With RuPaul’s Drag Race bringing back their Rate-a-Queen system for season 17, Billboard decided to rate each of the new queens every week based on their performance. Below, we take a look at this season’s Rusical to see which queens brought Broadway to the main stage. Spoilers ahead for episode 8.
As Jewels Sparkles aptly put it at the top of this week’s episode: “Every gay person has an attachment to The Wizard of Oz.” So, leave it to the production team of RuPaul’s Drag Race to turn their annual Rusical challenge into a maximalist mashup of the most beloved Oz-based properties in the world
For season 17’s Rusical, the 10 remaining contestants were given a script that combined three of the most popular musical re-tellings of L. Frank Baum’s beloved 1900 novel — the legendary 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, the 1975 game-changing musical The Wiz and the 2003 Broadway behemoth Wicked — and mashed them together with a fourth staple within the theater community, A Chorus Line. To simplify; season 17’s Rusical was a veritable feast for theater gays everywhere.
And feast the season 17 queens did, with the majority of the girls giving their all for a very good Rusical in this season. The performances were so good, in fact, that the judges panel decided to acknowledge four queens amongst this week’s tops, while refusing to place anyone besides Kori King and Acacia Forgot amongst the lower end of the critiquing scale. In the end, Sam Star earned her long-desired second challenge win, while Suzie Toot, Onya Nurve and Jewels Sparkles still got plenty of praise for their performances.
In their Lip Sync For Your Life, Acacia and Kori battled it out to guest judge Adam Lambert’s campy club number “Wet Dream.” Even with a wig malfunction on her part, Kori still managed to impress the panel with her unbridled energy — the Boston queen was granted another week in the competition, leaving Acacia Forgot to sashay away.
Below, Billboard takes a look back at episode 8 and ranks where our remaining contestants lie based on this episode and the season as a whole:
ELIMINATED: Acacia Forgot
Image Credit: Courtesy of MTV
As sad as we are to see Acacia Forgot leave the competition, the truth is this was a matter of “when,” not of “if.” Acacia served up a series of great looks throughout the season (including in this episode), but when it came to her performances in the main challenges, Acacia just never managed to stand out from her competitors. Fighting for a lead role like Kansas Dorothy and then doing approximately nothing with it is a fatal error in the Rusical challenge, and Acacia ended up paying the price. Even in her second Lip Sync for Your Life, the queen couldn’t quite keep up with Kori’s stunt-fueled staging. R.I.P. to Acacia — gone, but not yet Forgot-ten.
Last Week’s Ranking: No. 8
Track Record:
Safe Placements: 4
Low Placements: 1
Bottom Placements: 2
Kori King
Image Credit: Courtesy of MTV
Not being able to sing is not a disqualifying factor when it comes to the Rusical challenge. Not being able to sell your performance, on the other hand, absolutely is disqualifying. Had Kori leaned into the ridiculousness of her flying monkey character this week, she could have easily earned another safe placement. But the Boston queen was simply too hung up on losing the battle for Jewels’ Good Witch character, meaning that she was left in the dust. With her less-than-stellar track record on the season thus far, Ms. King’s days are most definitely numbered unless she can absolutely demolish next week’s challenge.
Last Week’s Ranking: No. 6
Track Record
Safe Placements: 4
Low Placements: 1
Bottom Placements: 2
Lana Ja’Rae
Image Credit: Courtesy of MTV
After two consecutive trips to the bottom two, I thought this might be the week that Lana Ja’Rae would storm the main stage with a tour de force performance, proving definitively why she is in this competition. Alas, I was wrong — Lana gave a fine performance as the Tin Woman, doing just good enough on both her vocal and her choreography to avoid a third bottom placement. Her runway presentation, as always, was clean and well-tailored to the category at hand. But nothing about this queen’s performance made me want to give her a standing ovation, a fact that feels fatal at this late stage of the competition.
Last Week’s Ranking: No. 10
Track Record:
Safe Placements: 5
Bottom Placements: 2
Lexi Love
Image Credit: Courtesy of MTV
From the start of this season, Lexi Love was one of the immediate standouts among a crowded pack of queens. But it’s now episode 8, and that star quality has finally started to dim. Lexi has consistently performed well enough to skate by each week without much critique, with the only exception to that rule being her so-bad-it’s-kind-of-good performance in last week’s Snatch Game. With other queens higher on this list consistently earning top marks from the judges’ panel, Lexi is beginning to slip into the endless middle of this cast. That’s not always a bad thing — past winners like Yvie Oddly and Willow Pill won their seasons after only taking home just one challenge win each. But if Lexi wants some security in this game, the best way to get it is by capturing the judges’ attention in her upcoming challenge performances.
