Recap + Ranking: RuPaul's Drag Race Season 9 Episode 7

What an episode. In many ways good and in many ways bad. Let's dive straight in.

After Cynthia's elimination, Pep tries to give her a fond sendoff, but Trinity shuts it down and stakes her claim as the new official cucu. I love Trinity. In a first, Valentina gets a little shady in her confessional towards Alexis, and while I don't necessarily disagree, I was surprised and worried that Val might be getting a little bitter. Nina says she will let down her guard from now on, and I really hope that's true, otherwise it will be her downfall. Sasha does a funny Farrah impersonation, and Trinity painfully rips the black censor bars off of Valentina. Finally, it cuts to a bizarre shot of Trinity's butt before going to the theme sequence.

Red alert: we have she-mail! I'm glad to see it again, and Ru didn't disappoint, delivering a funny one-liner: "Freeze you honky bitch!". Ru announces that we will rewind to 1993, then threatens Farrah when she says that's the year she was born - "I'm gonna fucking... fuck you up!". As someone who was born several years after Farrah, I worry about what Ru would say to me. So the challenge is announced to be an acting challenge of Beverly Hills 9021-HO. Since Peppermint survived the lip sync last week, she gets to assign the roles. After Aja states that she is happy with whatever role but that there's a couple she'd prefer, she goes off when she doesn't get either of the picks. Shea, probably noticing that it's a bigger and better role for her, smartly offers to swap with Aja, which Peppermint enforces. 

During the shoot, Nina reverts back to her old ways and doesn't handle the criticism from the guest judges - Jennie Garth and Tori Spelling - well. We also see Aja and, to a lesser degree, Sasha, struggling with their parts. On the other hand, Trinity is absolutely hysterical,  Shea is great, Farrah, Peppermint and Valentina are pretty strong, and Alexis starts off a bit subdued but takes the critique and steps it up. We get an awkward making out scene between Aja and Peppermint, which is a bit much.

In the sad moment for the episode, Trinity reveals that her mum died when she was 8 and was raised by her grandparents. Sadly, her grandmother got sick with cancer when she was 16 and died 2 years later, so Trinity dropped out of high school and taught herself in order to look after her grandmother. It really is touching and offers a newfound respect and perspective to Trinity. However, then everyone else jumps in, and Shea reveals her dad, and Sasha her mum, have also passed away from cancer. I understand that it is an important topic of discussion, but the queens have already had a lengthy talk about cancer this season, so it feels like a retread.

Cut to the runway, and Ru comes out in a very nice velvet (or velour) dress, and her makeup is a bit better, though her padding is still ridiculous. It is announced that the runway theme is "big hair everywhere".

Good

Passable

Bad

Best: Aja
Worst: Trinity

This was a pretty good runway. The worst one was Trinity's, her outfit and hair were horrendous. Aja looked incredible, for the first time her makeup was really great. She has been getting better and better throughout the season and she finally looked amazing tonight, which is why it was such a shame to see her go. But I'm getting ahead of myself. 
We see the acting scene and it is very good. Trinity and Shea are the clear standouts, with Trinity being a cut above. On the other hand, Nina and Aja floundered. Trinity is rightfully declared the winner of the challenge, while Aja and Nina are delegated to the bottom 2. The lip sync is okay, Nina does better and Aja is sent home. It was a shame to see Aja get increasingly better and then leave once she truly gets there, but it is understandable.

Ranking
By default, the eliminated queen is last on the ranking. Ranking is based upon overall performance.
9. Aja
8. Farrah - She did well in this challenge but it is not enough to push her up the ranks. Next challenge is a roast, so I think her time will be up.
7. Peppermint - Like Farrah, she was good this challenge, but unless she secures a win she's going home soon.
6. Nina - Unfortunately it has been all downhill from the first episode for Nina. Hopefully she'll redeem herself soon but if not, she's going home.
5. Sasha - I thought Sasha was a guaranteed top 3, but she's getting overtaken by other people. Maybe she won't be in the finale after all.
4. Alexis - She did okay this episode, not a top performer but perfectly okay. They're definitely editing her to look bad, if not the villain then at least just annoying. It makes me concerned.
3. Valentina - It's bizarre how it feels like Valentina is coasting even though she's consistently in the top. I think she's very good but she's not outdoing herself like others are. It doesn't matter though because she's top 3 for sure.
2. Trinity - I'm so happy Trinity won her second challenge. She really deserved this win, and I think this pretty well cements her as at the very least top 5, if not top 3.
1. Shea - Shea, again, killed it this week. At the moment, she's my pick to win. I'd ultimately prefer Trinity just because we all thought she was going home first, but Shea deserves it just as much.

