In Season 4, Canada\u2019s Drag Race<\/em> found its own checkpoint challenge: the Lip Sync Slay-Offs<\/a>. The northern take on a LaLaPaRuZa turned the all-lip sync episode into the most important test on the docket for the cast, as it not only forced them all to lip sync, some of them for the first time, but it also sent two queens home. This was a reality check, especially since in that incarnation, we saw frontrunner Kitten Kaboodle suddenly sent home. Season 5\u2019s experimental streak fucked the challenge up by doing a teams take<\/a> on it that came too early in the season, but this season, I\u2019m thrilled to announce that the Slay-Offs are back in their true, excellent form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This season has been a success so far in large part thanks to the cast and an array of great challenges, but also because of some really dynamite storytelling. Every week, we\u2019ve gotten an interesting narrative in the episode, and it\u2019s served the overall story of the season. This week takes that narrative-building up to 11, paying off some story arcs and fully embracing one of the queens as the season\u2019s villain. The result is a thrilling episode that keeps Canada\u2019s Drag Race<\/em>\u2019s hot streak going, and one that sets us up for a potentially amazing endgame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The stage is set for an explosive episode in the cold open, when Sami Landri explains her decision to save Saltina Shaker with the Golden Beaver last week<\/a> as a friendship-based decision. Van Goth is absolutely over this. \u201cWhere are the big moves here?\u201d she says in a confessional. \u201cAll these girls are just saving their friends left and right, and the person with the best \u2018track record\u2019.\u201d Hold that thought, Van, we\u2019ll be back to it in no time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The final eight queens of Canada’s Drag Race Season 6 gather one more time before the Lip Sync Slay-Offs sends two packing<\/span> Credit: Courtesy Bell Media<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Van seems on edge from the outset of this episode, nervous that the Slay-Offs could put her in danger. It\u2019s true that this is a very<\/em> risky challenge format, as one loss and one unfavourable Golden Beaver decision could suddenly leave you with a 2-in-3 chance of being sent home. To buttress her chances, Van reinforces her alliance with Eboni La\u2019Belle at the start of the episode, doubling down on the Scissor Sisters as the only real alliance of the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Soon enough, we\u2019re at song and opponent selection, and let\u2019s just say that while Eboni might be loyal to Van, she\u2019s more loyal to herself. The songs for Round 1 are Fefe Dobson\u2019s \u201cShut Up and Kiss Me,\u201d a 2003 Las Vegas live recording of Celine Dion\u2019s \u201cI\u2019m Alive\u201d (the live nature of it matters a lot<\/em>), Charlotte Cardin\u2019s largely-French song \u201cFeel Good\u201d and Tate McRae\u2019s dance-friendly \u201cIt\u2019s ok I\u2019m ok.\u201d After first-pick Sami chooses the Celine track, both Saltina and Mya Foxx go with \u201cShut Up and Kiss Me.\u201d That\u2019s unfortunate for fourth-pick Van, who really only wanted the Fefe song. She goes with \u201cFeel Good\u201d\u2014and so does Eboni. Van is self-admittedly gagged by this, and all of a sudden her chances look a lot<\/em> worse at surviving this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Karamilk goes with the Tate song, a dream pick for her, and then PM gets to pick between battling Sami and Karamilk. You\u2019d think that PM, being a dancer, would go with \u201cIt\u2019s ok I\u2019m ok \u201d instead of a comedic Celine song\u2014against Sami Landri<\/em>, no less\u2014but you would be wrong! In what I would call the single most strategic blunder of the episode, one that has serious ramifications for poor Velma Jones, PM goes with \u201cI\u2019m Alive,\u201d cutting the Francophone off from a Celine battle and relegating her to the decidedly-not-in-her-wheelhouse Tate track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All the battles are better watched than read about, so for the sake of brevity: neither Mya nor Saltina connect much to \u201cShut Up and Kiss Me,\u201d but Saltina is the better dancer, so she advances. Sami makes a meal out of \u201cI\u2019m Alive,\u201d turning in one of the episode\u2019s best lip syncs, while PM flounders like a fish out of water. Van puts up a good fight against Eboni\u2014it\u2019s a much better lip sync than what we saw her do against Brooke Lynn Hytes in \u201cCold Hearted<\/a>\u201d\u2014but Eboni is just effortless. Sexy, in command, in the moment; it\u2019s a real star turn for someone who\u2019s already proven herself a star many times over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In \u201cIt\u2019s ok I\u2019m ok,\u201d Velma goes for kind of a quirky sexiness that actually