RECAP: “RuPaul’s Drag Race Global All Stars” FINALE
“RuPaul’s Drag Race Global All Stars” has been a fascinating ride. The hype for this season was very real — I had been looking forward to it since rumors started swirling more than a year ago. I was thrilled when the cast of 12 queens was announced; truly, this was a dozen brilliant picks from across the globe. The two-parent talent show opener set a high bar, and it felt like we were in for a season of incredible talent, gorgeous looks, and border-crossing camaraderie.
And then everything changed. As soon as the eliminations started with the ball in Episode 3, the dialogue around this season curdled. That was true both in the fandom — which became overwhelmingly hostile to this season as the weeks went on — and also on the show itself, as week after week we saw queens slip into despair, and frontrunners were portrayed as unsympathetic, even rude, over and over again.
Now that we’ve come to the end, I have a theory as to why that is. We’ll go into it later. But ultimately I think mistakes were made on the part of the editors and showrunners. The approach used to present the storylines this season has backfired on this new franchise. It has had, and may continue to have, negative consequences for at least a few of these queens (and I don’t think that’s at all deserved). And I genuinely wonder if the negativity around this season will hurt the “Drag Race” brand overall.
Maybe it won’t; people move on from pop culture quickly now. I just think it’s a bummer that a season that brought together one of the strongest groups of queens ever collected has largely been rejected by the fandom due to its negative vibes, questionable judging, and after the finale, questionable results.
So let’s get into this finale. Note that there will be spoilers below, and I STRONGLY encourage you to watch the episode before reading on. Not yet signed up for Paramount+? Click right here:
The challenge: Our Final 4 queens — Alyssa Edwards (USA), Kitty Scott-Claus (UK), Kween Kong (Down Under), and Nehellenia (Italia) — all had a TicTac luncheon with RuPaul and Michelle Visage, and then had to write lyrics, come up with TikTok-inspired dances, and perform in the video for the song, “Dance Like the World Is Watching.” Then they walked with the rest of the eliminated queens for a World’s Best Drag runway, which gave us some stunning looks (Gala Varo’s volcano, Pythia’s Cerberus, Eva LeQueen’s phoenix — all amazing).
I had written a whole long-ass dissertation dissecting the arcs for each of the Final 4, but honestly, nobody wants to read all that. And most of it has been covered in my previous “Global All Stars” recaps. Instead, I’m just going to list off my key takeaways from this season, good and bad, and then get into the results.
*This spinoff gave queens from across the globe a level of exposure they never would have gotten otherwise. For all the bitching and complaining in the fandom, that has to be remembered. Every queen this season appeared in at least 6 episodes (out of 12). I think every single queen got at least one great moment. It was a wonderful opportunity for them, even if the competition didn’t work out the way they — or their fans — wanted. I genuinely hope other international queens get the same chance, but not if the fan reaction is going to be as toxic as it was this time around.
*The criticisms of judging favoritism benefitting the native English-speaking queens/queens previously judged by RuPaul and Michelle are well founded. This was something that worried me even before the season began. Alyssa, Kween, and Kitty all had established rapports with Ru and Michelle, while the other girls were very much shitting their pants in the beginning — you could see the nerves in the Opening Ceremony runway. I know that it is highly, highly unlikely that Ru would ever share the judging table with a head judge from another “Drag Race” — in 16 years she has never once had another performer in drag judge an episode with her (not counting “Drag U,” which…changed a lot of lives). However, the “Drag Race” Cinematic Universe is now an embarrassment of riches when it comes to great judges. Brooke Lynn Hytes on “Canada’s Drag Race,” Supremme De Luxe on “Drag Race Espana,” Nicky Doll on “Drag Race France,” Grag Queen on “Drag Race Brasil,” Pangina Heals on “Drag Race Thailand,” Priscilla on “Drag Race Italia” — the list goes on. If “Global All Stars” comes back, there needs to be a different approach to judging that creates a more equitable approach for all queens. (Sidebar, this has not been an issue with the “Vs. the World” competitions, because those by definition have a host country and a host host; this was supposed to be “global,” but the Ru-hosted girls undeniably had an advantage going in.) A rotating panel of judges? Michelle as the permanent host with a panel of other hosts? I don’t know. Something has to change. (Also, love Jamal Sims, but I’m not sure he was a great fit for a regular judge.)
*That said, this was the correct Final 4. Kitty and Kween were the two strongest competitors this season, full stop. Putting aside personal feelings about the two of them, they objectively did the best in the most challenges. Nehellenia has been consistent and had a compelling underdog story. Alyssa was consistent and a unique spin on the “living up to expectations” journey. I don’t think any of the other queens, except maybe Pythia — who had one challenge win, and could have easily won Snatch Game — realistically could have made this finale. Also, for all the complaining about judging, there was only one episode where I felt that the wrong queen went home, and that was the Ball, with Athena Likis getting shafted. I thought every other elimination this season was more or less justified, with the correct Bottom 2, and the loser of the lipsynch going home.
