RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 7, Episode 4 – Fairytale Justice: recap & power ranking!

Welcome to my recap of the fourth episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 7 – Fairytale Justice, an improv acting challenge!

I have done improv in college classes and as a warm-up for rehearsals, but I’ve never officially performed improv for an audience. That still gives me a lot more exposure to improv than average TV viewer. I’d guess that the vast majority of people’s experience with improv comedy comes from watching Whose Line Is It Anyway? and having heard of the rule of “Yes, and…”

Broadly, the idea of “yes and” means that you accept what others in your scene have said as reality and then you add to it.

That might be the primary rule of improv, but it’s not a rule in the sense that people who haven’t done improv often expect it to be. It doesn’t mean that you must always say “yes, and..,”, that your character can never disagree with another character, or that the story can never contradict itself. It also doesn’t mean that everything in improv has to be done without a plan or with no preparation.

“Yes and” is simply a guideline for productive collaboration. It’s a means of always moving forward instead of pausing to correct or edit, even if that means you move forward into conflict. Any good conversation you’ve ever had involved an amount of “yes and.” So have most of your successful group projects. Even working from an agenda in a meeting requires an amount of “yes and”!

As it turns out, life is largely a game of improv.

RuPaul emphasizes improvisation on Drag Race because improv is foundational to not only his idea of comedy, but his entire career. Ru loves the idea of “volleying” – being able to trade an escalating series barbs live with another player. That quick wit has been a huge part of what has made him an enduring icon in entertainment. He picked that up from a wide array of silly 60s, 70s, and 80s influences like Laugh-In, The Sonny & Cher Show, comedians on gameshows like Match Game, and late night hosts like Johnny Carson and Joan Rivers.

Not all Drag Race contestants fully grasp this idea of “yes and,” let alone how to use it to play for laughs. That has resulted in many uneven improv moments over more than two dozen seasons of the show’s many franchises. Yet, in this episode, we saw two of the best ever examples of “yes and” in Drag Race history!

Do you know which two queens I mean? Keep reading to find out in my full recap of “Fairytale Justice.” Plus, at the end of the recap I’ll update my Episode 3 power rankings to show where the queens stand after another week of Legendary Legend badges. (Want to skip right to the power rankings? Go for it!)

Readers, start your engines! And, may the best drag queen… win!

Drag Race All Stars Season 7 Episode 4 – Fairytale Justice Recap

Platinum Plunger Aftermath

The queens return to the workroom after Jaida’s lip sync win and her strategic block of Jinkx.

Jaida, ever the attention-pulling goofball, manages to derail her victory speech by mis-using “vindication,” then backtracking to “valedictorian” before finally making it to “validation.” Jaida might play the airhead, but she’s not dumb. After having her silly moment, she immediately shifts attention to Trinity now having two wins and her own Legendary Legend star. Of course, Trinity is happy for the attention!

This is part of a recurring theme this episode – how each queen with a star has their own version of strategy. Monét and Trinity might be the most overt about it, but we also have Shea playing things close to the vest and Jaida, who seems determined to hold on to her underdog status by diverting attention from her win at every opportunity.

Jinkx comes strutting in, plunger swung over one shoulder, for a seriocomic confrontation with Jaida. Yet again, Jaida uses rhetorical Judo to turn the attention around, saying, “I felt like when you stood on the stage and said, ‘y’all, just know that this is my only weakness in the competition,’ at that moment I said, ‘this bitch is right, so…’!”

It is the perfect way to make herself look blameless for the block in the eyes of the other queens. Essentially, Jinkx asked out loud to be blocked! For her part, Jinkx doesn’t seem all that upset. She jokes(?) that Jaida has nothing to worry about… unless Jinkx blocks her this week. She also pays lip service to the “secret of the plunger” cult with Shea and Trinity.

Viv has the signature quote to wrap up the sequence, which is a terrific bit of editing foreshadowing. “Not winning is so out of my character.” She follows up with, “I know how shitty and bougie that sounds, but… (eye widening) it’s just not!”

“A new day in the workroom!”

The queens enter the workroom to the dulcet tones of Jinkx covering “UK Hon” on her ukulele, with the rest of the cast adding harmony to the chorus. It’s just another sign of Jinkx’s mega-confidence this season compared to her original run.

