‘RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 10' recap: Acid Betty strategizes to turn a bottom into a top

Yahoo

4 days ago

This week on RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars Season 10, the third bracket of six returning queens competed in their second of three episodes, a performance challenge as two groups of dueling country trios. In last week's first challenge, Daya Betty and Ginger Minj came out on top in the Wicked-themed design challenge, providing themselves an early points lead in the path to the second round. Acid Betty, Alyssa Hunter, Cynthia Lee Fontaine, and Denali all entered the second challenge hoping to close the gap with the early leaders.
Read on for our recap of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars Season 10, Episode 8, titled "Stagecooch," which began streaming Friday, June 20 at 12 a.m. PT on Paramount+.
More from GoldDerby
'MasterChef' recap: Sweet vs. spicy sparks drama in double Mystery Box showdown - 'We can't digest it'
'America's Got Talent' recap: Mel B comes out as allergic to cat acts and says 'No' to 5 in a row
'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' showrunners and cast on Season 3's Vulcan episode, beaming Scotty aboard, and completing their five-year mission
In the "Tournament of All Stars" overall, 18 queens compete in a preliminary round of three episodes as three brackets of six, a semifinals round of the top-scoring three from each bracket, and then a finals to determine who will join the "Drag Race Hall of Fame" and take home the ultimate cash prize of $200,000. The queens who advanced from the first bracket were Irene the Alien (Season 15), Bosco (Season 14), and Aja (Season 9, All Stars 3). From the second bracket, Jorgeous (Season 14, All Stars 9), Lydia B Kollins (Season 17), and Mistress Isabelle Brooks (Season 15) advanced.
SEE 'RuPaul's Drag Race' winners list: Every season, plus 'All Stars'
Paramount+
— Denali
Faced with the Most Valuable Queen point distribution for the first time, Acid, Alyssa, Cynthia and Denali realized that "with one point we can change everything," and decided to split them evenly among themselves. Unlike with the second bracket queens, they were able to manage this free of shady shenanigans: Cynthia gave her point to Alyssa, Denali gave her point to Acid, Acid gave her point to Denali, and Alyssa gave her point to Cynthia.
Before advancing to the next maxi challenge, RuPaul Charles arrived with a Clueless-themed photo shoot as a mini challenge. Once the queens were in their Cher Horowitz quick drag and the cameras stopped flashing on the yellow plaid backdrop, Denali was declared the winner and recipient of a $1,000 cash prize.
For the maxi challenge, the girls were tasked with dividing themselves into two groups of three in which they'd write and record original verses then perform their own stage choreography to two country songs, "Key Your Car" and "Trailer Hitch." After a first pass through the songs, five of the queens preferred "Trailer Hitch" because of it's sexy vibe. Daya recognized that the bitchier attitude of "Key Your Car" would play to her strengths and Ginger wasn't worried about doing either song, so they both joined Cynthia and allowed Alyssa, Acid and Denali to get the song they wanted without having to compete for it.
During brainstorm sessions, Cynthia and Denali were both feeling super confident in their respective teams, "The Mudflaps" and "The Whiskey Chicks." Daya thought they had an advantage as three theatrical queens while Alyssa considered themselves to have the advantage because seen as the underdog offered them the chance to surprise the judges.
Paramount+
— Ginger Minj
When the queens arrived for their recording session with composer David Steinberg, they were also greeted by country musician Orville Peck who offered advice on their lyrics and performances. He suggested to Daya that she add a growl (she barked instead), helped Cynthia trim down the wordiness of her lines, counseled Acid that she not "think about it like singing" through her pitch problems, and laughed through Alyssa's muppet-sounding approach. Luckily for her group, Acid was able to help steer Alyssa away from her Kermit voice and get her to use more of her own voice instead.
For choreography, the queens were on their own this time (despite resident choreographer Jamal Sims showing up later as the guest judge). Daya took the lead on the moves for "The Mudflaps," but left a lot of Cynthia and Ginger's ideas on the floor and requiring a lot of repetitive rehearsing. Because of her dancing background, Denali was the obvious leader in this portion for "The Whiskey Chicks." Alyssa and Acid picked up Denali's direction quickly and really well, leaving Daya, Cynthia and Ginger a bit gooped from the sidelines.
Knowing the point system at this point, Ginger and Daya were keenly aware that the likelihood of them both winning again was small. With that in mind, they wanted to ensure that they remained at the top and so they formed an alliance to give points to each other. At the same time, Acid petitioned to the other previous bottom queens that they attempt a strategy of pooling points in the hands of one queen so that one of them could be boosted closer to the top. Acid believed that the single points would not get them anywhere, but adding them together makes a difference. When asked directly by Daya, Acid said that she speaks for the group that Daya would not be receiving a point from any of them.
MTV
— Ross Mathews
On the Main Stage this week was Ru, Michelle Visage, Ross Mathews, and Jamal to watch the queens perform at the first ever Stagecooch Festival and walk the runway in the "Night of 1,000 Mileys" category honoring Miley Cyrus looks. In the critiques for "The Whiskey Chicks," Michelle gave Acid props for taking risks outside her comfort zone and Jamal liked her execution of the choreography, Ross thought Alyssa was both beautiful and funny but Michelle found her recording "off-rhythm," and Denali got high marks for her lyrics and Jamal could tell that she was the leader of her team. With regard to "The Mudflaps," Michelle liked that Cynthia's storytelling in the performance and Jamal loved her "cotton candy" look, the judges thought Daya was "in control the whole way through" and Ru and Michelle found "authenticity" in her look, and Jamal liked the funny mixed with sexiness from Ginger and Ross appreciates that she sets up who she is as a drag queen right from the start.
After further deliberation, Ru chose Denali and Ginger as the top two for the week, earning two points apiece. To compete for the extra third point, they performed in the Lip Sync for Your Legacy to Miley's "See You Again." From behind them, Acid noticed that Denali was performing tricks and hitting all the marks, but Ginger was "commanding the stage" naturally. Ru agreed with Acid's take and gave the win to Ginger. The decision set Ginger in a frontrunner position with six points overall. Based on her win, Denali soared to second place with three points. Daya slid down to third place with two points. Cynthia, Acid and Alyssa remained at the bottom with one point each, but with a point each yet to award once again in the MVQ twist.
SIGN UP for Gold Derby's free newsletter with latest predictions
Best of GoldDerby
From 'Housewives' overload to the 'shadiest queens' alliance: The dish on 'The Traitors' Season 4 lineup
The 25 best 'Survivor' villains of the past 25 years
'Survivor' winners list: All seasons
Click here to read the full article.
Solve the daily Crossword