Previously on All Stars the queens appeared in Ru’s Judge Judy fantasy hosted by the no. 1 Jersey girl around, Michelle Visage. Fun Fact: I told Ben that he should make a movie about her with Jen. I apologise profusely. Manila and Monique once again stole the show, with Naomi’s fake tan and Valentina’s trash a close third and fourth. Tragically poor Latrice and Monét once again struggled, leaving Manila and Monique to battle out to save their friends. Despite a strong lip sync, Monique snatched victory and tragically said farewell to Latrice, despite everyone believing she was too beloved to be eliminated.

The mood was understandably somber when the queens returned in the Werk Room, with Manila feeling guilty to have let down her sister once again. Monique was heartbroken to have to send Latrice home, though felt that Monét had the strongest report card and as such she made the right decision. And well, Naomi was just proud her wig stayed on. On the flip side Manila was wracked with guilt, not only for not being able to save her dear friend but also because if she had won, she would have eliminated the girl that had been performing better and had to go with the heart. Monét was obviously unhappy about it and felt Manila was shady, but come on … its Latrila. She had no real choice. Though damn Manila, if you fall in the bottom – you in danger gurl!

The next day the queens returned to learn that this week they aren’t only mourning the loss of Latrice, but also dear, iconic Lady Bunny who they will be roasting at her funeral. Yes, yes, yes – may she roast in peace. Given Monique is the current champ, she got to select the roast’s running order, handing Monét first position, Trinity second, Monique third, Naomi fourth, Valentina fifth and Manila closing the show. In an attempt to bury her as she has the most pressure.

Oh and Monét is a funeral crasher.

Valentina was feeling nervous ahead of Ru’s walkthrough, though given her joke’s punchline was the scent of a wet cum rag, I feel she is in danger. Monét was feeling nervous about opening the show but was desperate to redeem herself after last week, and destroy Bunny in the process. Ru reminded Valentina that while she was safe in the season 9 roast, is wasn’t necessarily good and she really needed to work extra hard. And having worked opposite Lady Bunny doesn’t seem to be helping. Ru congratulated Trinity for being funny, however she couldn’t move past the fact she landed in the bottom three for the season 9 roast. Manila proved she had nothing to be worried about, cracking Ru up in her walkthrough with inside jokes since she knows Bun Bun.

And apparently Naomi still doesn’t exist. Nor does Monique.

Monét arrived for coaching from guest judge SNL’s Cecily Strong and while she started soft, Ms Strong’s advice pushed her in the right direction. Valentina arrived with her three jokes, all of which were way harsh and as such Cecily felt she needed to tone them done. Monique was near perfection channelling a preacher, however she didn’t really leave Cecily any space to give advice. Trinity was confusing as hell, Naomi seemed confident but didn’t have much content and Manila seemed to be stuck in her head, though Cecily gave her a pep talk to own closing the show.

Elimination day rolled around and Valentina was no more confident than yesterday, leading to a discussion about how people will be voting should they win the challenge. Monét was obviously vowing to stick to whoever did the worst, while Naomi threw shade at Manila until she finally cracked and explained that her choice to get rid of Monét if she had won was never a vote to get her out, but one to save her dearest friend. And those decisions will get harder each week, as she is getting closer to every one of the girls. Which Monét finally listened to.

Manila then went one step further that when she gets the chance next, she will make her own decision. Which obviously made everyone nervous.

The roast arrived and by that, Lady Bunny was wheeled out in her coffin and Monét kicked off the show slaying the house down and making the dearly departed Bunny giggle in her coffin. Trinity bombed from the very joke and struggled to get the rest out, Monique’s preacher character brought life back to the show with boob and load jokes, not that Valentina was impressed. Poor Naomi couldn’t land any jokes, but she was adorable and laughed at them even though nobody else was. Valentina started off strongly blaming the grieving telenovela friend, though it went downhill extremely quickly. And was so bad it almost became good. Manila arrived in full mourning mode and completely snatched the show, roasting the room and having everyone in stitches.

Then Lady Bunny came back to life, jumped out of her coffin Shangela style, threw shade at Bianca Del Rio and the remaining contestants before re-dying Vanjie style.

On the runway Monét looked stunning serving sacred heart clergywoman realness, Trinity came as a beautiful angel, Monique brought another heart, though not as good as Monét. Naomi paid glorious homage to Prince, Valentina served angel trapped in a fishing net realness and Manila served Greek Goddess realness and was beat for one too. The judges loved everything Monét served up this week, Trinity’s look was praised however the judges felt she overthought the roast – and therefore bombed – the judges went her roast character though distracted from some of the jokes and they weren’t sure about her runway look. Naomi’s Prince look was universally beloved, though the judges didn’t feel it could overcome her shitty roast. Valentina’s look was praised, though her roast was roasted and Manila received praise for roast to runway. With that Monét and Manila obviously landed in the top two, however in a gag of the season the remaining girls all landed in the bottom.

