Wow. Talk about the piece de resistance of poor decisions made by RuPaul. Most episodes that boast a bad decision usually only have one, whether it be a poor choice of winner or a really badly judged elimination. This episode has not one, not two, but THREE choices done in really poor taste. Had the choices been altered, this had the chance to be one of the best episodes of the season, with a deserved comeback and a long-coming elimination wrapped up in one, but instead, we got this mess.
Addressing the first, Yvie Oddly should not have been ranked low. While I'm not the biggest personal fan of hers, the jeans look was ingenious and chock full of detail. My guess would be that the judges were filling a status quo as no one else's outfits would fit into a low position and they felt they needed one, despite there having been previous episodes where there was no third low spot, just a bottom two. Whatever it was, it was a poorly made choice.
Secondly, Vanjie should have won the challenge. It would have been the perfect comeback for her and proven that despite a lot of struggling, she still had it in her to pull through. Her makeover of Ariel was stunning. I didn't even recognize Ariel the first time I saw her; that's how good it was! Brook Lynn's was also very good, but Plastique is an extremely easy person to makeover and there were definite colour coordination issues with the outfits. I don't believe this snub should come from the fact that Vanjie hadn't won a challenge beforehand, as Miz Cracker and Yara Sofia both demonstrated that it is possible to win your first challenge near the end of the season. It was the worst challenge win decision of the entire show.
Finally, Nina West's elimination should not have happened. Yes, that lipsync was an absolute mess, but at least Nina kept it somewhat polished. Silky was a complete disaster, with botched wardrobe reveals, slips, missed lyrics and clumsy movements. Silky's elimination was also long overdo, with her presence on the show lasting far longer than it should have. I know RuPaul probably really liked her and that's why she stayed, but I don't think that mentality should be present when judging a lipsync performance. Even sending both home would have been a better decision than eliminating Nina.
This was one of those episodes with potential to be really fun and great that was just brought down by bad choice after bad choice. If it was done for the drama and scandal, then that's just dirty to the contestants who deserved better, especially this late into an already messy season.
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