In their around-the-worktable conversation, Jaida once again deflects attention from her win, pointing out that Monét has a star but has managed to evade a block. While it bounces back on her via Trinity and Monét (“pot, meet kettle!”), it does the job of highlighting Monét’s “fly under the radar” strategy (which puts it on everyone’s radar).

Ru walks into the workroom after a delivering a nonsense limerick in her RuMail. He is wearing a bright metallic pink vinyl extra-long blazer and high-heeled wedge platforms that take him to close to seven feet tall! It looks cool, but it’s hard to get crisp seams and pleats in vinyl when it’s not perfectly-tailored. There’s a lot of puckering and baggy edges that detract from the impact.

Maybe Ru isn’t feeling the blazer, or maybe she’s not happy with the limp script he’s got to introduce the “Fairytale Justice” improv acting challenge, but he seems pretty tuned out here. He names Jaida and Trinity as team captains in perfunctory fashion, since they won the prior week.

Jaida continues her masterful strategic game and picks Jinkx first, giving her an extra boost of validation about how cool she is after blocking her. Plus, Jaida insulates herself by a retaliatory block by keeping her ostensible enemy on her literal team.

Curiously, Trinity picks Shea first. The wiser choice would’ve been Viv or perhaps Monét, though Trinity could be avoiding Monét to spread her immunity to the other team. Jaida falls for the bait and picks Monét, who has been uneven in these challenges, over the sure bet of Viv (or, frankly, Yvie) – allowing Trinity to snap up Viv. Jaida goes for Yvie, leaving Raja as the default final pick for Team Trinity.

I was surprised by this pick order, considering Jaida could’ve easily stacked her team with both Jinkx and Viv. However, it resulted in fairly balanced teams with a strong improv anchor on each.

Not much else happens in the workroom, with little drama over role-picking. Yvie immediate snatches the Big Bad Wolf, and she and Jinkx agree it will be funnier to play him as a lecherous old cad with a squeaky gangster voice than as a repeat of The Boogieman. Jinkx rapidly cycles through at least four different character concepts for her youngest piglet, each one with major joke potential.

Meanwhile, on the other team everyone goes for the most obvious role (Raja is old, Trinity is a cackling witch). Viv immediately zeroes in on the comedy potential of playing her compulsive liar Goldilocks as visually adorable but with an incongruously deep voice.

Fairytale Justice: Blow The House Down Boots

The first Fairytale Justice scene is a version of The Three Little Pigs, with a pair of vapid pig women, their estranged professional sister, and a lecherous old wolf.

This scene works mostly on the power of Jinkx as the pig with the straw house and Yvie as the big bad wolf. It has higher highs than the second scene, even if that comes with some dead spots.

Jinkx is the plaintiff, Spare Rib. She is landing jokes and pulling focus from her very first moment of being unable to close the courtroom door behind her. Jinkx is a deft improv player, happy to cede control of the scene to others just to double down on their best punchlines in her next moment. She wisely plays Spare Rib as an online sex worker who is also prim and proper, which lets her makes both scandalized, pearl-clutching comments and bawdy jokes about “snout jobs.”

If anything, Jinkx might be suffering from a little bit too much material and inspiration. She can’t help but continue to introduce new bits of her own backstory rather than firing back at other players, which makes a team scene feel heavily weighted just towards her.

Yvie is a powerhouse as “Big Bad” the wolf. She holds her own against a scenery-chewing Jinkx and carrying the bulk of the scene (and some of the next one, as a guest star). From the moment she enters, she is a living, breathing cartoon, like something right out of an old Looney Tunes episode. Yvie has so many delightful bits of physical comedy, from her twitching face, to her high-stepping walk, to leaning down to lick her own crotch.

Yvie is responsible for driving the conflict with Jinkx, as well as interacting with the other two queen pigs and Michelle as the judge. Perhaps the constantly flirting with Michelle was in the scene guidance, but Yvie takes it to a higher level with the amount of mugging and winking she adds to the wolf.

Jaida is the Twigley, the fashion model pig with a house of sticks. She has the challenge of playing a very similar character to Jinkx, only more vapid. She has some trouble threading that needle, which leads her to lean hard into cursing to give her character some… character. The Drag Race improv format typically eschews this, and Michelle gives Jaida a warning as the judge (but also as Michelle). Hilariously, Jaida responds that warning to just curse more, which moves the trait out of being about her nervousness as a performer and into it being a trait of her character. It’s a smart move.