Recap + Ranking: RuPaul's Drag Race Season 9 Episode 6

I want to apologise that this is out a few weeks late, I've been so busy with uni work that I haven't had time to put together any recaps, since they take me quite a while. Another disclaimer: I understand that succeeding episodes have happened as I'm writing this, but I'm doing my best to remember how I felt at the time of watching it and not taking into account how I feel about certain queens now. With that said, let's get into it.

So this episode was Snatch Game. If I had written this recap a few weeks ago (when I was supposed to) I would have said that this Snatch Game was average. But since I've gotten my brother into Drag Race recently, I've rewatched all the seasons, and I have to say that I reckon this is up there with one of the best. There's usually a few cringe-worthy terrible performances, but there was only one this season. Maybe that has to do with the fact that this season's was much shorter than normal, I'm not sure.

After Eureka's shock eviction, the girls are understandably pretty shaken up. Farrah, upset about her underperformance thus far, calls Nina out on her attitude, but quickly retreats. They make amends almost immediately. The editors tried to play this up as much more of a big deal than it was, it was clear that Farrah was just taking her frustration out on Nina. 

The return to form of the last episode was short-lived, as there is no mini challenge or she-mail this week, which is a shame because I think this season is the best Ru has looked in the she-mail segment. 

Skipping straight to Snatch Game, the contestants were:
Trinity - Amanda Lepore
Sasha - Marlene Dietrich
Aja - Alyssa Edwards
Nina - Jasmine Masters
Farrah - Gigi Gorgeous
Alexis - Liza Minelli
Peppermint - Nene Leakes
Valentina - Miss Universe Colombia (Ariadna Gutiérrez) 
Shea - Naomi Campbell
Cynthia - Sofia Vergara

The good performances were from Sasha, Nina, Alexis and Shea. Sasha appeared to be nervous but still had a lot of funny jokes. Nina was hilarious as Jasmine and cleverly answered the questions in her own way. I'm not familiar with Liza but I still found Alexis' performance funny. Shea's Naomi was hysterical and if it was based on performance alone, Shea was my favourite. Valentina's performance was made to look better than I think it was, like her cocaine answer was dumb, and if anyone else had said it they would have played the shady sound effects. However, I did enjoy her performance. Trinity was only shown once so it's hard to tell how she did. She looked exactly like her, and she had a couple of jokes that landed so I'd say she did fine. Aja was also only shown once, but it wasn't hard to tell that she did terribly, in my opinion anyway. I think that if you're going to do a character that has already been done, you need to do it better, and Violet's Alyssa was definitely better than Aja's. I mean, Aja couldn't even do a tongue pop! Finally, the bad performances were Farrah, Peppermint and Cynthia. Farrah's performance wasn't as bad as her character choice; I thought she played a pretty realistic Gigi, but when will these queens learn that you need to play a character with a bigger personality? Peppermint's Nene fell flat, but it was not as abysmal as Cynthia's Sofia. I would say that Cynthia's performance was the worst ever on Snatch Game. It didn't make sense, there wasn't even an attempt to make jokes, she didn't try to look like her. It was bad.

The story this week was Peppermint coming out as trans. I'm very happy for her and glad that she finally felt comfortable enough to share that with all the girls. My only question is, wouldn't at least some of them have already known that? Alexis, Sasha and Aja are also from New York (and the four of them are on that horrible song). But that's beside the point I suppose. The point is that Pep is incredible and brave and deserves to be commended.

The runway theme this week is Night of 1000 Madonnas pt. II. For starters, Ru looked okay this episode. Not as bad as a couple of other times this season. I like whenever she wears a different hair colour, so she gets credit for that. It looks like they're still figuring out her makeup though, and her padding is too much. 

