RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 14, Episode 10 Recap: Snatching the Joy From Under Our Feet

Oh, Ru…now you’re just fucking with me. This week’s Drag Race was a beast for a number of reasons, not the least of which is how the episode ended. But it also was the return of everyone’s favorite game show, The Snatch Game! I’ll explore that and more in this week’s Drag Race Recap.

We should be down one more queen this week, but after last week’s “double Shantay” we have the same amount of queens as the week before. So, surely this week would be different, right? SURELY the producers wouldn’t pull that stunt for yet another time. (*Tom takes deep breaths*) I’m starting this review at the end and working my way backwards; deal with it. Look, if we hadn’t already pulled this stunt 19 times this season (math may need reviewing), I would have loved the way this episode ended, but it’s just so fucking produced that it loses the drama. The twist this week was that all of the queens were up for elimination, which would be a great twist if it wasn’t kicked down the line to the next episode. Don’t get me wrong, the threat of elimination to them all was warranted this episode. And I truly would love this twist, if it weren’t for the fact that I wanted earlier eliminations in the season. Okay…I got that off my chest. Let’s get back in sequential order now, shall we?

The twist ending wasn’t the only overly-produced repeat this week. This week’s mini challenge was another rough and dirty drag change rooted in product placement. I dig the quick-assembly drag, but like…you literally just did this last week. This week’s product placement was brought to us by Bubly Water, and thus the challenge at hand involved making quick drag out of bubble wrap. I can just picture the ad exec from Bubly who thought this was the most brilliant ad placement ever. Aw. But this week was totally different! Because the mini challenge leads to a (*checks notes*) paparazzi-style photo shoot… again. (*sighs*) The thing is, product placement has always been in the show, from the cosmetic products used, to the check that goes to the winner at the end. Maybe my tolerance for it is just waning. I don’t know. But I promise I’ll stop whining about it. Maybe. (Promise not binding. Some exceptions may apply.)

All of the looks were cute enough, but Bosco’s red bubble lingerie lewk inspired by Aquaria brought her another win. This challenge was one of the few times I thought Willow was just meh. The makeup was fine, though intentioned, and the look was cute enough, but nothing that extraordinary. My favorite look was probably Angeria’s because it was a really well-put together look. But kudos to Bosco for sure.

Though Willow Pill’s mini challenge look was nothing overly impressive to me, her wisdom and insight earlier in the season proved to be as on-point as her drag skills. “There’s gonna be one challenge we’re all gonna bomb,” she said. And bomb they did. All of them. Snatch Game is probably the most anticipated episode of every season aside from the first and last episodes, and wow did this Snatch Game disappoint. This Snatch Game disappointed so hard that it will almost certainly go down as the most comprehensively bad Snatch Game in Drag Race herstory. One problem with this week’s SG is that almost everyone actually chose really good characters to play, and some even knocked the impression part out of the park. But this isn’t a PBS educational special; this needs to be fucking hilarious. And so even if Daya did a really great Ozzy impression… it wasn’t a funny performance. Imagine going to a Friar’s Club Roast and someone just accurately talked about the honored guest instead of roasting them. It’d be a total bust, right? That’s what the Snatch Game felt like this week. Other “impressions” took shape in the form of Lady Camden’s William Shakespeare (who she inexplicably said she doesn’t even like), Deja’s Lil John, Jasmine’s Betsy DeVos, Angeria’s Tammie Brown, Jorgeous’ Ilana Glazer (we stan), and Bosco’s Cumbucha-toting Gwyneth Paltrow.

Deja’s Lil John was just good enough to eek out a win this episode for her, but the rest of theses missuses were such misses that Mama Ru did in fact tell them that everyone one of them (save for Deja) was up for elimination…next week. So, next week all of the remaining queens (Angeria, Bosco, Daya, Jasmine, Jorgeous, Camden and Willow) will Lip Sync for Their Lives! I do not accept under any premise that Willow will go home next week, but I guess we shall see. My prediction: THREE queens go home next week. Let’s make it happen, producers!

What did you think of this week’s episode? Did you hate Snatch Game as much as everyone else? Who do you think will go home next week? Who do you WANT to go home next week?

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