Yahoo News RuPaul shocks with last-minute twist to Drag Race All Stars 8 Fame Games: 'The stakes have risen'
Warning: This article contains spoilers for RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 8.
Yep, there's a game within the Fame Games, according to Mother Jigsaw RuPaul.
While Friday's penultimate RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 8 episode appeared to gag the gals enough with the return of (almost) all of the eliminated queens to compete in the fan-favorite all-star talent show, Ru threw another glistening wrench into Mama's machine of competitive horrors.
"All season long, the Drag Race fandom has been watching you strut your stuff on Untucked and online, and after this week's episode, the official fan voting will be open," RuPaul said at the top of Friday's episode, referencing a first-ever format shift that allowed the eliminated ladies to display their unused runway looks to court fan favor and a $60,000 prize at the end of the AS8 run.
Later in the episode, however, RuPaul implemented another game-changing twist.
"Time to leave it all on the Main Stage. You've got nothing to lose and $60,000 to gain — oh, and one more thing," said Ru. "Fame Game rules are now in full effect. Based on your Variety Extravaganza performances, I will choose the top two all-stars of the week. They will lip-sync against each other for a chance to dramatically increase their total Fame Game fan votes. That's right, with the spin of a wheel, the winner of the lip-sync will multiply her votes times two, times three, or — if she's really lucky — times five. So, it could be anybody's game."
Paramount+ (2) RuPaul introduces Fame Games twist on 'RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 8'
The nine eliminated queens in the room — Monica Beverly Hillz, Naysha Lopez, Mrs. Kasha Davis, Darienne Lake, Jaymes Mansfield, Kahanna Montrese, Lala Ri, Alexis Michelle, and Jessica Wild — appeared to be stunned by the addition.
"Okay, yes, the stakes have risen once again," Lala said in a confessional. "Let's go. Spin spin spin, rise rise rise!"
In the end, Jaymes and Lala won the talent show, and were each deemed the winners of the subsequent lip-sync, and multiplied their final tallies by two and three, respectively.
Across the last several weeks, at the end of Untucked, seven eliminated queens walked the Main Stage in their Fame Games runway looks outside of the main competition, in the hopes of courting fan-based votes to secure the Queen of the Fame Games honor.
Paramount+/World of Wonder 'RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 8' Fame Games runway looks.
Heidi N Closet was ultimately ineligible to compete in the Fame Games after voluntarily quitting the show. Though they're still participating in the Fame Games, Alexis Michelle did not have any unused runways, as the episode following her elimination was a design challenge, and Jessica Wild was ousted on the final competitive episode of the season, without a runway theme on the next episode.
Fans can cast up to 10 votes in the Fame Games, now through Sunday at midnight P.T. Find out which queen is crowned the Fame Games winner — and whether Jimbo or Kandy Muse wins All Stars 8 overall — when the Grand Finale premieres Friday, July, 21 on Paramount+.
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