Review: RuPaul’s Drag Race (Season 12, Episode 11)

There are still six queens in the competition. We are nearing the end of the show and the competition couldn’t be any stronger, who will win the show is truly a guessing game due to the immense amount of talent and versality between the queens this season. This week’s challenge was perfect in helping us see who the top five would be, the queens were made to do a 5-minute One Queen Show to entertain a studio audience. And with Whoopi Goldberg as the guest judge this week the episode had everything we were looking for.

The start of the episode we were greeted with the beloved mini-challenge, puppets. This challenge sees the queens reach inside a mystery hole and are given one of their fellow drag competitors to drag up and do a skit with. Usually, this mini challenge is a highlight of the show due to its shady nature, however it was relatively dull this season and the only laughs were from the pure awkwardness of the challenge. The queens this year seem to be getting along perfectly, which makes for a show more focused around the queens amazing abilities leaving behind the shady catty nature we have grown to love from RuPaul’s.

Jackie Cox picked up her third mini-challenge win and was gifted with choosing the line-up order for this week’s challenge. Jackie was one shady lady when deciding this line-up, as she put Sherry Pie (a known comedy and theatre queen) before Jaida to close the show. Jaida is one of the strongest competitors so making her close the show and putting her after Sherry is a sure-fire way to ensure she does not succeed in this week’s challenge.

Jackie opens the show wearing her usual 60s inspired look, her skit was dedicated to her mum and dad as she started acting as them comparing their different parenting styles. Jackie blended comedy with heart in her performance and we were able to get a glimpse of who the real Jackie is and an understanding of her upbringing.

Crystal Methyd performed as an exotic male dancer, it was bizarre and totally Crystal. ‘Phenomenal Phil’ who taught the audience bizarre dance moves such as ‘the litter box’, it was a new level of stupid. Crystal is showing her personality and her weirdness, and everyone is living for it. The character was completely different to what to what is usually demonstrated on the Drag Race stage and it is showing us a new style of drag which is not usually presented on the show.

Heidi put on a whole one queen play, performing as her whole family at a cookout, just as it may sound it was a mess. Whilst playing the different characters her mannerism and voice did not change making it hard to keep up with the story. She did not deliver in this performance despite their being high hopes she would succeed in this challenge due to her amazing confessionals this season.

We saw Gigi Goode’s vulnerability in this week’s episode before the maxi challenge we saw Gigi falling into self-doubt and being incredibly hard on herself. She was a front-runner at the beginning of the show but has not won a challenge in a few weeks which is certainly getting to her. Despite this her performance was incredibly funny as she performed as a flight attendant on a flight to Hell. Her performance involved a lot of audience interaction, however throughout the performance we could see Gigi’s nerves.

Sherry Pie, the Voldemort of drag, the queen that has been cut from the season. Usually, Sherry is not mentioned in these RuPaul reviews, however due to her 5-minute performance turning into 17 minutes it is hard not to mention. Michelle Visage called her out on the runway for being selfish and stepping into Jaida’s time throwing her off. This episode was the most screen time we got of Sherry and she certainly did not look good. The effect Sherry’s 17-minute performance had on Jaida showed as she seemed to give up during her performance and she was not as funny as the rehearsals showed her to be.

In honour of Whoopi Goldberg the category for this week’s runway was ‘The Colour Purple’. The standouts for the runway this week were Crystal and Jaida, they both wore completely different concepts. Crystal served purple cow stunning, it was a beautifully executed and she demonstrated more of her make-up ability. Jaida wore a beautiful gown that dripped money, it was shiny and flawless. She looked stunning.

Crystal finally won a challenge after weeks at the top, but we saw Jaida and Heidi in the bottom. They lip-synced to Prince’s 1999 and it was an amazing lip sync. Jaida showed us LEGS for days, serving Tina Turner, it was hers to win and after the pussy cat wig ruveal it was her time to win. Heidi performed amazing as well, but it was nothing against Jaida. Heidi sashayed away and we have finally reached the top five in the competition.

RuPaul’s Drag Race Series 12 is available now on Netflix, with new episodes weekly.