This week on the 6th season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars,” the music of RuPaul Charles takes center stage when the queens remix her songs in style of iconic Super Bowl Halftime performers. The challenge, designed to test how the girls pick up choreography and commit to a performance, determines one top queen and two bottom queens for the week. The top queen lip synchs against a secret assassin for the chance to choose which of the two on the bottom should be eliminated.
In episode 1, Yara Sofia went head-to-head against Coco Montrese, but lost, and the safe queens’ choice for elimination, Serena, was sent home. In episode 2, Queen of the North and Canada’s Drag Race judge Brooke Lynn Hytes tied with challenge winner Ra’Jah O’Hara in the lip sync, and both held the lipsticks that signaled Jiggly’s elimination. Then at the end of episode 3, Laganja Estranja shablammed her way to a win over Trinity K. Bonet and pulled the group choice lipstick to eliminate Silky Nutmeg Ganache.
Below, check out our minute-by-minute recap of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” season 6 episode 4 to find out who scores the touchdown and which queen fumbles in “Halftime Headliners.’ All Stars 6 is airing this summer on Paramount+ with new episodes added to the streaming service every Thursday at 3 am ET.
02 min – Following Silky’s elimination, as has become custom on All Stars, the queens gathered in the Werk Room to assess the lipstick votes that sent Silky home. Considering four queens were up for elimination last week, it was a surprise that only Silky and A’Keria C. Davenport received votes. In the closest vote so far this season, A’Keria received four votes to Silky’s six from Ginger Minj, Eureka, Ra’Jah and Silky. A’Keria did not take the votes against her personally despite acknowledging that she doesn’t think they were deserved.
06 min – The next morning, Jan and Ginger, who were the other two eligible for elimination votes, said that their spot in the bottom would be a kick in the ass for them to work harder, but Jan rubbed a couple of girls the wrong way when she declared that she didn’t think her performance was worthy of being eligible anyway. For the most part though the group laughed off Jan’s comment.
08 min – When Ru arrives, he tells the girls that this week they’ll be performing in a “All Stars 6 Hall of Fame Halftime Show” in the spirit of the many superstars that have performed during the Super Bowl. In true Ru fashion, the music for the show would be his own songs, as remixed to fit the molds of actual halftime headliners that each queen would interpret. The queens received a script with all of their options for who to perform and seemingly had no reason to fight over roles: A’Keria as Prince, Kylie Sonique Love as Steven Tyler, Ra’Jah as Diana Ross, Trinity closing as Beyonce, Pandora Boxx as Carol Channing, Scarlet Envy as Katy Perry, Jan as Lady Gaga, Eureka as Madonna, Yara as Shakira, and Ginger opening as Fergie.
13 min – A’Keria, hot off a trip to the bottom, was thrilled by the risk of choosing one of the two male icons to interpret because it set her apart from most of the other girls that chose females. Trinity was aware of the long history of girls getting eliminated when they use Beyonce as a character, but she was determined to break that curse and prove that she can do justice for a legend.
16 min – Later in the day the queens went to the main stage to learn their choreo with Jamal Sims who had prepared special moves to best represent the pop stars. Jamal told Ginger that the key to Fergie would be adding energy to simple moves and A’Keria that Prince exudes sex and cool simultaneously. When it came to working with Yara, Jamal struggled to get his point across once Yara started dictating what moves she thought would work better. He had a much easier time when it came to getting Beyonce down with Trinity and despite good sessions of their own, Eureka and Jan were intimidated by how well she was picking it up.
22 min – While the girls got ready for the maxi challenge, A’Keria and Ra’Jah discussed with Trinity how risky it is to try to perform like someone as polished as Beyonce. Still, Trinity was confident in her ability and as the conversation continued realized that she was finally building relationships and friendships with the other girls, something she realizes she should have done in her original season. On the other end of the room, Ginger was asking Jan for advice on her makeup in the hopes of taking Michelle Visage‘s critiques on her paint last week.
26 min – Joining Ru on the main stage this week was Michelle, Jamal and Carson Kressley. The halftime show kicked off with a well-painted and nicely costumed Ginger, followed by Eureka perfectly styled as Madonna, a gorgeous Ra’Jah as Diana, a hip-focused Yara as Shakira, and Scarlet as a shark-dressed Katy. Kylie as Steven was almost too perfect, Jan as Gaga evoked the right funky vibe, A’Keria as Prince underwhelmed on sex appeal, Pandora as Carol was as good as her Snatch Game performance of her was, and Trinity as Beyonce was the best casting possibly ever.
37 min – After the halftime show, the queens walked the runway in a “The Frill of It All” category. Ginger opened in a “Gone with the Wind” inspired lavender dress, Eureka turned out pink chaps with huge frills, Ra’Jah was in a whimsical baby blue gown, Yara went for fringe and an odd hairpiece that was supposed to be a windmill, Scarlet wore a beige Southern baby doll dress, Kylie had a shiny pastel gown, Jan went darker with a maroon and black can-can dress, Pandora went cutesy in blue and pink, Trinity went full pageant in a salmon evening gown, and A’Keria closed in an amazing flower petal look that dropped down into a wondrous dress.
40 min – Based on both the performance and the runway looks, Ru declared the following queens safe: Ra’Jah, Scarlet, Kylie, and Pandora. That left the other six on stage to hear critiques as the tops and bottoms of the week. Luckily Michelle loved Ginger’s makeup this week, but overall the judges didn’t think she did enough with the performance as Fergie. Eureka blew Michelle’s mind as Madonna and Jamal complimented her for engaging the male dancers. When it came to Yara’s performance, the judges said she focused too much on body and so her lip synch and facial expressions failed her. Jan got high marks for going with an unexpected color palette on the runway and for fully committing to the choreo as Gaga. A’Keria had what Jamal called the hardest job, but he thought she didn’t pick up on the nuance of who Prince is as an artist. That being said, Michelle called her runway look “elevated drag.” Lastly, Trinity impressed in her Beyonce performance for completely embodying her presence and commanding attention.
45 min – Ultimately Ru’s decision was that finally Jan would be the challenge winner, her first time in series history. That left Eureka and Trinity safe on the top with her, and then when Ginger was also called safe that meant that Yara and A’Keria were up for elimination, both for their second time.
47 min – Backstage, Jan couldn’t hide her elation that she won the challenge while A’Keria was deflated for being in the bottom for a second week in a row. She expressed privately to Jan how much effort she put into the performance and Jan seemed receptive to her argument, saying that she wants to see her remain but then to the camera admitting that she hasn’t seen her spark this season. Yara was upset to be in the bottom because still doesn’t like the concept of pleading her case to stay, but was able to admit that the judges’ critiques were fair against her. Jan told Yara that she also agreed with the critiques, but Yara said that she’s in the competition to give her all.
51 min – In the voting booth we saw Pandora vote for Yara, but none of the other lipsticks were shown. In her own deliberation, Jan wanted to make the choice that the rest of the queens were going to do so as to not stand out, but also said that she was doing what is best for her own safety long-term. For Jan to make the choice, she had to lip synch against this week’s assassin, Jessica Wild. They battled to “Womanizer” by Britney Spears with Jessica focusing on Britney’s trademark hairography and Jan taking a comedic approach to Britney’s style. This time around, Jan’s funk did not win the judges over and so Ru chose Jessica as the winner instead. With Jessica’s win it meant the safe queen votes would determine this week’s elimination and they fell out of favor with Yara. Like the three elimination before her, Yara was greeted on her way out of the Werk Room by Ru on the television warning her that the competition is not yet over.
