The queens slay the runway with their first fashion challenge. Model Lauren Chan is a guest judge…
Last week we said goodbye to Vancouver queen Tiffany Ann Co. after she landed in the bottom following the lip sync slayoffs. This year the queens competed in teams which saw some of them dominating the main stage with their performances, while others fell a little flat with their performances. The Virgo queen came out on top and used the golden beaver to save Jaylene Tyme from lip synching for her life. This week, the queens are met with their first fashion challenge. Plug in the sewing machines, and fire up those hot glue guns. Let’s get into it.
This week’s episode begins in the werk room following Tiffany’s elimination. Xana is gutted that she’s gone. Pearla reads her message and wipes it off the mirror before all of the queens head over to the couches. Sanjina leads the pack in congratulating Pearla on her win and Pearla pleads for a ballad next time. Jaylene thanks Virgo for giving her the beaver and Virgo says she had the best track record, but that’s not exactly true as Pearla has a win over Jaylene.
It’s a new day in the werk room and all of the queens are ready to take on this week’s challenge. At the tables Uma brings up that it’s Virgo’s second win and Sanjina says she feels a little hurt that the two people on her team who lost the lip syncs didn’t show her appreciation to her for winning the challenge for them. Minhi tells her she’s super thankful. Uma and Makayla say they’re both surprised Sanjina won the lip sync because from what they could see from the back of their heads, Pearla was giving more.
Ru interrupts with a video message all about speed which leaves the queens feeling confused. Brad enters the room in a Brat green outfit to tell the queens all about this week’s mini challenge. They’ll have 20 minutes to style fabulous looks using items from Canadian brand Knix, and the founder Joanna Griffiths is even there to help judge. After getting into quick drag they head out to a boudoir set to take some sexy photos.
Following the photoshoot, Brad and Joanna announce the winner of the mini challenge is Sanjina! Brad tells them that for this week’s maxi challenge, it’s a design challenge! They’ll have to create looks that are drag royalty realness. They can use their own stuff, but they’ll have to create something that’s sellable. They quickly get to sketching their wearable and sellable fast-fashion pieces. While some of them are feeling confident in their design and sewing skills, others are a little nervous about hopping on the sewing machine. They go over their ideas in trios and pairs and work through their initial thoughts and concerns. Brad comes back into the werk room to talk to the queens about the visions they’re having for their pieces. He tells some of the queens they’re right on track, but others need to edit their ideas down in order to make it appeal to the masses. Aside from giving us fast fashion, they’ll also have to strut the runway and the category is “slow-mo couture”. They get back to constructing their looks and Sanjina is asking Helena for a lot of help putting hers together. Some of the queens are really thriving and others are feeling the pressure, especially Makayla, who experiences a whole range of emotions in a quick montage.
It’s elimination day and the queens are getting ready while putting the finishing touches on their outfits. There’s a lot going on with two runways and Helena isn’t feeling great about her finished product. Minhi and Helena start a conversation about body image which Sanjina connects with and transitions it to a conversation about a relationship with her mother. It’s emotional by the mirrors as they’re finishing up their makeup. Out on the mainstage Brooke introduces this week’s judges Brad, Traci, and this week’s extra special guest judge model Lauren Chan.
Before we see their handmade looks, things slow down on the runway with flouncy and floaty fabrics and a wind machine. All of them look like goddesses. The runway continues with their own handmade fast-fashion looks, and they’re giving Forever 21, Hot Topic, Fashion Nova H&M Coachella collection realness.
Following the runway, Brooke calls Xana, Pearla, The Virgo Queen forward and tells them they are all safe for the week. Critiques start with Helena. Traci calls her slow-mo look exquisite and Brooke tells her she enjoyed getting to see a high-fashion version of her. Brooke also calls her slime-inspired fast fashion look “so clever” as it’s something that can be mass produced while still staying true to her brand. She showed two sides of fashion with her looks which all of the judges echo. Brad tells Sanjina she looked so beautiful in her first look. Traci tells her that the concept for her fast fashion look is good but the end result needs to be more polished, however, she sold the hell out of it. The judges tell Makayka that her first look was a bit too mis-matched for their liking, and her second look was totally different than what she discussed and looks thrown together, but Traci said her presentation was flawless. Brad calls Jaylene’s first look “breathtaking” and all of the judges love her nostalgic-yet-current fast fashion look. Brooke loved Uma’s first runway presentation but her handmade look is called “messy” by Brad. Finally, Brad tells Minhi her slow-mo look was incredible and called it “empowering” and Brooke says it was one of her favourites of the evening. Traci likes the contrast of her second look, which Lauren says she also really appreciated. Brad tells her the catsuit turned out wonderfully despite his warnings.
Based on the critiques, Brooke announces that Minhi Wang is the winner of this week’s maxi challenge with Helena and Jaylene right behind her and safe for the week. This means Sanjina, Makayla, and Uma are in the bottom this week. Minhi holds the fate of her sisters in her hands.
Backstage Makayla leads the queens in a round of applause for Minhi, who takes the opportunity to congratulate Helena and Jaylene. Jaylene talks about how excited she was to learn new things and Xana interrupts her and tells her that Drag Race is not the space for that and some of the queens are not vibing with this read. Sanjina makes a tearful plea to Minhi about how hard she worked to be here. Uma also cries talking about her Ostrich costume she bought for season one and she was so excited she finally got to use it. Finally, Makayla uses her track record to her advantage while making her case. Minhi opens the floor up to the other queens to voice their opinions which causes an emotional reaction from Makayla.
Back out on the mainstage Minhi announces that she is passing her beaver along to…Makayla Couture, who is safe from the chomping block. That means that Sanjina and Uma are both lip syncing for their life, foreshadowed by a short heated exchange earlier in the episode. The two bottom queens lip sync to Contemporary Love by Rêve. Both queens put their own spin on the performance, and even through wardrobe malfunctions Sanjina makes it work. After a quick deliberation, Brooke declares that Uma will remain in the competition, meaning it’s unfortunately the end of the road for Sanjina.
Next week on Canada’s Drag Race: It’s girl group week with a deliciously retro twist!