We’ve made it back to the Werk Room after an action packed lip sync between Briar Blush and Mandy Mango and the tension between the queens is instantaneous.
Mia Starr makes it crystal clear that she thinks the wrong queen went home during last week’s lip sync, but a previous conversation was at the root of their issues it seemed. Briar and Mia had a discussion about a previous relationship that Briar had, and Briar felt that her boundaries were not respected. This brought up a larger discussion about boundaries as a whole, with Athena Dion weighing in on the fact that behind the scenes, Briar had been sowing seeds of distrust between Athena and Juicy Love Dion. Coming for two queens from the Haus of Dion is not something you want to ever do, and the Mama Bear in Mama Athena instantly emerged. Athena made one thing very clear; Juicy does not need protection since “no one is attacking Juicy”. Despite Briar’s best attempts, it is clear that there is no getting between the Dion family, competition or not. As for Mia and Briar, their relationship was in a strained place, that and that is putting it mildly.
RuPaul entered the Werk Room and the challenge this week was ironic, considering how the day started. Paired with their “bestie”, the queens were tasked with creating a look based on two iconic red carpet moments, but the twist was that they would be judged on who wore their look better! The queens chose their looks from a board with numbers and seemed to pair up with their “besties” fairly quickly (including Briar Blush instantly pairing up with Juicy Love Dion). The queens got to choose from icons like Cher, Sarah Paulson and Zendaya in an effort to recreate some truly iconic red carpet looks. Some of the collabs had the potential for triumph or for tragedy; among them, Myki Meeks and Nini Coco got Nicki Minaj in leopard and Jennifer Lopez in the gown that launched Google Images. There were highs and lows in terms of sewing in the Werk Room and we are starting to see who truly has the chops in terms of constructing a garment.
Before everyone headed to the Main Stage, Mia and Briar sat down and squashed their beef and shared an intimate moment about loss and moving past tragedy. Fun fact; the stunning denim look that Mia Starr crafted to walk into the Werk Room for the first time was made from recycled jeans from Starr’s brother, who had tragically passed away.
We headed to the Main Stage and RuPaul was joined by Michelle Visage, Law Roach, and Annaleigh Ashford. It’s clear Tony-winner Ashford is a fan of the franchise, which reflected in her judging. Law Roach’s critiques were predictably razor sharp, to the point that following his extremely pointed critique at Briar Blush, she completely collapsed on the Main Stage! While Mia and Vita found the timing of Briar passing out to be suspect, Myki assured them that she would never pull a stung like that. Briar took a break from the stage to get checked out by the medical team and eventually returned to the stage and was able to return to the competition.
When all was said and done, the bottom three were Briar Blush, Kenya Pleaser and Discord Addams, while the top three for the week were Jane Don’t, Ciara Myst, and Vita VonTesse Starr. Kenya and Briar would be the ones lip-syncing this week to remain in the competition. With Kylie Minogue’s “Lights Camera Action” as their soundtrack, Briar, Kenya and a handful of Briar’s accessories hit the main stage for this lip sync battle. When it was all over, Kenya Pleaser dominated the lip sync and took the win over Briar, while Briar sashayed away.
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