{"id":278749,"date":"2025-12-12T10:45:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T15:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/?p=278749"},"modified":"2025-12-12T10:45:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T15:45:17","slug":"canadas-drag-race-season-6-episode-4-recap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/culture\/canadas-drag-race-season-6-episode-4-recap-278749","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Canada\u2019s Drag Race\u2019 Season 6, Episode 4 recap: Battle it out"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A fan favourite maxi-challenge from \u201cCanada vs. The World\u201d makes its return<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After last week\u2019s double Golden Beaver disaster<\/a>, the cast of Canada\u2019s Drag Race<\/em> Season 6 is a little shaken up. Van Goth, our frontrunner this season with two maxi-challenge wins in three episodes, feels \u201ca little responsible and a little guilty\u201d for Star Doll\u2019s departure\u2014particularly since, as she reveals to the other queens later, they had an alliance. But hey, at least Star isn\u2019t there to haunt her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same can\u2019t be said for Hazel with PM, as Hazel has now thrown her friend under the bus twice\u2014first by not picking them to choose their challenge in last week\u2019s \u201cSnatch Game or Design Challenge?\u201d decision, then by saying in Mini-Untucked<\/em> that she wouldn\u2019t save them with the Beaver. Thanks to Van saving them, PM is very much still there, and they\u2019ve got some feelings about Hazel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe the most righteously angry in the lot is Karamilk, who feels well screwed-over by her friend Mya Foxx. Mya says choosing between her and Velma Jones was \u201can impossible choice,\u201d and says that while Karamilk did<\/em> do better in the Snatch Game, Velma\u2019s track record was better overall. Only in confessional does Mya admit that this was a strategic move on her part, as she sees Velma as more likely to win challenges in the future\u2014and thus keep Mya safe with the Golden Beaver. (I would argue that she should\u2019ve tried to extract some promise from Velma on this if that was her plan, but I digress.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karamilk isn\u2019t having this. She says to Mya\u2019s face that she\u2019s pissed off, and in confessional, she calls Mya\u2019s choice \u201cfake as fuck.\u201d She also says that \u201cVelma\u2019s bullshit,\u201d which feels a bit like misdirected anger, but there\u2019s also definitely an undercurrent with this cast (outside of her fellow Francophone, Sami Landri) that they want Velma gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long story short in all this: There are a lot of feelings bubbling up! So what better to do than to throw the queens into a roasting challenge? Making its grand return from Canada vs. The World<\/em> Season 2, it\u2019s the Reading Battles maxi-challenge!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Eboni

Eboni La’Belle and Mya Foxx face off in the best Reading Battle of the night, with Eboni coming out on top<\/span> Credit: Courtesy Bell Media<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Carson Kressley is back in the werk room to introduce the challenge and pair the queens up. As the winner of the mini-challenge\u2014more on that in the final thoughts\u2014Sami Landri gets to pick for herself, and she chooses to battle PM. From there, it\u2019s random selection: Hazel is chosen and picks Karamilk (who\u2019s clearly annoyed), Dulce picks Velma, Eboni La\u2019Belle picks Mya and Van and Saltina Shaker are our final two. Later, Saltina will say she wanted Van specifically\u2014a bold move, considering Van is clearly in the judges\u2019 good graces, but as we\u2019ll see later, Saltina has a plan in mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carson teases a mystery guest judge, and the queens are thrilled to learn that it is Drag Race<\/em> legend and Global All Stars<\/em> winner<\/a> Alyssa Edwards! Alyssa might seem like an odd choice to coach and judge for a reading challenge, considering how badly she flopped in the RuPaul Roast in her original season. (Though she did<\/em> win a comedy challenge to return to the competition in All Stars 2<\/em>!) But Alyssa actually makes for a terrific coach, because she\u2019s not focusing on their jokes\u2014she\u2019s focusing on their approach<\/em>. Since her original season, Alyssa learned of her own power, and her handling of challenges that don\u2019t sit in her exact wheelhouse changed. When she talks during one of the coaching sessions about understanding how a queen\u2019s \u201ccharacter\u201d would tell the joke, it really clicked into place for me: Alyssa made \u201cAlyssa\u201d larger-than-life, to the point that anything she said in-character would be hilarious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These queens aren\u2019t at that level yet, of course, still refining their personae. But Alyssa\u2019s advice goes a long way with this group. You can tell during the battles later on that, even as some of them stumble, they work their way through it instead of letting it throw them off course. That\u2019s straight out of Alyssa\u2019s advice, and it makes the battles overall a lot more enjoyable. I especially appreciate Alyssa\u2019s response to Karamilk worrying about offending people: It\u2019s a reading battle, why wouldn\u2019t<\/em> you want to cause offense? Alyssa seems to not only really help the other queens, but also simply makes the results of this challenge better for the audience. That\u2019s a true entertainer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We get a quick runway before the battles, with the category \u201cMy Chemical Reaction.\u201d Sadly, because of the setup for this episode, we don\u2019t get to see these looks much, as they change into their reading battle looks after. I would\u2019ve switched the order here; some of the runway looks are really<\/em> cool, and they could\u2019ve used more time on screen. In particular, Mya has a cool smoke effect and a gorgeous mug for her eruption look, Eboni pulls out a hair salon-themed look for her combustion runway that\u2019s both fun and gorgeous and Velma gives us what might be the best runway of the season so far with her precipitation look. Just an absolute stunner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Velma

