After a lip sync LaLaPaRuza for the crown, one queen walked away with a crown, a title, and $200,000
After 12 episodes, zero eliminations, and a refreshingly minimized amount of drama, the seventh, all-winners season of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars finally came to a close on Friday morning (July 29), and one queen emerged victorious, earning the title of “Queen of All Queens” and a $200,000 cash prize.
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As announced at the start of the season, the finale format was that of the Lip Sync LaLaPaRuza, a tournament-style performance challenge in which the final four queens (Jinkx Monsoon, Monét X Change, Shea Couleé and Trinity the Tuck) faced off until only two remained. What Ru didn’t tell us until last week’s episode was that there would, in fact, be two Lip Sync LaLaPaRuza’s, where the four non-finalists (Jaida Essence Hall, Raja, The Vivenne and Yvie Oddly) would also compete for the title of Queen of She Done Already Done Had Herses, as well as $50,o00.
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For the auxillary prize, the first lip sync pairing offered Yvie Oddly a rematch against The Vivienne to Salt N Peppa’s now-iconic “Push It” — and this time, Yvie managed to send the Viv packing. Raja and Jaida immediately jumped onstage, to perform a sparkling version of Deniece Williams’, “Let’s Hear It For The Boy” — Raja’s happy-go-lucky characterization clinched her the win, eliminating Jaida from the competition.
In their final lip sync smackdown, Raja and Yvie pulled out all of the stops to Eurythmics & Aretha Franklin’s iconic “Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves.” After a fierce competition, Raja ended up taking home the prize for her spot-on work to the classic track.
Moving over to the main event, the first lip sync for the crown saw Jinkx Monsoon take on Shea Couleé to Lady Gaga’s “Judas,” and while Shea pulled out some truly Gaga-esque choreography, Jinkx won the judges over with her emotional, campy performance. Next up, alliances or not, the “Twinners” Monét X Change and Trinity the Tuck went head to head for P!nk’s “So What.” Putting some real pathos and anger into her words, Monét sent her sister Trinity packing.
In one final lip sync, Monét and Jinkx duked it out to Katy Perry’s “Swish Swish” featuring Nicki Minaj. It was a close call — Jinkx brought her snarky sense of humor and all of the cougar vibes a person could ask for — while Monét had stunts, dance moves, and yes, real dollars to throw in the air.
But in the end, only one queen could take home $200,000, and that queen was Jinkx Monsoon! After winning the most challenges in the competition and slaying her way through the LaLaPaRuza, Jinkx accepted her new crown saying, “Drag is my passion and something I’ve dedicated more than half of my life to at this point. I feel so grateful to be invited here, and I just hope to share the gifts that you have bestowed upon me with everyone else out there, and show them that we are all beautiful, no matter who we are and how we present ourselves to the world.” She then, in true Jinkx fashion, raised her new scepter above her head and declared, “I claim this in the name of Hecate, mother of witches!”
The full finale episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 7, as well as the entirety of the season, is now streaming on Paramount+.
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