On its final challenge, All Stars 7 dropped a twist that’s left the whole season pointless

Look, All Stars 7 has been one of the greatest seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race ever. I give it this accolade without hesitation or stuttering, because the way it has showcased the drag of eight amazing queens and eight worthy winners on the biggest platform possible has been both a euphoric celebration of the franchise and an amazing legacy lap for these legends to remind us why we gagged over their wins in the first place. But there’s been one consistent flaw with this season – it’s been too nice. No one going home, no negative critiques – but there was still competition thanks to the blocking and the star system. Well, with the penultimate episode of All Stars 7 all that is out of the window thanks to a new twist that’s rendered the queens’ progress this season pretty much pointless. Here’s why.

Via World of Wonder

Three stars for one challenge win is NOT good TV

This season, queens like Jinkx Monsoon, Jaida Essence Hall and Trinity the Tuck have spent 10 weeks fighting it out to earn four / three stars each, that could have been even higher if they weren’t blocked on some episodes. They battled their way to the top that episode by excelling on that challenge and although hardly any queen has bombed any weeks, they won the episode.

We’ve had a lot of storyline from Shea Couleé over the last few weeks as she watched her chances of having enough Legendary Legend Stars to get to the final slip away – she only had the one star. It was sad for Shea, because she’s never bombed but just never quite made it to the top two for another star on the episodes that followed. Shea herself was level-headed about it and proud of herself even if she was disappointed. The storyline was concluded by Ru announcing that for the final maxi challenge, the two winners get three stars each. So, basically, win this challenge and you’re in the finale. Erm!

Is that fair?

If I was The Vivienne – a queen who won three times but got blocked from a star one week, but in essence should have had three stars – and I saw someone get what I’d worked hard to get across 10 weeks in the space of an hour I’d be pretty peeved, to be honest. It’s Drag Race rigga morris for the sake of rigga morris – an unsatisfying All Stars 7 twist that leaves the whole season of queens grafting to excel for stars feeling redundant.

I think Shea and Monét absolutely deserved to win the talent show this week – they annihilated, gobbled, left no crumbs. If they got the regular amount of stars each, so both getting an additional one, they’d have been on two stars and three stars each. That would put four star owning Jinkx in the final, alongside Monèt, Jaida and Trinity the Tuck who would all have had three. Fair!

If Ru even decided to go with giving out two Legendary Legend Stars for this challenge, it would have put Jinkx and Monét on four stars each and in the final, and then Shea, Trinity and Jaida on three each. They could have then done a three way lip sync with Ru deciding who advances to the top four. That’s how you change the game up without an All Stars 7 twist that spins the progression completely out of whack.

Make no mistakes, Shea Couleé is an icon

This move just really feels like Ru decided “I’m going to have Shea Couleé in that final”. And okay, fine. But you could have done that by giving her other wins throughout the season rather than star dumping in the final. That being said, she bodied the talent show. Main pop girl behaviour I fear!

Side note: Why was Supernova the lip sync song AGAIN?

Are there not enough Kylie Minogue bangers in the world that Drag Race has to use Supernova as the lip sync song twice in the space of a year? We’ve just seen Blu and Monique body this for the win of UK Vs the World and now it’s back? The budget can’t be that dry, girlies!

Via World of Wonder

A great season, but where’s the competition? 

Shea now sits as the queen who earned the most stars this season, which, if we’re being real – is a bit of an affront to the Jinkx Monsoon domination. What’s the point of spending the last 10 weeks competing if a ticket to the final can come in a twist like this? Trinity the Tuck was right – it’s Mario Party.

I’ve had a great time with this season, I just wish this run up to the final felt as satisfying and as euphoric as those first few weeks of All Stars 7 did – when the twist of no one going home was enough

Catch RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars Series 7 (with no eliminations!) every Friday on the streamer of all things drag, WOW Presents Plus. Subscribe here. 

Featured image courtesy of World of Wonder.

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• Trinity the Tuck says negative critiques were given on All Stars 7, but they’ve been edited out

• All Stars 7 has revealed who the secret queen under the hat is and it’s a Drag Race ICON