‘RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars’ season 8 episode 1 recap: ‘The Fame Games’

“RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” season 8 premiered on May 12 with the first two episodes 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 a $50,000 cash prize.

The queens in the running this season are: Alexis Michelle, Darienne Lake, Heidi N Closet, Jaymes Mansfield, Jessica Wild, Jimbo, Kahanna Montrese, Kandy Muse, LaLa Ri, Monica Beverly Hillz, Mrs. Kasha Davis, and Naysha Lopez.

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Check out our full recap of episode 1 below:

The first queen to re-enter the Werk Room in the parade of queens was Heidi N Closet, 6th place finisher and Miss Congeniality from season 12. Heidi admits that she was a “struggle bus” in her original season, but says she’s learned more about her own humor and will bring that to this second chance season. She was followed by Mrs. Kasha Davis, the self-proclaimed “international celebrity housewife” who placed 11th on season 7.

Naysha Lopez arrived next, season 8’s 9th place finisher who is a former Miss Continental just like the most recent winner Sasha Colby. She says she returned to show herself that she can win. Next in was Kahanna Montrese from season 11, daughter of “All Stars” album Coco Montrese. Kahanna says she’s changed a lot (plastic surgery glow up) since her original season where she was a “baby drag queen” with not even experience to truly compete.

The only runner-up appearing on this season, Kandy Muse, entered next promising to be just as “big, brown and loud” as before and feeling like it’s finally her time to win. She was followed by 4th place finisher from season 6, Darienne Lake, who has lost about 200 pounds since her original time on the show. Monica Beverly Hillz came next and expressed that she’s more mentally prepared than she was on season 5. She finished 12th that season, eclipsed only in being an early out by Jaymes Mansfield, first to leave from season 11.

Alexis Michelle arrived next to bring “Broadway back in the house” with her talent, which she says helped propel her to 5th place on season 9. She was followed by Jessica Wild, 6th place finisher from season 2, the earliest season represented this season. Next up was “drag clown” Jimbo, the only international franchise All Star this time around. She first appeared on “Canada’s Drag Race” and then again on “UK vs. The World.” Last to make their entrance was the second Miss Congeniality in the cast, LaLa Ri, who placed 10th on season 13 and became infamous for the bag dress that earned her the first ever Golden Boot for the worst look of the season.

Once all 12 queens had introduced themselves, Ru made his own entrance into the Werk Room to welcome everyone to the season. Ru explained that classic All Star rules would remain in effect, meaning each week the judges would declare a top All Star to face off against a lip sync assassin. If the top All Star wins, she sends someone home. If the assassin wins, then the secret group vote determines who goes home. In the end, the winning queen would earn a cash prize of $200,000. Ru also hinted that there’d be a second way to win this season, but gave no details about how.

Instead, Ru explained how they’d compete in the first mini challenge of the season. In a “fashion extravaganza,” each queen would have to show two looks: one in the “Famous Then” category and another in the “Famous Now” category. For the presentation of the looks, Ru was joined by Michelle Visage, Ross Mathews, and Raven on a mini runway for all 24 struts. Though it was technically a mini challenge, no winner was declared.

After the mini challenge showcase, the queens returned to the Werk Room to de-drag and start the gossip sessions. Jimbo was a hot topic in the room because she was back for her third time and Kandy recognized her as a funny queen that Ru really loves. Jessica shared her take on how much the show has changed since season 2, especially in the looks department that she sees as much more competitive now than then.

Jaymes and Darienne began to hypothesize about what the new twist for a second winner could mean, but they were cut short when Ru returned to provide details on the maxi challenge. For their first big test in the competition, they’d perform new versions of “Money, Success, Fame, Glamour” by The Fabulous Pop Tarts. Ru divided them into two groups that they’d compete in. The first group was Alexis, Darienne, Heidi, Kahanna, Kandy and Naysha and they were tasked with the “glam rock mix” of the song. The second group was Jaymes, Jessica, Jimbo, LaLa, Monica, and Kasha with the “disco mix” of the song. In the challenge, they’d each write their own solo verse and then create choreography together as a group.

