And a Toast to Alyssa Edwards by Mike Kohfeld The only thing better than bringing a Drag Race legend back to the main stage is roasting her within an inch of her life. And if you’re going to roast anyone, make it Alyssa Edwards. Alyssa first appeared on Drag Race Season 5, and made it through Episode Nine with her charisma, confidence, and endless array of catchphrases (“I don’t get cute, I get drop dead gorgeous,” “Rigga Morris,” and “BEAST!” are some of my favorites). She competed again on All Stars Season 2, but finally snatched a crown on 2024’s RuPaul’s Drag Race Global All Stars. And now she’s back for Episode 11. Bad Choices Smell Good Fewer queens left in the competition means more time for Mini-Challenges. This time, the queens chose a fragrance from the Scentbird wall, shooting a short ad for the product. (Canny viewers might recognize this was a mini-version of Season 5’s “Scent of a Drag Queen” main challenge. Alyssa created an ad for her signature scent, “Alyssa’s Secret.” What was the secret? She had no idea.) Myki Meeks remained Queen of Mini-Challenges with her “Expensive” perfume, but Kenya’s sultry-yet-stupid ”bad choices smell gooood” was the standout for me. The Most Unhinged Roast Ever The queens had mixed feelings about a roast. Funnygirl Jane wasn’t worried (this time), saying that roasting is “an essential component to what being a drag queen is all about.” And Myki, Kenya, and Discord also felt confident in their comedy skills. Other queens had doubts after a table read with Michelle Visage and comedienne guest judge Atsuko Okatsuka. Juicy’s jokes were met with crickets. Nini struggled with her social anxiety (complete with a Jane Don’t therapy session). And Darlene knew she had her own flavor of funny, but had no prior experience with stand-up comedy. Myki’s Mini-Challenge win granted her one of the most coveted Drag Race privileges: choosing the roast order. “If I was her, I’d be shady boots,” Kenya said. And shady she was: Myki strategically put weaker competitors before and after other comedy powerhouses (and kept her own set far away from Jane’s). Myki closed the roast, earning a top placement with her combo of confidence, quality jokes, and stunning orange chiffon look for the “Swept Away” runway. Discord had the tough job of opening the roast, and despite looking like “Lord Voldemort” (thanks, Jane), she was actually pretty funny. Also safe was a relieved Nini Coco, who managed to get some laughs mid-roast despite a shaky delivery. And while we’ve seen plenty of grieving-widow runways on Drag Race, Nini went above and beyond the other queens with her concept, scattering “ashes” into the fan. Brilliant! Jane Don’t’s set had just the right amount of wink and nudge, but she didn’t take it beyond the usual “RuPaul is old” and “Michelle is a whore” jokes that we’ve seen at every roast.             View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by WOW Presents Plus (@wowpresentsplus)     But Darlene surprised us. Her opening jokes didn’t get many laughs. Sensing danger, Darline let go at just the right moment by pulling a toy hamburger out of nowhere to land a joke about being a prop queen. It didn’t stop there, though. We got flamingos, bananas, and even a clown nose that Darlene shaped into a bizarre, high-camp spectacle that blew away everyone’s expectations and earned her a win. “Darlene’s roast set will go down in history,” Jane admitted. “It is so completely batshit insane. This is genius.”             View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by RuPaul's Drag Race (@rupaulsdragrace)     And now for the bottoms. Juicy got lost in the roast, unable to land jokes with her slow, shaky delivery. “She has a way to go with finding her perspective,” Okatsuka said, mirroring the same notes Juicy’s been getting for weeks. Her wind-blown fitted bedsheet on the runway was cute, but not enough to save her from the bottom two. Kenya roared into the roast with confidence, charisma, and… nothing else. It was tough to watch such a funny queen flounder, and she ended up in the bottom two. She and Juicy squared off to Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” (more songs like this for lip-syncs, please!). Juicy worked her bedazzled bedsheet in the fan. After four times in the bottom, Kenya’s heart was not in it, and she was asked to sashay away. Season 18 won’t be as fun without Kenya’s quotes and quips, but she seems like a queen that we will see again in All Stars. Next week, it’s the makeover challenge, and this time the queens will be paired with queer cowboys. Yeehaw! ...read more read less