Heading into the second episode of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” Season 11, Morgan McMichaels had just been named the top performer in the first challenge, taking an early lead in Bracket 1 with three points. Dawn was right behind her with two points of her own, but there was still four points to be handed out from the bottom queens who were considering who to name as their personal Most Valuable Queen (MVQ) of the week.
For the second challenge in Bracket 1, the all stars had to turn materials inspired by iconic queer bars into couture garments for a high-stakes runway showdown. Actress Kate Hudson served as guest judge alongside series stars RuPaul Charles, Michelle Visage, and Carson Kressley.
Read on for our recap of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 11, Episode 2, titled “Bar Queen Couture,” which began streaming Friday, May 8 at 12 a.m. PT on Paramount+.
In the preliminary rounds, the queens were divided into three brackets of six to compete in three challenges where only two would advance to the semifinals. Competing in Bracket 1 was A’Keria C. Davenport (Season 11, All Stars 6), Dawn (Season 16), Lucky Starzzz (Season 17), Morgan McMichaels (Season 2, All Stars 3), Morphine Love Dion (Season 16), and Mystique Summers (Season 2).
“In a telenovela, bitches get pushed off a cliff.” — Morphine Love Dion
With the first delivery of MVQ points hanging in the balance, the bottom four were curious what strategies would come into play for this important decision. Because she choreographed everyone’s numbers and was so close to making the top two, Morphine fully expected to receive at least two points but got plucked to only receive one from A’Keria and not from her supposed Miami ally Lucky. Mystique and Lucky both gave their points to each other and so Morphine simply evened the playing field by giving hers to A’Keria.
For the first mini challenge, Ru gave the queens a seemingly impossible mission to pull up an oversized pair of tightie-whities without using their hands and, sure enough, it was impossible. The farthest any of them got the panties up was to just under their butt cheek, leaving Ru with no choice but to award each of them a $500 tip for trying.
And for the maxi challenge, each girl received a box of materials inspired by a different type of queer bar experiences, including leather, tropical, piano, country western, kitsch, and white party. As the winner of the previous lip sync, Morgan had the advantage of choosing first and took leather for herself. She then started a rolling list of choices that resulted in A’Keria taking white party, Mystique taking country western, Dawn taking piano, Morphine taking tropical, and Lucky being left with kitsch.
“So we’re gonna be like a space alien Barbie meets a galactic pageant whore?” — A’Keria C. Davenport
During the creative process walkthrough with Ru and Raven, Morphine expressed her discomfort with the tropical materials because she wanted to do something more “grand.” Dawn called Raven out for the amount of “boots” she gave her for her original season looks, but then received a “toot” from her for her current sketch. Ru and Raven then called Mystique out for taking the risk with a country western rudemption attempt instead of going for materials more in her wheelhouse, but then challenged Morgan for going down the obvious direction of yet another leather-based look. Lucky and A’Keria both got positive feedback during the walkthrough, but knew that the judges would have high expectations for them to deliver based on their reputations as strong creatives.
The tension reached every corner of the Werk Room once the queens realized that not winning this challenge could set them back so far in points that it could become impossible to make the semifinals. Despite being worried about her own creative process, A’Keria found time to help both Morphine and Mystique with their garment construction. And despite being warned by Ru that she was going down the expected route, Morgan was happy to distract herself with the memories of Mystique being eliminated from Season 2 during their country western runway. Dawn and Lucky both engineered headpieces they thought could elevate their looks only to later realize that they looked like a “fungal growth” and a “butthole.”
“I made a maricón bra… and my Latinos know what that means.” — Lucky Starzzz
Following their runway presentations of the “Bar Queen Couture” creations, the queens received critiques from the judges. Michelle wasn’t sure what Dawn was going for, but that didn’t stop her from calling it “exquisite.” Kate told A’Keria that her “silhouette is incredible” and Ru said it was “absolutely outrageous” in a good way. While Carson appreciated the “campy fun” of Mystique’s country look, it didn’t stop him from feeling underwhelmed in the elegance department. Because Morgan isn’t a sewer, the judges were impressed by her garment construction using leather. Morphine comically defended the overabundance of pearls in her tropical look even after Michelle, Ru and Carson all told her she should have included less. Lucky owned her indulgence in kitsch, affirming Michelle’s declaration that she looked like a “piñata in a donut” and receiving positive feedback because of it.
Based on their creativity within the challenge, Dawn and A’Keria were named as the top two of the week. And following their head-to-head lip sync to “Fergalicious” by Fergie, A’Keria was named the overall winner and recipient of the $10,000 cash tip and three more points, bringing her total to four. Dawn’s two points as runner-up brought her total to four as well, just ahead of Morgan’s three from the previous challenge. As the bottom four, Morphine, Mystique, Morgan and Lucky all had one point that they’d gift to the MVQ of their choice at the top of the next episode.
