RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars has now aired for five seasons, and each season had its particular highs and lows when it comes to the critics and the fans. Every season, we've seen iconic episodes that have gone down in Drag Race history, as well as lackluster episodes that probably didn't need to be there.
Nonetheless, one can safely say that All Stars has been the best RuPaul's Drag Race spin-off of all time, which is why VH1 has produced annual seasons of the series to accompany every new regular season of Drag Race. With so many great moments to look back on, it's time to rank the very best and worst episodes of each All Stars season.
10 BEST: All Stars 1 - Episode 6 - "The Grand Finale"
It is not a secret that most Drag Race fans dislike All Stars 1. Nonetheless, one can argue that the All Stars 1 finale wasn't entirely a failure. For their last maxi challenge, finalists Chad Michaels and Raven had to perform at three separate locations to showcase different talents.
First, the queens were taken to a group interview. Then, they were driven to Hamburger Mary's to accept an award. Finally, the queens were taken to a bar, where they performed a comedy routine. The final challenge not only felt realistic to a drag performer's career (they often have to do multiple gigs in a day), but it also was exciting for fans to watch.
9 WORST: All Stars 1 - Episode 2 - "RuPaul's Gaff-In"
Ever since the Snatch Game was introduced on RuPaul's Drag Race season 2, there hasn't been a single season of the series that did not include this maxi challenge … except All Stars 1, where producers attempted to introduce the "RuPaul's Gaff-in" format.
This episode is disappointing for various reasons. First and foremost, fans were disappointed that they wouldn't get a Snatch Game on All Stars. Moreover, there were a lot of disagreements among fans regarding the judges' critiques. Finally, the season lost the iconic Tammie Brown and the fierce Nina Flowers during that episode, which was not great for the show.
8 BEST: All Stars 2 - Episode 5 - "Revenge Of The Queens"
It is hard to argue that "Revenge of The Queens" wasn't the best episode on RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 2. The episode started out with Phi Phi O'Hara and Alyssa Edwards hashing things out, and all the eliminated queens came back for a chance to return to the competition.
Later in the episode, fans got to watch Alyssa Edwards and Tatianna lip sync for a chance to get back to the competition. For good reason, most fans consider their performance the best lip sync in Drag Race history.
7 WORST: All Stars 2 - Episode 6 - "Drag Fish Tank"
All in all, it's not like Drag Race All Stars 2 had too many bad episodes. With that said, "Drag Fish Tank" wasn't as exciting as the rest of the season - particularly since it came right after the "Revenge of the Queens" hype.
It was great to watch Alaska and Katya pitching ludicrous products and making fans laugh the entire time. However, when put in perspective, "Drag Fish Tank" was certainly the worst outing of All Stars 2 and didn't actually further any storylines or contribute to the overall arc of the season.
6 BEST: All Stars 3 - Episode 6 - "Handmaids To Kitty Girls"
There is no greater "gag of the season" than BenDeLaCreme sending herself home after winning virtually every All Stars 3 maxi challenge that she competed on. And fans will forever remember this episode for that particular moment.
However, just like "Revenge of the Queens" on All Stars 2, "Handmaids to Kitty Girls" was also the episode when the eliminated queens were able to come back and hash things out with the contestants who had sent them home. As such, the episode made for great TV, from beginning to end.
5 WORST: All Stars 3 - Episode 8 - "A Jury Of Their Queers"
Aside from the pairing up of queens on All Stars 1, there isn't another more controversial rule change in the series than what took place in the "A Jury of Their Queers" episode of All Stars 3.
Essentially, producers decided to give the All Stars 3 eliminated queens the power to pick the Top 2 contestants of the season. Consequently, the clear frontrunner in the All Stars 3 finale, Shangela, was not given the chance to the Lip Sync For The Crown. All in all, one would be hard-pressed to find a fan that does not have passionate negative feelings toward this episode.
4 BEST: All Stars 4 - Episode 6 - "LaLaPaRUza"
On "LaLaPaRUza," it was nerve-racking for fans to watch the remaining contestants of All Stars 4 fighting for a chance to stay in the competition by lip-syncing against the eliminated queens. With that said, this episode provided various fierce lip-syncs and certainly raised the stakes for the competition, as a whole.
During the episode, Naomi Smalls gave her back-bending performance to RuPaul's "Adrenaline," while Gia Gunn used her ponytail as a helicopter rotor blade. Fans also got a fantastic lip-sync between Monique Heart and Latrice Royale that resulted in a double shantay for the queens.
3 WORST: All Stars 4 - Episode 9 - "Sex And The Kitty Girl"
The "Sex and the Kitty Girl" episode on All Stars 4 preceded the season's grand finale. At this point, there were four contestants who had been there throughout the entire seaso and Latrice Royale - who had already been eliminated once and had now fallen in the bottom for two consecutive weeks.
Aside from this being a lackluster acting challenge, where none of the contestants were truly great, fans also felt like the episode was pointing to a very obvious outcome from the start. Ultimately, this wasn't the best week for All Stars 4.
2 BEST: All Stars 5 - Episode 5 - "Snatch Game Of Love"
The "Snatch Game of Love" wasn't entirely well-received on All Stars 4. However, on All Stars 5, the format didn't matter, thanks to the incredible impersonations from Shea Coulee as Flavor Flav, Jujubee as Eartha Kitt, and Alexis Mateo as Walter Mercado.
It's a shame that Shea, Jujubee, and Alexis didn't get to play the Snatch Game at the same time, so they could all interact with each other. With that said, fans got one of the best Snatch Games in Drag Race history on All Stars 5.
1 WORST: All Stars 5 - Episode 3 - "Get A Room"
On All Stars 4, the interior decorating challenge consisted of the queens creating a club and the concept for the parties that they would throw in them. However, the interior decorating challenge on All Stars 5 had the queens creating a hotel - which was an odd task for drag performers to be asked to do.
On "Get a Room," many fans also complained that the hotel that looked the best did not end up winning, which should always be the point of a design challenge. Overall, one can say with confidence that this was not the best episode of All Stars 5.
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August 10, 2020 at 05:30AM
