Heading into the third episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 11, A’Keria C. Davenport had just jumped to the top of the scoreboard with a win in the second challenge and Lip Sync for Your Legacy. The win put her equal to Dawn with four points apiece. Prior to the second MVQ ceremony, Morgan McMichaels had three points from her win in the first challenge while Morphine Love Dion, Lucky Starzzz, and Mystique Summers were tied for last with one.
For the third and final challenge in Bracket 1, the all stars pitched products on the “Home Spooky Network” for their last chance to be one of only two queens in their bracket to advance to the semi-finals. Actress Christina Ricci served as guest judge alongside series stars RuPaul Charles, Michelle Visage, and Ts Madison.
Read on for our recap of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 11, Episode 3, titled “Shop Til U Drop,” which began streaming Friday, May 15 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).
“My boyfriend told me if I make it into the semi-final, I can get a cat.” — Dawn
At the second MVQ ceremony, Lucky decided to give a boost to Morphine by giving her the point she promised, but didn’t give her at the first ceremony. Morphine returned the favor by giving another point to Lucky, but then instead of trying to keep the playing field even, both Morgan and Mystique gave their points to A’Keria, elevating her to a solo frontrunner position with six points. The next morning, Mystique threw light shade at Lucky and Morphine for not thanking A’Keria for her help by giving her a point, but Dawn and the others quickly reminded her that they’re playing a game and no one is “entitled” to anybody’s point.
For their final challenge, Ru asked the girls to be “monster presenters on the Home Spooky Network” selling products in pairs within unstructured structure of scripted improv. Ru assigned a character to each queen, but asked that they create their own pairs: A’Keria as a mummy selling the world’s longest infinity wrap, Dawn as a werewolf pitching grooming products, Lucky as a vampire selling a nutritional supplement, Morgan as a ghost pitching supernatural cosmetics, Morphine as a zombie pitching subscriptions to a meat club, and Mystique as a Frankenstein’s monster selling body bags. Because of their prior friendships, two pairs were instantly connected in Morgan/A’Keria and Dawn/Morphine, leaving Lucky and Mystique as the third mashup.
“I need to give FedEx one day shipping, mama, coz I need to serve c–t immediately.” — Morphine Love Dion
Because she was the pork chop of her season, Lucky was looking forward to her first creative challenge where she could be funny and let loose. Unfortunately she had “know-it-all auntie” Mystique as her partner who was trying to dial back for a more focused presentation. The pair of A’Keria and Morgan were excited to work together and fell on the same page of wanting to portray old Hollywood glam in their characters (Morgan named her ghost Moan Collins). Dawn and Morphine just wanted to “have a good f–king time” by being “funny, chaotic,” hoping to rely on their naturally funny personalities. Clearly intimidated by the chemistry of the other pairs, Mystique insinuated that they might realize one of them outperforms the other, but it didn’t seem to phase Dawn or anyone else.
In the challenge, the queens were unfiltered and uninhibited by a director as they hawked their spooky goods and fielded calls from home shoppers. Dawn and Morphine leaned into the grotesque as they munched on brains and eyeballs while emphasizing their “good Judy” friendship. Chemistry wasn’t just off the menu for Mystique and Lucky, they became uncomfortably competitive in their attempts to sell their own product instead of supporting their sister. While Morgan and A’Keria didn’t have quite as much fun as Dawn and Morphine did, they fulfilled the brief the best by authentically inhabiting the QVC-like concept.
“I’m giving the Black Charlize Theron; her ad campaign for an iconic fragrance which is based in Paris.” — Mystique Summers
On the runway, the queens walked in the “Paris, France” category and then received critiques from the judges. Michelle liked that Dawn was “in control and leading” the shopping segment and Ru called it “lovely to watch” her “own the essence of Dawn.” Morphine received praise for her “transfixing” runway look, but Ru drew back on her challenge performance for not selling her product very well. The judges struggled to understand what Lucky was even selling, but appreciated that Mystique was there to pick up their segment when Lucky was dropping the ball. Ts and Christina liked A’Keria’s performance the best for being “genuinely funny” even if Ru was disappointed that she wasn’t looking at the camera enough. Ru was most happy with the “wink wink, nudge nudge” of Morgan’s take on Joan of Arc for the runway and then called her product presentation “prepared.”
Based on their overall performance for the week, the top two all stars of the week were Dawn and Morgan. In a redux of the first week Lip Sync for Your Legacy, this time to Lady Gaga’s “Zombieboy,” Dawn defeated Morgan to finally win a Drag Race lip sync, collect the $10,000 cash tip, and earn the extra point. Then, among the four bottom queens who had to appoint their MVQ points live on stage, A’Keria gave a point to Morgan, Lucky gave a point to Morgan, Morphine gave a point to Dawn, and Mystique gave a point to A’Keria. So, at the end of Bracket 1, Dawn earned an automatic bid to the semi-finals with eight points while Morgan and A’Keria were tied at seven points with only one available spot. Ru served as the tiebreaker in this scenario and made the decision to advance A’Keria to the semi-finals based on her overall performance in the three episodes.
Morgan, Morphine, Mystique and Lucky were not eliminated permanently; instead, Ru and Michelle will select three eliminated queens for the comeback lottery where only one would be chosen to re-enter the competition in the semi-finals. On to Bracket 2 next week!
