It is no understatement to say that last week’s elimination on RuPaul’s Drag Race had us gooped, gagged, and gobsmacked. And if you haven’t yet seen the March 1 episode (due to MTV/Paramount+ nonsense or other reasons), fair warning that spoilers lie ahead. The queens were tasked with fashioning goth get-ups out of provided materials, making it the third sewing challenge of the season. Mhi’ya Iman LePaige pulled together a passable look, only a lot of that pulling came from getting a fellow queen to do the sewing for her. Meanwhile Plasma did all her own sewing, but she attempted to do a look outside her comfort zone, and unfortunately the look was a miss. Both ladies landed in the bottom, making it Mhi’ya’s third lip sync with no challenge wins, and Plasma’s first lip sync with two challenge wins. So of course it was three strikes and you’re out for Mhi’ya… What? Shantay she stays?! But she done already had herses!!
A third design challenge in just nine episodes? After a spit-themed mini-challenge opened this week’s episode, the remaining eight queens on RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 16 were shocked to find it was time to breakout the sewing machines YET AGAIN. While seamstresses like Q, Nymphia Wind and Dawn rejoiced, the less fashion-gifted competitors immediately launched into panic mode, worried they’d follow last week’s victim, Xunami Muse, out the door.
The top eight spent most of the episode cobbling together outfits for the goth-inspired runway, which was presided over by model Kaia Gerber in addition to the usual judges. While some queens got high praise … others floundered, leading to the most shocking elimination we’ve seen on the show in several seasons.
Plasma’s elimination this week will go down in Drag Race herstory as one of the show’s most shocking. Not because it wasn’t deserved (the Broadway queen delivered what was easily the worst look of the night and was out lip-synced by Mhi’ya Iman Le’Paige), but because she’d already won two challenges. On Drag Race, frontrunners who have amassed two individual wins are typically awarded some kind of unspoken goodwill from Ru and are kept safe until the finale. Plasma, who had secured two individual challenge wins, however, found herself in a perfect storm and Ru seemed unwilling to throw her a bone. The only other queen to ever get booted this early with two wins was Max in Season 7 (and one of her wins was shared with Pearl). While obviously Plasma deserved to go home, I kept waiting for some shenanigans to save her, but her elimination was shockingly refreshing for a show that sometimes feels a bit formulaic. This also opens things up quite a bit for the remaining seven queens as we head into the end game.
It was not shocking that seasoned costumer Q would pick up her second design challenge win this week. While she certainly faced stiff competition from Dawn and Nymphia, Q’s massive victorian cloak earned rave reviews from the judges, and she secured her second victory. While this would typically solidify her for a spot in the finale, Plasma’s exit reinforces that two wins won’t necessarily save you.
This article didn’t get into it, but the sewing issue really should’ve been a bigger deal. The judges called Mhi’ya out during the critiques, and while she admitted to getting some help from castmate Sapphira Cristal, she totally downplayed how much assistance Sapphira actually gave her, and everyone on that stage knew she was lying. Why Sapphira didn’t speak up to correct the record remains a mystery. I guess she’s just too much of a classy broad. So then we get to the lip sync… I’m reluctant to call Mhi’ya a “lip sync assassin,” because it’s not the lip syncing itself where she kills. It’s the flipping. She does a lot of gymnastic flips, and Ru seems to be enamored with them. The thing is, Mhi’ya hasn’t really made a mark anywhere else in the competition. She had a brief breakthrough during the Snatch Game, but overall the judges have been giving her the same note — that she seems withdrawn and as a result they don’t know who she is. Whereas with Plasma, you know exactly who she is, whether you like it or not. Plus she’s won two challenges. Plus she flippin’ sewed her own outfit and owned it! Oh I’m getting riled up all over again. And it’s not just me — the safe queens audibly gasped when Ru announced her verdict, like they were doing the spit-take mini challenge all over again.