9. PM (last week: 9)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nHoly shit, I knew they could dance, but not like that<\/em>! What I was most impressed by in their lip sync was how effortless the whole thing was. Hazel was pulling out great stunts, but PM was flipping themselves all over the stage without breaking a sweat. While I don\u2019t think it was particularly fair for PM to be in the lip sync anyway\u2014they were actually solid in their reading battle with Sami!\u2014I\u2019m glad they got this opportunity to show just what a threat they are. If they can bring this kind of easy, breezy excellence to other challenges, they may just be a threat to go the distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n8. Dulce (last week: 6)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nWell, fair play to Dulce for getting the Golden Beaver. She was right to point out that the other two had both been saved once, and I liked her argument that Hazel and PM clearly had some tension to work out in the lip sync. But Dulce was absolutely deserving of a bottom two placement based on the challenge. Her digs at Velma Jones\u2019 mom\u2019s alcoholism were below the belt, and I wish we\u2019d seen the judges more clearly call out why that material didn\u2019t work. It\u2019s not that it was personal, it\u2019s that there was nothing funny to it, and it was punching at something Velma had no control over. Additionally, Dulce had the worst runway of the week in my book\u2014nothing about it said \u201cerosion.\u201d I\u2019ve been rooting for Dulce this season, but after this week, I would\u2019ve been fine seeing her be the one eliminated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
7. Van Goth (last week: 1)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nHonestly, a pretty disappointing performance from Van this week. I thought the judges went a bit easy on her in critiques, and I personally would not have saved her from the bottom three. (I would\u2019ve saved PM and Mya.) It felt like Van spent more of her time reading herself than Saltina Shaker in their battle, and while there\u2019s an argument to be made that she was trying to neutralize Saltina\u2019s likely material \u2026 that didn\u2019t work, since Saltina\u2019s jokes still all landed. If I had to make an argument for Van\u2019s safety, I would chalk it up to her skull reveal runway look, which was genuinely one of the best of the week. But I\u2019d like to see how Van would perform under a bit more pressure, and this episode offered a natural opportunity for that. A shame the judges didn\u2019t take it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
6. Mya Foxx (last week: 2)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nMya was the best of the losers this week, handling her matchup with the maxi-challenge winner like a champ and walking away with her head held high. It wasn\u2019t close, no, but the baseline between the two was just so much higher. Mya as a loser was better than at least one of the battle winners, if not more. I also loved her take on an eruption on the runway, although I liked the makeup and smoke effect more than the garment itself. Still, Mya is proving to be more of a threat than I thought she\u2019d be at the start of this season. In a weaker cast\u2014Season 5\u2019s, for instance\u2014I think she\u2019d be a lock for the endgame. As it stands, I still think she has a shot, but she\u2019s got some titans standing in her way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
5. Karamilk (last week: 10)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nShe seemed annoyed when Hazel picked her, but Karamilk actually got the best possible opponent. Hazel spent most of their battle fumbling over her own jokes and giving Karamilk opportunities to clap back. Karamilk\u2019s prepared material was worse by comparison than her comebacks, though I did laugh at the \u201cHazel without her K: ketamine\u201d joke. Basically, Karamilk did better than the worst of the crop, and for that, she lands on the top half of this power ranking. I do desperately need her to up her game on the runways, though. Her take on \u201cmelting\u201d being a melted chocolate bar bra and panty felt decidedly underwhelming in what was otherwise a very strong runway presentation by this cast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
4. Sami Landri (last week: 7)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nFinally, Sami shows us what she\u2019s capable of! Both on the runway in a gorgeous<\/em> crystallization look and in the challenge, Sami demonstrated that she\u2019s been listening to the judges, and she\u2019s ready to take bigger swings. She came up with a very<\/em> funny conceit for the reading battle, riffing on PM\u2019s name for various jokes: \u201cpussy milk,\u201d \u201cpoorly made,\u201d \u201cproblematic mug,\u201d \u201cpatchy mullet,\u201d \u201cpoop muncher.\u201d Stop, stop, they\u2019re already dead! Most impressively, Sami did a great job at taking PM\u2019s jokes about her in stride\u2014it made her very endearing in her performance. Really great work from Sami, and the first sign that she\u2019s got what it takes to live up to her reputation. (Congrats on the mini-challenge win, too!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n3. Velma Jones (last week: 8)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nOkay, that\u2019s more like it from Velma. Yes, her performance in the reading battle was great\u2014\u201cDulce is from the city of London, and now I know where she got her British smile\u201d had me howling. And the use of a pause after \u201cDulce is so poor\u201d to basically score a two-for-one joke? Really great stuff. But I was most impressed with Velma on the runway this week. Her precipitation look was one of those that actually takes you a second to process what you\u2019re looking at. Brooke Lynn Hytes and her judges seemed bowled over by it, as was I: the smoke effect, her mug and the separate trains on each of her legs just made the whole thing feel ethereal and unexpected. Velma\u2019s a real threat for the crown; she just needs to avoid another hiccup like we saw in Snatch Game, because this cast is not going to miss the chance to take her out again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. Saltina Shaker (last week: 3)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nYou know what? Saltina\u2019s got the goods! I was skeptical of her coming into this season as a TikTok queen, and her initial nervousness didn\u2019t do much to assuage my concerns. But since her maxi-challenge win, Saltina has settled into herself, and is now killing it week in and week out. She was terrific in her battle with Van, easily handling the frontrunner and getting some of the biggest laughs of the episode. Like Brooke Lynn, I will be thinking about \u201cAll right, hi, ladies and gentlemen, whatever the fuck PM is\u201d for the rest of the season. On the runway, I\u2019ll admit I liked Saltina\u2019s concept more than her execution\u2014it really was just a jumpsuit, and the hair and makeup did a lot to sell it. But still, that\u2019s a minor issue considering what a roll Saltina is on right now. She\u2019s really surprised me, and I can\u2019t wait to see what she does next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Eboni La\u2019Belle (last week: 4)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nTKO. My god, Eboni really delivered this week\u2014and at just the right time. I was beginning to worry she was a bigger character than competitor, but she shut me right up. Her beauty salon take on a combustion look was fun, creative and had a great surprise reveal. But most impressive was how Eboni just demolished Mya in the reading battle, and Mya put up a fight! I snort-laughed at calling Mya \u201cugly brother,\u201d but the best line was one of her longest: \u201cDid y\u2019all know she\u2019s a lyricist and also a liar? In her verse on Episode 1, she said she \u2018serves looks in her free time.\u2019 I guess she don\u2019t got a lot of free time, bitch!\u201d Unbelievable work from Eboni: a clear victory and her real coming out moment in the competition. I would welcome her to the big leagues, but it\u2019s clear Eboni has been there all along\u2014she just took a minute to warm up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Which queen came out on top in the Reading Battles maxi-challenge?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1217,"featured_media":278791,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editorial_slug":"8","_editorial_slug":"8","exclude_from_latest_block":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,6,10],"contributors":[2459],"topic":[114],"clients":[],"series":[50],"timeliness":[58],"editorial_format":[33],"type-of-work":[2536],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278790"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278790"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":278797,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278790\/revisions\/278797"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278790"},{"taxonomy":"contributors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributors?post=278790"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=278790"},{"taxonomy":"clients","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/clients?post=278790"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=278790"},{"taxonomy":"timeliness","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/timeliness?post=278790"},{"taxonomy":"editorial_format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/editorial_format?post=278790"},{"taxonomy":"type-of-work","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/type-of-work?post=278790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}