‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ season 15 episode 8 recap: ‘LipSync Lalaparuza Smackdown’
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“RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 15 continued on February 17 with the next step in the competition toward discovering “America’s next drag superstar.” Last week, the infamous “Daytona Wind” soap opera was rebooted as a sitcom, but Aura Mayari was unable to gather herself in the comedic challenge and was sent home. This week, the 10 remaining girls are put to the ultimate performance test in a “LipSync Lalaparuza Smackdown.”
Seated at the judges’ dais for episode 8 was Emmy winning host RuPaul Charles, longtime bestie Michelle Visage and recurring judge Ross Mathews.
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The 10 queens still in the competition are: Anetra, Jax, Loosey LaDuca, Luxx Noir London, Malaysia Babydoll Foxx, Marcia Marcia Marcia, Mistress Isabelle Brooks, Salina EsTitties, Sasha Colby, and Spice.
Check out our full recap of episode 8 titled “LipSync Lalaparuza Smackdown” below:
Reflecting on the judges’ decisions from last week, Mistress Isabelle Brooks was thrilled to have entered the winner’s circle as the top performer of the week, but Loosey LaDuca was still “very, very upset” that she was only safe and not selected to be in the top. She explained to the other girls that she was “surprised and annoyed” because she felt she “carried a lot of the scenes” that she was involved in. Once again, Dr. Mistress was in the room to diagnose another queen with “drag delusion” for not being able to accurately see their place among the other girls.
The next morning Loosey had still not moved passed her frustration, but Ru arrived to cut the tension by presenting the group with the ultimate test of their charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent in a LipSync Lalaparuza Smackdown. She made it clear that each queen would perform a lip sync on the Main Stage and after eight head-to-heads, one queen would be eliminated.
As the queens prepared their best “lip sync assassin” look for the challenge, Mistress clocked Loosey, Spice, and Marcia Marcia Marcia as the three girls that everyone else are likely to “target” as the easiest competition to go against on the stage. She then named Sasha Colby and Anetra as the ones to be most intimidated by.
On the Main Stage, Pit Crew member Bruno rolled the golden hopper to determine the first two queens to lip sync. The first ball chosen was Malaysia Babydoll Foxx. Her selection meant she got to choose her opponent, and though it was in the air that everyone wanted to see her go against Mistress she decided to choose Marcia instead. As the selected opponent, Marcia got to choose the song and she picked “Boys Don’t Cry” by Anitta. Despite being perceived as one of the weaker performers, Marcia surprised everyone by her flips and overall agility on the stage. She easily defeated Malaysia who gave a more contained performance and was picked by Ru as the first winner. As the winner, Marcia earned safety for the remainder of the smackdown and retreated backstage to watch the rest unfold.
In round 2, Loosey’s ball was chosen first and she picked Spice as her competition. Spice chose “Do You Wanna Touch Me” by Joan Jett as their song. The rock song was a great choice to match Spice’s black and flame-themed outfit, but her rolling around the stage did not give enough energy to match the angry and horny vibe Loosey was putting down. Ru gave safety to Loosey.
In round 3, Luxx Noir London‘s ball was chosen and she picked Salina EsTitties as her competition. Salina happily chose the ballad “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” by Celine Dion, recognizing it as a track she performs all the time back home. Sure enough, Salina knew every musical cue and the right words to highlight with comedic moments. Luxx did her best to convey passion and drama in her performance, but she was outmatched and Ru gave safety to Salina.
In round 4, Mistress’s ball was chosen and she picked Jax as her competition. Jax chose “Tell It to My Heart” by Taylor Dayne, the song that Mistress had anticipated she’d choose for them. Predictably, Jax quickly went into her acrobatic and hard-hitting choreography with high kicks and stage dives, but Mistress kept it cooler with an outfit reveal, a chest bump and a sliding split that commanded all of Ru’s attention. Having seen everything Jax did before, Ru gave safety to Mistress. Upon her return back stage, Mistress was surprised to hear that the girls thought Jax beat her in the matchup because they didn’t think she was giving 100%. Mistress explained that she did save some ideas in case she had to perform again in a second round. Natural to her personality, Mistress retaliated by taking a dig at the others by pointing out that they were chosen first because no one was intimidated by them.
In round 5, the remaining girls Sasha and Anetra were left in the heavyweight matchup of the tournament. Bruno chose Anetra’s ball which meant she got to choose the song “I’m in Love with a Monster” by Fifth Harmony. Both queens exuded the lip sync assassin energy that Ru asked for — they had the sexual tension, fierce energy and hair whips that had Ru’s eyes darting back and forth. Back stage the queens were gagged at the quality of the matchup and had no clue who Ru would choose as the winner. Eventually, Sasha popped up back stage to announce that she won and Anetra was left to perform again.
For round 6, Bruno chose from the five remaining queens the ball for Malaysia. This time Malaysia picked Spice, aiming to avoid Jax and Anetra altogether. Spice chose Camila Cabello’s “Don’t Got Yet” as their song, thinking that Malaysia doesn’t know the words to it. Sure enough, it was clear to the other queens back stage that Malaysia did not know the words, but it quickly became apparent that Spice didn’t know all the words either. By the end of it, Malaysia had delivered a more consistent overall performance and so she was picked by Ru as the winner.
With three left for round 7, Ru decided that all three would perform together to “The Right Stuff” by Vanessa Williams. In the three-way, Luxx came right out of the gate hitting every beat to the song and Anetra garnered the first gag with a booty pound to the floor. Eventually the stage was full of dips, splits, jumps and duck walking. Ultimately it seemed like Luxx put together the most complete performance and so she was chosen as the winner, leaving the other two vulnerable.
For the final round 8, Ru revealed the twist that the girl whose ball is chosen would get to pick her opponent and with that selection give automatic safety to the other. Bruno chose Anetra’s ball, meaning she’d have to lip sync. Wanting to do what felt like a fair matchup, Anetra saved Spice and gave herself the opportunity to “take Jax out.”
The final song was “Finally” by CeCe Peniston. Having both performed twice already, neither queen had many more tricks up their sleeve for the finale. Anetra walked that effing duck and gave us expertly-timed dips and splits. Jax kicked her legs in the air and delivered athleticism front to back. By no surprise though, Ru chose Anetra as the winner which meant that it was the final performance for Jax and she was asked to “sashay away.”
NEXT WEEK: Ru and the queens celebrate the show’s 200th episode!
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