Good

Passable

Best: Valentina
Worst: Cynthia

It seems absurd to me how we've again managed to have double-ups with looks. I can understand somewhat for the Material Girls look, but the Met Gala look is such an oddball that I don't know how two people thought of it. Valentina's was my favourite, it blew me away when I saw it because it was so unexpected. While none of the looks were bad this episode, Cynthia's was close, if only for the beard. Alexis wins the challenge, and I was so happy for her. I thought my prediction had come true and it would again be Farrah v Cynthia, but it was Cynthia and Peppermint up for elimination. I was worried because I love Pep, but she wiped the floor with Cynthia. Her gunshot move was everything, her classic dorky dance moves were great, she nailed it. Cynthia sashayed away, and even though I love her, it was definitely her time.
So that was another pretty good episode. This season is sub-par, and I don't know what's holding it back from being one of the best. This cast is certainly my favourite group of girls yet, so it's not that. Hopefully the season gets better from here. I'm going to watch it regardless, but we need a bit of drama or something. Also, if we could ditch the sob story segment that would be lovely.

Ranking
By default, the eliminated queen is last on the ranking. Ranking is based upon overall performance.

10. Cynthia
9. Farrah - A few episodes ago I said I couldn't stand Farrah. That's definitely not true now, I don't dislike her, but I still think she's got to go next episode. 
8. Aja - I don't know what's up with Aja this season. I, and everyone else, expected her to slay the competition, but she's been coasting by on safe. There's only been one episode so far where she hasn't been safe, and that's because she was in the bottom 2. She needs to step it up if she's to make it to final three. At this point though, I think she's got only a slim chance.
7. Peppermint - I really adore Peppermint. I don't think she'll make it to the top three but I would love her to. Unfortunately, I think our time with her is coming to an end. I was worried when she had the moment this episode because that's usually a sign of a girl going home, but thankfully she slayed the lip sync. She needs to win a challenge soon.
6. Trinity - I'm getting a little concerned. I really enjoy Trinity now but she's slipping down the ranks. She might not have too long left. I thought she had a good chance at making the final three a couple of episodes ago, but now I'm not so sure.
5. Nina - Oh Nina. She's absolutely incredible, but I'm worried about her. Her paranoia is going to ultimately result in her downfall, I can feel it. Every week now I'm nervous for her because I've loved her from the start and I was so happy when she won the first challenge, but now I don't think she's got too long left.
4. Alexis - I was so happy that Alexis finally won a challenge. She's been in the top the past two weeks so she deserved a win. While her performance wasn't personally my favourite, I think she earned it. I'm beginning to wonder though if they're starting to paint her as a bit of a villain, judging by the way she said at the start of the episode how Cynthia, Farrah and Nina need to be cut, and from her Untucked rant last episode. We shall see. I hope not, because I really like her.
3. Sasha - I wonder when Sasha is going to win a challenge on her own. She definitely deserves to win one. Since her only win is shared with Shea, part of me feels like she shouldn't have such a high ranking. But I still think she's top 3 material for sure.
2. Valentina - What can I say about Valentina? She's still slaying as usual. At this point she is almost guaranteed to be in the top 3.
1. Shea - I've really grown to enjoy Shea. I still don't see her being knocked off the top spot. She's definitely going to be in the top 3, unless she royally screws up, which I don't think she will. 

Recap + Ranking: RuPaul's Drag Race Season 9 Episode 5

FINALLY. This episode felt like a return to form for Drag Race: there was a mini challenge, there was pit crew (with two new members, bye Bryce and Miles), Ru looked great, we had a main challenge that was truly worth talking about, AND we had a shock elimination.

The queens enter the work room, and without skipping a beat, Trinity wipes Charlie's message off the mirror, which was very funny. The girls talk about how disappointing it was to see Charlie give up, and it's true; Charlie can give the excuses of her rib (which I don't buy. If she cracked her rib, why didn't we hear about it before?) and not lip syncing in London (which some British people have been quick to deny), but she really just gave up. Then Farrah asks Trinity how it felt to have everyone throw her under the bus (I feel like we need a new term for this). Trinity says that she feels like she should have been in the bottom because she was the leader, not for anything else. Eureka says that's probably why she was in the bottom, which Trinity completely ignores. She is getting more entertaining every episode. In her confessional, Alexis declares that this is now her time to rise to the top, and Nina says she wants to see certain people in the bottom ("sue me").

