‘RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars’ season 8 episode 6 recap: ‘JOAN: The Unauthorized Rusical’

“RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” season 8 continued on June 9 with the sixth 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 a $50,000 cash prize.

The queens still in the running at the start of episode 6 were: Alexis Michelle, Jaymes Mansfield, Jessica Wild, Jimbo, Kahanna Montrese, Kandy Muse, and LaLa Ri.

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Check out our full recap of episode 6 below to find out what happened when the queens got rid of all the wire hangers in “JOAN: The Unauthorized Rusical”:

Relieved that Ru saved Kahanna Montrese and Jessica Wild from possible elimination, the queens returned to the Werk Room in high spirits to congratulate the two bottom queens on having another chance to prove themselves. Still, business is business and the lipsticks had to be pulled from the box. The votes were unanimous, including Jimbo‘s, for Kahanna. There were no hard feelings though because Kahanna understood that she was in the bottom for the second time and based on track record it was fair enough. Jimbo explained that she had mixed emotions about her third win in the competition because that’s a proud moment, but she became embarrassed when she tripped during the lip sync because she has a long history of not performing well and has now lost three lip syncs this season.

The competition quickly turned to Heidi N Closet‘s decision to leave. Alexis Michelle was shocked because she saw Heidi as a contender, but Kandy Muse was more concerned with the lasting impressions that the other queens might have about what she was accused of saying about Jimbo. Luckily, Jimbo seemed unphased by any of it and remained determined to keep her frontrunner status.

When the queens arrived the next morning they noticed that all the pictures of Ru had been replaced with famous images of Joan Crawford and Faye Dunaway, who played Joan Crawford in “Mommie Dearest.” Ru didn’t keep them guessing at why very long because when she joined them in the Werk Room it was to announce that they’d be singing and dancing in “JOAN: The Unauthorized Rusical.” Ru explained that they’d each play Joan at a different stage in her career.

First order of business was for the queens to sit down and decide who will play which Joan in the rusical. Right off the bat, Jaymes Mansfield claimed “Mommie Dearest” Joan and LaLa Ri claimed “Mildred Pierce” Joan, both not contested. Jimbo asked for Joan from “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?,” Kahanna asked for Joan from “The Women,” and Alexis went with Faye from “Mommie Dearest.” That left Kandy and Jessica both wanting the version of Joan that says “No more wire hangers.” Kandy said that she “has no other option” and so she really wants that part, but with a stalemate, the girls called for an audition. In the audition, Jessica stumbled over the words and the girls voted that Kandy won the audition. That left Jessica with the final role, Joan saying “bring me the axe.”

Later, the queens journey to the Main Stage to record their vocal performances with Leland. From the sidelines, Kandy and Jimbo thought that Jaymes was singing really well in character and so they clocked her as potential competition for the win this week. The girls were less threatened by Kahanna who admittedly struggled to hit the notes required of her part. When Kandy went to the mic, Leland had to work with her on the “acting moments” and Jessica who couldn’t enunciate the word “axe” in the way he wanted her to. With musical theater training, Alexis was prepared for her quickly-worded verse and then knocked the recording out of the park.

Afterward, movie director Adam Shankman joined the queens to teach them the choreography for the show. He wasn’t sure that Kahanna could hit the high kicks he wanted her to and was warned by James that she’s not the best at choreo, but he really liked the movements and commitment that LaLa was bringing to the stage and was surprised by how strong Jessica was. Adam remembered that Kandy didn’t do well in her original season rusical and so he was determined to things around for her this season.

During the time they were getting ready for the performance, both Kandy and Jimbo were concerned with repeating history and not doing well at this challenge. Alexis, Jessica and Jaymes were all excited about it for different reasons. Jaymes is a huge fan of Joan Crawford, Alexis is a student of musical theater, and Jessica was happy with the role she had because it gave her a chance to show her strengths. The conversation turned to how they’d vote in the elimination with Kandy saying that maybe this is the part where the stop going off track record, but was also concerned that she’d be a target because of the Heidi situation.

On the Main Stage, Ru was joined by Michelle Visage and Ts Madison, as well as guest judge Adam. Following the presentation of “JOAN: The Unauthorized Rusical” and the runway in the category of “Night of 1,000 Grace Joneses,” Ru announced the tops and bottoms of the week. They explained that everybody did a really good job, but the safe queens would be Alexis and Jimbo. They gave critiques to the others.

With Kahanna, Michelle thought Kahanna had a tough role because of how much choreography there was, but noted that because she was focusing on that then her face became detached as she thought through her steps. Ru also acknowledged the “challenges with pitch and tone.” Adam admitted to being scared about the dancing for Jaymes, but he thought she did really well. Michelle took issue with the fitting on Jaymes’ outfit, which dropped her to the bottom for the week. Ts thought Kandy took up “the most iconic part” and Adam was “blown away” by Kandy’s strength in the challenge. Adam said Jessica was “shot out of a canon” and Ts said that she’s “always enthralled” because she knows where to emote and where to put her energy to make the performance work. LaLa impressed the judges with how strong her dancing skills were and for picking the perfect role to speak to her strengths. Adam and Ru thought her look on the runway was the most simple though.

Based on the judges’ critiques, Ru gave “top all star” to Kandy, her first for the season. She also gave safety to Jessica and LaLa, which left Kahanna in the bottom for the third time and Jaymes in the bottom for the second time. As the challenge winner, Kandy was set to battle against this week’s lip sync assassin, Angeria Paris VanMichaels. In their head-to-head to “I’m Not Perfect But I’m Perfect for You” by Grace Jones, both queens made the most of the stage floor by taking their moves  down for slithering, splits and kicks across the stage. They exuded Grace’s sexuality and fierce facial expressions throughout, making it a close call for Ru to make. With a $30,000 cash tip up for grabs, Kandy was able to claim the money as Ru’s winner of the lip sync.

With the lip sync win, Kandy held the sole decision in who would be eliminated this week between Jaymes and Kahanna. In the end, Kandy stayed true to her friend and made the difficult decision to instead eliminate Jaymes. On her way out, Jaymes was convinced that Kandy made her choice to eliminate a threat instead of a friend, but understood that if true it’s part of the game.

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