Ultimately, Jaida manages to pull out some mild laughs, mostly in her sibling rivalry repartee with Jinkx. More impressive is that her haughty, oblivious Twigley doesn’t feel like an established Jaida character. She found something new to play, which will always be rewarded on Drag Race.

Monét is Hamela Anderson, the brick house pig (though that never comes up in conversation). She’s mainly there to defend her unlikely boyfriend, Big Bad. She does that by slamming a briefcase on the lectern.

To give Monét some credit, she has a lot of puns scripted into her court-mandated exposition, but it all feels like scripted punchlines. Tthere’s not a lot of improv to what she does, nor much character. She is unquestionably the worst player of the episode, which doesn’t mean she was bad – just not great.

The first “best of Drag Race improv” example of the episode comes from Jinkx. She shows the true meaning of “yes and” by playing off anything that happens. When the Pit Crew bailiff drops his bible, she deftly incorporates it into her joke. When her firm denials of sleeping with Big Bad are contradicted, she immediately leans in the other direction to talk about their tryst. And, when one of her pig ears falls off in the “post-case” interview with Ru, Jinkx plays it like an actual condition of piggie stress and tells Ru he’ll have to speak up.

This is not only what Drag Race is looking for from improv – it’s good improv. If you ignore things that go wrong or push to avoid contradictions, you’re giving away comedy potential. A master improv player will vacuum up these little mishaps and use them as inspiration for more bits, as Jinkx does here.

Fairytale Justice: She Done Already Had Herses

The second Fairytale Justice scene was a mash-up of several “lost and/or mischievous little girl” fairytales, including Goldilocks, Red Riding Hood, and Hansel and Gretel.

This scene doesn’t have as many massive moments as Jinkx provided by jousting with Yvie, but the queens form a more solid improv team by playing to type. That allows them to push their story farther as a team instead of focusing on landing their own jokes and riffs.

The Vivienne is the singular, mashed-up, mischievous urchin. Her performance is a riot of silliness. She transforms from character to character using a series of absurd, over-wrought accents, going from a defiant Scottish Goldilocks, to a germanic Red Riding Hood, to a carb-addicted Gretel, to a spoiled girl from Glendale. Few queens in franchise history have the nerve and talent to make a constantly changing character like this work.

It doesn’t have to make perfect sense. Viv plays it so ridiculously broad that the idea of an identity-swapping swindler in a cute blonde package lands easily.

Shea is Viv’s first victim, as the Momma Bear from Goldilocks. Shea’s intelligence shines through here. She takes what could’ve been a flat “Karen” character complaining about an innocent little girl, and turns it into a human stuffed bear (complete with an adorable waddle when she walks). Her dialog is full of pun-filled but secretly serious jokes about “Black Bear Lives Matter.”

Improv-ing as a middle-aged suburban housewife isn’t easy but it also won’t be the biggest hit. Shea toes that line perfectly.

Raja is Viv’s second victim, as Red Riding Hood’s grandmother Gwendolyn Constance Periwinkle Hood. Raja gives an amusing riff on Sophia Petrillo from Golden Girls as an aging glamourpuss. None of her jokes particularly break out as big laugh moment, but her intense commitment to the bit continuously forces Michelle to break character.

(As it turns out, it might not be Jinkx who came to this competition the best-equipped for every single challenge, but Raja.)

Trinity is Viv’s final victim, as Theresa the witch from Hansel and Gretel who happens to be dressed exactly the same a Michelle’s judge. Trinity goes for a caricature of an elderly New Yawker and makes sure every one of her bits has its own punch line, starting with her walk into the court. She plays with Michelle while lamenting that Viv ate her entire ginger broad porch:

Michelle: Is the swing still there?!

Trinity: It’s gone!

Michelle: Oh my goodness!

Trinity: And I don’t know another Lesbian Witch to fix it!

As the final character to enter the skit, it feels like Trinity was designed to have more breakout potential, but there’s no competing with the insanity that Viv unleashes at the end of the scene.

Viv brings the second “Best of Drag Race improv” performance here. It’s not just her powering through a trio of accents and using physical comedy of throwing food around. It’s the way she rolls with the scene, always throwing something back to her trio of partners and Michelle.

At one point, Viv confesses, “I’m Hansel and Gretel.” Then she pauses, her face twisting for a split second as she realizes her error. She repeats the line to herself as a question “I’m Hansel and Gretel?” which leads Michelle to say, “You’re both?” Then, Viv goes for it. “Yes. I am both.”

