Friday’s episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race tasked the remaining six queens with writing and performing their own one-woman shows, a dicey endeavor that ended with one woman being shown the door.
And this certainly proved to be an evening of surprises, in that some of the most successful routines came from unlikely sources, while everyone you expected to crush the challenge ended up crashing and burning. Let’s start with the good ones: Jackie Cox, for example, managed to rebound from a joke-free rehearsal into a fairly decent final presentation. I expected a lot from her, especially after she won the puppet challenge earlier in the episode, but channeling her two very different parents was definitely a smart way to go.
But no one captured the judges’ hearts quite like Crystal Methyd, who decided to play a male exotic dancer and teach the crowd some new moves. Whether he was shaking his leg or dumping in his litter box, the character was a win for Crystal. … No, literally. She finally scored her first win!
Now for the not-so-good: Heidi N. Closet Aphrodite fumbled her way through a Nutty Professor-style sketch in which she played all of her relatives, including Uncle Rob, whose drinking problem now has me very concerned. Sherry Pie also pooped the bed, somehow taking 17 laugh-free minutes to get through five minutes worth of material. Meanwhile, Gigi Goode somehow over- and under-rehearsed her portrayal of a flight attendant on a plane to hell, while Jaida Essence Hall regaled the audience with a story about this one time she peed on her boyfriend while judging a pageant. That last one actually could have been funny… had it been delivered with humor. (When you literally say, “Ooh, you are not feeling it,” you know you’re n trouble.)
Needless to say, I wasn’t totally shocked that Heidi and Jaida found themselves in this week’s Bottom Two, even though their Color Purple-themed runway looks were both lovely. (In hindsight, this would have been the perfect week to send home Sherry! Sigh.) Before we move on to the lip sync, have a closer look at the runway:
With Crystal and the safe queens standing behind them, Heidi and Jaida were left to lip sync like it was “1999.” And while both queens gave it their all, Heidi’s elimination was a foregone conclusion. Not only was this her fourth time competing to stay in the game, but there was no way Jaida was going to let anyone keep her from that win. (Side note: Since Sherry is disqualified, does that leave Gigi, Jaida, Crystal and Jaida as this season’s Top Four?)
“Thank y’all so much for seeing something in me even when I didn’t see something in myself,” she told RuPaul.
Do you think Heidi was the right queen to go this week? Vote in our poll below, then drop a comment with your thoughts on Friday’s episode.
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