runway look, nailed every moment of her performance in the musical challenge, and continued to endear the audience with her quick wit and charming personality. While producers may be focused on her brewing feud with Aquaria, this queen is going to continue to rise to the top based solely on talent.
