RuPaul’s Drag Race review: A Canadian queen emerges

RuPaul’s Drag Race season 11 is here and the queens are ready to fight! There are pageant girls, social media faves, and seasoned pros, but who will prove themselves worthy of the crown?

And we’re officially back, mama! Season 11 of RuPaul’s Drag Race is back, and there’s a lot to talk about so let’s get right down to business.

I’m not about to sit here and go through every new queen but let me just say: there are about 13 queens from the house of Davenport, there’s a Canadian queen (expect to hear me, your Canadian reviewer, being very patriotic all season), and a bunch of queens who are related to previous contestants like Coco Montrese, Sahara Davenport, and Alyssa Edwards. Will being a legacy queen help them or harm them? Who knows, but it looks like this is going to be a good, diverse season — the runway looks were definitely not diverse, honey, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Since All Stars is over, the mini challenges are back! For their very first challenge of the season, the queens had to participate in a photoshoot, but it wasn’t just a normal shoot. The queens got to be in charge of how they posed, what props they used, and where they stood, but that wasn’t all! Ru brought out a past RuPaul’s Drag Race queen for each contestant to work with.

With queens like Raja, Manila Luzon (the real winner of All Stars 4), Farrah Moan, Ginger Minj, and more coming back for the challenge, the queens were in charge of choosing exactly how their shoot partners posed, too. Some queens didn’t really know what to do with their partners, like Mercedes with Delta Work.

The mini challenge may have been a bit meh, but at least they turned out a fun one for the main challenge! After so many awful All Stars skits and comedy bits, I’m so happy that we have a sewing challenge! The queens each got assigned a trunk that was full of fabric and items inspired by a specific queen. They had to make an outfit from it, but it had to be 100% their own style, not related to the other queen. Silky won the photoshoot, so she got to choose who everyone got. I feel like this was really a throwback to older RuPaul’s Drag Race challenges, and who doesn’t love a good sewing competition?

Well, apparently not everyone does, because even after 11 seasons, some queens still don’t know how to sew. Nina West is a seasoned pro and she has auditioned for the show like nine times, and yet, she can’t! Girl, that is inexcusable. Soju seriously struggled too, but she hid her incompetence behind the facade of doing a “cultural” look, inspired by the Korean hanbok. She basically just wrapped tulle around her waist and wore flats.

A lot of the queens came out in looks that were very similar. Plastique was first out the gate in a really great body suit with a fitted waist and a flowing train and she looked fishy as always, but then a lot of other queens had very similar outfits. Lots of body suits and trains! The only one that really stood out to me was Miss Vanjie — who has come so far since being eliminated first last season — whose paint, hair, and deep V cut really put her above the rest.

The queen who really came to slay with her homemade look, though, was Brooke Lynn Hytes, and I’m not saying that because I’m Canadian and biased (but yaaas Canada!). Girl looked good! She made a full latex-looking superhero inspired catsuit with a cape, and the judges ate her up. It was impressive that she made that all herself, especially in the amount of time they had! Needless to say, she snatched that first challenge win!

Nina managed to stay out of the bottom despite the fact that she looked kinda like a hot Cheeto, but Soju wasn’t so lucky. I thought Silky would’ve found herself in the bottom too, but she was safe. Mercedes, though, just didn’t impress the judges with her strange one-sleeved, body suit-bikini top combo. The bottom two queens had to lip sync to — wait for it — “The Best of Both Worlds” by Hannah Montana, and if that isn’t iconic, I don’t know what is!

Speaking of Miley, she was definitely a fun guest judge. She talked to the girls and really seemed to connect with them. Best of all, she looked like she was really having fun on that judging panel! Some people look like they’re just there for the camera time, but Miley was living her life, and looked great doing it.

So after a less-than-stellar season of All Stars, I have to say I was actually gagged by this first elimination. For those of you who don’t know, Soju actually has a pretty big following online already thanks to her YouTube show Shot with Soju, where she interviews queens and talks about Drag Race. I figured, since she was such a known figure, she’d be around for a while, but that first look was so rough and the lip sync was so lackluster that she went home first! I did not see that coming!

I’m already annoyed by some queens, others I have high hopes for, but I’m going into the season with an open mind! Look at it this way: as long as we only have one crowned winner and not two, I think we’ll be fine.

Random Ruflections

• “It looks like things just got…eleven-gendary!” Nina West needs to never try making a pun again.
• Scarlett barely looks like she’s in drag.
• Take a shot every time a Davenport walks in.
• Yvie Oddley’s little Hot Wheels thing is a choice.
• It’s so obvious that they try so hard to have a brand with their catchphrase walking in
• “This is what dreams are made of!” We love a Lizzie McGuire reference!
• I can already tell this “Attitude check!” thing is going to get old fast.
• “I love drag but I love boys more.” Same, Soju
• Why would Plastique shout the queen she wants? Obviously Silky wouldn’t give her that.
• Silky is already annoying me, and Plastique calls it for what it is: she wants to be on TV and she’s showing it.
• “The bigger your hair, the smaller your car seems!” – Carson
• Soju wanted to be traditional, but it’s really rough.
• “He’s ob-cyst!” – Michelle about Ross and Soju’s cyst.
• “Whatever happened to [Hannah Montana]?” “A lot of drugs.”
• Brooke Lynn took home the first win. Go Canada!