Heavy/RuPauls Drag Race/YouTube RuPaul's Drag Race season 16 elimination spoilers
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 16 crossed a major milestone last week when the top 9 queens became the top 8 following the fan-favorite challenge: The Snatch Game. Now, another queen is going to be sent packing as the 9th episode of the season airs on MTV on Friday, March 1 at 8 p.m. Eastern.
This week, the top 8 queens are being tasked with their third design/sewing challenge of the season as they will need to create original Neo-Goth looks using only black, white, and gray fabrics provided. Actress and model Kaia Gerber joins the cast as this week’s guest judge. Keep reading for a full recap of the episode, updated with live spoilers of who wins the challenge, which queens land in the bottom two Lip Sync For Your Life, and who is eliminated next.
***SPOILER WARNING: IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW WHO GETS ELIMINATED ON “RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE” SEASON 16 EPISODE 9 (SEE YOU NEXT WEDNESDAY), STOP READING NOW***
Elimination Spoilers: ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 16 Episode 9 Live Recap
The episode began with the top 8 queens entering the Werk Room following Xunami Muse’s elimination in the Snatch Game. Morphine Love Dion, who sent Xunami home in the Lip Sync, was upset at having to face off against one of her closest friends in the competition. The queens congratulated Plane Jane on her Snatch Game win, although Mhi’ya Iman Le’Paige said in a confessional she thought Sapphira Cristál should have won instead.
The next day, RuPaul entered the Werk Room and presented the queens with this week’s Spit Take mini challenge, in which the queens were challenged to make Ru laugh with their best Spit Takes after he said something shocking to them.
Nymphia Wind considered this mini challenge an opportunity to redeem herself after her underwhelming Snatch Game performance last week, and it paid off as she was declared the winner, taking home a cash prize of $2,500. Ru then announced this week’s Maxi challenge, tasking the queens with creating an original Neo-Goth look.
At the start of the challenge, Nymphia Wind and Q — the winners of the first and second design challenges of the season, respectively — compared designs and felt confident. Other queens, including Plasma and Mhi’ya, were a little more worried after low placements in the Doll Design challenge earlier this season. Many of the queens also struggled with how to incorporate the Neo-Goth aesthetic into their own.
The queens pointed out that Dawn and Morphine Love Dion are the only queens remaining without a win at this point in the competition. Both queens are hungry for the win and are working hard to perfect their looks. Plasma decided to change her design partway through the challenge, but it led to some conflict when Plane Jane got tipped off that Plasma’s new design was similar to her original idea. Some queens also noticed Sapphira’s decision to help Mhi’ya design, cut, and sew her look, with Dawn pointing out that with so few queens left, offering your help could have a direct effect on who lands at the bottom this week.
After the queens’ runway presentations, RuPaul announced that all 8 remaining queens would be critiqued. Up first was Plane Jane (who chose not to use her Immunity potion). The judges liked Plane’s dark look, but Michelle Visage felt it wasn’t at her usual level. During her critiques, Mhi’ya admitted to getting help from Sapphira with her dress, which the judges liked, but felt was lacking certain details.
Dawn received positive critiques, with guest judge Kaia Gerber saying she “knew exactly who you were,” and compared her look to Alexander McQueen. Morphine got high praise for her pale Morticia Addams-inspired makeup, but Michelle felt her look was a little “basic.” Plasma’s look fell flat with the judges, with Ru saying there were “mixed messages” in the styling.
Sapphira was next, and the judges couldn’t get enough of her gown’s construction and comedic characterization on the runway. After Sapphira, Kaia Gerber said that Nymphia Wind’s look was good enough to walk down a couture runway. Last up was Q, whose “scary clown” look left the judges stunned down to every detail.
After the queens went backstage to untuck, Ru called them back and announced that Q was the winner of this week’s challenge, and won a $5,000 cash prize. She also revealed that Plasma and Mhi’ya Iman Le’Paige landed in the bottom two. This is Mhi’ya’s third time Lip Sync-ing for Her Life, and Plasma’s first. The two faced off in a performance of “Bloody Mary (Wednesday Dance TikTok Version)” by Lady Gaga.
In the end, Mhi’ya was declared the winner of the Lip Sync, and Plasma was told to Sashay Away. Plasma has been eliminated. The episode ended with a look at next week’s challenge: recording and performing a verse in the political anthem “Power”.
Luxx Noir London is This Week’s ‘Pit Stop’ Guest
On this week’s episode of the official “Drag Race” recap show, “The Pit Stop”, host Trixie Mattel is welcoming season 15 finalist Luxx Noir London to the studio. Luxx was known for turning fashionable looks each week on her season, as well as sharing her opinions when asked, making her the right fit for this week’s recap. Luxx and Trixie will talk about the entire episode and share their takes on the queens’ finished Neo-Goth looks when “The Pit Stop” airs on Saturday, March 2 at 12 p.m. on the “Drag Race” YouTube channel.
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” airs Friday nights at 8 p.m. Eastern, with episodes of “Untucked” immediately following.