Heavy/RuPauls Drag Race/YouTube RuPaul's Drag Race Snatch Game elimination spoilers
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 16 is heating up, and the 8th episode of the season airs on MTV on Friday, February 23 at 8 p.m. Eastern.
Tonight, the top 9 queens are being tasked with two mainstay “Drag Race” challenges, the Reading Challenge and the Snatch Game, which will put their comedy skills to the test. Read ahead for a live recap of the episode along with spoilers of who wins the maxi challenge, who lands in the bottom two Lip Sync For Your Life, and which queen has to sashay away.
***SPOILER WARNING: IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW WHO GETS ELIMINATED ON “RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE” SEASON 16 EPISODE 8 (SNATCH GAME), STOP READING NOW***
Elimination Spoilers: ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 16 Episode 8 Live Recap
The episode opened with the top 9 queens returning to the Werk Room after Megami’s elimination. Mhi’ya Iman Le’Paige shared that she is determined to come out of her shell following two consecutive Lip Sync wins. As they got out of drag, Plasma discussed how intense the competition gets after each elimination.
The next day, RuPaul met the queens in the Werk Room and announced this episode’s mini-challenge: the Reading Challenge. In a nod to the documentary “Paris is Burning”, the queens must take turns reading their competitors. Xunami Muse won the Reading Challenge after reading not only her competitors but RuPaul herself, saying, “[Sapphira Cristál] is like the Morgan Freeman of drag. Wait, no, no, no, that’s actually RuPaul.”
Ru then announced this week’s Maxi challenge, the Snatch Game. This fan-favorite challenge asks the queens to be on the panel of a “Match Game”-style game show, in character doing a celebrity impersonation of their choosing. Ru then had “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 1” winner and world-renowned Cher impersonator Chad Michaels come to the Werk Room and give advice to the queens. Ru also revealed that Plane Jane’s immunity potion will expire if not used in the next three weeks.
The queens chose the following celebrities for their Snatch Game performances:
- Dawn as former “The View” host Meghan McCain
- Mhi’ya Iman Le’Paige as rapper Trina’s cousin Shaquita (a made-up character)
- Morphine Love Dion as con artist Anna Delvey
- Nymphia Wind as scientist and chimpanzee expert Jane Goodall
- Plane Jane as Serbian singer Jelena Karleuša
- Plasma as star of stage and screen Patti LuPone
- Q as noted pilot Amelia Earhart
- Sapphira Cristál as made-up character The Gold Tooth Fairy
- Xunami Muse as singer and dancer James Brown
During the Snatch Game, Nymphia Wind’s Jane Goodall caught an awkward silence when she brought out a chimpanzee puppet, while Plane Jane had RuPaul laughing out loud with her Jelena Karleuša. RuPaul seemed confused by Xunami Muse’s character, although Mhi’ya pulled off a strong performance with hers. Ru was also cracking up at Sapphira Cristál’s character shoes. In a confessional, Plane Jane also noted that Morphine’s Anna Delvey was “cringey.”
On the Main Stage, RuPaul introduced this week’s guest judge, actress Kyra Sedgwick. The category on the runway was Dancing Queen, with each look inspired by a different dance style.
After the runway, Plane Jane chose not to use her immunity potion, and Ru announced that Q, Dawn, and Plasma were all safe. During critiques, the judges complimented Xunami’s Salsa runway look but felt her Snatch Game character didn’t take off. Carson Kressley pointed out that Nymphia’s character was played too seriously, but the judges were raving about her Japanese Butoh-inspired runway. Sapphira’s character shoes reappeared on the runway, and Michelle Visage was quick to point them out. Michelle also called Morphine’s Anna Delvey “boring”, while Ru said she was proud of Mhi’ya for coming out of her shell. Plane Jane’s Snatch Game was a hit with the judges, who were still quoting her during critiques.
Ru then sent the remaining queens backstage to film “Untucked” for further deliberation, before inviting the entire cast back to the stage for the results. Plane Jane was named the winner of this week’s challenge, while Xunami Muse and Morphine Love Dion landed in the bottom two. Xunami and Morphine competed in a Lip Sync For Your Life to “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” by Whitney Houston.
Morphine was named the winner of the lip sync, meaning Xunami Muse had to Sashay Away. Xunami Muse has been eliminated from the competition.
Next week will be the third design challenge of the season, with Ru asking the queens to make “neo-Goth looks,” with model Kaia Gerber joining as guest judge.
Reigning Champion Sasha Colby 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 will be joined by America’s Reigning Drag Superstar, season 15 champion Sasha Colby, to talk about all the highs and lows from the queens’ Snatch Game performances and runways. The recap will premiere on the “Drag Race” YouTube channel on Saturday, February 24 at 12 p.m. Eastern time.
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” airs Friday nights at 8 p.m. Eastern, with episodes of “Untucked” immediately following.