The queens returned to the Werk Room to deliberate with Monét thrilled that she is the only one safe from Manila’s potential wrath. Trinity was quick to point out her killer track record, Monique pointed out that she has won two challenge, though this is now her second time in the bottom. Naomi felt sick given she has been coasting by as safe all season and Valentina argued that while she has been in the bottom, she didn’t deserve to be there and she feels she was very funny this week. Not understanding the difference between laughing at and with people. She then flagged Monique and Naomi as the worst and it is clear, she is aligned with Trinity.

Naomi pulled Monét aside to highlight her consistency, in the hopes of saving herself. Despite Valentina having her back, Trinity suggested that Manila send Valentina home, however Manila thought that sending home her bigger threat in Trinity may make the most sense. Valentina continued to wear Delusion by Jinkx, telling Monét she was not the worst and Naomi reminded Manila about her consistency. Naomi and Monique got together to talk about their fear if Manila snatches the lip sync, confident that Monét will send Valentina home who they believe did the worst. Speaking of which, she went and reminded Manila how well she has performed. Despite no one agreeing with her. By the end of it, neither Manila or Monét really wanted to win as it’s all too stressful and hard.

Both queens owned the Aretha lip-sync from the very first bar, serving semi-synchronised choreography and hitting every damn syllable. They kiki-ed, wagged tongues and TBH gave me life, which made their double win completely justified. Despite both winning, Ru announced that no one will be going home tonight and All Stars rules have been suspended until further notice. They were then sent to the Werk Room to await further instruction, where they found a message from Ru announcing they will be lip syncing for their life, life, life, life … AND THEN Lady Bunny appeared behind the mirror to point out that Jasmine, Farrah, Gia and Latrice are back, back, back again and those four life-s feel very ominous.

As soon as I saw the shocking though totally not shocking ending, I turned around to Emmy Nominee Raven and understood why she pushed so hard to drop by for this week episode!

“I thought you’d need to have a back-up ready to go, and who better than the queen of the runner-ups?” she said with a sly grin.

That is why I love Raven. She is a total icon, understands that she is the true winner of season 2 since Tyra Sanchez is a total monster and most importantly, she doesn’t mind joking at her own expense. Did I also mention she is an Emmy Nominee … that was also robbed of a victory? In any event, it was such a delight to see my dear Raven – non-elimination episode or not – and share a warm, hearty Ravenison and Mushroom Pie to deal with the miserable(wish) weather Brisbane is living through ATM.

 

 

I know what you’re thinking – venison? Is this sicko expecting me to cook and eat Bambi’s mother? Well yes, but if you’re really not game – get it? Classic – you could sub out the beef. But then you’re missing out on most of the rich, glorious flavour that works so beautifully with the earthy mushrooms and the tang of ale. Obviously this is my first time working with venison given it isn’t the most Brisbane friendly meat, so I stuck pretty closely to Jamie Oliver’s recipe and I’m glad I did.

Just give it a chance, ok? I promise you will enjoy it!

 

 

Ravenison and Mushroom Pie
Serves: 4.

Ingredients
olive oil
2 onions, peeled and sliced
1 tbsp butter
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
2 sticks celery, sliced
500g button mushrooms, sliced
1 kg stewing venison, diced
a few sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves picked and chopped
a few sprigs fresh thyme leaves
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp gin
500ml ale, preferably Scottish
1 sheet all-butter puff pastry
1 egg, whisked

Method
Heat a lug of olive oil in a dutch oven over low heat. Add the onion and sweat for 10 minutes, or until soft and sweet. Up to medium heat and add the butter, garlic, carrot, celery and mushrooms, and cook stirring for a minute or two. Add the venison, rosemary, thyme and bay leaves with a good whack of salt and pepper and flour. Cook for a couple of minutes, or until coated and the flour is claggy.

Pour in the gin and ale and stir until the flour has dissolved. Bring to the boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for an hour or so, or until thick and reduced.

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Once thick and gelatinous, transfer the stew to a pie dish, cover with the puff pastry and score a couple of steam holes before brushing with the egg and placing in the oven to bake for 30 minutes, or until golden and crisp.

Serve immediately with a heap of Gabriel Mash and devour.

 

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