#RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 6 Episode 3 Review: Side Hustles

The outcome of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 6 Episode 3 was completely up in the air. Beyond a few subtle clues of who was going, it was a tight race to the finish.

“Side Hustles” was a great round from a storytelling standpoint. There were more possibilities of who would be going home and of who would win the Maxi Challenge.

RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars should take note of this round since there were elements that could be pulled to make the series stronger.

Before we get into the round, we need to talk about Trinity K. Bonet’s lipstick vote against Yara Sofia. Come on, she totally made the vote because Yara voted her on RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 6 Episode 1!

She justified her vote by claiming it was about Jiggly Caliente “working harder,” but this was a petty move of payback.

Granted, Trinity can vote whichever way she wants. Voting out Yara was a strategic move for her to potentially eliminate a strong threat and to get revenge against someone who wanted to vote her out.

The other queens saw right through it. We could see right through it. Trinity needed to own up to her gameplay; there’s nothing wrong with taking out the competition.

The Maxi Challenge of the side hustle commercials was a fun and campy time.

Drag commercials fall into the same category as drag infomercials, like the perfumes on RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 5, or the political ads, like on RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 8. Winning this game requires a good mix of acting, comedy, and improv.

Group #2 had this challenge in the bag.

The Drag Fixers knew exactly the storyline they wanted to promote and the comedic hook that would pull in the judges. (“Fix it, Bitch!” will come back as a Drag Race quote someday.) Plus, each queen had moments to shine with catchy one-liners or facial expressions.

Pandora Boxx, Trinity K. Bonet, Ra’Jah O’Hara, and Yara Sofia had the most well-rounded commercial that felt like a legitimate commercial.

Trinity, in particular, stood out as the strongest member in her commercial. It’s no wonder she won the overall week based on her acting and the runway.

Trinity’s role was like the audience persona. Her character reacted to the story of the commercial, but she also reacted to the antics of the fellow queens. She had the one-liners that we as the audience could relate to.

Her role was the juiciest because she could play it differently from the other queens and her lines were always meant as the punchline. It’s a guarantee victory if she nailed each delivery, which she did.

Yara Sofia: Oh my God, I feel beautiful!

Trinity K. Bonet: [Touching her hair tape] Nuh-uh, I don’t like this!

Ra’Jah O’Hara & Pandora Boxx: No refunds!

And with her stunning black glittery gown and crown, she exuded the height of opulence and style. Both her runway and challenge performance won her the redemption she needed after failing in the variety show.

Though, my only critique is that Trinity needs to start changing up her outfit colors soon. She’s worn too much black, white, and grey on the runway; the judges noticed Silky’s preference for red, so it’s only a matter of time.

Group #3 of Kylie Sonique Love, Scarlet Envy, and Eureka! had the second best commercial. If they had added punchier lines and fixed their pacing, they could’ve landed at the top.

Scarlet proved once again why she’s one of the best actors in the group. She killed it on RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 11, and her drag exorcist here kept the energy up throughout.

Her performance was so strong that it lifted and balanced Kylie’s more subtle energy.

Though, Eureka was the breakout star of her group. Just like Trinity’s role, Eureka’s possessed drag queen was the type of meaty character you should fight to have.

Funny one-liners, campy demonic possession, and a look that stood out compared to her teammates. Eureka made this screentime count; her runway look just needed to be stronger in comparison, but it didn’t blow the judges away.

Group #1 of Silky Nutmeg Ganache, Jan, Ginger Minj, and A’Keria C. Davenport had the weakest of the three commercials.

Don’t get me wrong, the video was funny and they got their point across. However, the video was too long and their jokes didn’t pack the same punch as the two other commercials.

Plus, there wasn’t a good balance of the queens shining in the commercial. Ginger Minj had most of the zingers, but the other three queens played it safe. (Sorry, Jan!)

If this were a regular season of Drag Race, all four would’ve survived the week. All Stars is a completely different world if everyone kills it.

The judges were right in their critique to Jan. Her scenes were fun and she gave it her all, but she didn’t push herself to shine from the crowd. Even in a group challenge, Jan should’ve tried to get her stand out moment.

Sometimes all it takes is one big scene to win over RuPaul. Arguably, she should’ve been at the top during the first two weeks, but her placement this round seemed right.

