‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Episode 5 Power Ranking: Oh Baby, Bring It All To Me

During last week’s trip to the world daytime television, the contestants of RuPaul’s Drag Race had their improv comedy chops put to the test. Now, as the competition goes into its sixth week, INTO’s power ranking has experienced quite the shakeup. (Here’s last week’s ranking, if you wanna catch up.)

Before we get into it, I decided it’s time to be a little more transparent about the numbers game behind the ranking. Each queen receives five points to start. Then, each queen gets a point deducted for being in the bottom three or a plus one for being in the top three. The week’s winner gets three points while the person who lip synced but did not go home gets three points taken away.

Now, from here, I do tinker a bit with the rankingsI break ties based on whether or not the contestants who are tied have been in the bottom or top more often, or if they’ve won any challenges. Usually, a queen who has won a challenge will fare better in a tie.

For the purposes of the rankings, I only count the last three weeks of competition, as contestants’ performances from weeks ago wane in importance pretty quickly on Drag Race.

With all that said, let’s see who stands where this week!

1. Eureka (Last week: 9)

Things certainly have come full circle for Eureka. After being ousted for a knee injury in the fifth episode of Drag Race’s ninth season, she won the 10th season’s fifth week challenge with a go-for-broke performance as a sexy baby that even Melissa Leo thought was too broad.

Between Eureka’s headlining diapers-clad performance and her stunning runway, there’s no doubt she was the queen of this week’s episode. But equally important to Eureka’s success this week was her vulnerability with The Vixen as the two squashed their beef. It’s no secret that Eureka doesn’t have the biggest support among the show’s fandom, and this week, her attempts to explain herhmm, let’s say strongpersonality were necessary to humanize her.

2. Aquaria (Last week: 1)

It was only one week ago that I shared my own personal theories about how hard RuPaul stans for Aquaria. Aquaria still has a sterling record. She’s never been in the bottom two and won the Last Ball on Earth, one of the show’s iconic challenges. And while most people wouldn’t call Aquaria a comedy queen, she held her own and managed not to get lost when Eureka took the stage. After weeks of floating down low, look for Aquaria to remain a mainstay on this list’s top half.

3. Asia O’Hara (Last week: 4)

This is areminder that Asia is still very much in the competition after her win in the dating apps challenge. (See what I mean about past challenges feeling so far away?!) Now that O’Hara has ditched the buddy-buddy attitude to drag and embraced the competition of Drag Race, keep your eye on this uber-talented queen.

4. Miz Cracker (Last week: 3)

Miz Cracker is turning out to be the eternal bridesmaid of the season. No matter how much she brings her A game, another queen always seems to eclipse her ever-so-slightly to get the win. But, despite her lack of a challenge win, she’s still the most consistent queen of the season when it comes to earning the judges’ praise.

5. Blair St. Clair (Last week: 5)

A recurring theme of this ranking is Blair St. Clair’s ability to stay toward the middle of the pack. She’s yet to secure a win, but has not been a mainstay in the tops of the week like Miz Cracker. As RuPaul used to say in earlier seasons, “safe” is a dirty word on Drag Race,and if Blair St. Clair doesn’t do something to pop soon, she’ll fizz.

6. Monique Heart (Last week: 8)

After weeks of being ignored by the judges, Monique finally got the recognition she deserved for her performance in the Bossy Rossy challenge. And though she didn’t pull off the best runway look, she earned more than a few laughsand Twitter memes!for saying, “Stunning!” after mistaking giraffe print for brown cow print. Also, justice for Monique’s playing card look forever and for always.

7. Kameron Michaels (Last week: 7)

This is the week that Michaels finally showed us some personality! She was somehow able to outshine Monet X Change during their Bossy Rossy segment, and even stanned for Shaniawhich, in retrospect is, you know. Along the way, we learned that Michaels has some pretty decent comic chops and that he used to lip sync to Twain’s songs as a little gayby. Endearing!

8. The Vixen (Last week: 2)

Why the tumble for The Vixen this week? Her week 2 win is now too far in the rearview for this ranking and this week saw her in the bottom three. Luckily she was saved by her denim mermaid look, which was amazingMichelle’s obsession with cinching be damned! We know The Vixen has the passion to bounce back and we for one will welcome her back to the top of this ranking with open arms.

9. Monet X Change (Last week: 10)

It pains me to report that Monet X Change is in last place in this ranking for the second week in a row. But unfortunately, with two weeks in the bottom three, she’s definitely in need of a challenge win to boost the judges’ faith in her. The show definitely seems to have an affinity for the New York queen, who continues to play the role of Greek Chorus to the show’s action in her on-camera commentary.