That’s the spirit of great improv – why turn down the opportunity to make the scene sillier!?

Runway: Spikes

Our judges this week are RuPaul, Michelle Visage, Ross Matthews, and Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman – who endured quite a bit of abuse after his judging of Canada’s Drag Race Season 1.

(Chapman has indicated that choosing not to return for Season 2 was ultimately down to COVID shooting schedules, but it’s clear he had problems with the showrunners.)

RuPaul is in an unusual look for her, which makes it all the more visually striking. She’s wearing a cobalt blue dress with demure pleated velvet skirt, a tiny black waist cincher, and a sheer beglittered blouse that extends all the way up to a high sequined collar and all the way down to the gloves. It’s topped with a high bundle of shocking white curls.

Ru typically avoids looks that portray her as a femme fatale of a certain age (that’s slightly closer to her actual age), but if this one is any indication she ought to do it more often!

Jaida Essence Hall delivers yet another stunning runway concept. She’s in a Grace Jones inspired, low-cut pleather mini-dress that she continues into her makeup with a blacked chest that rises up to frame a chalk-white face. She’s wearing the dress over high pleather stockings over a pair of black high heels.

Jaida nails the spiked theme with a prickly assortment of metal spikes sprouting up across her dress,, with the motif continuing up into an asymmetrical high fade haircut fashioned into three more spikes of similar size. Often queens go for this “I have an assortment of shapes on my body” looks and fail, sometimes because the shapes are lumpy and inconsistent, others because the placement messes with their proportions. Jaida did a terrific job of scaling the spikes to each other as well as to the rest of her look, and used them to extenuate her proportions with one set on her waist and the other at her hip.

Jinkx Monsoon plays “spikes” in the most Jinkx way possible – as an old Hollywood femme fatale in a black-and-brown velvet dress with a massive porcupine cape. She comes off like a glamorous Golden Age comic book villain, like when Catwoman used to wear a long, slinky dress rather than a cat suit.

I think this look is missing something to take it from evening-wear to high drag – perhaps a belt or some bangled wrist cuffs? Also, the fingerless gloves that go halfway up Jinkx’s bicep are proportionally odd. While I agree she needed the peek of skin between her shoulders and the gloves, the place they cut off is distracting, as is their thick black seam.

Monét X Change is in a clever cut-in-half business blazer turned into punk dress festooned with spikes with a liberty spike mohawk. One side of the suit is plaid, the other striped. She’s wearing minimal undergarments beneath it.

It’s a very chic look, but Monét looks supremely uncomfortable in it. It looks a little too high in the front, flashing her undergarments, which has been a recurring issue for a few queens this season. Also, the draping hip panels are noticeably saggy – they look like they could’ve used some extra stuffing to sell the proportion illusion Monét was going for.

Yvie Oddly goes high-concept, with a neon lime green crocodile-print catsuit monster walking on a combination of long, spiked black vinyl arms and heels so high they’re basically forcing Yvie to be en pointe for the entire runway.

The power of this extraordinary look is less in the detailing and more on the visual impact. The deep V of vinyl in the center makes Yvie’s already-long legs look twice as lengthy. And, it is accompanied by a beautiful colorful and vaguely-reptilian make-up beat. Yvie’s make-up skills have really evolved this season.

Trinity The Tuck plays the runway theme for over-the-top camp as a glittering vampire stuck in the mid-stake process. This is a very busy look and it’s hard to know where to look first – the fussy bustier, the black vinyl shoulder harness, the massive shawl of ruffled satin, the multi-colored quilted train, the candelabra…

I could go on. This is emblematic of Trinity’s more-is-more approach to the runway. What saves her is that the “more” almost always complements the other “more.” Her looks are busy, but nothing feels particularly out-of-place.

The Vivienne runs away with this runway theme in a fetishwear take on iconic (and already-fetishwear) Catwoman costume. The body suit and connected chaps are covered from head to toe in a forest of gold spikes – including massive spiked heels, plus a golden whip. Viv wisely renders it in a soft baby-boy periwinkle to take it out of Catwoman territory into something more novel and high fashion.

Raja looks… confusing. She’s giving She-Ra Princess of Power at the top of her gold frock with massive spiked shoulders and a morningstar.

Yet, there’s a weird droopy pelvis panel that’s a sort of be-glittered chastity belt, and it looks like the bottom of her dress is tucked in to that panel. It takes the look from gaudy high fashion to high confusion.

