[Braden]

So, with RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 2 coming to an end, I thought it would be a good idea to finally do an in-depth ranking on the forum. R(w)anking is always something I have found weirdly fun, and I want to use this as an opportunity to display my writing skills and analysis of characters on TV. Ten is a good number of queens to handle, and I feel that it was the perfect quantity for producers to work with, and flesh out storylines and character development (for the most part anyway) as the season progressed. Though it is obvious that producers may favour certain queens over others, that will not necessarily impact this ranking (at all, really).

Although, RuPaul's Drag Race is still considered a non-mainstream TV show, its fan base has grown tremendously (or not as such, depending on what way you look at it) to the point where a lot of fans have a lot to say. I am pleased to claim that I am not one of those people who goes out of their way to send vitriolic abuse to queens on social media, and my thoughts and feelings towards the queens as a result of All Stars 2 will be explained in the fairest and most honourable way I can possibly express. However, there will be moments in certain write-ups where I take into account matters that occurred outside the realms of the show. Not necessarily situations like arguments between queens on Twitter, but directly to do with how editing may have caused a certain person to be perceived (whether I believe it or not).

Also, I will try to see All Stars 2 as a separate canon to any previous season, and how I viewed the girls the first-time around. On the contrary, their appearance on their original season may influence what I have to say about them, and how I feel it connects to their portrayal on this particular season.

I know RuPaul's Drag Race has a passionate following on TiBB, and I hope this ranking will enable an (somewhat) interesting to discussion to what I have said, and how you all feel as a reaction to it. Many people may I agree with what I have to say, but if you don't agree then please be honest. Feedback will be cherished throughout this ranking, since I really want to better my understanding of analysing and critiquing in general. If you feel that I have totally missed out a fair point in one of the write-ups; let me know. If you don't think I have expressed my reasoning good enough; let me know. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy.

Ranking:

9. Alaska
10. Ginger Minj

In the running: Coco Montrese, Adore Delano, Phi Phi O'Hara, Tatianna, Alyssa Edwards, Roxxxy Andrews, Katya Zamolodchikova, Detox Icunt & Alaska Thunder**** 5000

[Mokka]

Here for this

[MB.]

#TeamPat

[Braden]

Disclaimer: any avatar I had prior to this ranking is not an indcation where someone will place

[UserSince2005]

top 3 Adore, Alyssa and Tatiana. plz

[Braden]

By the way, this is how I ranked the girls pre-season based on who I was most excited to see for a second time:

Katya
Adore
Tatianna
Alaska
Alyssa
Ginger
Phi Phi
Detox
Coco
Roxxxy

[Braden]

Let's get this show on the road:

#10


Ginger Minj

“What show did I sign up for?!”

I feel rude for ranking Ginger as my least favourite queen of the season, I really do. It is not representative of any ill-feelings or dislike I have towards her, but mainly due to the fact that she was an inconsequential part of All Stars 2. You could argue that her elimination trigerred the drama between Alyssa and Phi Phi, but I think prior to Ginger's elimination there was still tension between the two of them that would have probably amounted into a similar scenario, regardless.

Anyway, Ginger is a talented queen. There is no denying that. A great example of her talent is when she sings. If anyone has not watched the video of her singing 'I am What I am' to a crowd of LGBT+ people (including Harvey Fierstein) then you need to. It's Ginger Minj at her best, and especially lovely considering that she performed the song not long after the shootings in Orlando.

I fondly remember watching videos of Ginger perform pre-RPDR, once it had been announced she'd be appearing on season 7. I distinctly remember her lip-syncing a medley of Spice Girls songs, and watching a rather compelling performance as Professor Sprout (YouTube it, honestly). I was excited to watch her on season 7, and I had high expectations.

However, she did not connect well as a character on a reality TV show. I do not know if it is because I went into the season wanting to like her, but there was something about Ginger that had me quite disappointed throughout. Did she display her talent? Yes. Was it enough for me to say that I was a fan? Not really. I am not one to be bias against the 'older queens' just for the record, but she did not come off as likable as I wanted her to be. She is definitely not amongst the worst queens to grace Drag Race, but honestly, there is a substantial number of queens I would have liked to have seen on All Stars 2 before Ginger.

Granted, I understood why was chosen to be an all-star. Some people feel she should have won her season, but with the new wave of RPDR-fans there were a lot of unhappy people that used the 'she's bitter and old so we are not going to like her' mentality to favour the younger and prettier contestants. That's why i loved her first few moments in the work room this season. Saying "Apparently all you need is a corset to win" is perfect shade, and what the show is all about. I was ready for the Ginger that I wanted to love the first time around, and I think she deserved to prove a lot of her haters wrong (as if most of them are not stubborn enough to change their minds ).

