| Season Number: | 3 | ||||||||
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| Num Episodes: | 8 | ||||||||
| Network: | VH1 |
The third season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars premiered on January 25, 2018. The season was announced in August 2017, with 9/10 of the cast revealed during a VH1 "Exclusive Queen Ruveal" special, airing on October 20, 2017.[1] [2] [3] This season of All Stars featured ten "all-star" (or “champion”) contestants, selected from the show's first season through to its then-current ninth season, competing again to be inducted into the "Drag Race Hall of Fame".
As was the case in the previous All Stars season, rather than the two lowest-scoring queens for each episode engaging in the usual “Lip-Sync for Your Life” battle for their right to remain in the competition, the two highest-scoring queens on each episode competed in a “Lip-Sync for Your Legacy” performance, the winner of which earned the right to choose which bottom queen gets eliminated (in addition to receiving a $10,000 “tip”). A new twist on how the top queens of the season were chosen was revealed in the previous season's last episode, in which the previously eliminated queens would return during the finale and vote for the top two contestants of the remaining top four; from there-on, the two queens with the most votes advanced while the other two were subsequently eliminated. The prizes for the winner of the competition were a one-year supply of Anastasia Beverly Hills cosmetics and a cash prize of $100,000, and a bejeweled scepter and crown.
The winner of the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars was ultimately Trixie Mattel, with Kennedy Davenport being the runner-up.
See also: List of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars contestants. Ages, names, and cities stated are at time of filming.
| Age | Hometown | Original season(s) | Original placement(s) | Outcome | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trixie Mattel | 28 | Los Angeles, California | 6th place | |||
| Kennedy Davenport | 35 | Dallas, Texas | Season 7 | 4th place | nowrap | |
| 36 | Minneapolis, Minnesota | Season 1 | 3rd place | |||
| Shangela | 35 | Los Angeles, California | Season 2 | 12th place | ||
| Season 3 | 6th place | |||||
| Morgan McMichaels | 36 | Los Angeles, California | Season 2 | 8th place | nowrap | 5th place |
| BenDeLaCreme | 35 | Seattle, Washington | Season 6 | 5th place | nowrap | 6th place |
| Aja | 23 | nowrap | New York City, New York | Season 9 | 9th place | 7th place |
| Chi Chi DeVayne | 32 | Shreveport, Louisiana | Season 8 | 4th place | 8th place | |
| 29 | New York City, New York | Season 6 | 9th place | 9th place | ||
| 33 | New York City, New York | Season 8 | 6th place | 10th place | ||
Notes:
In the finale, the eliminated queens were invited back as jurors. They were given two votes each to decide which of the remaining contestants would make the final two, with their first vote worth two points and the second one point. The finalists were given the chance to plead their case prior to the vote.
Legend:
| BeBe | Kennedy | Shangela | Trixie | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aja | 2 | 1 | |||||
| BenDeLa | 2 | 1 | |||||
| Chi Chi | 2 | 1 | |||||
| Milk | 1 | 2 | |||||
| Morgan | 2 | 1 | |||||
| Thorgy | 1 | 2 | |||||
| Votes | 1 | 5 | 1 | 5 | |||
| Results | |||||||
Legend:
| Episode | Top All Stars (Elimination) | Song | Winner(s) | Bottom | Eliminated | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aja (Chi Chi) | vs. | BenDeLaCreme (Morgan) | "Anaconda" (Nicki Minaj) | BenDeLaCreme | Chi Chi, Morgan | Morgan McMichaels | |||
| 2 | BenDeLaCreme (Thorgy) | vs. | Shangela (Thorgy) | "Jump (For My Love)" (The Pointer Sisters) | Shangela | Kennedy, Thorgy | Thorgy Thor | |||
| 3 | BenDeLaCreme (Chi Chi) | vs. | Kennedy Davenport (Milk) | "Green Light" (Lorde) | nowrap | Kennedy Davenport | Aja, Chi Chi, Milk | Milk | ||
| 4 | BenDeLaCreme (Chi Chi) | vs. | Shangela (Chi Chi) | "I Kissed a Girl" (Katy Perry) | BenDeLaCreme | Chi Chi, Kennedy, Trixie | Chi Chi DeVayne | |||
| Shangela | ||||||||||
| 5 | nowrap | BeBe Zahara Benet (Aja) | vs. | Trixie Mattel (Aja) | "The Boss" (Diana Ross) | BeBe Zahara Benet | Aja, Shangela | Aja | ||
| 6 | BeBe Zahara Benet (Trixie / Morgan) | vs. | nowrap | BenDeLaCreme (BenDeLa / Morgan) | nowrap | "Nobody's Supposed to Be Here (Hex Hector Dance Mix)" (Deborah Cox) | BenDeLaCreme | nowrap | Kennedy, Shangela, Trixie | |
| 7 | Shangela (Morgan) | vs. | Trixie Mattel (Morgan) | "Freaky Money" (RuPaul ft. Big Freedia) | Shangela | BeBe, Kennedy, Morgan | Morgan McMichaels | |||
| Episode | Final All Stars | Song | Winner | |||||||
| 8 | nowrap | Kennedy Davenport | vs. | Trixie Mattel | "Wrecking Ball" (Miley Cyrus) | Trixie Mattel | ||||
Listed in chronological order:[4]
Guests who appeared in episodes but did not judge on the main stage (in order of appearance):
See also: List of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars episodes.
On February 15, 2018, the series production company World of Wonder filed a lawsuit against an anonymous leaker using the alias RealityTVLeaks.[5] According to the lawsuit, RealityTVLeaks posted several visuals from the season on various social media websites such as Reddit, Twitter, and Instagram before each episode's airing—including runway themes, challenges, episode titles, and eliminated queens.[5] Additionally, a producer from the show stated that the leaker removed "information identifying [World of Wonder] as the copyright owner and author" before adding "misleading copyright management information falsely identifying [the defendants] as the copyright owners and authors."[5] World of Wonder launched the suit because of the defendant's "unlawful theft and public dissemination of episodes of the popular and critically-acclaimed reality television show," and the production company confirmed it is seeking damages of $300,000, including $150,000 for each infringed episode and $25,000 per violation of "actual damages" and defendants' profits.[5]
Although a ratings success, the season was panned by the critics, following the high bar set by All Stars 2. Vulture, in writing a summation review, described the season as "truly one of the roughest seasons of the show ever. After a stellar, jaw-unhingingly good All Stars 2, this season felt more like an embarrassing cousin you brought to gay happy hour who wears double polos".[6] The A.V. Club similarly described the season as disappointing; in their final review of the season, they wrote, "I should be celebrating the crowning of a new queen in the Drag Race hall of fame, but Drag Race All Stars season three has left me feeling totally underwhelmed and wondering, What’s the point?"[7]
Vulture did however make the point that although the season did not live up to expectations, "even at its worst, it’s still one of the best, if not the best goddamn reality competition show on television".[6]