We’ve wrapped up the inaugural episode of "RuPaul’s Drag Race" Season 18 and one thing is certain: these queens have come to compete! That said, the girls are about to embark on one of the most popular challenges that we didn’t see last year; the Girl Group Challenge!
The queens are back in the Werk Room & things were fairly quiet, although Nini Coco seems to have some of the girls feeling salty after her win. RuPaul entered and let the girls know that this week was the Girl Group challenge, “Q-Pop” style! The challenge would be broken up into three styles; Funk Almighty (disco), Go-Go-Go (inspired by Wham) and Cherries (rock style, inspired by The Runaways). The top queens of last week got to choose the groups, meaning Nini Coco and Vita VonTesse Star were doing the selecting. Nini selected Mia Starr, Ciara Myst, Myki Meeks and Kenya Pleaser, while Vita picked up Briar Blush, Juicy Love Dion, Discord Addams, and Jane Don’t. That left Athena Dion, DD Fuego, Darlene Mitchell, and Mandy Mango as the remaining queens, who became their own group.
Selections of song styles got under way and it was a bit…prickly. The team of queens that was not selected by the other girls thought they should get first crack at their song style choice, while the other queens definitely felt differently. Disco was the immediate first choice, but after some back and forth (and some careful strategizing by Discord to benefit her team), Vita’s team ended up with punk, Nini’s team got pop, and Athena’s team grabbed disco.
The queens dove into writing their lyrics, with Jane offering assistance to her own team (she formerly interned at a record label) and Vita made it clear that she had wanted the punk song the whole time and had been doing a bit of strategizing of her own. Nini Coco was a bit shook when she discovered that she’d unfortunately, lost her voice as a result of the screaming challenge the week prior. As the writing had commenced, choreography practice began. Nini’s team seemed to pick up the choreo quickly, while Juicy showed Vita and her whole team why she’s one of the best dancers in Miami. Discord found the choreo a bit of a challenge, while Athena’s team seemed to have differing ideas on how their choreography should truly go.
It was time to record vocals with Michelle Visage and each queen definitely delivered them in their own distinct way. Jane soared behind the mic and Vita channeled her own inner riot girl during her session. Athena’s team was next, and Darlene delivering a glass shattering vocal (with Athena appearing to take a quick disco nap) made the session one to watch. Nini Coco’s team was the final recording session, and severely in her head Nini had to work to get herself back into the game, despite not having a voice due to prior screaming challenge.
We headed to the main stage and it was girl power personified on the main stage! RuPaul was joined by Michelle Visage, Ts Madison, and Dove Cameron. The runway theme this week?-“My Neck, My Back, My Pu$$y, My Crack” a theme designed for each queen to show off their very favorite body part.
Disco was first up, and while they were cohesive, Athena and especially Darlene, were standouts (that vocal from Mitchell will go down in herstory)! Nini’s team was next, with Kenya being one of the particular standouts of the group, but it was Vita’s group that truly smashed it during their punk performance. The runway theme gave each queen a chance to truly showcase something they felt was special about themselves, Myki Meeks literally was a billboard of herself, Athena Dion stunned in scarlet, and Mandy Mango delivered full table service! When the critiques came from the judges, the disco group (Athena, DD, Darlene and Mandy) were all in the bottom, while Jane and Mia landed in the top spots. Jane snagged the win this week, letting the girls (and the viewers) know definitively that she is one to watch this season.
DD Fuego and Mandy Mango were in the bottom, setting up a Lip Sync for Your Life between two East Coast girls! Mandy might have managed to remove her full table scape, but she also (inadvertently?) removed her wig. Mandy stormed the entirety of the runway, pulling every trick out of her arsenal. In the end, Mandy sent DD packing, making this New York City sensation the first elimination of "RuPaul’s Drag Race" Season 18.
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