Previously on RuPaul’s Drag Race, Ru threw the gayest ball ever where the queens battled it out to make the top four with Shea cementing her place as favourite to snatch the crown, taking out her fourth victory while Alexis and Peppermint landed in the bottom two, where Pep continued her run as a lip sync assassin, sending Alexis out of the competition in fifth place.
The queens returned to the werk room, heartbroken for Alexis given how much she wanted to make it to the top three while Sasha took the words right out of my mouth – did we kiss? – by acknowledging it was well and truly her time to go. Peppermint vowed to rock the next challenge as hard as she good, while continuing her campaign for Miss Congeniality by congratulating Shea on her record equally victory.
Despite the fact that her win now seems quite inevitable, Sasha is still feeling confident she can take the crown. As does Trinity.
The next day, the queens returned to the werk room for their final challenge which my girl Michelle arrived to introduce. She tasked them with writing a verse for RuPaul’s ‘Category Is,’ perform the song and dance on the mainstage … and appear on Ru’s podcast, What’s the Tee?
Getting down to work, Sasha wasn’t feeling confident in her ability to rap, Shea and Peppermint seemed to be fairing better while the other queens questioned whether Trinity would be able to make it, given that she can’t sing or dance. Given how frequently she slays, I would not count her out just yet, henny.
Shea joined Todrick to lay down the track and sounded like Isaac Hayes as a chipmunk, for a deep fast-forwarded voice while Peppermint was first to join Ru and Michelle for their podcast, completely slaying with her honesty and charm. Trinity struggled in the recording studio, earning Todrick’s sass though I (maybe deludedly so) feel it was more the edit, rather than her actual performance.
Sasha dropped by Ru and Michelle to spill the tee, where she too did a really good job sharing her relationship with her parents, before Michelle and Ru brought out the squatty potty which honestly is the true star of their podcast. And that is no shade to them, it truly sounds amazing.
Peppermint joined Todrick in the studio, where struggled at the start before completely slaying … though given it is what she does, that was kind of expected. Over with What’s the Tee? Shea joined Michaelle and Ru, opening up about her childhood and speaking in tongues, which is far more charming than it sounds.
Todrick wasn’t loving Sasha’s performance in the studio before she clapped back at him and told him that she is a different kind of drag queen, though after taking his advice she slayed the recording. Trinity then rounded out the podcast segment and opened up about her relationship with the grandmother who raised her, and it was heartbreaking. I mean, give Ru another damn Emmy already.
The next day, the queens joined Todrick on the mainstage to learn the choreography where Peppermint and Shea completely slayed, while Sasha and Trinity struggled to get it down. While Todrick wasn’t feeling confident in Trinity’s ability to learn the moves, her determination alone makes me feel quite confident that she’ll make it through to the finale.
Despite how it looked earlier in the episode, all of the queens completely slayed the performance. Completely, plus three. On the runway, all of the queens looked fantastic. They all spoke beautifully telling their younger yourself why it gets better and to love themselves.
I’m not crying, YOU’RE CRYING.
After they all received universal praise from the judges, they were asked why they and not their competitors deserved to win. Peppermint and Sasha remained on brand and didn’t throw shade at the other queens and focused on their unique perspectives. Shea lied and said she struggled more than anyone, despite only landing in the bottom once while Trinity was proud of herself and felt that she deserved the win.
While the girls untucked, the judges continued their universal praise. The queens then assembled for the final lip sync, where again, they all slayed … meaning Ru really had no other choice than to mix-up the rules and have a top four this season.
I was completely shook while watching and turned to my dear friend Bianca Del Rio – who I was watching the episode with – and asked why they couldn’t pull this for Chi Chi last season, or Detox in season 5? While she agreed, she gave me hella sass about it, which is obviously on brand.
Bincs and I have long been friends, having met while co-starring in the first regional production of Rent in New Orleans. We quickly bonded over our passion for hiding our kindness behind a snarky exterior, though neither of us noticed that in the other since we were talking so much smack. That is until I whipped up a big old plate of my Biangers Del Rio and Mash.
While we are always hurling acerbic remarks at one another, we can always agree in the majesty of a big, fat sausage. Add some Gabriel Mash and some onion gravy and I’ll sing – the theme to the hit cartoon Bangers & Mash – like I’ve just seen the other sausage.
Enjoy!
Biangers Del Rio and Mash
Serves: 4-6.
Ingredients
1kg thick pork sausages
olive oil
2 onions, thinly sliced
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour
1 cup beef stock
salt and pepper, to taste
Gabriel Mash
Method
Heat a lug of oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions to the saucepan and sweat for about ten minutes. Add the butter and stir until melted before adding the flour and cooking for a minute or so. Slowly pour in the stock while stirring until combined, bring to the boil, reduce heat to low, season and simmer while you do the rest.
Start making your mash now.
While those are going, add a third burner to the mix and bring a frying pan to heat. Once scorching, reduce heat to low and cook the sausages for about ten minutes, flipping every couple of minutes so that all the sides are browned. Once down, turn off the pan but leave it over the heat to rest and finish the cooking – I get super paranoid with a thick sausage.
Once the mash is done and the gravy has thickened, serve the sausages on top of the mash before drowning with gravy before devouring.
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