‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ season 16 episode 3 recap: ‘The Mother of All Balls’

John Benutty
·10 min read
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“RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 16 continued on January 19 with the third episode in RuPaul’s quest to find “America’s next drag superstar.” In the premiere episodes Part 1 and Part 2, the 14 all new queens were split into two groups of seven to show off their talents and introduce themselves to the judges. Following the “Rate-A-Queen” twist where the queens ranked each other for the week and two lip syncs for the win, Sapphira Cristál and Plane Jane were declared the first two winners of the season and each earned immunity from a future elimination.

This week, all 14 queens met their entire cast together for the first time and then were challenged with a design challenge ahead of their walk in the seasonal fashion ball. Seated at the judges’ dais for episode 3 titled “The Mother of All Balls” was Emmy winning host RuPaul Charles, longtime bestie Michelle Visage, recurring judge Carson Kressley, and designer Isaac Mizrahi as the extra special guest.

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The queens still vying for the crown are: Amanda Tori Meating, Dawn, Geneva Karr, Hershii LiqCour-Jeté, Megami, Mhi’ya Iman Le’Paige, Mirage, Morphine Love Dion, Nymphia Wind, Plane Jane, Plasma, Q, Sapphira Cristál, and Xunami Muse.

Check out our full recap of episode 3 below:

Among the group of seven that competed in the second half of the split premiere, congratulations were in order for Jane, the winner of the week. Their conversation was cut short though because it was finally time for the first and second groups to meet one another. Despite an initial look up and down of the opposite group, the 14 queens were thrilled to combine their groups. Because there are five girls from New York on the cast, they all had someone in the other group to recognize off the bat.

Aside from the New York girls, Jane was not threatened by the other queen wearing a breast plate, referring to Amanda as a “goblin,” and Mhi’ya recognized Morphine from the Miami scene, but called her drag “basic.” Though they’re from different cities, Morphine and Jane said that they are “honorary” sisters through a shared drag mother. Knowing her, Morphine was surprised that Jane won her talent show. When Plasma found out that Sapphira won the other talent show with singing as a talent, she attempted to crack a joke about what her vocal range must have been, but Sapphira and those who heard her sing immediately cut Plasma’s assumptions down. Still, Plasma insisted she wasn’t threatened.

When the queens arrived in the Werk Room the next morning they found two boxes marked with Jane and Sapphira’s names waiting for them on the design tables. Inside the boxes were “Immunity Potion” bottles. Upon her arrival, Ru explained that the potions can be used in the future to save themselves from elimination or to save another queen. Ru warned that it can only be used once and there’s an expiration date to be revealed later.

For this week’s maxi challenge, Ru announced that they’re “having a ball” and they’d be in for their first design challenge. In “The Mother of All Balls,” the categories they’d walk in were “Mother Goose” in a nursery rhyme-inspired look, “Significant Mother” in an outfit inspired by their favorite famous mom, and “Call Me Mother/Father Eleganza” in an all new look they’d create from scratch using only menswear items.

As designers by trade, both Dawn and Q were excited for the challenge because it’s their opportunity to show everyone else “what they’re made of.” Q was not shy about going down an ambitious route with her creation while Mirage was only concerned with sticking to her standard: “a skin-tight mini, an 8-inch heel and a smile.” Later in the afternoon, Ru pointed out that there must be “a lot of pressure” on Q because of her reputation as a seamstress, was surprised that Nymphia had such an ambitious concept for her creation, and was concerned by Hershii’s sock-built idea. In Ru’s conversations with the girls, it also came out that perhaps Morphine and Mhi’ya are not that supportive of each other – specifically that Mhi’ya does not expect Morphine to last that long in the competition.

On Ru’s way out, she announced that once again the queens would have their opinions heard through the “Rate-A-Queen” twist and their rankings would determine the top three and bottom three of the week to receive critiques from the judges. In addition, Ru had with her a dossier that contained the results from the first two weeks of rankings which she left with them to look at, “if curious.”

Because Jane rated the queens strategically in order to give herself the best chance at placing in the top, she was worried that the dossier would show everyone’s exact ratings. Luckily, the only information inside was the final results of the rankings from each week. In the first group, the ratings were from top to bottom: Sapphira, Q, Dawn, Mirage, Morphine, Xunami, Amanda. They conveyed to the other group that their ratings felt heavily based on runway presentations rather than talent. In the second group, the ratings were from top to bottom: Jane, Geneva, Nymphia, Plasma, Mhi’ya, Hershii, Megami. Of all the queens, Megami, Morphine and Mhi’ya were the most surprised by their rankings being lower than they expected.

