The musical challenge is a triple threat for the queens... And from previous seasons we have seen how that plays out!
After LaLa Ri's exit, the remaining competitors seemed to be saddened by the positive energy they just lost. But the atmosphere quickly changed when the Porkchop Loading Dock girls' confidence shot through the werkroom, realising a queen from the Winner's Circle had finally been sent packing.
Denali was feeling the heat by not winning yet and being called “forgettable” by Kandy during last week's Mini Challenge, and she let those feelings be known. It was time to put up or shut up.
When RuPaul entered the werkroom, he announced the annual Rusical challenge.
While picking their roles, we watched another awkward moment between Utica and Denali, whom both wanted “Lady Tweets”, but Utica put herself first and fought for the role following the drama that letting another performer take her desired role in a previous episode.
Due to Utica not standing down, it left Denali to challenge Rosé for the role of “Foxy” – the showgirl of the Rusical. The queens decided to determine who would get the role they would need to both auditions by singing a small part of the song.
The majority of the vote went to Rosé, for obvious reasons.
Utica and Tina Burner voted for Denali - we all know Tina did it to rattle Rosé!
Denali ending up getting the role of a Russian Bot along with Gottmik.
A surprise alert on the RuMail alerted the queens and they were all gagged to see Les Mis Oscar winner…
Anne Hathaway!
I was shocked to see her pop on the screen, so I can only imagine how the girls were feeling.
Hathaway explained she was a fan of the show and wanted to do a live Q&A with the queens to help them give some good advice on performing – especially to Denali who bounced back.
While on the main stage, they had a vocal recording session with Michelle Visage and choreography with Jamal Sims.
For the first time, we watched Symone struggle in both vocal and choreography.
Tina, Rosé and Olivia proved their vocal power and I assumed they would be top three, unlike Utica who had a troubling tongue twister of a rap that didn’t make her future look good.
Kandy, Symone and Elliott were also in the same boat as Utica and did not impress Michelle.
While prepping for the show we had a little five minutes of gossip about what it’s like to manage social media reactions as public figures.
Kandy spoke about how she was attacked on Twitter for sticking up for her drag sister Aja. She became a successful meme as well after one of her tweets went viral about her sitting alone in VIP.
Tina opened up about her past relationship with Drag Race UK judge Graham Norton and explained that paparazzi would stalk them for photos.
Maybe Tina should have entered the UK Drag Race?!
Social Media the Unverified Rusical began with Tina taking the stage as “M-She” delivering a slightly forgettable performance, which is a shame after doing so well in the vocal recording.
Olivia did a good job (not top three good)m as the inventor of "Face, Face, Face Look".
Everyone however was overshadowed by Rosé who was a natural performer.
Symone was very unsure, and we lost her in the performance completely.
Utica's fast lip-syncing saved her awful vocal recording in front of Michelle and saved her from being in the bottom; it seems the editors kept her actually nailing the lines away from the earlier moments of the episode!
We saw more of Kandy’s wig than we did her face, so she got completely lost in the performance.
Elliott killed the Billie Eilish inspired section with Gottmik and Rosé destroyed their solo in the best way.
Denali and Gottmik worked well together and turned out the choreography as well.
The night's runway category was YELLOW, gorgeous!
Luckily for Tina, yellow is one of her signatures colours and she came out in a latex NYC taxi-inspired look. But unluckily for Tina, Elliott came out with the same look and it was a lot more polished.
Elliott, Utica and Olivia were safe this week and I can imagine winner Olivia was not pleased with that.
However, Denali and Rosé are finally in the top three for their talents! I could only imagine the happiness they felt.
The judges criticised Tina’s performance and for not lip-syncing to the very end of the performance. Kandy was told her face was too hidden and she messed up the choreography. Symone? Well, she just lacked the confidence that the judges have always seen from her. However, they all got positive comments about their runway looks.
Rosé was crowned the winner of this week challenge.
Symone v Kandy, two of RuPaul’s favourites and I can imagine Ru wasn’t pleased with that decision!
They were both determined not to leave and pulled out their best moves. Symone managed to sway the performance and was told to Shantay.
Kandy, being told to sashay away, was halfway down the runway when Ru called out and decided that she wanted Kandy to stay as well.
Let’s be honest, was Ru really going to send one of his favourites home?
Come back next week when I’ll be ripping into the queen's Snatch Game performances!
RuPaul's Drag Race Season 13 continues Saturdays in the UK, exclusive to Netflix.
Words by Bethan Case for Female First.
Tagged in RuPaul's Drag Race