Another day on “Drag Race: All Stars 2,” another chance for audiences to see a talented queen sent home way too early. After “RuVenge,” which beautifully reset the playing field this season, the girls couldn’t even get backstage to untuck before things started to unravel.
This season we’ve seen RuPaul put candidates in the bottom (Tatianna), or declare a winner (Alaska over Katya) that didn’t line up with the given performances. And while we’re fully aware drag isn’t an exact science — that like any other competitive art form, it’s both a technical and a judgment call — rarely has Mama Ru ever steered us wrong. So what’s up? Something just seems off.
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Adding to the questionable guidance from Ru, the fallout afterwards is getting weirder and darker. With the new rules, there’s been a marked and growing difference between who should go home and who does go home lately. Coming down to the Final Five on the Oct. 7 episode, all the queens not in the Top 2 were automatically in the bottom. And after clawing herself back into the game and a fabulous showing on the runway, Alyssa Edwards was once again voted off. And once again, it didn’t seem fair.
Like Tatianna last week, Alyssa should’ve have been safe. Screener reached out to speak with the now two-time send-off the day this episode aired: For starters, we wanted to know how Alyssa felt about the show getting dubbed “RuPaul’s Best Friend Club” by fans, a reference to the alliance collectively known as Rolaskatox: Alaska, Detox and Roxxxy Andrews, who seem to now run the show.
“All Stars 2” should be setting the bar of what elite drag is and could be, and while Roxxxy is certainly talented, keeping friends around, instead of the best competition, means lowering that bar. It wouldn’t matter who the people were or how we felt about them, either: Elite is elite, game is game and this show is best when it’s focused on the former.
Screener: What’s it like hearing people call the show ‘RuPaul’s Best Friend Race?’ Is the Rolaskatox alliance as frustrating for you as it is for viewers?
Alyssa Edwards: Ha! Girl, well, I sort of saw Detox sending me home. Roxxxy is her best friend, and Alaska shouldn’t have been an option for elimination given her consistency all season. So, that’s how it goes!
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How did it feel watching this episode back, especially with all the emotional components leading up to the elimination?
It was a bit surreal. Since my mother’s funeral I just haven’t been home. I have been keeping myself busy and on the road, and I think seeing her finally made me deal with the truth and my feelings.
Was it strange seeing Alaska lose her cool after placing on the bottom? Or was that something that happened often and cameras hadn’t shown it before?
No, I think when you put that much work and effort into what you do it’s discouraging when you have an off night. And all performers have that off night.
RELATED: ‘All Stars 2’ Tatianna serves tea on Alaska’s borrowed crop top & double elimination
How did you feel seeing the fan reaction after Tatianna was sent home? And now again, after seeing you get sent home over Roxxxy?
Well, I appreciate the love, and I will say this — I think if the elimination was up to Ru, I would have stayed.
Last night, we were all @RuPaul. #DragRace #AllStars2 pic.twitter.com/T6CRsCYgNo
— Kevin Boo'Keeffe
(@kevinpokeeffe) October 7, 2016
(@kevinpokeeffe) But that’s what has made this season so intense, and presumably that chaos is by design. So if that’s the kind of show “All Stars” ends up being, at least it’s given us something to talk about all summer.
“Drag Race: All Stars 2” airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Logo & VH1.
