RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 8 Recap: Episodes 1 & 2

Start your engines! It’s time for the super-sized premiere of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 8! I barely made it out of DragCon alive but I am here to recap episodes one and two!! This cast is so amazing! We’ve got lots of fan favorites, we’ve got some queens who have almost won their original seasons, and we’ve also got some early outs who deserve a second chance! I must point out that this season's promos are some of the best ever! These girls did not come to play! Okay, now let’s quickly go over this week’s premiere!

Category Is: Famous Then! Whose lewk was your fave? #AllStars8 #ParamountPlus pic.twitter.com/9Q7CEeWQYI

— RuPaul's Drag Race (@RuPaulsDragRace) May 13, 2023

The queens have all re-entered the werk room and everyone looks stunning! I’m seeing lots of post-season glow-ups! Especially Kahanna, who has truly reinvented herself since her original season! She looks spectacular! The episode starts with a fashion show mini-challenge! The queens were tasked with showing two looks: Famous Then and Famous Now. Alexis Michelle looked amazing! Her Kim Kardashian all-black Balenciaga look was amazing! I love Darienne Lake, But these looks were not her best! 

Wham, bam, thank you GLAM! #AllStars8 #ParamountPlus pic.twitter.com/G349B7IHlB

— RuPaul's Drag Race (@RuPaulsDragRace) May 13, 2023

Everything that glitters is these chicks! ✨ #AllStars8 #ParamountPlus pic.twitter.com/iGXcQUS3Qo

— RuPaul's Drag Race (@RuPaulsDragRace) May 13, 2023

For the first maxi-challenge of the season, the queens will split into two teams of six and record original verses to the classic song, “Money, Success, Fame, Glamour.” The first team was Heidi N Closet, Darienne Lake, Alexis Michelle, Kandy Muse, Naysha Lopez, and Kahanna Montrese. They were assigned the glam rock version of the song. The second team was Monica Beverly Hillz, Lala Ri, Mrs. Kasha Davis, Jessica Wild, Jaymes Mansfield, and Jimbo. They performed the disco version of the track. I think both teams did pretty well! Team Disco however was just a tad better for me. The top All-Star of the week was Kahanna Montrese!! The bottom two were Monica Beverly Hillz and Darienne Lake.

Spoilers ahead! ⚠️

Make way for the FIRST Lip Sync Assassin of #AllStars8 – NOW STREAMING on @paramountplus! pic.twitter.com/MlybVIBUMW

— RuPaul's Drag Race (@RuPaulsDragRace) May 12, 2023

The secret lip sync assassin was revealed to be… Aja Labeija! Aja and Kahanna had to lip sync to “Freakum Dress” by Beyoncé. This is such a great song!! Aja wins the lip sync, and that means she has to announce whom the queens have voted to go home. And in the end, that queen was Monica Beverly Hillz! It’s so sad to see her go!

Spoilers ahead! ⚠️ This week’s top All Star and Lip Sync Assassin battle it out to “Freakum Dress” by Queen @Beyonce! #AllStars8 is NOW STREAMING on #ParamountPlus! pic.twitter.com/ZadWWpU7Vr

— RuPaul's Drag Race (@RuPaulsDragRace) May 12, 2023

Let’s move right along into episode two! The queens are back in the werk room after Monica’s elimination. Now comes one of my favorite parts: when they reveal the total votes for each of the bottom queens. A few of the girls admitted to voting for Darienne to go home, citing Monica’s speech in Untucked. It’s a clever excuse! No one wants to put a target on their back. Before we know it, it’s a new day in the werk room!! Ru enters and tells the queens that for this week’s maxi challenge, they will perform sketch comedy skits for RDR Live! Think Saturday Night Live but with drag queens! The queens will compete in teams, and they have one take to nail it! What could possibly go wrong?!

 

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The girls overall did a great job! The first skit was the cold open with Jaymes, Heidi, Naysha, and Lala Ri. Kandy was the host, so she was tasked with performing the opening monologue! Kasha Davis came out during the monologue and was so hilarious!  The next segment was Jimbo and Jessica Wild pretending to be hookers who were also landscapers. It was wildly chaotic and I loved every second of it. Next was Queen Network News with Heidi N. Closet and Lala Ri! This is a spoof of Weekend Update from SNL, one of my favorite segments. Kahanna came out as Pussy Jones the cat. This segment was not as strong as the first few. Up next were Darienne Lake and Alexis Michelle in the skit where they worship Michelle Visage. It was hilarious! Complete with a cameo from Michelle visage herself!

 

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Let’s talk about the runway! The category was Net Gala! Some of my favorites were Naysha Lopez, Kandy Muse, Darienne Lake, and Alexis Michelle. My least favorites were Kasha Davis and Heidi N. Closet. After much deliberation, Jimbo is the top All-Star of the week!! Jaymes and Heidi are safe, leaving Naysha and Kahanna as the bottom two queens of the week! 

 

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The time has come for Jimbo to lip sync against a super secret lip sync assassin! Who could it be?! The lip sync assassin is revealed to be none other than… Pangina Heels! She arrived directly from Jimbo’s nightmares! What a fun coincidence! They lip sync to “She Bop” by Cyndi Lauper. Pangina absolutely devoured that lip sync, and she won! Now she gets to reveal the lipstick of the queen that the other girls have voted to go home. The queen who was eliminated was… Naysha Lopez. This really made me sad! I love her so much! Naysha is such an icon. She will be missed.

That’s all for this week’s jam-packed premiere! Next week is a ball challenge! So you know that’s going to be good! So come back next week and see how it all plays out!

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