During their choreo sessions, Heidi took the lead for the glam rock group while the disco group watched from the sidelines. Jimbo was immediately confused by Heidi’s choices because it seemed very Broadway for a rock song. Kandy eventually pointed out that they needed to be rock n roll divas in their choreo instead of what Heidi was creating. Heidi took offense at all of the opinions, even sat down on stage for a moment, but eventually took charge and got them through the session.

The disco group LaLa and Jessica act as co-captains of their choreo, but everyone’s first impression was that Jessica was throwing too many ideas at the wall right out of the gate. Her group wanted her to bring it down a little bit so that they could catch up to where Jessica wanted them to go.

On elimination day while the girls put on their makeup, Monica admitted to Naysha that she was in her head already. Monica said that she’s been waiting to make her comeback on All Stars for a long time and that she has a lot to prove this season. That pressure seems to create nervousness for Monica, but she felt confident that she could bring it on the runway. On the other side of the room, Kandy and Jimbo made a promise to never send each other home. Kandy explained that she was on tour with Jimbo and Heidi already and was fully expecting for the three of them to stick together as an alliance.

When the topic of elimination came up in the larger group, Alexis said that she’d have a hard time sending anyone from her own group home. Kandy pointed out that because there was no mini challenge winner that they’d have to take into account that fashion show, the maxi challenge and the runway when deciding the top and bottom performers. Alexis asked that everyone play a “fair game,” but Kandy pushed back on that because there’s so much money on the line. Jimbo suggested that everyone do what they feel is best and be prepared to feel the pressure of the rest of the group. Jimbo knows through the experience of “UK vs. The World” that votes can cause drama and ultimately get you targeted for elimination later on. As such, she said she’d be keeping her cards close to her chest this season.

Joining Ru, Ross and Michelle on the runway this week was guest judge Idina Menzel. They watched on as the two groups performed their songs and then the queens walked the full runway for the first time this season in the “Famous Forever” signature drag category. Based on their presentations throughout the episode, Ru decided that Heidi, Kandy, Naysha, Jessica, Jimbo, and Kasha were all safe.

In critiques of the tops and bottoms, Ross told Alexis that she looked stunning in all of the looks she showed and Michelle thought she was taking risks which was nice to see. Michelle and Ru didn’t go far enough in her mini challenge looks and that she has to “kick it up a notch” to make her looks more drag. Ross noticed a “power and fire” in Kahanna and Idina said that she was spectacular in the performance. Michelle told Jaymes that everything she did was wonderful and Idina said that she seemed to float around the stage. Idina called LaLa powerful in the group number and called her a stand out in the episode. Michelle told Monica that she could tell she’s nervous, a realization that made Monica emotional on stage. Ross encouraged her to own her moment and Idina applauded her for going after this despite her nerves.

Based on those critiques, Ru declared Kahanna the top All Star of the week. She then gave safety to Jaymes, LaLa and Alexis, leaving Darienne and Monica as the bottom two that would be up for elimination. Back in the Werk Room, the queens cast their first votes of the season by placing a lipstick in the secret box. Kahanna also got to choose a lipstick in case she won the lip sync and have the sole decision in the elimination.

Kahanna met her opponent Aja LaBeija on stage for the lip sync to “Freakum Dress.” Both girls brought costume changes to the stage, throwing off their first outfits to reveal slimmer body suits underneath just when the beat of the chorus kicked in. After all the hair flips, death drops and leg kicks were done, Ru announced that the winner of the lip sync was Aja. That means the $10,000 cash tip goes in to the pot for next week and the group’s vote decision would determine the elimination.

Before showing which lipstick Aja had on her person, Ru informed the girls about the second way to win at the end of the season. All of the eliminated queens would be set to compete in the online “Fame Games,” where all of the runway looks of the eliminated queens would be shown on “Untucked” and online. Queens can also post additional content on their social pages at their own discretion and fans will vote which one wins the title of “Queen of the Fame Games” and the $50,000 cash prize.

Lastly, Ru asked Aja to reveal the name of the first queen to be eliminated and that was Monica Beverly Hillz.

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