could<\/em> work, and she keeps up decently with the song. The problem is that Karamilk was born to do this. Truly, the way she moves is a work of art. She may be one of the best dancers Drag Race<\/em> has ever seen. By the time we get to Karamilk\u2019s backbend, it is simply a wrap\u2014Velma\u2019s own backbend can\u2019t help but pale in comparison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eboni La’Belle throws her Scissor Sister, Van Goth, for a loop by choosing to face off against her, while Karamilk and Velma Jones prepare for a Tate McRae battle<\/span> Credit: Courtesy Bell Media<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n For Round 2, Saltina and Sami face off to The Pussycat Dolls\u2019 \u201cDon\u2019t Cha,\u201d and in an act of true kindness, we are spared from having to see Saltina perform Busta Rhymes\u2019 featured rap. I kid, I kid: Saltina is actually pretty amazing in this performance. It\u2019s exactly the right song for her, and she locks in. Sami gets compared to a \u201cdrunk aunt\u201d by Brooke Lynn in critiques after, and I can\u2019t really disagree. She\u2019s just not a great fit for this kind of song. Saltina, despite all her self-mythologizing about her confidence this season, comes across bold and brave in this lip sync, and she earns her spot in the finale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But to be honest, that battle is just determining who will be the runner-up, because Eboni and Karamilk are the best two lip syncers in this bunch. Their semifinal battle to a Freemasons remix of Kelly Rowland\u2019s \u201cWork\u201d is actually unbelievable. It\u2019s the best lip sync of the season, and had it not come in the last Drag Race<\/em> episode of 2025\u2014and thus after my deadline\u2014it absolutely would\u2019ve made my list of the top lip syncs of the year<\/a>. They are both dynamite, perfectly in sync with the song and giving it their all. In any Lip Sync for Your Life scenario, this would simply have to be a double shantay. As it is, though, Eboni does edge Karamilk out, advancing to the final round against Saltina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Honestly, the final lip sync to P!nk\u2019s \u201cU + Ur Hand\u201d is just a victory lap for Eboni. Saltina\u2019s run out of tricks by now, while Eboni continues to reveal new layers as a performer. This is overall a blast of a final battle\u2014you can tell every single person in that room knows every word, and they\u2019re all joyously lip-syncing along. It\u2019s a delight, and it\u2019s capped by a very deserving second maxi-challenge win for Miss La\u2019Belle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eboni earns $5,000 and the power of the Golden Beaver. With Van in the bottom against three queens who are, to put it simply, not Van, Eboni\u2019s decision should be clear-cut. And let me spoil it for you: she does exactly what you\u2019d expect her to. But this is Canada\u2019s Drag Race<\/em> Season 6, meaning nothing is as simple as it seems. What follows is one of the most needlessly bonkers Mini-Untuckeds<\/em> ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sami Landri’s take on a live Celine Dion performance of “I’m Alive” makes for one of the best lip syncs of the episode<\/span> Credit: Courtesy Bell Media<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Eboni starts off asking each of the bottom four to plead their case. Mya makes an interesting choice, after a confessional where she notes Eboni has been playing the game strategically, to make an emotion-based pitch to Eboni. Thanks for playing, Mya, but that\u2019s your fate practically sealed. Van says she\u2019s eaten up every challenge (though, is that really true? I think her one undisputed great<\/em> week was her design challenge win), and offers to help Eboni in a future sewing challenge. Eboni, either testing the waters as to what she can get away with or simply producing great TV, asks if Van will hold a grudge if she doesn\u2019t save her. Van admits she\u2019d be hurt, and outs her alliance with Eboni to the whole group. The other queens\u2019 faces in the moment hint that they might be growing just a bit tired of Madame Goth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Velma notes she didn\u2019t have a choice in what song to do, and hopes in confessional that Van saved PM for similar reasons in the Snatch Game-or-design challenge episode<\/a>. I personally think this argument resonates most, and considering how defeated PM is, I think were I in Eboni\u2019s shoes I\u2019d save Velma, assuming Van could beat PM and Mya. But that\u2019s a big risk to take with your top ally\u2019s life in the game, and despite her question, I don\u2019t think Eboni ever really considers not saving her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CDR_606_D.jpg\")
![\"Van](\"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CDR_606_A.jpg\")
![\"Sami](\"https:\/\/xtramagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CDR_606_B.jpg\")