After the shocking double elimination of Season 8 episode 2, "RuPaul's Drag Race" brought more drama in episode 3 Monday, March 21, in more ways than one. The queens were tested on their thespian skills in the episode titled "RuCo's Empire" and were judged by Tasha Smith, who plays Carol Holloway in the actual "Empire" series.
Major spoilers for "RuPaul's Drag Race" Season 8 episode 3 titled "RuCo's Empire" ahead
All the queens, shocked at RuPaul's decision to send both of the bottom two contestants home, went to the untucking room to see the lipstick messages from Laila McQueen and Dax ExclaimationPoint. However, they were in for a greater shock, which hit when Ru announced the new member of their group.
Daysha Lopez, the queen that was eliminated in the first episode of Season 8, returned with her "RuPaul's Drag Race" statue, much to the disappointment of the rest of the queens, except Cynthia Lee Fontaine. Fans will remember how Cynthia had shed tears when Daysha was eliminated.
Despite resentments and second guesses, it was time to giddy up for the mini challenge of the episode, which was adding glitz and glamour, basically dragging up, Supreme Court judge robes. While everyone brought their unique brands of fashion to the plain black robes, it was Naomi Smalls that won big in the challenge.
She was made captain of one team, while the returning queen Daysha was made captain of the opposing team. Naomi chose Bob The Drag Queen, Chi Chi DeVayne, Cynthia and Robbie Turner for her team, while Daysha chose Acid Betty, Derrick Barry, Kim Chi and Thorgy Thor for hers.
Also Read: Laila McQueen talks shocking dual elimination in exclusive interview
During the rehearsals, Ru and Tasha gave many constructive feedback that some of the contestants put to good use. KimChi, who has been consistently bad during rehearsals for challenges, fully committed to the role, embraced Ru and Tasha's comments and shined in the final performance as always.
However, Robbie, who was advised to use distinctive voices to distinguish the two characters within her schizophrenic role, did not follow the instruction, and was immediately blacklisted by the judged for that. Judges also pointed out that Cynthia, who admittedly has issues learning long sentenced by-heart, was unable to connect to the role like the rest of her cast-mates.
The runway theme for the episode was rollerskating realness, in which Robbie expected to excel and make up for lost points. However, it was Bob, who had never before strapped roller blades to her feet that won the challenge. In an excellent marriage of creativity and humour, Bob dressed like a transformer and rolled around in mechanic motions. She also managed to keep herself together for the entire length of the runway even though she nearly fell down a couple of times.
In the end, Ru put Robbie and Cynthia in bottom two. While Robbie chose to do her lip sync performance to "Mesmerised" by Faith Evans on roller blades, Cynthia did hers on heels. Robbie floated beautifully along the runway, but broke a light on the edges, possibly making him the first queen in "Drag Race" her story to do that.
In the end Robbie Turner's performance impressed the judges and Cynthia was send packing.
