RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE S14E9 “Menzeses”: A Double Shantay & Two Frontrunners Bust Through

For the second time this season, nobody has gone home. The first time was a couple of weeks ago, when RuPaul thought everyone did so well that there were no Bottoms and we had a Top Two, à la All Stars. And this week, there certainly was a Bottom Two but we were given a double shantay, where the two Bottom queens killed the lip sync so splendidly that Ru couldn’t decide who did better. We are nine episodes into the season and there are still eight queens! There’s a lot to wrap one’s head around so I suppose we should get into it.

Prepping For DragCon

RuPaul enters the workroom and we get right into the mini-challenge, which hardly needs anything mentioned beyond a quick summary: they all got into “quick drag” in order to do funny poses in front of a screen so they can “photobomb” random pictures of celebrities. Willow ends up winning the $2,500 cash prize for the mini-challenge and also the power to choose her team for the maxi challenge. So what’s the maxi challenge?

In this episode, the teams will continue the tradition of being fake panelists for “RuPaul’s DragCon”, a convention for all things drag and RuPaul’s Drag Race. DragCon finally makes its return to Los Angeles this May and what’s cool about this challenge is that it’s one of the few challenges on the show that actually translates to something the queens will certainly do, which is to sit on some kind of panel at DragCon!

The very first DragCon maxi challenge was back in season 10 where the different topics were wigs, makeup, and body – all topics that relate to being in drag. This episode, however, has just one main topic – menzeses, or simply, men. Willow’s choices for her team are DeJa, Camden, and Angeria. This leaves Bosco, Jorgeous, Jasmine, and Daya on the other team which immediately spells big trouble as Daya is not happy to be stuck on a tea with Jasmine, who she says is “like an energy vampire”. While Jasmine has butted heads with many queens this season (Kornbread, Maddy, and now Daya) I’d say that this is a pretty harsh critique of her that only adds to Daya’s reputation for being this season’s villain (barely).

Each team is given a bevy of sub-topics in relation to “menzeses” and they must choose a moderator to keep things going, which end up being Bosco and DeJa. What’s interesting is that Jasmine said that she wanted to be the moderator and everyone (particularly Daya) basically reject this idea, since Jasmine is a notorious “Chatty Cathy”, a trait that doesn’t work for someone moderating a panel.

On the Bosco team, the subtopics are “You’ve Got Male (Privilege)”, toxic masculinity, and “hot menzeses”, while DeJa’s team talks about hot men, fatherhood, and relationships & sex. During the actual challenge, everyone does supremely well on DeJa’s team, most notably DeJa herself (YES!) and Willow, who beautifully blends real emotions and absurd humor. Angeria and Camden do really well, too but they were slightly outshined by the previous two. On team Bosco, however, it’s Bosco who really commands the stage thanks to her dry humor and her ability to guide the show.

Daya also does a really great job (I absolutely loved her talking about the WWE) but Jorgeous and Jasmine flop in the challenge – Jorgeous trips over her words (it’s expected) and Jasmine can’t find a good rhythm for herself and she rambles like crazy.

“We Have Been Waiting For This”

Making a well-celebrated return as a guest judge, Nicole Byer (Nailed It!, Wipeout) joins RuPaul, Michelle Visage, and Carson Kressley on the judging panel as RuPaul announces the category: “Shoulder Pads”. And to be perfectly honest, DeJa’s Chanel-inspired ’80s suit is the winner of the evening, with everyone else’s looks falling miles behind. Camden’s Nutcracker-inspired look is cute and a lot of the other runway looks look fine but DeJa’s ensemble fits the category so well, I honestly think it should get her the win.

RuPaul declares Camden and Angeria as the safe queens, leaving the rest in either the top or the bottom. DeJa, Bosco, Willow, and Daya get really strong critiques, while Jasmine and Jorgeous are criticized for their panel as Nicole gushes over Jasmine’s runway and Michelle tells Jorgeous that her outfit has big sleeves, not big shoulder pads. The Bottom Two is so obvious but the winner of the episode is less so.

Things get even stickier when we see only good critiques for Daya but then there’s a mention later on during deliberation over her runway look not being that great, which presumably means that Daya is at least in the Bottom Three. That leaves DeJa, Willow, and Bosco in the Top, with RuPaul ultimately naming Bosco the winner of this week’s episode thanks to her hilarious banter and her command of her group. I wish that this could have been DeJa’s first win since she nailed both the panel and runway (unlike the rest of the group) but I will never be mad at a win for a Seattle queen.

DeJa, Daya, and Willow are declared safe, leaving Jasmine and Jorgeous to duke it out over Etta James‘ “Something’s Got A Hold On Me”. As Angeria and DeJa make it clear in their confessionals, this lip sync has been heavily anticipated as Jorgeous and Jasmine are the 2/3 of the season’s dancing queens. And boy, do they dance. Both queens completely deliver the song, and it’s actually pretty hard to predict which way it will go and when RuPaul declares them both winners of the lip sync, it’s 100% the correct decision – but what does this mean for next week? How are we still stuck with over half a dozen queens?

Conclusion: Menzeses

With this second win, Bosco now joins Angeria as a frontrunner of season 14 as Angie also has two wins. The queens with one win each are: Willow, Daya, Camden, and Jorgeous. DeJa and Jasmine still have no wins, and if Jorgeous or Jasmine find themselves in the Bottom Two again (which would be Jorgeous’ third time and Jasmine’s fourth time), it would honestly be a miracle for either of them to survive, depending on the song at least. The only queens who have consistently done extremely well are Angeria, Bosco, and Willow who have all either won, been in the top, or been declared safe – unless there is some wild and crazy upset, these three are guaranteed a spot in the Finale (which is still so far away!). Camden has also done very well save for a stumble last week, but she undoubtedly gave us the best lip sync of the season (even better than what Jasmine and Jorgeous delivered to us this episode) so I think that, from what we’ve seen, she’s a much more formidable lip syncer and arguably the best dancer of this season. DeJa has done very well but she’s flying too far under the radar and Daya has had a strong couple of weeks but I feel like she’ll only go as far as her villain-esque storyline will allow her which, according to next episode’s sneak peek, is still rolling along.

Next week’s episode is Snatch Game, and this is where things really get shaken up and sometimes even the best queens stumble and some of the worst-performing queens soar. Who knows, maybe the formidable Angie will take her actual first misstep. Maybe Willow’s charm won’t work on RuPaul this time. Or maybe, Jorgeous will blow us all away with one of the best Snatch performances in recent years (what a gag that would be). I do hope that there’s a shake-up of some sort because, despite this being a very, very good episode, I need a little more in the coming weeks.

Who really won in the Lip Sync For Your Life? Let us know in the comments below!

A new episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 14 can be seen every Friday at 8/7c on VH1.