Ginger Minj: Well, if I win the lip-sync, I’ll give you a $1,000. If you win the lip-sync, you’ll give me a $1,000.

Jan: Okay, deal!

Ra’Jah O’Hara: Oh, I see y’all already got something going on. Okay…

A’Keria C. Davenport let the stress get to her. A’Keria’s energy wasn’t at the level a comedy challenge needed; she faded too much into the background.

And in Silky’s case, she was too much inside of her head. She let her past Drag Race fears cloud her judgement and she faded into the background.

The old Silky would’ve pushed to have bigger moments in the commercial. Without those scenes, she lost any chance to stand out.

The “Rudemption Runway” was a great way to have the queens elevate their past looks. The results are typically pleasant and surprising because of the lessons the queens applied to their drag style since then.

My favorite looks on the runway were Kylie Sonique Love, Scarlet Envy, Trinity K. Bonet, Jan, and A’Keria C. Davenport.

Scarlet, Trinity, and Jan all went in the direction of turning their past looks into gowns. The sequins and glitter elevated their styles; they each looked stunning and opulent like they owned everything.

Kylie’s feathery bodysuit seemed like something Lady Gaga would wear, which suited her Snatch Game reference. Like I said during the review of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 6 Episode 2, her runway game is killing it here!

And A’Keria deserves a lot of credit for wearing a real caftan. You couldn’t help but relate with Ross Mathews by how shook he was when A’Keria served the challenge.

The lip-sync of “Physical” by Dua Lipa earned its place in the Top 5 best lip-syncs ever in a Drag Race series. Both Trinity K. Bonet and RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 6 lip-sync assassin Laganja Estranja slayed this song!

Trinity served face, ferocity, and fashion with her performance. She came ready to play and tried to compete against the powerhouse that is Laganja.

RuPaul: Have you ever been possessed by a demon?

Eureka!: My whole life.

[Everyone laughs]

Laganja, on the other hand, wasn’t leaving that stage without a victory. The second she death-dropped from her opening entrance reveal, the battle was called and the war was waged.

Leg raises, death-drops, backbends, outfit reveals, flips, and fierce looks were brought to the main stage in a fierce number. Laganja served everything we needed in this performance. She showed the world why she is a lip-sync asssasin.

She won this lip-sync hands-down. Even Trinity knew that Laganja snatched victory from her.

Silky Nutmeg Ganache getting the chop was shocking; not because of the editing (which dropped a few clues it was her), but because of how up in the air the possibilities were.

The queens could’ve voted anyone between Ginger, Jan, A’Keria, and Silky. Based on their reactions, the queens all had different ideas of who should go home, and even when it seemed like a tight race between A’Keria and Silky, the results were unpredictable.

During Season 11, I got a lot of hate from a lot of different areas. I didn’t get it just from the fans; I got it from colleagues, promoters that wanted to cancel my bookings. So, getting the opportunity to come back to the competition, I had a vision of how I wanted to look. A vision for how I wanted to be perceived. And, I am in my head about everything. I’m just off and worried.
Silky Nutmeg Ganache

RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars should utilize this tactic again. Having only two people at the bottom is less eventful when there’s an obvious queen who could go home. Multiple possible queens makes it exciting and gives the queens a chance to flex their gameplay muscles.

Silky is leaving with the redemption she sought and a reveal that made RuPaul gasp. If she does get the chance to return, Silky needs to push herself harder to be the queen who could be in the Drag Race Hall of Fame.

Last Thoughts From The Werk Room:

• Trinity needs to keep her ego in check. She’s right about getting the recognition of winning from her fellow queens, but she should’ve approached it in a different way.
  
  
   
• Pandora’s runway outfit was terrible. That look wasn’t a redemption at all.
  
  
   
• Silky getting hit by Laganja’s thrown outfit was a blink and you’ll miss it moment. Rewind the tapes to see the shock on everyone’s faces.
  
  
   
• The queens need more time to campaign. Just imagine how epic the voting could’ve been had they all broken away to campaign for votes and make moves.

Now, over to you, Drag Race fans.

What did you think of “Side Hustles”?

Did the lip-sync between Trinity K. Bonet and Laganja Estranja blow you away? Are you surprised that Silky got the chop? Which commercial did you like the best?

Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Justin Carreiro is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.