Last Week’s Ranking: No. 5
Track Record:
Wins: 1
High Placements: 1
Safe Placements: 5
Lydia B Kollins
Image Credit: Courtesy of MTV
In this episode, Michelle Visage said that “there are no small parts, only small actors.” While there is some truth to that statement, it’s hard to look at Lydia B Kollins and Kori King’s flying monkeys as much else than small parts in a Rusical stacked with over-the-top characters. But where Kori’s winged ape couldn’t quite take flight, Lydia managed to at least hover with her performance, marking a solid showing for this season’s oddball. When it came time for the runway, meanwhile, Lydia managed to outdo herself yet again, serving something sexy and unexpected with her parasol look. The “B” might stand for “Butthole,” but this week, we’re taking it as a letter grade for Lydia’s above average performance.
Last Week’s Ranking: No. 4
Track Record:
Safe Placements: 6
Bottom Placements: 1
Arrietty
Image Credit: Courtesy of MTV
As the queen whose trajectory feels the hardest to pin down this season, Arrietty finally performed about the way I expected she would in the Rusical. Her Scarecrow, while perhaps not the most technically proficient of the bunch, had a few standout moments and very clean choreography, while her runway look was spectacular, as expected. Sure, I’d like to see Arrietty thrive a little bit more — but I also know the second we get another design challenge this season, the elven queen is going to eat her competitors up, so she’s certainly earned a middle-of-the-pack placement this week.
Last Week’s Ranking: No. 9
Track Record:
Wins: 1
High Placements: 1
Safe Placements: 2
Low Placements: 2
Bottom Placements: 1
Suzie Toot
Image Credit: Courtesy of MTV
After a less-than-stellar Snatch Game performance, you could tell that Suzie Toot was hungry for the win this week. It’s easy to see why — much like Jan and Plasma before her, Suzie’s talents seemed perfectly suited for a Rusical challenge, and she easily delivered when it came time for her big, Elphaba-inspired number. But I can’t help but wonder — if Suzie had gotten the Kansas Dorothy role that she wanted, would she have been able to nab her third win of the season? The jury’s still out on that idea, especially considering Acacia’s bottom performance in the part, but one thing I am certain about is that Suzie definitely deserved the flowers she got from the judges this week.
Last Week’s Ranking: No. 7
Track Record:
Wins: 2
High Placements: 2
Safe Placements: 3
Jewels Sparkles
Image Credit: Courtesy of MTV
More than almost any of the other girls on this list, Jewels Sparkles knew exactly what the judges wanted to see her do in the Rusical challenge. Her ditzy, bimbo-fied Good Witch hit all the right marks with her sultry, sexy and stupid song in this Rusical, a fact that was only helped by Jewels’ excellent vocal performance. After weeks of maintaining a series of safe placements in the competiton, it feels like Jewels has finally found a rhythm that works for her on Drag Race — and once she manages to earn her first win in the competition, she will become a queen to beat in season 17.
Last Week’s Ranking: No. 2
Track Record:
High Placements: 3
Safe Placements: 4
Sam Star
Image Credit: Courtesy of MTV
Future Drag Race contestants, please watch Sam Star’s performance on this show as a roadmap for what you should be doing in the competition. Even as one of the most consistently excellent performers of the season, Sam is not above taking a note — when Michelle Visage warned her about playing it too safe, she took a huge risk by impersonating Cher in this week’s challenge. To say she rose to the occasion would be an understatement; Sam not only nailed the pop legend’s iconic voice, but enthralled the audience with her precise performance in this Rusical. Plus, she has yet to miss on the runway, and this week’s bejeweled floral outfit is easily one of her best. Even in a challenge as stacked as the Rusical, Sam proved that she is a Star with this winning performance.
Last Week’s Ranking: No. 3
Track Record:
Wins: 2
High Placements: 2
Safe Placements: 2
Low Placements: 1
Onya Nurve
Image Credit: Courtesy of MTV
Here’s the deal: Onya Nurve may not have won the challenge this week, but that doesn’t mean she’s any further away from the crown for it. Her performance as Harlem Dorothy, from top to bottom, was spotless. Her look on the runway was haute couture and looked fabulous on her. The judges are clearly obsessed with her, and for good reason — Onya is practically a walking, talking embodiment of what a RuPaul’s Drag Race winner looks like. At this rate, with consistent high placements and a clear ability to adapt to whatever challenges get thrown at her, Onya Nurve is the undisputed frontrunner of season 17, and frankly, it’s not close.