Ru walks in wearing an amazing suit, and announces the mini challenge - a selfie-taking session with the pit crew. I love dumb fun mini challenges! There are a few standouts - Alexis gets lifted up (with difficulty), Cynthia takes a blurry selfie, and Valentina asks Ru to introduce her as Miss Venezuela  then gets the crew to pose like a "Chola homeboy". Alexis wins, and she gets to assign everyone's role in the main challenge - Kardashian: The Musical. The roles are: Alexis as Kris, Eureka as North West, Cynthia as Kim, Farrah as Kylie, Valentina as Kendall, Aja as Kourtney, Sasha as Lindsay Lohan, Trinity as Paris Hilton, Peppermint as Britney Spears, Shea as Blac Chyna, and Nina as Khloe. Cynthia, Aja, Peppermint and Nina all seem to be unhappy with their roles, but Nina takes it to heart, she keeps talking about it all throughout the episode. Eureka reveals that she is now on crutches because of her injury during the cheerleading challenge in episode 2, which also explains why she was sitting down during the lip sync last week. I have to hand it to her, she has such a positive attitude about it and doesn't let it hinder her performance, something which Nina could learn from.
During rehearsal, Nina doesn't take direction well from Todrick, and again harps on about not being assigned Blac Chyna. We also see Aja struggling with the moves, and then Farrah can't get a patty cake move down.

On elimination day, we see Trinity trying to get along with Eureka and she expresses her admiration for Eureka's positive spirit. Aja is shocked to see her nose has gotten thinner; and Eureka goes up to Sasha and Valentina and apologises for her joke about eating disorders last episode. It feels like a very genuine apology, and makes me feel a bit better about Eureka. Sasha reveals that she was severely anorexic through most of her early 20's, and Valentina shares that she still struggles with an eating disorder, which makes Eureka's seemingly harmless joke directed towards Valentina suddenly a lot more serious. Then, Shea walks up to the group and says that she has also struggled with bulimia in the past. It is yet another raw moment, and despite the premise being formulaic, each moment is an important message to everyone, not just those in the LGBT+ community. 

Ru walks out onto the runway and she looks fantastic for the first time this season. It feels like she finally showed up. The guest judges are Todrick Hall and Meghan Trainor (who is wearing a onesie. On RuPaul's Drag Race. Girl). Ru announces the main challenge and the musical starts up. It is immediately clear that Cynthia doesn't know the words, and she fumbles her way through the entire performance. Peppermint does a great Britney, and Sasha and Trinity do a perfectly fine job at their characters (I do love Trinity's "that's hot"). Alexis does an amazing job at Kris, not only does she look just like her, but she gets her mannerisms down (even though I generally try to avoid anything to do with the Kardashians, I know enough to understand how well Alexis portrayed Kris). Cynthia's Kim is still dreadful, Nina does a surprisingly good Khloe, and Aja does a pretty strong Kourtney. Valentina's Kendall is reasonably good, but Farrah's Kylie is bad, she again fails the simple choreography. Then Shea has a quick standout part as Blac Chyna, and it becomes immediately apparent that the runway will be the determining factor in whether Shea or Alexis will win the challenge. Finally, Eureka's North West is fine, it's not a standout but it isn't bad enough to put her in the bottom. After the musical ends, Ru announces that the runway is "faux fur fabulous".

Good

Passable

Bad

Best: Shea
Worst: Cynthia

I didn't hate Alexis' outfit as much as some people did, but it would have been much better without revealing the dress underneath the coat. Shea is declared the winner (for the second week in a row), while Cynthia and Farrah are the bottom 2. After a pretty lacklustre lip sync (I focused more on Peppermint dancing in the background), someone walks up to the judges table and says something to Ru. At first I thought it was Cynthia, I don't know why. Then Ru says he needs a moment, and walks off the set. At this point, you know something is going to happen other than either Farrah or Cynthia going home. I was thinking it was going to be a double elimination. After Ru comes back, she calls up Eureka, and this immediately means she's going home, but I thought she was going to be disqualified for doing something wrong like William. Instead, Ru tells her that she's spoken with the doctor, and she can't "under good conscience" let her continue in the competition, giving her an open invitation to return to Season 10. It's a very emotional moment. I understand this probably makes me spineless, but my opinion of Eureka immediately changed and I felt really bad for her. It's a horrible way for anyone to go, especially considering her injury occurred while doing a challenge in the competition. After Eureka leaves, Farrah and Cynthia are both declared safe. I was kind of hoping maybe Ru would do a triple elimination and get rid of both of them as well. My prediction is that they'll both be in the bottom two next week. It's only a matter of time before they're both eliminated. 

So that was it for this episode. I said last week I wanted nothing more than for Eureka to go home, but this wasn't the satisfying end I was hoping for. I wanted her to go home because she did terribly in a challenge and was outperformed in the lip sync, but let's hope that she learns from her mistakes and returns next season with a better personality. Next episode is Snatch Game, and, honestly, I'm not expecting a lot from these queens. I think Shea, Sasha, Peppermint and Nina will do very well at whatever characters they're doing, and I'm expecting Cynthia and Farrah in the bottom.