Sadly, that first moment is where it peaked for Ginger. I'm not going to disparage her journey throughout the competition. There were moments where you could tell that Ginger was trying her best, and really wanted to stand out amongst her other all-stars. It was not meant to be. She was essentially a filler queen for this season. As harsh as the term is; she was (slightly) done dirty by the editors. To the point where she was practically invisible for the entire second episode, despite giving a pretty good snatch game. Her singing in the first episode was great, but was inferior to Adore's talent. That was then overshadowed even more by the drama that went down on the main stage.

When it came to the third episode, her elimination was written all over from the beginning. We had a whole episode of Ginger, which most of us knew would end in her inevitable elimination. Still, nothing. I cannot exactly pinpoint what problem I have with Ginger, but ultimately she does not translate to good or enjoyable television. I admire her shadiness, but if you are going to be shady then take it to the next level. There might have been an abundance of moments where we could have seen that, but I did not see it. As unfair as it sounds, I can only go by what I am watching and there really was not much of Ginger for me to even have an in-depth analysis of how I perceive her...despite being a pretty complex person? Plus, not many people were going to care if you were eliminated over a fan-favourite, whether it was unfair or not. I’m glad Alyssa made that decision on the basis of making the competition interesting and not following a guideline that was set-up at the beginning of the season

In conclusion, I would say that Ginger is probably a great queen outside of the show. Like many (most) of them, she excels in a working environment that is separate from Drag race as a TV show (reality or entertainment). I imagine she is probably a really down to earth gal. She's super-talented, just not my cup of tea as a TV personality. It’s a shame we did not get to see her develop more throughout this season. I think as a character she was treated worst by the editors in terms of not providing their best potential to be entertaining, and it is a shame we never got to see her lip-sync this season or really become a frontrunner as she was in season 7.


Best Moment: I struggle to find one that has not already been mentioned in the write-up.

Worst Moment: Being bitter towards Alyssa for getting rid of her over Katya, but then with her next breath saying that she would not have let Katya go?



Still in the running: Coco Montrese, Adore Delano, Phi Phi O'Hara, Tatianna, Alyssa Edwards, Roxxxy Andrews, Katya Zamolodchikova, Detox Icunt & Alaska Thunder**** 5000

[Shaun]

Well this is false

[Braden]

[Pete.]

Ginger sucked so last is perfect

[MB.]

Originally Posted by Braden

#1


Ginger Minj

Yes yes I agree

[Black Dagger]

kmt as if Coco or Phi Phi are better than our Minj.

[Mokka]

I love Ginger....but she didn't shine the way I wanted her to this series. I wouldn't place her below the likes of Coco or Phi Phi... but I can understand the low ranking

[Tom4784]

Ginger underperformed this season but she's certainly not worse than Coco.

[Braden]

eek, this ranking might be a little off for some people

[UserSince2005]

Originally Posted by Braden

eek, this ranking might be a little off for some people

Just put alyssa at number 1 and everyone will be happy.

[Braden]

#9

Alaska

“I’ll give you $10,000 if you let me stay.”

A few people will be thinking 'what the ****?' at Alaska being so low, but the fact of the matter is that I did not enjoy her presence in the competition this time around. Chad Michaels lost fans because of how obvious his inevitable win was, and I guess this time it annoyed people even more because the same scenario happened with Alaska. I know it may seem unfair to think poorly of them instead of the producers or Ru himself, but I found Alaska irritating throughout most of the season as a result of her arrogance and hypocrisy. Even before her infamous fall from grace with most of the fans. The main point of Alaska for me this season: 'Was I ever really a fan in the first place?'

I think a lot of people went into season 5 wanting to love Alaska because of the situation between her and Sharon. Alaska basically auditioned for every single season of Drag Race and failed to make it on each time, whereas Sharon auditioned her first time for season 4 and made it onto the show...and won. With a great fan base already behind her, Alaska was a frontrunner during season 5. Then, Rolaskatox happened. I always liked Alaska during season 5, but I was and have never been a fan of Rolaskatox as a group. Alaska was given a really good edit that made it appear that she was a poor soul that was trapped in this alliance, and wanted to breakthrough and become a star in her own right. Her fans stayed loyal, and due to her kooky personality, use of catchphrases, and timing of her season ("season 5 hit it out of the park"); she became royalty within drag culture.