Velma Jones pulls out one of the best runways of the season for her “precipitation” look in the My Chemical Reaction category<\/span> Credit: Courtesy Bell Media<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But then we\u2019re onto the meat of the episode: the battles. Each duel will have one winner declared, who is safe from elimination and enters contention to win the challenge. The losers are all at risk of elimination, with Brooke Lynn Hytes and the judges choosing three of them to fill out the bottom three. Thankfully, there\u2019s a crowd set up like a comedy club for this challenge\u2014comedy challenges are always<\/em> better with a crowd to watch and react.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van and Saltina are first, and Saltina\u2019s kinda got Van by the wig on this one. Van spends too much time reading herself, while Saltina picks up on those and twists the knife. Honestly, Van gets better critiques from the judges than I\u2019d have given her\u2014I think Saltina blows Van out of the water. But still, even with kid gloves for Van, Saltina still wins. We then get another pretty lopsided battle between Dulce and Velma. In something of a shock to me, Dulce goes below the belt, making repeated jokes about Velma\u2019s alcoholic mother. The first one doesn\u2019t land, which is why it\u2019s wild that she keeps going with it. Velma\u2019s a good sport, and just sticks to her very good material about Dulce, coasting to a win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sami vs. PM is next, and Sami has come up with a very clever device for this: various different takes on what \u201cPM\u201d could stand for. \u201cPM: Poorly made,\u201d she intones with the right kind of comic seriousness. \u201cPM: Problematic mug.\u201d PM tries to shut it down early by insisting that their name is just PM, but it only makes Sami\u2019s insistence on the bit funnier. PM\u2019s actually pretty good in response, but I think what sets Sami apart is in what good humour she takes PM\u2019s jokes. PM just looks a bit inflexible in comparison. Sami wins this one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then we get Hazel vs. Karamilk, the worst battle of the bunch. Karamilk is just okay, but Hazel stumbles over her words in a big way, and even powering through in an Alyssa-esque way doesn\u2019t help. Karamilk is actually better in responding to Hazel\u2019s faltering than she is with her own material. Karamilk wins, while Hazel is now in real danger. In less danger is Mya, even after losing her battle with Eboni, because she manages to do pretty well! Unfortunately for her, Eboni is on fucking fire. Eboni was made<\/em> for this challenge. She gets the deepest digs in, nails multiple punchlines per read and does it all effortlessly. She is declared not just the winner of her duel, but of the whole maxi-challenge, and it is a well<\/em>-deserved win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Alyssa