Shea is in a weird lumpy reflective hobble dress with a disconnected skirt a train. I think she’s going for Heavy Metal intergalactic elf princess, but none of the elements go together. It looks like a Halloween costume knockoff of Kahmora Hall’s magnificent golden dragon dress.

Judging, Lip Sync For Your Legacy, & The Platinum Plunger

It’s another lightweight week of judge’s comments, but it makes sense for this challenge where even the worst players were squarely average.

Michelle and Ross damn Jaida’s performance with faint “you were fun” praise, but Jeffrey and Ru rightfully obsess over her outfit and makeup. Jeffrey gushes over Jinkx’s improv (and, later in Untucked, he will reveal her as one of the queens who inspired him the most), and Michelle loves that she stayed on-brand while interpreting the runway theme.

Ross only manages to compliment Monét’s entrance into the scene, but Michelle enjoyed the focus of her character. Jeffrey is living for her black girl punk rock look. Ross and Ru are nearly speechless over Yvie’s runway, and Michelle and Ross think her improv was “next-level.”

Jeffrey and Ross dig Trinity’s maximalist staked vampire – Ross thinks it is smart and declares it his favorite. Ru loves her “ridiculousness and stupidity,” and talks about how unrecognizable the comedic Trinity of today is compared to her original audition tape.

Jeffrey gives Shea’s runway a vague endorsement with, “I have no idea what it is what you were meant to be in this outfit… but you look fabulous, girl.” Ru seems to vibe with it a little more genuinely. Ross is the only one to comment on her Mama Bear performance, which surprised me – I thought she did a lot better than the judges did!

Ru and Jeffrey think Viv’s outfit is one of them most-iconic of all time, and Michelle and Jeffrey think her character was outstanding. Ru asks her how old she was when she realized her gift for “emulation,” and Viv shares it was her anti-bullying tactic long before it was a stage skill.

Finally, Jeffrey loves Raja’s runway for… unspecified reasons. Ross rightfully highlights how much of Raja’s character work was in her body carriage. Ru seems utterly delighted by her “fully-realized” performance, but ends with a zinger: “We’re getting to witness the rebirth of Raja. Because, all the people who knew you… from back then… they’re all dead.”

In private, Ross is quick to nominate Jinkx to the top two. “She takes every challenge and runs it through her filter, and that is how you excel here.” Ru loved volleying with her in the exit interview, because Ru prizes volleying above all other skills. Michelle makes her case for Yvie, but the other judges are more focused on her runway. It’s clear Viv is going to get the second nod after Michelle praises her character skills and Jeffrey gushes again both over her improv and her runway.

Jeffrey, bless him, makes a case for Raja as his second pick, and it feels like Ru is happy to take a chance to complement Raja at any chance even if she isn’t awarding her any stars.

The queens return for Jinkx and The Vivienne to get the win, though Jinkx doesn’t earn a Legendary Legend star since she was blocked by Jaida last week. (Raja briefly sashes Ru with, “Are you sure?” when she tells the rest of the queens to step to the side of the stage.)

The pair of them lip sync to an unremarkable remix of an unremarkable Whitney Houston song, “Love Will Save The Day.” It’s a club tune without a lot of rising and falling dynamics, and you can feel it in Viv and Jinkx struggling to find moments to stand out in the sync. Viv ultimately brings more gags (including a kneeslam and a xylophone handed to her from offstage by Jaida) while Jinkx is stuck shuffling around in her dress. Jinkx might not be a tricky lip sync artist, but she’s definitely capable of more than this. It feels like Jinkx may have decided not to go for the win so she didn’t have to make another blocking decision.

Viv wins the week and gets to wield the platinum plunger. In a shocker, she veers towards Jaida but at the last second turns to hand the plunger to Monét! While other queens have taken it with good humor, Monét is pressed about this development. It will be interesting to see how next week plays out now that she is no longer flying under the radar.

Drag Race All Stars Season 7 Episode 4 “Fairytale Justice” – Power Rankings

We’re now a third of the way through our 12-episode, 11-challenge season, but with no one yet at the two-star mark it remains an open field for the six queens with a Legendary Legend star heading into next week’s self-scripted comedy challenge.

#1 Jinkx Monsoon – 1 Star from 2 Wins, 1 Block (was #2, 2, 2, 1)

Jinkx ran away with the improv challenge, and she’s headed into yet another strong suit next week with scripted comedy. For an expert roaster and producer of many one- and two-woman shows, writing a hilarious three-minute monologue is child’s play.

