The third season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars premiered on January 25, 2018. The season was announced in August 2017, with 9/10 of the cast revealed during a VH1 "Exclusive Queen Ruveal" special, airing on October 20, 2017. This season of All Stars featured ten "all-star" (or "champion") contestants, selected from the show's first season through to its then-current ninth season, competing again to be inducted into the "Drag Race Hall of Fame".
As was the case in the previous All Stars season, rather than the two lowest-scoring queens for each episode engaging in the usual “Lip-Sync for Your Life” battle for their right to remain in the competition, the two highest-scoring queens on each episode competed in a “Lip-Sync for Your Legacy” performance, the winner of which earned the right to choose which bottom queen gets eliminated (in addition to receiving a $10,000 “tip”). A new twist on how the top queens of the season were chosen was revealed in the previous season's last episode, in which the previously eliminated queens would return during the finale and vote for the top two contestants of the remaining top four; from there-on, the two queens with the most votes advanced while the other two were subsequently eliminated. The prizes for the winner of the competition were a one-year supply of Anastasia Beverly Hills cosmetics and a cash prize of $100,000, and a bejeweled scepter and crown.
The winner of the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars was ultimately Trixie Mattel, with Kennedy Davenport being the runner-up.
Contestants
Ages, names, and cities stated are at time of filming.
+Contestants of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars season 3 and their backgrounds Contestant Age Hometown Original season(s) Original placement(s) Outcome Trixie Mattel 28 Milwaukee, Wisconsin Season 7 6th place Kennedy Davenport 35 Dallas, Texas Season 7 4th place BeBe Zahara Benet 36 Minneapolis, Minnesota Season 1 3rd place Shangela 35 Los Angeles, California Season 2 12th place Season 3 6th place Morgan McMichaels 36 Los Angeles, California Season 2 8th place 5th place BenDeLaCreme 35 Seattle, Washington Season 6 5th place 6th place Aja 23 New York City, New York Season 9 9th place 7th place Chi Chi DeVayne 32 Shreveport, Louisiana Season 8 4th place 8th place Milk 29 New York City, New York Season 6 9th place 9th place Thorgy Thor 33 New York City, New York Season 8 6th place 10th place
Notes:
Contestant progress
Jury vote In the finale, the eliminated queens were invited back as jurors. They were given two votes each to decide which of the remaining contestants would make the final two, with their first vote worth two points and the second one point. The finalists were given the chance to plead their case prior to the vote.
Legend:
+Summary of the jury vote, including number of points awarded Jurors BeBe Kennedy Shangela Trixie Aja 2 1 BenDeLa 2 1 Chi Chi 2 1 Milk 1 2 Morgan 2 1 Thorgy 1 2 Votes 1 5 1 5 Results
Lip syncs Legend:
Episode Top All Stars(Elimination) Song Winner(s) Bottom Eliminated 1 Aja(Chi Chi) vs. BenDeLaCreme(Morgan) "Anaconda"(Nicki Minaj) BenDeLaCreme Chi Chi, Morgan Morgan McMichaels 2 BenDeLaCreme(Thorgy) vs. Shangela(Thorgy) "Jump (For My Love)"(The Pointer Sisters) Shangela Kennedy, Thorgy Thorgy Thor 3 BenDeLaCreme(Chi Chi) vs. Kennedy Davenport(Milk) "Green Light"(Lorde) Kennedy Davenport Aja, Chi Chi, Milk Milk 4 BenDeLaCreme(Chi Chi) vs. Shangela(Chi Chi) "I Kissed a Girl"(Katy Perry) BenDeLaCreme Chi Chi, Kennedy, Trixie Chi Chi DeVayne Shangela 5 BeBe Zahara Benet(Aja) vs. Trixie Mattel(Aja) "The Boss"(Diana Ross) BeBe Zahara Benet Aja, Shangela Aja 6 BeBe Zahara Benet(Trixie / Morgan) vs. BenDeLaCreme(BenDeLa / Morgan) "Nobody's Supposed to Be Here (Hex Hector Dance Mix)"(Deborah Cox) BenDeLaCreme Kennedy, Shangela,Trixie 7 Shangela(Morgan) vs. Trixie Mattel(Morgan) "Freaky Money"(RuPaul ft. Big Freedia) Shangela BeBe, Kennedy, Morgan Morgan McMichaels Episode Final All Stars Song Winner 8 Kennedy Davenport vs. Trixie Mattel "Wrecking Ball"(Miley Cyrus) Trixie Mattel
Notes
Guest judges Listed in chronological order:
Vanessa Hudgens, actress and singer Todrick Hall, actor and singer Vanessa Williams, actress and singer Constance Zimmer, actress Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman, actor and model Nicole Byer, comedian and actress Kristin Chenoweth, actress and singer Tituss Burgess, actor and singer Shay Mitchell, actress and model Adam Lambert, singer and actor Emma Bunton, singer and actress Chris Colfer, actor and singer Garcelle Beauvais, actress and model
Special guests Guests who appeared in episodes but did not judge on the main stage (in order of appearance):
Chad Michaels, runner-up from season four and winner of season one of All Stars Alaska, runner-up from season five and winner of season two of All Stars Marc Jacobs, fashion designer Nancy Pelosi, former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and Representative for California's 12th congressional district
Episodes
Leak On February 15, 2018, the series production company World of Wonder filed a lawsuit against an anonymous leaker using the alias RealityTVLeaks. According to the lawsuit, RealityTVLeaks posted several visuals from the season on various social media websites such as Reddit, Twitter, and Instagram before each episode's airing—including runway themes, challenges, episode titles, and eliminated queens. Additionally, a producer from the show stated that the leaker removed "information identifying [World of Wonder] as the copyright owner and author" before adding "misleading copyright management information falsely identifying [the defendants] as the copyright owners and authors." World of Wonder launched the suit because of the defendant's "unlawful theft and public dissemination of episodes of the popular and critically-acclaimed reality television show," and the production company confirmed it is seeking damages of $300,000, including $150,000 for each infringed episode and $25,000 per violation of "actual damages" and defendants' profits.
Ratings
Critical reception Although a ratings success, the season was panned by the critics. Vulture, in writing a summation review, described the season as "truly one of the roughest seasons of the show ever. After a stellar, jaw-unhingingly good All Stars 2, this season felt more like an embarrassing cousin you brought to gay happy hour who wears double polos", while specifying that "even at its worst, it's still one of the best, if not the best goddamn reality competition show on television".
The A.V. Club similarly described the season as disappointing, writing in the final review of the season: "I should be celebrating the crowning of a new queen in the Drag Race hall of fame, but Drag Race All Stars season three has left me feeling totally underwhelmed and wondering, What's the point?"
References