‘RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars’ season 8 episode 4 recap: ‘Screen Queens’

“RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” season 8 premiered on May 26 with the fourth 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 4 were: Alexis Michelle, Darienne Lake, Heidi N Closet, Jaymes Mansfield, Jessica Wild, Jimbo, Kahanna Montrese, Kandy Muse, and LaLa Ri.

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Check out our full recap of episode 4 below:

Following Jessica Wild‘s top performance and Mrs. Kasha Davis‘s elimination in the “Supermarket Ball,” Jessica made it clear that Kasha essentially gave up and Darienne Lake showed her that she was fighting to stay in the competition – those are the points that helped her make the decision to eliminate Kasha. Still, the group revealed the lipsticks from the collective vote that didn’t play out. There were four votes against Darienne total, meaning three voted for her. Immediately, Jimbo, Heidi N Closet and Jaymes Mansfield admitted to putting in Darienne’s lipstick based on track record (she was in the bottom the previous week). Jessica wanted further clarity from the group about their feelings about her win, addressing the reaction that the safe queens had to her challenge win. Jaymes, Heidi and Kahanna Montrese all acknowledged that they didn’t think Jessica was going to win, but still congratulated her one final time.

The next morning Ru arrived to ask the queens to create trailers for a new scripted series starring themselves. They’d create these trailers in groups, determined in random by the balloons they pop between their bodies and a member of the Pit Crew. By the end of the exercise, the groups were Heidi, Kahanna and LaLa Ri, Jaymes, Alexis Michelle and Darienne, and Kandy Muse, Jessica and Jimbo. The prompt for their trailers was open-ended so that they could work within any series genre, but they’d also have to film them under the direction of Michelle Visage and create one key art image for the series to use as marketing.

Darienne suggested that their group do something inspired by the show “Lost,” and while Alexis thought the concept might be too convoluted, Jaymes was on board so Alexis agreed to trust them and go along with it. LaLa thought her group should do something in the horror genre and Heidi knew that all they’d have to do was make it funny and it would work. They settled on a kidnapping concept with two “bumbling fools” committing the crime. The third group considered a high school drama that goes sideways similar to “Carrie,” but Kandy thought they should do something original instead of a spoof. Kandy and Jimbo also butt heads over whether they’d give a key role to a member of the Pit Crew with Jessica caught in the middle just waiting for them to settle on an idea.

First to film their trailer was Kandy, Jimbo and Jessica with their high school concept and they surprised themselves with how raunchy their script was when Michelle pointed out that it was borderline pornographic. Jimbo thought that it’s good to test boundaries because the last thing she wants to do is not go far enough. Next up was Kahanna, LaLa and Heidi who had Michelle in stitches with their ridiculousness, but Heidi and LaLa were leaving Kahanna a little in the dust who struggled to be as absurd as they were. As Alexis expected, Michelle was confused by the concept of the third group’s, but Darienne felt like taking a big risk was what she needed to record a much-needed win. As they filmed, Michelle wasn’t laughing as much as they expected, putting them on edge that they might not be hitting the mark.

On elimination day as the girls prepared, Kandy pulled Jimbo aside and said that she heard the other queens see her as big competition and that if she ends up in the bottom they might consider getting rid of her. As such, Kandy, Jimbo and Jessica all agreed that they wouldn’t eliminate someone from their own team. Later, Kandy asked Heidi out in the open about her possibly wanting to leave the competition during the previous “Untucked.” The topic felt to Heidi like it placed a target on her back and that was shocking because she thought Kandy and Jimbo would protect her according to their alliance. At that point, Heidi insinuated she has tea about things Kandy’s said off camera and she wouldn’t hesitate to let it out if she has to.

On the Main Stage, Ru and Michelle were joined by Ts Madison and this week’s guest judge Maude Apatow. Prior to the screening of the trailers, the queens walked the runway in the “Ass the World Turns” category. Jaymes wore an Aztec-inspired costume to reference her Mexican heritage, Darienne showed off her body with a copper body suit with garters, Alexis wore an assless wedding dress, Kandy donned an anime sex doll outfit with inflatable butt, Jessica kept it simple in a white body-hugging dress, Jimbo revealed her “titty butt” piece  in a tie dye jumpsuit, Heidi chose a concept she described as “if Eeyore was a stripper,” Kahanna looked like a nurse ready to inject silicone, and LaLa closed it out in a backless red two-piece suit.

After screening the trailers for “Get Off Island” from Darienne, Jaymes and Alexis, “Best Friends 4 Never” from Jimbo, Jessica and Kandy, and “Run Queen, Run” from Kahanna, Heidi and LaLa, the judges decided that the winning team based on the trailers and the runway presentations was “Best Friends 4 Never.” The safe team was “Run Queen, Run” and the bottom team was “Get Off Island.”

Michelle took issue with “Get Off Island” because they were professional and got the job done, but they weren’t funny at all. The judges liked what Jaymes wore on the runway, Maude thought Darienne stood out from the others in the trailer and Michelle called her look one of the best Darienne’s ever worn, and Maude called the dress Alexis wore on the runway her favorite look of the night. Ru called their sketch “pleasant” and said it was a challenge to do something as already confusing as a spoof of “Lost.” Alexis apologized for not sticking up to Darienne’s idea despite knowing that it’d be tough.

With the “Best Friends 4 Never” group, Ts and Maude said that Kandy stood out because she always knows exactly who she is doing. Michelle thought Kandy’s runway outfit was a different look for her and that made it fun. Despite having to direct Jessica away from some of the original raunch, Michelle said the end result really worked and then gave her some tips on highlighting in her makeup to make it pop more. The judges thought that Jimbo developed her character in a way that made them want more of her and Ru called her smart and clever.

Based on their overall critiques, Ru announced that Jimbo was this week’s top performer. That left Kandy and Jessica as safe. Instead of choosing a bottom two, Ru decided that all three from “Get Off Island” were in the bottom and vulnerable to the vote and elimination. That decision was left in the hands of Jimbo who faced off against this week’s assassin Shannel in the Lip Sync for Your Legacy. Knowing that she was entering her fifth lip sync and having never won, Jimbo had her eyes set on showing Ru she can perform during the battle to “Bad Reputation.” Shannel utilized the entire stage and included a costume change that left the girls gagged while Jimbo relied on a lot of titty and wig shaking to make it through the 80s classic.

In the end, this wasn’t the moment for Jimbo to finally win a lip sync and Shannel was declared the winner instead. Because Shannel won, the elimination came down to who the group voted to send home. Shannel revealed via the lipstick tucked in her bodysuit that the queens sent Darienne home.

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