There are only seven queens left on Canada's Drag Race and the competition is heating up! These fun queens have revitalized our love of Drag Race. They have amazing chemistry, they bring the drama every week and they are constantly surprising us with their talent. This was one of the most drama-filled episodes of the season.
Priyanka wipes off Kiara's enormous mirror message. Even after elimination these girls still play light-hearted pranks on each other. The love in the room is never ending and that has made this season such a blast. The girls are able to be playfully shady with each other at every turn. Keeping that tradition alive, Priyanka makes a joke that the queens on her side of the room (Jimbo, Rita Baga, and Lemon) are the only threats for the crown. This is clearly a bit too shady for Ilona Verley, Scarlett Bobo, and BOA who have been playing it safe all season.
Crystal from Drag Race UK makes a guest appearance in this episode. She immigrated to the UK but is Canadian born and it is super fun to see someone from one of the best seasons of the franchise back on TV. The mini-challenge is a psychic hotline where the girls have to do an improv phone conversation while telling their scene partner her future. It's pretty clunky but some of them really shine. Lemon once again proves that she is a force to be reckoned with in this competition. Her improv skills are so great every single time. It is a really fun narrative to see someone who was in the bottom the first week continue to do so well. Also, dancers are not known for their comedy chops so it always feels like a fun shock when she kills it! Jimbo and Rita Baga, the obvious front-runners at this point, also do really well in this challenge.
Lemon wins the mini-challenge so she gets to pick the teams. She picks Priyanka which makes sense because they have great chemistry together, but Priyanka was in the bottom last week. That makes picking her seem a bit odd, but Lemon seems confident about their dynamic. Lemon then puts two of the strongest girls in a group together: Jimbo and Rita Baga. She does add BOA to their dynamic though and she is definitely a wild card in the challenges. Ilona and Scarlett Bobo are paired together which is a smart move by Lemon. They were both safe last week and at this point, they seem like they are the next two to go.
For this week's challenge, the queens are asked to make a commercial parodying attorney advertisements. This is a great idea for a maxi challenge. Drag Queens are not great at improv, but when they have to write their own sketches or their own lyrics it is so much fun. Drag Queens are their own artistic directors so when they get to direct themselves we get to see them at their best.
Rita Baga's group is doing a bachelorette themed comedy sketch. She tells a horrifying story about a woman putting her finger in her anus during a drag show. Then the producers give her a very charming and very important PSA about consent at drag shows. This has been an ongoing problem with Bachelorette parties and many women watching this show need to hear this.
The special guest judge is TOM GREEN! The queen's freakout about this weird comedy legend and it is adorable. It is almost never welcome when a straight male is a guest judge on the only truly gay show on television, but he is so damn weird and lovable we will allow it! Lemon and Priyanka absolutely kill their rehearsal. BOA, Jimbo, and Rita Baga seem much messier. Ilona and Scarlett Bobo seem to have their premise very clear, but it could go either way.
At the makeup mirror, the queens continue their great discussion about consent at drag shows and BOA reveals a horrifying story. She talks about her experience being sexually and physically assaulted and robbed. It is truly scary and an important message to send to the world: same-gender sex abuse happens. She tells the world to "be careful who you bring home." We are glad she is okay.
The runway challenge is denim, which once again proves to be one of the worst runway themes of all time. They did this on Season 10 of Drag Race and it was boring then too. Most of the girls choose to wear chaps because there is very little one can do with denim. Scarlett Bobo's outfit looks really bland on TV, but the judges eat it up. They love the pop of neon color, but from home it is underwhelming. Ilona is wearing the most boring look imaginable, but her makeup and hair look pretty. BOA comes out with wings on and it is an absolute gag. Someone let Courtney Cox and Neve Campbell into the chat because this look made us Scream! The judges hate the look, because as they have proven all season, they are really bad at this. Brooke Lynn fairly clocks that the core of the look is another bodysuit, but Tom Green steps in to say that the wings were a gag, which is objectively true. Jimbo is proving why she will almost certainly win this show. Her look is so unbelievably cool. She is covered head to toe in denim with a fierce red ponytail on top. She looks like an Oogie Boogie from Nightmare Before Christmas, but fashion-forward. Rita Baga's look is exciting but it does not look like denim. Priyanka looks sickening. She highlights her body with a white bodysuit and then uses the denim as a fierce accent, but the judges call it basic. Lemon's look is not her best. It is a very cool idea that is not quite executed as well as it could be. She combines many different types of denim, which is super fun but the way it is pieced together does not quite work. Brooke Lynn reads her to filth by saying she wishes it was an "entirely different outfit". Once again the judges bring no kindness, no humor, and no love to the critiques. This portion of the show continues to be the only slot that is not fun to watch. It feels like we are watching the elitist gays who are mean to us in clubs talk smack on everyone. THANK GOD for Tom Green. They add a phone call to his mom from the judge's panel and it is so cute.
Ilona and Scarlett Bobo show their informercial first and it is truly nuts. They just keep saying "sissy" over and over and then they beat the crap out of each other? Bobo fairs better than Ilona, but neither of them is great. Team Jimbo's sketch doesn't make any sense. She gets out a few hilarious "this is my special day" screams, but the entire thing is confusing. Lemon and Priyanka are amazing. They really kill it, but the judges clock Lemon for playing a similar character to what they have seen before.
The queens are asked the dreaded question: who do you think should go home tonight and why? Four of the girls say Lemon and three of them say, Ilona Verley. Everyone who said Lemon based it solely on the runway. In the Untucked lounge, they fight it out and Lemon fairly points out that the question was not "who should go home based only on the runway." She did do very well in the challenge and many of the other girls did not. Ilona and BOA claim that they are not close to Lemon and even imply that they think she is fake.
Rita Baga wins this week's challenge, which is actively nuts. This was Jimbo's week. Her runway was extravagant and she did the best in the challenge. The bottom two of the week are Ilona and BOA. Lemon is safe and this feels like the right choice by the judges. Ilona was clearly in the bottom. Her runway and performance were bad and while BOA was solid on the runway her performance in the challenge was awful.
This show has delivered some wonderful lip-syncs this season. This was not one of them. The girls are both pretty bland but in their defense, the song is not the best drag lip-sync song. BOA is asked to sashay away. She is a fierce queen but her lip sync was not the ticket. This continues to be a thrilling and refreshing season of Drag Race and we look forward to the episodes every week.
Source: Wow Presents Plus
Canada’s Drag Race airs Thursdays at 9pm EST on WOW Presents Plus in the US and select territories.