After an emotional exit last week from Mirage, the contestants of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 16 found joy through a group project that challenged their musical skills.
First up was the Mini Challenge, which tasked queens with coming up with the title, cover photo, and bio for a fictional memoir. The queens were only given 30 minutes to prepare, and the results were quite hilarious.
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Philly-based contestant Sapphira Cristál wore a tall wig, a brown fur coat and high heels for her cover shoot. Sapphira’s “memoir” had the title “Throat Goat: A Singers’ Guide to an Open Pharyngeal Wall,” quite the raunchy title that also nods to Sapphira’s classical vocal training.
RuPaul cackled as Sapphira made obscene gestures to the camera. “The biggest mouth in the tri-state area,” the “memoir’s” bio read. Sapphira’s fictional book emerged victorious in the Mini Challenge. “Yours will be the first book burned in Florida,” RuPaul joked.
“I feel like my slew feet are winning me these Mini Challenges,” said Sapphira in a talking head interview before giggling. Sapphira won an autographed copy of RuPaul’s new memoir and $2,000.
But Sapphira gained another perk by winning the Mini Challenge. This episode’s Maxi Challenge had the contestants split into three “girl groups,” and Sapphira got to pick her own team.
Each team would be assigned a track from RuPaul’s album “Black Butta,” having to write and record original verses and choreograph a performance of the remixed track.
Sapphira’s team consisted of Dawn, Morphine Love Dion and Q, who Sapphira defeated in episode 1. The group was assigned to the song “Star Baby.”
Citing her experience with a Philly girl group Philly’s Foxes, Sapphira expressed her excitement to work with the group. “So I feel geared up to step up to the plate and then… home run.”
When it came time to practice choreography, Sapphira delivered a bit of shade while watching the other teams. Sapphira observed the growing tension between fan-favorite Amanda Tori Meating and season villain Plane Jane, who were on the same team.
“Plane must be feeling some type of way right now, ’cause Amanda Tori Meating is eating her up in this choreography, baby,” Sapphira said in a talking head. “And that’s the T.”
Geneva Karr’s group had Mhi’ya Iman Le’Paige lead the choreography for the song “ASMR Lover,” although the observing contestants joked that they couldn’t hear Mhi’ya speak. “Oh that’s why they’re whispering. They got ASMR,” Sapphira joked to the contestants to laughter.
Unfortunately for Sapphira’s group, which had Morphine lead the choreography, Q was less adept with dancing. Other contestants compared Q to a robot or Frankenstein’s monster.
While putting on makeup and preparing for the performance, Sapphira spoke to Plane Jane about her perceived negative attitude towards the other queens. “From the outside looking in, I feel like you’re misspeaking a lot.”
“Sapphira’s mother. So I’m taking in what she has to say,” Plane Jane said in a talking head interview. “But when an entertainer puts themselves out on stage, it’s fair game to criticize what they put out there.” Despite showing respect to Sapphira, Plane Jane remained mostly unapologetic.
With synth-pop duo Icona Pop serving as the guest judges, the challenge commenced. The members of Sapphira’s girl group, called “QDSM,” wore outfits of different color, with Sapphira wearing a sparkly red dress and boots.
Sapphira’s verse was a rap, with confident lyrics and once again proclaimed herself as a crown jewel.
Afterwards, the runway category was “Faster Pussycat, Wig, Wig.” Sapphira wore a blindingly white dress with large shoulders and a cat’s face in the back of her wig. She then took off her wig to reveal her bald head and did a Dr. Evil pose. “I’m serving villain supreme realness. And I want $200,000.”
RuPaul then declared Geneva Karr’s girl group as the winners of the main challenge. The judges complimented Sapphira’s performance, comparing her to Beyoncé, and the judges praised her drag take on the “Austin Powers” villain.
Each queen then said which of their fellow contestants should go home; Sapphira reluctantly said Amanda Tori Meating. “She’s a growing queen. However, this is not the place to grow.”
Sapphira survived the episode, and unfortunately for fans, Amanda went home after losing a lip sync battle with Q. With the competition thinning, Sapphira remains a strong contender, and it’s clear that she has the respect of her competitors in a “mother role.” But how far will that take her?
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” airs Fridays at 8 p.m. on MTV.
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