Ranking

By default, the eliminated queen is last on the ranking. Ranking is based upon consideration of a holistic view of previous performance and the way they are presented in the storyline and editing. 
This week the ranking has changed a little. Before it was based on who I objectively think is doing the best; however, I'm now basing it on statistics: amount of wins, amount of highs, amount of lows and amount of times in the bottom two. Looking back at past seasons, I discovered that every single winner has had the most challenge wins. In seasons where the winner had the same amount of wins as another queen, the winner had more highs, less lows and less times in the bottom two. There's only one season where the winner was absolutely evenly matched with another contestant, I believe it was Raja and Manila. What I'm trying to say is, I think this is a good indication of who will take the crown.

11. Eureka
10. Cynthia - Cynthia is one lucky queen. If Eureka wasn't sent home, I'm sure she'd be gone. Her time will be up next week surely. She has been underwhelming in the challenges and runway. For a queen who has been given the opportunity to come back, she has not been doing well at all.
9. Farrah - I'm pretty sure Farrah is evenly matched with Cynthia, but I put her above because this is not her second time in this competition.
8. Aja - Aja has been surprisingly underwhelming this season. I'm worried that once the fat (Cynthia and Farrah) is cut off, she'll be the next to go.
7. Peppermint - If I remember correctly, wasn't there a rumour that Peppermint went home first? That certainly didn't come to pass, and I don't see her going soon.
6. Alexis - She made herself pretty unlikeable in this episode. She chose the standout character for herself but then blamed everyone else for her runway look? She needs to get a grip. She's been doing okay so far. The next 5 girls have all won a challenge, so she's the best one who hasn't won a challenge yet, if that's any consolation.
5. Nina - I was worried about her last week, and I'm even more concerned this week. She's great and I think she has a good chance of at least being in the top 4, if not the top 3. But she needs to get out of her head if she is to do so.
4. Trinity - Like I said before, we all underestimated Trinity, and I don't think she's going anytime soon.
3. Sasha - Though I've felt like she has faded into the background a little bit so far, statistically she's doing well. It's a bit hard for me to fully consider her win an actual win, since it was paired with Shea, but they both brought it last episode, so she deserves it.
2. Valentina - I still can't fully get behind Valentina. I feel like she's putting on a facade and we're not seeing the real her. That being said, I still like her. At this point, I feel like she's an almost guarantee for top 3.
1. Shea - I said it last week, I feel like Shea just got started and now she's going to be unstoppable. So far, she's proving me right. I would love for her to win the next challenge so she can be the first queen to win 3 challenges in a row.

Recap + Ranking: RuPaul's Drag Race Season 9 Episode 3

This episode confirmed my concerns I've had ever since meet the queens: this season might suck. This episode was not great - Ru looked the worst I've ever seen her, poor editing choices resulted in really only 5 queens being shown the entire episode, the challenge had promise but was met with mostly lacklustre performances, and the top 3 and bottom 2 didn't contain the right queens.

Let's start from the beginning. The queens walk in after Jaymes' elimination, Kimora is confused about why she was in the bottom, and Trinity is gunning for Valentina to win this week's challenge (immediately revealing that she will either win or be in the bottom 2). After Ru announces the week's challenge, it is soon clear that the bottom 3 and winner will consist of Aja, Farrah, Kimora and Trinity. 

We have some irrelevant moments (Valentina's eyebrows, Trinity's chocolate starfish and Cynthia's cucu explanation) that only make the episode feel like a slog to get through (which is impressive, considering it is under 40 minutes). It isn't until the discussion about Pulse that it feels like something important is finally happening. It is a very frank and genuine moment that doesn't feel manipulated by the producers in any way. Given that Drag Race is now on VH1, this discussion could really open the eyes of some people who may have underestimated the significance of the massacre to the LGBT+ community.

Okay so the runway. 
Good

Passable

Bad

You know it's not a great episode when one of the most interesting things is the judges. I loved the judges this episode. From their reactions:

To their critiques:
"Every year, Ru and Michelle tell people 'you cannot come out here with a piece of fabric wrapped around your waist', and I'm no seamstress, but that looks like a piece of fabric wrapped around your waist." Where was THIS Todrick on All Stars?