It feels like Jinkx will be an odd’s-on favorite to pick up another star next week… and, in fact, she must win if she doesn’t want to receive an obvious block for the following week. While that might put a target on Jinkx’s back, it also makes her the leading queen of the season.

#2 Monét X Change, 1 Star from 1 Win, 1 Block (was #4, 4, 3, 4)

Monét feels like she is starting to lag behind the rest of the cast’s performance after her week one win, but writing her own comedy might be her strongest challenge theme of them all. Plus, she’s obviously going to be fueled by the fire of being blocked this week!

I expect to see Monét dominate next week, maybe even picking up the win with no Legendary Legend star to show for it. However, the best outcome for her might be to do well without winning, leaving her ready to pounce on a star the following week.

#3 Trinity The Tuck, 1 Stars from 2 Wins, 1 Block (was #1, 3, 4, 3)

It feels like Trinity is currently winning the season even more than Jinkx, since she has yet to reveal a weak spot. Unfortunately, that’s coming next week. Scripting herself to be funny is Trinity’s weakest spot outside of singing. Trying to be funny when she’s not entirely off-the-cuff has always been a struggle for this quick-witted, extemporaneous queen.

Not only will Trinity almost certainly miss a win next week, but as the most-dominant cast member other than Jinkx there’s a strong likelihood she might catch a block if Jinkx wins. If she does get blocked, that means two weeks with no star, leaving her only 5 more challenges to pick up another 1-2 wins.

This could be a situation where being the strongest queen out of the gates could hurt her in the longer run. Yet, there’s a silver lining to that cloud – if Monét dominates, Trinity remains safe! A two person alliance can really work well when it comes to tag-teaming past blocks.

#4 The Vivienne, 1 Star from 1 Win (was #6, 8, 8, 7)

Viv finally caught fully on fire this week between her masterful improv and another slick, high-fashion runway look. I expect to see her come out blazing next week in a scripted speech where she can show off the full force of her personality to try to score a second consecutive win. Plus, she has every reason to try to get into the Top Two, as she is the newest candidate to receive a block!

If Viv manages to win, or even just avoid a block, that might designate her as a new front-runner. She’s poised to finally shake up what has been a very solid, predictable Top Four.

#5 Shea Couleé – 1 Star from 1 Win, 1 Block (was #3, 1, 1, 2)

Shea was in the solid middle of the pack this week, but after another slightly-puzzling runway showing it feels as though her momentum has significantly cooled after her stellar start.

We’ve seen Shea succeed with scripted comedy in the past, but she’s not as uproariously hilarious as some of the other queens on this cast. I think she’ll be in the back seat for another week. That could put her at risk for another block, which will really mess with her momentum.

#6 Jaida Essence Hall, 1 Star from 1 Win (was #5, 6, 5, 6)

Jaida held her own this week next to Jinkx, which is no small feat. More importantly, she’s the first former blocker to slip by without a reciprocal block!

There’s no question that Jaida is at her funniest when she gets to be herself, but we’ve also seen her falter on a stand-up challenge before. As one of two unblocked winners she remains ripe for a block. Can her quick wit can elevate her to a win next week? If not, she should be praying that Monét wins the challenge and the lip sync, as she will almost-certainly block Viv.

#7 Raja (was #8, 5, 7, 5)

Raja has spent four consecutive weeks as the “Lady In Waiting” instead of the “Queen of Queens,” including on her strongest challenge theme with design. Yet, this week we saw a certain fierceness in her we’ve been missing thus far, both in her able handling of the improv challenge and her bit of back-talk to Ru on the runway.

Raja might have the most public speaking experience in this cast, so I think she’ll have another strong showing next week. But, this isn’t a season you can win with few weekly wins. Can Raja hold off all of the funny queens in this cast to finally snag a win? Narratively, it feels like it might be time. I don’t think we’d get as much frustration from her in the edit if she wasn’t about to receive a reward.

#7 Yvie Oddly (was #7, 7, 6, 8)

Yvie had her strongest showing yet without snagging a star. I’m surprised she wasn’t handed the win purely to create lip sync alchemy! She remains a potentially-winning wild card for next week, but it’s looking increasingly unlikely that she will amass the 2-4 stars she will need to make it into the final lip sync tournament (where she would obviously dominate).