After more time in the design phase had passed, the queens that most of them were most worried for in the challenge were Mhi’ya and Mirage. When Mirage took her mini dress off the mannequin and tried it on, she knew it was not working and Morphine commented that it looked like “seaweed wrapped on a breadstick.” Mirage decided that she’d need to start from scratch and create something else entirely or she’d be in the lip sync. The next morning, she had added to the mini dress, but she was still concerned and hoped that her “Group 1 sisters” would save her by ranking her high anyway. It also came out that Hershii ditched her sock dress and created a character with a whole new dress overnight.

While the queens painted their faces and prepared for the runway, Hershii told her origin story with drag. It turns out that her introduction to drag was through Tyler Perry and creating impersonations of her own characters on YouTube. She described that her parents were embarrassed at first, but now they’re supportive and come to her drag shows. Later, Morphine and Geneva had fun teaching Nymphia phrases in Spanish and then using her as a “messenger” to send shady messages to one another across the room.

In the presentation of the first ball category “Mother Goose,” the standouts were Hershii in a sleek latex gown as Burnie Bee, Megami as a deconstructed sexy Little Bo-Peep, Q as a whimsical Man in the Moon character, and Sapphira in a giant pumpkin dress as Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater. In the second category “Significant Mother,” the standouts were Megami as Lady Gaga from the “Telephone” video, Amanda as Michelle Visage including the silver hair piece, Q as Judy Garland in her famous poppy dress, Nymphia as Angelina Jolie in her wedding dress, Sapphira in a nude illusion Eve suit, and Plasma as Anne Boleyn.

The third presentation was their new creations and the standouts in that category were Dawn in a corset with overalled thigh high boots in a construction worker deconstruction look, Mirage in a two-piece army color top and mini, Megami in a Rosie the Riveter inspired look, Q in an all black and white plaid high fashion look, Nymphia in a full gown adorned with ties structured as bows, and Sapphira in an overall denim dress with yellow plaid under shirt.

Following the ball and ahead of any critiques from the judges, the queens made their way back stage to rank each other in another round of “Rate-A-Queen.” Among the first position placements were Dawn from Q and Nymphia from Jane. Nymphia put Q in second position while Megami put Xunami there. Nymphia placed Jane third, but Amanda put Jane in her 10th spot. Morphine placed Mhi’ya in 11th, Q put Hershii in 12th, and Hershii put Mhi’ya in 13th. Other 13th placements were Mirage from Mhi’ya and Amanda from Jane.

Back on stage, Ru was set to reveal the results of the rankings, but first asked Sapphira and Jane if they wished to use their Immunity Potions this week. Neither felt in danger and so they opted out of using it on themselves or anyone else. Based on their ratings, Nymphia, Q and Sapphira were the top three. On the bottom were Geneva, Hershii and Mhi’ya. The rest left the stage as the safe queens.

In their own critiques, Isaac thought that Geneva’s first look was too cumbersome and the colors of her third look were “drab.” The judges liked Hershii’s first look despite fit issues and Michelle called out the pants on her final look as not a creation of her own because they were too perfect. Carson liked the colors that Mhi’ya used on the runway, but Isaac called her new look “basic.” Mhi’ya told the judges that she sees herself as a loud, vibrant person, but Ru countered that she actually comes across as timid, suggesting that she isn’t portraying herself to others according to how she sees herself. Isaac thought Q’s first look was the best thing shown all night and her third look was “divine.” Carson applauded Nymphia for going androgynous and Isaac thought her strength was versatility in all three of her looks. Ru exclaimed about how much she loved Nymphia’s final look. Carson liked the details in Sapphira’s pumpkin look and the whimsy in her second look. Isaac commented on Sapphira’s “amazing presence” and “special way of moving.”

Following more deliberation, Ru congratulated Nymphia as the winner of the challenge and sent Q and Sapphira back to safety. From the bottom, Mhi’ya was given the last safe spot and so Hershii and Geneva were set to battle it out in the Lip Sync for Your Life. In their head-to-head to “Maybe You’re the Problem” by Ava Max, Geneva channeled “all of the anger” she felt for being ranked among the bottom in the first place while Hershii kept her performance muted doing the “church lady two step” in character with her outfit. Based on their performances, Ru said “shantay you stay” to Geneva and bid Hershii adieu with the “sashay away.”

NEXT TIME: The girls get into their comedic gig with a live improv challenge.

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