‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ season 16 episode 12 recap: ‘Bathroom Hunties’

John Benutty
·8 min read
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“RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 16 continued on March 22 with the twelfth episode in RuPaul’s quest to find “America’s next drag superstar.” Previously in episode 11, the girls were challenged by getting into their corporate gig to deliver informative sessions on “Drag Awareness.” Sapphira Cristál outshined the members of her group, earning a third maxi challenge for herself and sending Morphine Love Dion into the Lip Sync for Your Life against fellow Miami queen Mhi’ya Iman Le’Paige. In her fourth trip to the bottom, Mhi’ya was bested by Morphine and sent packing.

Seated at the judges’ dais this week for episode 12 titled “Bathroom Hunties” was Emmy winning host RuPaul Charles, longtime bestie Michelle Visage, recurring judge Carson Kressley, and Mayan Lopez as the special guest judge.

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The queens still vying for the crown are: Dawn, Morphine Love Dion, Nymphia Wind, Plane Jane, Q, and Sapphira Cristál.

Check out our full recap of episode 12 below:

On her way out, Mhi’ya left a lipstick message on the mirror with best wishes to Morphine that she win the show for Miami, which was nice, but Morphine was more pumped that she was the one who sent home the “Queen of Flips.” Sapphira had a lot to celebrate with her third maxi challenge win, but she wasn’t able to celebrate because Q was infecting the room with a sense of disappointment. Jane urged her to “get it off her chest,” but Q did not want to describe how she was feeling. Some of the girls were noticing a pattern in Q that she is a “sore loser.”

The next day, Q was willing to admit that she was in a “heated headspace” and said she didn’t speak up because she didn’t want to “take away from [Sapphira] winning.” She snuck in that she thought it “wasn’t deserved,” which prompted Sapphira to ask why she thinks that. Q didn’t have a response to that and then was saved by the bell when the Ru siren went off to announce her arrival.

For this week’s mini challenge, Ru asked the queens to paint their own custom t-shirt using only their own face in honor of Tammy Faye. After the queens rubbed their faces on the bodies of Pit Crew members wearing shirts, Norvina from Anastasia Cosmetics helped Ru decide on a winner. Together they selected Jane as the best face planter.

Next, for the maxi challenge, Ru put the girls in “design duos” to create bathroom spaces together with the goal of attracting the attention of a couple opening a club. The brief mentioned that the bathrooms should be gender inclusive and have one-of-a-kind amenities that create a unique and attractive space. The pairs were Jane and Sapphira, Nymphia and Dawn, and Q and Morphine.

As the queens sat down for their brainstorming sessions, Morphine addressed with Q that she was upset about the previous challenge results. She told her that she was “going to blow up any moment,” but Q said she has the mentality to move on and “prove the judges wrong.” When they got around to their ideas, Morphine kept up with a heaven and hell concept where they make it “dungeony” with spikes on the toilet and other tricks. In another group, Dawn was able to redirect Nymphia’s attention away from the color yellow and they considered incorporating farts in to their concept. Jane was nervous that Sapphira being an “old soul” might conflict with what direction she might want to go. Sure enough, Sapphira threw out the idea of a speakeasy bathroom concept, but Jane was actually on board with it. Jane’s other concern was that Sapphira would overshadow her in the space just like she did with her team during the drag presentations last week.

Later, the queens got to their design spaces and begin moving furniture and painting walls. Dawn ran into a situation where Nymphia was bringing her chaotic energy to the room, but also having an opinion about everything which was a turn-around from how Mhi’ya was indecisive and took a back seat in their collaboration last week. Q was feeling good about the work that her and Morphine was doing and Morphine was eager for her first win of the season. On the flip side, Sapphira was concerned that Jane had lost her “delusional confidence” and was feeling unsure about if they would perform well.

As the queens prepared their looks for the challenge, Sapphira was still feeling bothered by Q calling her win underserved and so she wanted to address it head-on. Sapphira was concerned that Q was trying to “invalidate” her win and so Q apologized for the way she presented her feelings despite believing that she or Jane should have been selected as the winner. Sapphira told everyone that “one word can be the difference between getting your point across and hurting someone’s feeling.” Ultimately, the girls were able to move on and appreciate each other’s place in the competition. Dawn thought that the six of them were the six that she envisioned making it this far.

On the Main Stage runway, the queens walked in the “Chain Reaction” category before off their bathroom designs. Each pair walked Michelle and Carson (posing as German night club owners) through their bathrooms in a spoof of “House Hunters” in the hopes that they’d choose their bathroom as their favorite. Morphine and Q created “Naughty Potty” in a hellish concept that featured a toilet with spikes, a shattered glass mirror, and a Pit Crew member chained to the wall. Nymphia and Dawn created the F.ART Museum with modern art museums as their inspiration featuring sink faucets mimicking male genitalia, a finger painting area with a Pit Crew member as the canvas, and toilets that move on wheels. Jane and Sapphira designed the Bootylickers Speakeasy that required a password to enter and had a vanity station with alcohol and powder, liquor hidden all over the room, a piano playing Pit Crew member, and Sapphira providing live entertainment as an opera singer.

In their critiques, the judges told Morphine that Q “was driving the bus” and so she didn’t live up to the teamwork aspect of the challenge. Michelle added that she came across as an “after thought,” but Mayan loved her gold chain look on the runway. They all agreed that Q “took control of the situation” and was the leader of their tour. Michelle took some marks off for Q’s shape in her red and black chain look, but overall liked it. The judges like Nymphia and Dawn’s concept and the design element, but Michelle told Dawn that her presence was dwarfed by Nymphia and Ru said it felt like improv that was still in workshop. Mayan was enamored with Nymphia’s “delicate” runway look and Carson added that her taste level is “through the roof.” Michelle said that Nymphia didn’t leave any breathing room during the tour and should have allowed silence to happen as well. Carson thought Jane and Sapphira were confident and successful because they were “in the moment.” Michelle thought Jane looked “predictable” on the runway with a look that was similar to other things she’s put out. Mayan thought Sapphira’s character had a back story and Michelle said she was great at the improv aspect.

After further deliberation, Ru made the decision that this week’s winners were both Jane and Sapphira together. Among the remaining four, Morphine and Dawn were put up for elimination while Q and Nymphia earned safety. In the Lip Sync for Your Life to “Body,” Morphine was able to immediately embody the persona of Megan Thee Stallion and absolutely smothered Dawn’s presence with endless twerking and a pair of splits. For the second week in a row, Morphine earned the “shantay” and got to stay. That meant that one trip to the bottom was all it took for Dawn to “sashay away.”

NEXT TIME: It’s the makeover challenge and the top five are transforming dancers from “RuPaul’s Drag Race Live” into drag queens

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