RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars review: A different kind of Snatch Game

This week’s episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars is a twist on the old challenge we all know and love. Some queens thrive with the change, and others still can’t live up to the expectations.

The Snatch Game is always the most anticipated episode of any season of RuPaul’s Drag Race, probably even more than the premiere and the finale put together. Over the years, there have been some amazing ones — like season 6 — and some not so amazing ones — like season 5’s disaster — but a lot of the queens on RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars had something to prove this time around.

Quite a few of the All Stars knew that this challenge could make or break them, because they struggled with the Snatch Game the first time around. Gia Gunn was a lackluster and unfunny Kim Kardashian on her season, Latrice had to deal with the disaster that was happening around her on season 5 (like Jiggly’s Snooki and Kenya Michaels’ terrible Beyonce), and Naomi was boring, even though she portrayed the larger than life Tiffany Pollard on season 8. Monet was hilarious was Maya Angelou on her season, but that meant she had a lot to live up to as well.

The Snatch Game was different this year, and I can’t say I hated the changes. Instead of the usual, Ru decided to make it the Snatch Game of Love; it still involves celeb impersonations, but they need to stay in character to snatch the hearts of (queer) celeb guest judges, Olympian Gus Kenworthy and Love, Simon and The Flash star Keiynan Lonsdale. While I wish they had all the queens interacting with each other, it was a welcome change after so many seasons of the same old challenge.

Going into it, I knew this challenge would be a breeze for people like Trinity and Manila, because they know how to make it funny, which is what the judges always tell them to do. Trinity and Gia went head to head in the workroom because they both planned on doing the same celeb: Caitlyn Jenner. Trinity is funny, and Gia is not, and that is a character than can easily slip into boring, because really Caitlyn doesn’t have much going for her. Gia may be a trans woman too, but she needs jokes, which is why she finally gave in and let Trinity do it, and decided to impersonate Cardi B’s Asian nail tech instead. That was her first mistake.

Sure enough, Manila and Trinity did kill it. Caitlyn Jenner got big laughs from myself and from Ru and Gus. Trinity picked up on all the small quirks that Caitlyn has and she exaggerated them perfectly. Ross even said Trinity as Caitlyn was his favorite Snatch Game performance ever. Manila was also hilarious as a caricature-like Barbra Streisand, and while the impersonation wasn’t perfect, she made it funny, which is the most important thing to do!

When Alaska did Lady Bunny on her season of RuPaul’s Drag Race, it wasn’t a great impersonation, but she took every joke and she stayed in character the whole time, so it worked. Valentina picked Eartha Kitt, and it could’ve been really good, but while her impersonation was pretty spot on, there were no punchlines. If it was just about playing the character, this would be a very different competition.

Gia, unfortunately, bombed and relied on played out jokes and stereotypes because she really didn’t know her character at all, while Naomi finally got her redemption. Naomi started out strong as Wendy Williams, another larger than life TV personality, but this time she actually did her justice. It did start to fizzle a bit, like Michelle pointed out, but then she left us all laughing when she pulled out the big guns and reenacted Wendy’s infamous fainting moment from her show. It was unexpected and definitely earned her big points!

Latrice, on the other hand, still didn’t get to redeem herself and her Della Reese impersonation fell flat, because she couldn’t push her annoyance with Gia aside (and honestly, we’re not surprised).

Gia came into this season with an important role and something to prove as a trans woman, especially after Ru’s controversial comments about not letting trans women on the show. It’s a shame most of her time was overshadowed by her constant shadiness towards Farrah and her lack of respect for the other queens. On “Snatch Game of Love,” she finally opened up about her struggles and the pressure she felt being a trans woman on the show. It was refreshing to see her be vulnerable for a change, but that didn’t make up for her disappointing performance.

Even though the decision seemed pretty clear, Manila still considered sending Valentina home when she found herself in the bottom along with Gia. Trinity made it very clear that she was sending Gia home, because all she had done so far was cause drama and her performance was god-awful, but Manila was looking at the decision strategically, and Valentina was major competition.

You knew the lipsync would be a good one when you take two master lipsyncers like Trinity and Manila and throw them on a stage with a bop like Whitney Houston’s “How Will I Know”. They were worthy competition for each other, but Manila came out on top, so then it was the big moment: would she go for her competition, or for the weakest link? I guess she didn’t want to become the series villain of RuPaul’s Drag Race, because she went for the weakest link, and we bid Gia Gunn farewell.

So far this season, we have eliminated the meme queen, the crying queen, and the season’s villain, so where do we go from there? Gia was definitely starting unnecessary drama, but now that she’s gone, will the competition really take off, or will someone pick up where she left off? Everyone else left in the competition seems really serious about taking the All Stars crown, so this should be interesting.

Random Ruflections

• “I know I’m Mexican but I don’t even know how to clean!” – Valentina
• “I’m just like an old dinosaur of drag,” – Manila
• Valentina, I disagree that Selena couldn’t be funny — if you’ve seen any interviews with her, or the movie Selena you know that’s untrue.
• Gia on letting Trinity be Caitlyn for Snatch Game of Love:  “…But her being an old white [expletive] with a lot of plastic surgery is maybe even more appropriate.”
• Valentina as Eartha Kitt was questionable, but how did nobody get the Emperor’s New Groove reference?! Am I too young, or are they too old?
• Gus Kenworthy is a total dreamboat.
• Trinity as Caitlyn was as funny as I thought she would be.
• Naomi as Wendy Williams fainting on-air is EVERYTHING.
• Trinity, and also all of us, after seeing Gus: “I am in love, honey!”
• Gia’s character was kinda lazy, and obviously, not funny.
• A deep conversation about religion, gay rights, and love quickly turned to…aliens, thanks to Monet.
• Monique, to Monet talking about aliens: “Girl, you’re just seeing demons, you need to pray.”
• Can we discuss how sickening Ru looked in that body suit? A nice change from all her gowns!
• Manila in a BDSM bunny look was super cute.
• Valentina looked sickening in a nude, head-to-toe leather look.
• “It actually felt kind of uncomfortable to watch.” – Gus about Gia, and honestly, same.
• Can I just say how happy I am that “Born Naked” is having a resurgence as the credit song? It’s a bop.