But easily the best part of the entire episode was when Michelle CAME for Kimora. 
(By the way, what on earth was Kimora talking about with her padding?)
The second best part was when no one laughed at Ru's joke.

After the deliberation, we find out that Aja and Kimora are in the bottom 2 (it should have been Farrah and Kimora, with Farrah going home), and Trinity is declared the winner (which is definitely well-deserved). I thought Nina and Shea should have been in the top as well, but I understand there can only be a few. 
Aja completely slayed the lip sync while Kimora awkwardly stumbled around on stage and fumbled words. In the end, it was the end for Kimora, who left pretty gracefully for someone who was considered before the season started to be the villain.

So that's it for a pretty lacklustre episode. We can only hope that the season gets more interesting than this.

Ranking
By default, the eliminated queen is last on the ranking. Ranking is based upon consideration of a holistic view of previous performance and the way they are presented in the storyline and editing. 

13. Kimora Blac

12. Farrah Moan - I'm sick of Farrah. I was never a fan of her but now she's grating on me. She absolutely should have been in the bottom 2 this episode. If she doesn't go home next I'm going to be shocked. I'm sick of the way she whines and complains her way through each episode, and the more I see her, the less beautiful I think she is. She's got to go.

11. Cynthia Lee Fontaine - Like I've said before, if you get brought back, you need to prove why you deserve to be back, and I'm just not seeing it with her.

10. Aja - I didn't realise Aja was wearing chaps until the judges said so, I thought she was wearing a bodysuit with a bizarre lopsided pattern on the front. Her look was bad, her makeup is consistently rough, and her attitude in Untucked was not good. She's a fierce lipsyncher, but she's going to need to step up her game if she wants to make it farther. 

9. Sasha Velour - Sasha's look was fine, but you've got a problem if I think your sidekick is more interesting than your runway look. She has faded into the background after her strong opening in episode 1. I understand we're only on episode 3, but if she doesn't step it up and show why she's here, she may be in danger of going home.

8. Charlie Hides - Charlie did a good job this episode, I wouldn't have been surprised to see her in the top. She was one of the only people who actually looked like a princess, and her sidekick was enjoyable. She moves up a few rankings for me for her performance this episode, but based on an overall view of performance this season, she's still far from the best.

7. Eureka - Eureka has consistently done reasonably well so far, but tonight she wasn't great, so that knocks her down a few places. Again, I have to give her credit for helping out Farrah with her outfit.

6. Alexis Michelle - Alexis is still kind of middle-of-the-road. She's done well but not great so far. I really enjoyed her outfit and sidekick this episode, but I don't see her as one of the strongest contenders, at least not yet.

5. Nina Bo'Nina Brown - Like I said before, I thought Nina deserved to be in the top (I'd probably swap her out for Peppermint). Last episode and this one, she faded into the background during most of the episode but once she hits that runway, she's such a presence, you have to pay attention to her. It'll be interesting to see how she can handle (in fact, how all of them can handle) an acting challenge, which I really hope is coming up, because so far, we haven't seen much that shows their talent other than runway.

4. Shea Coulee - Shea had my absolute favourite look this episode. I thought her dress was gorgeous, I loved the huge mermaid tail at the bottom, I don't think I've seen one that wide before. I didn't really understand what was going on with the midsection but that's fine. Unless she really slips up one episode, I'll be surprised if she's not in the top 3 (even though I put her at number 4 this episode).  

3. Peppermint - I read weeks ago that Peppermint was going to be the first to go home. As soon as she walked into the work room the first episode I thought that was impossible, and here we are at episode 3 with her shaping up to be a strong contender for top 3. Her runway look wasn't my favourite and I didn't necessarily think she should have been in the top, but she still did well.

2. Valentina - I didn't care for Valentina's outfit, but I LOVED her makeup, she looked so beautiful. With the way she's being edited, she's either going to make top 3 or royally screw something up and go home. There's something about her that I still can't connect to, I feel like she hides behind a facade, and there's something about her that scares me a little, especially with her villain look this episode.

1. Trinity Taylor - If you had told me after I saw meet the queens that Trinity was going to make the top of my list on episode 3, I would have said you were crazy. She has been my biggest turn around this season. I started off disliking her, but now I'm rooting for her. I like her, she seems genuine and fun, and I love how all the fans (including me) underestimated her and now she's one of the strongest contenders. I still don't think she'll win, but I also thought she'd go home first, so you never know.