Although I liked Alaska, I never really loved her on during her original season. That was until her post-show career, that's when I saw how talented and smart Alaska really is. Season 5 never outwardly revealed just how intelligent and hard-working she can be. She was more of a care-free and kind-spirited talent that had enough charisma and determination to see her do well in challenges. In terms of the competition, most people would agree that Jinkx was the underdog of season 5. However, I think Alaska was equally, if not more of an underdog than Jinkx. Only Rolaskatox came between Alaska and that position, but she ended up winning regardless because she won the hearts of the Drag Race nation. Her spot as a future all-star was blatant.

I think with All Stars 2, we got to see how calculating Alaska really is. It was a far more honest representation of Alaska. This may be a consequence of letting fame get to her head, or it might just be the viewers being fickle enough to want to find another underdog to root for against Alaska and her obvious trail to victory. To the point where they tried to find fault with her over the littlest things. However, the format of this season brought out a competitive and game-centric side to a majority of the queens, and Alaska came off looking the worst in terms of how it had an impact on her likability.

If this was a ranking in regard to who did well in the challenges, then Alaska would obviously be near the top. However, the queens success in challenges does never (and probably will never) influence how much I like them. I never resented the fact that Alaska did well, and her triumph was justified most of the time. It just came across quite bland and uninspiring to watch as a viewer. Not to mention the fact that Alaska won the majority of lip-syncs, thus being the person to send home the most queens. Her decisions started off righteous. Afterwards, Rolaskatox came back into full force.

If Roxxxy was the tail of the Rolaskatox snake this season, and Detox was the body, then Alaska was slithering head of the serpent. A dramatic change of events from season 5, that I do not think fans of the show saw coming. Things turned sour during episode 6 where Alaska, yet again, won a lip-sync against Katya. She decided to send Tatianna home over Roxxxy, despite being one of the ringleaders in suggesting that the person who does the weakest in the challenge and receives the worst critique should go home. I ould not be bothered with Alaska's hypocrisy had she not come across genuinely pathetic in her reasoning. It was never amusing to hear "Roxxxy gave me this t-shirt I am wearing, how can I send her home?” I would have had more respect had she just said "Roxxxy is too close of a friend, I'm not sending her home", or "Roxxxy is obviously doing really badly, so it's best for me if I keep her." Toying with someone's position in the competition left a bad taste in my mouth, and she's lucky Tatianna is a graceful as she is because that could have been real ugly.

Then, the breakdown. You know you've made yourself look really bad, if the fans of the show forget that Phi Phi had just ****ed up her entire stint on Drag Race and look at you as the true villain of the season. Everything about that tantrum just revealed a side of Alaska that was obviously being kept hidden. It's almost like she knew she was going to win this season, so she was angry at the thought of being cut last minute. It was good to watch in retrospect of how entertaining it was, and that she was finally in a position of defeat despite sending many queens home beforehand. Desperation was evident, and she just made herself look terrible. I understand that to come so far and not get to the finale after doing so well would be devastating, but there are ways of handling things and she did not do a good job of maintaining this lovable person we were all supposed to be rooting for.

Her win was such an anti-climax to quite an enjoyable season. She deserved it, but I can't say I was happy to see her win. When I am watching reality TV I want the unexpected to happen, and this whole season felt like it went out of its way to build Alaska up, but then strangely knock her down at the last minute...to then just give her the win anyway? It did not really make sense from an audience's viewpoint, and Alaska came off looking worse than anyone this season, and it's opened a can of worms about how brat-like she is in real-life. She did mention as such in the makeover challenge. Hmm. Can’t say I really cared for any of her performances in the main challenges enough either to be honest.

Best moment: Her performance during her first lip-sync against Katya. The kitten-heeled shoe <3

Worst moment: The breakdown is an obvious one, but her reaction to Adore's quit was not cute. Her elimination of Tatianna > Roxxxy probably takes it though.


Still in the running: Coco Montrese, Adore Delano, Phi Phi O'Hara, Tatianna, Alyssa Edwards, Roxxxy Andrews, Katya Zamolodchikova & Detox Icunt

[lewis111]

I agree with ranking Alaska low
She showed Talent but she was the least likeable character of the whole series

[Pete.]

Not 9th Alaska was tragic at times but still a top tier queen

[Serg]

Great ranking so far.

[MB.]

Anus thing is possibly if you have the mentality and maturity of a six-year old

(she has some bops though)

[lewis111]

I'd say Alaska> Coco but 9th fits

[Shaun]

LOL

[Tom4784]

Not Coco ahead of Alaska.

The hate towards Alaska is overblown and ridiculous.

[UserSince2005]

Alaska doesnt even deserve to be ranked. can we not just pretend she doesnt exist?