Why is season 14 of RuPaul’s Drag Race so reluctant to tell queens to sashay away?

Look, I love season 14 of RuPaul’s Drag Race. I really do love it, and that’s one of the first times I’ve said that about the mainline series in actually quite some time. And a huge factor in why I love it so is because how great the cast is this season – a really talented and inventive group that consistently keep surprising me and where even the weakest links are actually pretty great drag queens who are able to excel a lot more than the weaker queens in previous seasons. But there’s one fatal flaw to this season that is consistently and persistently irking me – and that’s the face that on a regular basis, no one is being told to sashay away. RuPaul’s Drag Race is a competition show, and when you take out the competition progression, what exactly are we left with?

Sashaying away is integral to Drag Race

I sometimes think when I watch All Stars how much I don’t want queens to go home. I’d love to see the All Stars formula shift into a points system scenario, where all the queens get a certain number of points per episode that’s kept hidden from them and us as the audience until the finale, when the total is revealed. That way, it keeps the competitive edge but we get to see all the queens serve us all the looks they planned and have a go at every challenge. On a regular season? I want the eliminations thick and fast – unless it’s an extremely rare occasion where the queens have done something unparalleled and excellent. Think Roxxxy Andrews VS Alyssa Edwards – it was a double save that was not only unexpected and unprecedented, but one that was euphorically deserved.

There’s been nine episodes of season 14 of RuPaul’s Drag Race so far. To put that into context, UK VS the World is wrapping up this week on its sixth episode, and Drag Race Italia season one had six episodes too. Holland seasons one and two had eight, and UK and Canada seasons usually have eight episodes. Drag Race season 14 would be reaching the final this week if it was UK, and instead, we aren’t even at Snatch Game. Let’s remind ourselves why that is:

Almost half of the episodes this season have had no elimination 

Four out of nine episodes have resulted in no one going home. Let’s have a bit of a deep dive right into this:

1. The season went for a split premiere – an option I’m in favour of, when you don’t have nonsense “Porkchop Loading Dock” it’s a great way to get to know all the queens better. I was glad they were sending queens home, but then both Orion Story and Daya Betty returned to the competition in episode three – so therefore, there was no elimination in episodes one or two
2. Nobody was in the bottom for The Daytona Wind episode, and the top two lip synced for the win instead. No elimination.
3. Jasmine Kennedie and Jorgeous lip synced for their life in Menzeses, but their performance was deemed a double save by RuPaul, resulting in no elimination.

Four episodes, no eliminations. I guess you could say that one of them was needed to balance out the double exit episode where Kornbread had to withdraw due to her ankle. But it doesn’t end there either, because the chocolate golden ticket twist is still yet to come into play – since every queen who has sashayed away thus far has had to endure a humiliating trombone after glumly proclaiming “it’s chocolate”.

What are we delaying it all for?

I really like Jasmine Kennedie, and I really like Jorgeous. I thought they did an excellent lip sync this week and definitely delivered on the hype of their performance talent that was riding on the lip sync after each of them had given a great one previously in the season. But, all tea, does anyone seriously see Jasmine or Jorgeous getting any further than a couple of more weeks?

Jasmine has lip synced for her life three times now, with no challenge wins and some low placements. I like her a lot, but she’s not on a trajectory to the final – I predict she’ll be destined for All Stars greatness sometime in the future. Jorgeous might have received a hallowed “you were born to do drag” from Ru, a statement that took Krystal Versace directly to the crown, but she’s had an inconsistent season and has lip synced for her life twice now. Keeping both these queens doesn’t feel like rewarding their excellence, it feels like treading water. RuPaul’s Drag Race is at its best when the competition is a bit more cut throat, and the sooner season 14 learns this it will be all the better for it.

Catch RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 14 every Saturday on the streamer of all things drag, WOW Presents Plus. For all the latest Drag Race memes and Netflix news, drops and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.

Featured image courtesy of World of Wonder.

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