This article discusses sexual assault.

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Hats off to Ru and the gang, because this week’s ep was a return to form that left us begging, cap in hand, for more just like it. Off the top of my head, I have to say it was a combination of an authentic performance challenge, a moving main stage revelation, and a super fun runway. A real hat-trick, you might say. Which ever producer came up with this week’s challenges, my advice to Ru is: “keep that advisor, honey.” Don’t agree? Don’t h@ me.

“I Do Declare”

Before we get into the ins and outs of this week’s challenge, let’s talk about the most significant moment of this week’s ep. Blair St Clair landed in the bottom three this week after being overshadowed by her big personality teammates, The Vixen and Miz Cracker. On the runway, the youthful looking queen opened up and revealed that her sugary sweet demeanour is a mechanism she uses to help cope with being the victim of an on-campus rape incident that formed her first sexual experience.

Very public disclosures of the sorts of things that we are ‘supposed’ to feel ashamed of are incredibly brave. They become lifelines to others who have experienced similar things, making it easier for others to bring up their own traumas, or in the very least feel ‘seen’ by association. Blair’s use of the word ‘rape’ on the main stage was the first time she’d used that term to describe what had happened to her, which is a necessary form of empowerment and speaks to oft-employed deescalation of how rape survivors sometimes talk about their experiences.

On speaking up about her rape, Blair says that she knows “that it is my job now, especially with the platform I have been given”. Beyond serving as a powerful reminder that sexual violence remains a ceaseless, world-wide epidemic, Blair’s public disclosure also shines a light on the endemic issue of on-campus rape and sexual assault. In the US, one in 5 women and one in 16 men are sexually assaulted while at university. Here in Australia, it feels like we’ve only barely begun scratching the surface of this issue, which has to date include some egregious cover-ups from elite colleges and the powerful old boy culture that leaks into most corridors of power.

Looking at Blair’s runway disclosure from a RPDR theory perspective, it’s interesting to observe how a more mature version of the show handled it. Back in the old days, there was sort of an unspoken rule that if you paid the piper with your trauma, you’d live to fight another day (see: Roxxxy’s iconic bus stop abandonment story; Monica Beverly Hills’ admitting “I’m a transgender woman”).

Five seasons later, the show has found a way to sensitively incorporate public disclosures of sensitive/traumatic experiences, without unnecessarily dialling up the reality TV drama. Blair still went home this week which, based on her runway, performance in the challenge, and lip sync, was deserved. The Vixen turned out an assassination on the main stage with that Diana Ross lip sync. Meanwhile, you could set your clock by how this will play out with some elements of the fandom, who might easily cast Blair in the role of victim and use her as a cypher for their anti-Vixen “it’s not racist, it’s just a preference” sentiments.

Of course, the racist white gay men in my bar booed The Vixen after her lip sync performance.

— Hispanic Pixie Dream Girl (@mathewrodriguez) April 27, 2018

The Challenge

This week, Ru challenged the queens to come up with an alternative to capitalism. Just kidding, she enforced the fuck out of it and made us all complicit in its endless stranglehold on our happiness and wellbeing by making her employees shill her latest venture, RuPaul’s Drag Con.

Drag Con is Ru being crafty as fuck. Basically, it monetises Drag Race Twitter by putting all the queens in a huge convention centre and charging fans to see their favourite queens (merchandise) up close. It’s been in the news lately after season two winner Tyra “I put the Amazon in Glamazon” Sanchez was banned from attending after threatening the punters. Girl, take it easy.

This week’s challenge had the queens staging mock-Drag Con panels. Unlike almost every other performance challenge, this one required the queens to be entertaining and charming in a low key, authentic manner with no prizes for being over the top or farcical. This was a genuine rehearsal for what life would be like as a Ru girl and a ‘brand’. After ten seasons of OTT face slaps, hammy acting, and….BEAVER, it made for a refreshing change.

Here I must legally acknowledge that Eureka O’Hara won for a second week in a row, and in terms of her arc, it was a deserving win. Ms Moon Boot from season nine is displaying growth, especially in the kindness she showed this week to Kameron and Monet, who nobody else wanted to work with. Narrative-wise, I think Monet needed the win and it could have kickstarted her back into the competition, but Eureka did well and I am not so blinded by my eye rolling that I cannot see it. I will say, however, that part of the reason she’s growing on us is that when Eureka makes it to the top, she is kept out of Untucked for longer and thus can’t start unnecessary dramas. So in a way, I guess we are both right, gentle reader.

The Runway

This week’s runway theme was “Hats Entertainment!”, with Miz Cracker’s Hairliza Doolittle shtick a win for me. Also, Asia O’Hara wearing 95% of Sweden’s GDP with that IKEA fuckery on her head was one for the herstory books. Let’s take a look at some of the top (hat) looks, and those that were serving a brimful of ashy on the 45.

Who Is Going To Jujubee The Winner?

Numbers-wise. Eureka is the first queen to win two challenges, and she is quickly endearing herself with fans thanks to some growth and character development. Monique and Cracker have to get out of the gate with some wins sometime soon, and keep your eyes on this season’s grand matriarch, Asia. Surely Kameron’s days are numbered, but I feel like I’ve been saying that for weeks now.

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RuPaul’s Drag Race is fast-tracked from the US on Stan. Read more Drag Race recaps here.

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Nic Holas has written for The Guardian, Sydney Morning Herald, Archer Magazine, and Hello Mr. You can find him on Twitter @nicheholas, or in his role as co-founder of HIV movement The Institute of Many.

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If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au. In an emergency, call 000.