‘Global All Stars’ winner Alyssa Edwards joins the judges’ panel on Canada’s Drag Race this week<\/span> Credit: Courtesy Bell Media<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mya and Van are called safe\u2014Mya justifiably, Van less so\u2014which leaves Dulce, Hazel and PM to fight for the Beaver. I personally would give PM the Beaver here, as I don\u2019t even think they deserve to be in the bottom three, but Dulce makes a couple of effective points in her favour. First, she notes, both Hazel and PM have already had the Beaver once. If we consider the Golden Beaver to be an \u201cextra life\u201d of sorts, it makes sense that everyone would get one. But her most effective point comes when Hazel and PM get into a big scrap in Mini-Untucked<\/em>. It\u2019s clear that PM is not just annoyed with Hazel, but genuinely hurt by their sister not supporting them. I both think PM\u2019s reaction is a bit over the top and think Hazel is not being properly apologetic, so I get why we\u2019re in a bit of a mess here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dulce, wisely, points out that the two clearly have a lot to work out, and what better way to do that than in the lip sync! Eboni is briefly distracted by a safety deal PM offers, but because they do it in the group setting, Dulce and Hazel just make the same offer. PM tries to argue that theirs is the only sincere one, but there\u2019s no real reason for Eboni to believe that. One thing I\u2019m not loving about the Beaver deliberations this season is that this group seems poised to hatch a lot of deals in private\u2014but all the Mini-Untucked<\/em> conversations are happening as a big group. It\u2019s good for creating drama, but bad for allowing real strategies to form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, Eboni sticks with the safest plan and saves Dulce, leaving Hazel and PM to let out their frustrations to the tune of Avril Lavigne and Nicki Minaj\u2019s \u201cDumb Blonde.\u201d Avril lip syncs have quite a legacy on Canada\u2019s Drag Race<\/em>: Ilona Verley vs. Tynomi Banks to \u201cGirlfriend\u201d! Icesis Couture vs. Ra\u2019Jah O\u2019Hara to \u201cSk8er Boi\u201d! And this one more than measures up, as both queens give their all. Hazel is dynamic and impressive in this lip sync, pulling out all kinds of stunts. She doesn\u2019t have a great grip on the words, though, and her moves are a bit laboured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s a shame, because PM is fucking outrageous in this lip sync. Back in the premiere, PM promised they were a quirky queen who could dance, and they did not tell a lie. Every move is effortless, and the stunts they pull are increasingly impressive. This is a real star-is-born moment for PM, a sign that they will be basically undefeatable in a lip sync. I\u2019m bowled over, and I\u2019m thrilled that PM is the queen who stays. Sad to see Hazel go, but she put up a great fight against a brick wall of an opponent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Untucking our final thoughts<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

✨<\/strong> In the same beat that Van outs her own alliance with Star, Velma also calls out Eboni for their \u201cfemale alliance.\u201d Eboni denies it and says there\u2019s no record\u2014as the show plays the flashback of her offering that exact thing. \u201cVelma got me gooped up this morning!\u201d she says with a laugh in her confessional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

✨<\/strong> Carson\u2019s mini-challenge is reportedly a one-on-one styling session in \u201cD-list fashionista quick drag,\u201d with Carson picking one up-and-coming style icon. Of course, this is just a silly quick drag improv challenge, which Sami wins. Good for her! Feels like a great match of talent and performer. She gets $2,500 for her trouble, thanks to Swish Embassy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

✨<\/strong> Giving Alyssa confessionals, and even having her reenact her infamous joke-writing meme from Season 5, is exactly<\/em> the right use of Alyssa, among her various other contributions to this episode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

✨<\/strong> We get a lot of Velma and Sami time in this episode, including an entirely-in-French conversation (a first for this season!). They talk about Velma\u2019s start in drag nine years ago, and she admits in a confessional she struggled to get gigs booked from older queens who didn\u2019t see the vision of casting a cis woman in drag. It\u2019s yet another reminder of how much attitudes about drag have evolved over the years, even in just the last few.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

✨<\/strong> I must say, the panel looks good<\/em> this week. They\u2019ve been doing a great job of coordinating their looks, and it\u2019s a little touch that goes a long way. I figure we\u2019re nearly done with Carson episodes this season, and I\u2019ll do my judging assessment at the end of the season as usual, but suffice it to say he\u2019s been a great<\/em> addition to CDR<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

✨<\/strong> Brooke Lynn\u2019s little introductions of all the queens during the reading battles are great, but I fully guffawed at her line that contrary to popular belief, Dulce did not shoot Selena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


The next episode of <\/em>Canada\u2019s Drag Race will be available to stream on Thursday, Dec. 18, at 9 p.m. EST on WOW Presents Plus in the U.S. and on Crave in Canada. You can subscribe to our drag newsletter, <\/em>Wig!, for exclusive <\/em>Drag Race content delivered straight to your inbox every month.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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