Drag Race Down Under power-bottom ranking: episode 6
a very special episode, brought to you by products
Much like RuPaul ranting about how he marketed drag to the world, we’re back again! That’s right, it’s recap time, the moment everyone’s been waiting for. I can’t verify this, but I imagine in most households, someone goes running through the house screaming “it’s ere, it’s ere” like when a house full of girls (or little women) get a letter from their father who has been at war.
So gather around the hearth and let mamma read you some thoughts and words I have written down.
This episode was the marketing challenge and, apart from one key moment that we will get to soon, was mostly joyless and long (like my penis).
I think this was a key example of humour being lost between the down under regions and the US judges - because Ru spent their entire time in the workroom cautioning people about their ads for their hometowns being “too sad” - because that’s what Aussie and NZ humour consists of. Even if you LOVE your city or town, you are self-deprecating about it, to the extreme (with the exception of people from Melbourne i think, who just get super patriotic about that slow brown river). Living and loving a place - even the whole country - means you get to rib it. It’s antithetical to American ideas about pride and place - they genuinely say things like “greatest country in the world” and mean it.
So, Ru went through and basically got in everyone’s heads - because you always listen to what Ru says - and sabotaged what could have been some funny Down Under roasting of places. We had Kween Kong, who has usually struggled with comedy challenges anyway, choosing to make hers more hypothetical than based in place as a result, and people like Molly Poppinz valiantly tried to roast her hometown and cater to Ru - with the result being RuPaul confidently claiming “I understand - you fucking HATE Newcastle”.
That wasn’t it queen!!!! That was not it. Also if I had to do an advertisement for my home town, it would have to make “home of one of australia’s biggest race riots” into a funny drag joke.
Anyway. Bit of a torturous episode and challenge, but let’s power rank anyway!
WINNERS
Kween Kong +5 points
Kween Kong did not serve with her advertisement video, but that simply put her into the bottom where she ATE during the lipsync. Honestly, the best lipsync on DRDU, and it was very much a brute force type of talent. Kween was flipping around that stage like a tiny russian gymnast, and she is BURLY, it would have been very confonting. Anyway, thank you for bringing some spectacle back into this show.
Kween’s confidence arc continues too, and as much as Ru recycling the same chapter of a pop-psychology book that she read forty years ago annoys me, it really does feel like Kween is holding herself back in a bunch of ways. It would be great to see her break out, because as the lip-sync shows, she’s extremely talented.
Spankie Jackson +2 points
I endeavour not to be negative by default, because it’s the easiest thing to do, so bear with me for a theory: Spankie’s success in the competition so far (and clear winning arc) is everything good about our drag. She looks ratchet, she is unpolished, she doesn’t do tricks and flips - but the essence of her drag shines through regardless. It really is the whole battler mythos brought to drag.
The other theory is that she’s super likeable and nobody is particularly doing wonderfully… anyway another week of her absolutely dominating.
Her ad WAS absolutely the best - it was weird and stupid and what it lacked in actual jokes it made up for in commitment and energy.
LOSERS
Beverley Kills - neutral points
Ok, Beverley lost a lot of points for being eliminated (-5), RIP, but also gained some points for:
Telling Hannah Conda to fuck off (+2)
Doing an absolutely SLAY lip-sync, and being an excellent lip-syncer all season (+2)
For pushing back against this bullshit authenticity nonsense (+1)
Hannah Conda/ Molly/ Kween -1 points
This episode was either VERY lovey dovey sister vibes, which felt stupid and unearned, or once against full of weird frustrated beef. The prevailing “criticism” for Beverley is about her not being “authentic”, and I really disliked the way, especially in this episode, it seemed like she’d literally be talking about anything and then the rest of the girls would be like “you’re NOT AUTHENTIC", you have to BE YOURSELF”.
Girl she’s 21, nobody knows who they are at 21. She’s at the beginning of that journey, and it’s just a BORING thing to be at the centre of a beef. Why does DRDU feel like a long roadtrip home from a music festival????
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Anyway! Thanks for reading this. I’d… love to be able to tell you when Bachy recaps are starting, but if you haven’t noticed, there’s a mild controversy going on where NOBODY KNOWS WHY IT HASNT STARTED YET.
Lovwe you.