‘RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars’ season 8 episode 11 recap: ‘The Fame Games Variety Extravaganza’

“RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” season 8 continued on July 14 with the eleventh episode streaming on Paramount+. For the first time ever, RuPaul Charles announced a “second way to win” in addition to earning the coveted crown and $200,000 prize given to the traditional winner. One of the eliminated queens will also be named Queen of The Fame Games and earn what was originally a $50,000 cash prize, but was raised to $60,000 when the lip sync assassin won the final lip sync of the season.

The queens still in the running for the championship All Stars crown were Jimbo and Kandy Muse. The queens set to compete for the consolation “Fame Games” prize were the eliminated queens: Monica Beverly Hillz, Naysha Lopez, Mrs. Kasha Davis, Darienne Lake, Jaymes Mansfield, Kahanna Montrese, LaLa Ri, Alexis Michelle, and Jessica Wild. Heidi N Closet opted out of competing for the second prize when she quit earlier in the season.

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Check out our full recap of episode 11 below to see the eliminated queens compete for the $60,000 cash prize in “The Fame Games Variety Extravaganza”:

Following Kandy Muse‘s elimination of Jessica Wild, she and Jimbo returned to the Werk Room to congratulate themselves on a successful navigation of their season-long alliance to end up in the end together. Kandy asked Jimbo if she thought she’d eliminate her and Jimbo admitted that, yes, she did think it was possible, but they acknowledged that they had a pact. Kandy said it was tempting because she was strong competition, but they were in an alliance and she stuck to it. They role-played a fight for the crown, including Jimbo snatching Kandy’s wig off her head and getting in each other’s faces about how difficult of a flight it is from Canada to the United States, but it was all in good fun for two clear friends.

The next morning, Kandy and Jimbo enjoyed the quiet of a Werk Room with only two queens still in the competition for the first time in series history. It wasn’t long before they were joined by Ru with congratulations on their achievement and to bring back their sisters, the eliminated queens. Ru teased that the eliminated queens were there to “decide whether Kandy Muse or Jimbo makes it into the Drag Race Hall of Fame,” but after a few jaws hit the floor she said delivered a “just kidding” much to Kandy and Jimbo’s relief. Instead, the queens were back to participate in two challenges.

First, Ru opened the library for the queens to read each other down in the classic “Reading Is Fundamental” mini challenge. Jessica Wild took a dig at Lala’s looks and Alexis Michelle aimed a sexual advance at LaLa instead of a read, LaLa Ri retorted to Jessica about the bags under her eyes, Kahanna Montrese came for Jaymes’ beard, Jaymes Mansfield went in on Darienne’s career, Darienne Lake dug in on Alexis’s body hair, Mrs. Kasha Davis read Jessica’s music and landed three other deep digs, Naysha Lopez took a shot at Jimbo’s plastic surgery, Monica Beverly Hillz attacked Kandy’s neck rolls and then Kandy called Monica the cleaning crew, and Jimbo closed it out with a jab at Kahanna’s sex life. From the hilarious set of reads, Ru declared Kasha the winner and handed her a $2500 cash prize.

Next, Ru announced that the eliminated queens would showcase their charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent by “focusing exclusively on ‘The Fame Games'” in a variety extravaganza. Since this week was devoted entirely to the race to become Queen of The Fame Games, instead of performing in the variety show, Kandy and Jimbo would host.

Later in the afternoon, Ru met up with groups of eliminated queens to see how they felt about their elimination and what they did to prepare for “The Fame Games.” Kasha said she’s doing an original song that is tied to a book she wrote, Naysha planned to dance flamenco, Monica would lip sync to one of her own songs, Kahanna brought a cheerleader routine to an original song, Darienne thought she’d take a comedic route, Jaymes recorded an original song for a comedy routine, Alexis took inspiration from Broadway, LaLa was also going to do an original song, and Jessica wanted to reintroduce one of her own original songs. Before leaving the Werk Room, Ru dropped the bomb that “Fame Game rules are now in effect.” She explained that “based on your variety extravaganza performance” she would choose a top two to lip sync against one another to earn the chance to increase their fan vote by a random percentage.

As they prepared for the show, Monica was excited by the opportunity to show off her talents since her time in the competition was cut so short as the first eliminated queen. Alexis sat LaLa down to apologize to her for eliminating her despite agreeing to protect her, but LaLa was not interested in holding a grudge and understood that Alexis was looking out for herself. Their convo transitioned slightly into flirtatious territory with LaLa acknowledging them finding a “love connection” on the show. Meanwhile, Kandy and Jimbo warned the queens that they better bring their “A” game because they’ll be reading them for filth again on the Main Stage.

On the Main Stage, Ru was joined by series judges Michelle Visage and Ross Mathews, as well as the week’s special guest judge Ego Nwodim. The show opened with a number from Kandy and Jimbo where they swapped accents, a very smart play on their big and iconic voices. Monica opened the show with a mid-tempo original song that she lip synced with very little choreography followed by Naysha with a sexy flamenco dance to Jennifer Lopez. Kasha had Ross’ jaw gaping with her surprising shock-rap performance and an important political message. Darienne set the stage on fire with a stand up comedy routine that had Ru laughing, Jaymes focused her original song on her exaggerated breast plate, and Kahanna turned tricks as a cheerleader just as she promised. LaLa’s original song showcased her “real good ass” while Alexis secured her spot as the only one to sing live. Jessica closed the show with the highest energy of the night by delivering quick choreo to her original song. As a surprise encore, it turned out that Jimbo and Kandy did perform their own talents as well. Jimbo’s unique comedy routine involved making an ice sundae with ingredients extracted from trick compartments in her outfit, including whipped cream breasts, and Kandy performed an original song with slick choreography alongside four male dancers.

After the show, Ru congratulated the top two and excused them to return back stage while the rest received critiques. Michelle told Monica she was happy to see “you doing you” and thinks she delivered as a performer, but told Naysha that she left a lot to be desired and good have given more. Ross disagreed, saying Naysha showed precision and Ego called her “such a force.” Ross applauded Kasha for underscoring that “drag is political,” Ego thanked Darienne for doing stand up comedy justice, and Michelle referenced Jaymes as “so silly and so fun” which makes her special. Michelle acknowledged how difficult her fully tucked backflip was and Ru thanked her for showing the kids at home that they, too, could do a “blackflip.” Michelle seemed most excited by LaLa’s energetic dance performance, Ross told Alexis that she exuded the perfect amount of theater queen aura for a New York resident, and Ru called Jessica “a born performer” and thinks she can step into any tour at any moment.

Based on their critiques, Ru announced that the judges’ favorites were LaLa and Jaymes. With that decision, the top two performers were set to battle it out in a Lip Sync for Your Legacy to “Rain on Me.” At the start of the performance, LaLa was serving true pop diva energy with choreography and well-timed synching while Jaymes delivered her expected sexy energy with a slight costume reveal to a sexy body suit. By the end of the song, both had connected to each other to create a highly sexualized moment on stage that had the panel rolling with laughter.

In the end, Ru made her decision to declare Jaymes the winner of the lip sync, offering her the chance to multiply her fan votes. But then, Ru gave LaLa a win as well, which means we saw two spins of the multiplier wheel. First, Pit Stop member Bruno spun the wheel for Jaymes and it landed on the 2x multiplier. Second, Bruno spun the wheel for LaLa and it landed on the 3x multiplier. With that, fan voting in “The Fame Games” opened until midnight Pacific Time this Sunday to decide which of the eliminated queens would earn the $60,000 cash prize. And then, next week either Jimbo or Kandy Muse will be declared the winner and receive their place in the Drag Race Hall of Fame.

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