RuPaul’s Drag Race season 10 episode 8 review: The Unauthorized Rusical

It’s all about the goddess of pop on this week’s RuPaul’s Drag Race, and we couldn’t be happier! The numbers are dwindling, and the queens are definitely bringing their A-game.

A fun drinking game for any of you reading today’s review: take a drink every time I say Cher. It’s about to get messy…

As soon as I found out this week’s episode would be entirely dedicated to the one, the only, the legendary Cher, I knew it would be a good one. Hot on the heels of last week’s overall successful Snatch Game episode, this week hit it out of the park once again. Or at least, some of the queens did.

The remaining seven queens had to get faked slapped, one by one, by RuPaul himself for the mini challenge, “Slap out of it.” Honestly, it might have been one of the best mini challenges of the entire season. Ru had the girls say something “super sassy” to him that would make Ru want to slap them (Kameron: “They call you mother, but at your age, shouldn’t it be grandmo-” *slap!*).

Ru looks more gleeful than he has in ages, so maybe he should fake slap — or in the case of Asia O’Hara, real slap — the queens more often! It’s nice to see both Ru and the contestants have so much fun in a challenge. You know, before all the stress of the main challenge sets in.

For the maxi challenge, the queens had to perform in a musical dedicated to the life and career of Cher. For Cher: The Unauthorized Rusical (not to be confused with the real Cher musical headed to Broadway), the queens were given different Cher eras to portray. They went from ’60s Cher to Comeback Cher, and they had to act, dance, and sing live.

It was quite a challenge, but some of the girls really stepped it up.

With the workroom being a mess of bad Cher impressions, we didn’t have much hope for how the rehearsals would turn out. Right off the bat, Kameron and Eureka were seriously struggling. Kameron can’t remember her words, and Eureka just straight up refuses to sing and do the choreography at the same time.

Eureka, like she often does in rehearsals, immediately seemed defeated. She claims she had some childhood trauma where she was forced to sing in front of people and that made her scared to sing in public ever since. But girl… really? Let’s calm down for a sec. On the main stage, however, she did show a lot of improvement. Like the judges pointed out, the first half wasn’t very Cher-y, but she found her way by the end.

Kameron, on the other hand, did a complete 180 from the rehearsals. First, she had her Cher look on point, rocking a classic 1960’s Cher style with bangs and bell-bottoms. Then, her voice was probably the most distinctly Cher of the entire bunch. She had the daunting task of opening up the musical number, and she definitely killed it.

Where there’s a top, there’s always going to be a bottom (pun partially intended), and in this case, there were two. The Vixen is usually a strong dancer, but she definitely doesn’t have a future in live singing. Chad Michaels is definitely not filing for unemployment yet, based on The Vixen’s impersonation.

Her dancing was fine, but I wanted more Cher. In front of the judges, she blamed the fact that the Cher she was representing was a more obscure reference. She portrayed Cher from her performance with the Jackson 5 on her variety show. Regardless, it is no excuse. She didn’t nail the voice one bit, she didn’t have any Cher mannerisms. It was literally just The Vixen singing badly to a song about Cher.

Speaking of excuses, Asia O’Hara was also one of the bottom girls. She was supposed to portray movie star Cher. In case you forgot, Cher is a damn Oscar-winning actress. Like The Vixen, Asia felt like she didn’t have a good Cher avatar to play off of. Um, excuse me? Cher’s “snap out of it!” from Moonstruck is one of THE most iconic Cher moments, so I don’t know what she was thinking.

Asia even forgot her words midway through the number! This is RuPaul’s Drag Race, step it up! She played it off well and made a joke, but the damage was still done and she was lip syncing for her life against The Vixen.

The rest of the girls were all pretty good, too. Monet was a standout, using her opera skills to try and master Cher’s iconic deep voice. She was also portraying 1970’s variety show Cher, but unlike The Vixen, she pulled it off. She made it both Cher-esque and hilarious. I mean, she also had a bit about cultural appropriation to work with, but still.

On the runway, the theme was, surprisingly, not Cher-related at all. The queens had to show off their best “Glitterific” looks for the judges. Yet again, Kameron Michaels brought it to the runway! She may be the dark horse of the competition, skating by quietly in the background, but this queen has pulled some serious gag-worthy looks this season. She came out in a rose gold, sequined jumpsuit, very disco, with a cape and a platinum wig.

Thanks to her spot-on Cher performance and her glitter moment on the runway, Kameron Michaels came out on top this week! It’s about time she won a damn challenge, now maybe people will take her seriously.

Even though Monet’s performance was applauded by the judges, her runway outfit left them… wanting more. She also sported a glittery jumpsuit, but the sheer outfit put her tuck tape and nipple covers on display, and not in a chic way.

Aquaria’s “baroque” interpretation of the theme would’ve fit right in at this past week’s Met Gala in New York. In fact, she looked better than most of the celebs in attendance! And her eye makeup was genius. It wasn’t so much makeup as it was rhinestones layered over her actual eyes (and her struggle to see anything during Untucked is definitely going to be a meme within minutes).

We also have to give a few quick props to Miz Cracker. She stepped out in a look that was completely different than what we usually see from her. She sported a black wig and glittering gold gown, but the standout accessory was the gold skull vomiting glitter all over her head. Gore, but make it fashion!

Asia and The Vixen both put up a strong fight in the lip sync to, shockingly enough, not a Cher song, but “Groove Is In The Heart” by Dee-Lite. You could tell how much they both wanted to be there, and unlike last week’s disastrous lip sync between Vixen and Monique (who didn’t know the words to Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Cut To The Feeling” — I’m personally offended), both queens worked it out. But alas, it was finally Vixen’s time to go.

With The Vixen gone, the race is about to get really tough. Vixen was super talented but was too focused on the drama. Now, it’s anybody’s game.

Kameron has been slowly creeping her way to the top, while early favorite Miz Cracker is coasting by in the middle of the pack. Eureka and Monet have been up and down all season, but Aquaria is clawing her way up in the ranks too. And we can’t count out Asia, either.

Hold on to your wigs, ladies, this season of RuPaul’s Drag Race is not over yet!

Related Story: RuPaul’s Drag Race season 10 episode 7 review: Snatch Game

Random Ruflections

• Chad Michaels made an appearance and everything is right in the world
• “It’s about to be Asia O’Hara’s Drag Race. I’m going to own this whole damn company!” – Asia O’Hara, after being slapped (for real) by RuPaul
• Miz Cracker, when everyone is rehearsing their Cher impersonations: “It sounds like an insane asylum in here.”
• “American Horror Story: Cher edition”
• If I had a dollar for every bad Cher impersonation on this episode, I could afford tickets to Cher’s Las Vegas residency
• Asia O’Hara is definitely not booking gigs as an impersonator anytime soon: “She’s gonna insult Beyonce and Cher two weeks in a row.”
• “Cher’s not old, she’s ageless.” Preach, Mama Ru.
• The song about cultural appropriation with Monet in a Half-Breed-era headdress? Genius!
• Say it together now: Wagon Wheel Watusi!!!!
• “Black thighs matter.”
• Has anyone else noticed that Eureka wears almost the exact same silhouette and hairstyle every other week?
• Michelle Visage, an expert at wordplay: “When she came out as Cher, I was just befuddled — Moonstruck, if you will.”
• It’s always scary when Kameron Michaels is getting a lot of screen time because it either means she’s going to win or she’s going home.
• It’s sad to see Vixen go, especially when she lets down that angry facade and shows her genuine emotion. But that’s how the competition goes.
• [Insert bad Cher impression here]