*The edits were far too heavy-handed. It’s important for viewers to remember that in reality TV, what we are shown of each contestant is a tiny fraction of what was shot overall. The footage selected is to deliberately present people in certain narratives, to bolster the season storylines. This was especially true this season for Kitty Scott-Claus, Kween Kong, and Nehellenia. Nehellenia benefitted from this; she got, essentially, the Jinkx Monsoon arc: creative, misunderstood, unsure of themselves, sensitive. I have loved Nehellenia since “Italia 2,” and I was sure that Ru would love her too; she’s gorgeous, talented, and hilarious — in fact, I would say “Global All Stars” didn’t show us just how funny she can be, probably due to the language barrier. The fandom has embraced her, no question. On the other hand, Kitty and Kween were painted terribly. Kitty has actually lost social-media followers because of her edit this season, which many viewers have found to be needlessly bitchy and negative. In my opinion, it’s just concentrated British humor — which Wikipedia defines as steeped in sarcasm, insults, banter, and self-deprecation. That is exactly what Kitty served all season. It’s not even that different from her demeanor on “UK3,” it’s just that we got fewer brighter, sillier clips of Kitty to balance out the acerbic. Meanwhile, Kween has been absolutely savaged the past few weeks regarding her comments after the Makeover challenge. I find it deeply frustrating that we have seen moment after moment of Kween behaving in a motherly, supportive fashion to many queens, but because of an edit that includes dismissive asides, she’s being received so poorly by the fandom.
*Conspiracy theory: those negative edits were intentional. I couldn’t understand why the editors would be seemingly going out of their way to make the two frontrunners look so bad to the fans. After the finale, it makes more sense. If you have two queens with more wins, who perform just as well if not better in the final challenge and the final lipsynch, how do you justify crowning someone who has performed less successfully than them? You turn the viewers against them. I honestly feel like that is what happened here. Had Kitty and Kween gone into the finale with an overall positive edit, in addition to their objectively strong challenge performances, crowning anyone else would have felt unbelievable. (Barring someone clearly outperforming the others in the final challenge, a la Sasha Velour in Season 9 or Monet X-Change in “All Stars 4,” which I do not think happened here.) But since a sizable chunk of the fandom actively wanted Kitty and Kween to fail by the end of the season, the path was cleared. That’s honestly how it reads to me, and that is SO shitty to these performers. Did they make some catty comments in moments of frustration? Did they let down their guard in the confessional and say some unkind things, even in jest? And that is used to tank their reputations and, in the case of Kween Kong, lead to their family members receiving death threats? That is FUCKED.
But I do think that is what the editors felt they needed to do to justify the eventual crowning. Because SPOILER WARNING after each of the Final 4 lipsynched solo to Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance,” Alyssa Edwards was named the winner of “Global All Stars.” Going into this episode, I knew that Kitty and Kween were longshots, precisely because of what I wrote above. But watching this episode, I honestly thought they were going to give it to Nehellenia. She was great in the dance portion of the video challenge, and I thought she was also very good in the final lipsynch. To be honest, I barely noticed Alyssa in the lipsynch, which…is a problem. Alyssa is magnetic when she dances, but I paid more attention to literally every other girl in that lipsynch montage than I paid attention to Alyssa. And when RuPaul said her name, I just said…OK, I guess.
Listen, I am not mad at all that Alyssa Edwards finally got her “Drag Race” crown. Prior to this, if you asked me which non-winner “Drag Race” legends most deserved a crown, Alyssa would be in my Top 5. She was the perfect representative for the USA for this season, I maintain that. But it is hard to watch this season, look at that crowning, and not feel that this was basically a lifetime achievement award more than it was a legitimately deserved victory for this season. Like Denzel Washington winning his Best Actor Oscar for Training Day instead of his many other iconic performances. Alyssa IS a deserving member of the Winner’s Circle. But I think she was outperformed this season overall by, honestly, every other member of that Final 4. I honestly believe that.
It also felt anticlimactic. When the cast was announced, the general consensus was, “It’s Alyssa Edwards and everyone else.” She was THE major threat from the very start. Several other queens were stunned to be competing alongside her, much the same the UK6 girls were gagged by La Voix or the S16 girls felt seeing Sasha Colby walk into the work room. But unlike La Voix and Sasha, I don’t think Alyssa gave a performance that lived up to her own legacy. I consistently felt she was self editing, actively pulling back so as to not make a mistake. We even saw her say basically that in her interactions with Michelle in the tourism-ad challenge. She was more polished than ever on “Global All Stars,” and was never messy. But I have to wonder if in doing so, she lost the elements that made us love Alyssa. Can you name any standout moments from Alyssa between episode 3 and 9? I honestly cannot. That’s a problem for me.
The other winner this episode was France’s Soa de Muse, who was named Miss Congeniality in addition to last week’s International Lipsynch Assassin, netting her another $10,000 on top of the previous $50,000. This should not surprise anyone who watched the Meet the Queens; almost every queen named Soa as one of their closest friends in the competition. Good for Soa!
And thus ends “Global All Stars.” It was very much the best of times and the worst of times as a “Drag Race” fan. I have no idea if we get another season of this spinoff. Recent social-media posts suggest that it may have been renewed, but producer Paramount is an absolute disaster right now so…who knows. If we DO get a second season, I hope the showrunners think seriously about how to address the very real concerns about the judging panel, and I hope the fandom can approach the proceedings with less negativity. For all my complaints about the editing and the judging this season, the real issue was the absolutely exhausting dialogue around this show, which sucked all of the fun out of the season. There is a way to criticize a show without hating it, I promise.
