WARNING: Contestants are listed in order of elimination and there are unmarked spoilers on this page, potentially including spoilers for previous seasons.
Main (RuPaul, hosts and judges)
RuPaul's Drag Race (USA) seasons:
Drag Race around the world:
All Stars & Vs. the World
All names, ages, and locations stated are at the time of filming.
Thorgy Thor (10th)
Original Appearance: Season 8 (6th)
"I'm back again to clown around some more, and hopefully stir up some trouble."
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Claims she's more focused than ever...while the confessionals promptly show her fiddling with her glasses.
- Elegant Classical Musician: Subverted. Thorgy can play violin like no other, but she's best known for her kooky and offbeat personality.
- Fixing the Game: Thorgy alleges that she is the victim of this- she doesn't see Stevie Nicks as a gay icon and argues that the lyrics in the third challenge give her zero moments to shine. The self defeating attitude massively affects her performance. When she protests on the runway, Ru swiftly shuts her down.
- Green-Eyed Monster: She blames her Season 8 loss on Bob The Drag Queen stealing the show. Chi Chi points out Bob's not here this time, and Thorgy has no one to blame but herself if she loses.
- The Resenter:
- While she tries to claim to be over Bob the Drag Queen, she brings it up constantly, making quite obvious she still harbors resentment for Season 8 turning into "The Bob Show".
- She is extremely bitter over Shangela eliminating her, leaving a crude message on the mirror trying to push as many of Shangela's buttons as possible, and harping on it quite a bit during her farewell video.
- Sore Loser: Just like her last elimination in Season 8, she doesn't take her loss well, stating that the show will be "boring TV" without her, as well as throwing shade at Shangela in her goodbye message.
- Took the Bad Film Seriously: Can't fathom playing up Stevie Nicks in any hilarious way, and instead takes the character way too seriously, claiming Nicks internalizes all her emotions and doesn't really perform in a 'YAS QUEEN' sort of way. In the end the Stevie she turns in for the challenge is perfectly fine, but just doesn't meet the high bar many of the other queens set with their own divas.
Milk (9th)
Original Appearance: Season 6 (9th)
"Hi, I'm Milk. The manly queen is back."
- Call-Back: Says that she expects her time on the show to inspire future challenges, this a direct reference to her wearing facial hair on her first runway in Season 6 inspiring the Bearded Beauty runway of Season 7.
- Drama Queen: When she starts having a crying fit over not hitting the top three in the second episode, Trixie rolls her eyes and claims that Milk's showing a lot of emotion for being safe.
- Evil Is Petty: After her elimination she steals all the styrofoam wig heads and clothes hangers from her station, just so none of the other queens could use them.
- The Fashionista: Milk isn't just a professional model, she's close with Marc Jacobs and has been featured in one of his ad campaigns.
- Gender Bender: Milk's preferred aesthetic, subject to a ton of criticism in Season 6. Her Meet the Queens promo look parodies this by pairing an elegant face with an over-the-top muscle suit.
- Genre Blindness: A LOT. One of Milk's first confessionals in the season is her stating that she's better than Trixie (who's on par with Shangela for being the fan favourite of the season).
- Cue the Diva's rehearsals and Milk is the only one (besides, choreographer Todrick) who seems bothered by Shangela's in-character antics. First rule of Drag Race, don't come for the fan favourites. Especially if said fan favourite is Shangela.
- Milk then gives a very weak performance in the challenge - alongside a poor challenge look and a 'bleh' runway look that fans agree should've landed her in the bottom - she moves to the back of the stage and has a very vocal hissy fit about not being in the top. This hissy fit continues backstage where she begins to cry about being safe. Girl, if the hissy fit almost destroyed Alaska's rep last season, why would you try it?
- In the third episode challenge when tasked to play a "crazy stalker", she proceeds to play the role entirely manic and constantly talks over her partner Trixie. Manic performances rarely ever go over well with the judges (look at Kenya Michael's Beyoncé from Season 4), and it is never good to step over your partner. When she ends up in the bottom three, Milk is still completely at a loss as to what was wrong with her performance.
- Mooning: After packing up her things, she leaves the Werk Room by mooning the camera.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Has a moment of this when she returns after her elimination and everyone basically admits they thought Milk was acting rude and full of herself. She even says she feels shafted that no one told her and she was allowed to walk around like a douchebag during her entire tenure.
- Punny Name: Like season 6, no one wastes any time milking her drag name for humor.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Getting some fan recognition and becoming a model for Marc Jacobs has seriously inflated Milk's ego, as she declares she's expecting her presence to inspire future challenges, as well as becoming hysterical when other people do better than her in challenges.
- Sore Loser: When she missed the top three in the VH1 Diva's Live challenge not only is she caught cussing out Ru's decision when she leaves the stage, but she goes into a fit of hysterics over it in the Werk Room. This is even more true in the following episode when she is sent home, as she venomously puts down her fellow bottom queens, and calls the decision to send her home stupid.
- Stalker with a Crush: The reason she was so excited about her assigned role in the Bitchelor challenge was that she met her real-life partner, world-class ballet dancer James Whiteside, through stalking him on MySpace and then strategically weaseling herself into his circle of friends. Unfortunately it didn't help her with creating a well-received performance, it may even have inspired her to go this overboard.
- Tempting Fate: When Kennedy is saved from elimination, Milk (who said she would've kept Thorgy over her) says in a confessional that she'll have to be sent home next week. Guess who eliminates Milk that week?
- Took a Level in Jerkass: In season 6, she was quite good-natured. Here though, she's pompous, egotistical, entitled, and delusional.
Chi Chi DeVayne (8th)
Original Appearance: Season 8 (4th)
"Wake up, wake up, wake up! This ain't no dream! I'm back, the bayou queen."
- Accidental Misnaming: Played Maya Angelou for the Snatch Game, but spelled her name "Mya" on her name card.
- Always Second Best: Admits to feeling this in Season 8 and feels it again in the first comedy challenge, especially when many of her competitors are professional comedians.
- Boring, but Practical: Wears plain black jazz shoes for her dancing and gymnastics talent. Carson tries to justify this trope, but Michelle notes that Chi Chi has done amazing tricks in heels before, landing her in the bottom.
- Call-Back: Is aware of her poor track record in All Stars 3, and says she would prefer to be eliminated gracefully than to be kept around and turn into the Roxxxy Andrews of this season.
- Graceful Loser:
- In her elimination episode she all but tells the Top 2 to send her home for fairness reasons, since her poor track record clearly shows she's overchallenged by the competition. They both comply. This also makes her the first eliminated queen this season to not express any harsh feelings towards the LSFYL winner for sending her home.
- When the eliminated queens are given a chance to return, Chi Chi directly states that the winner should not bring her back, as she's already accepted she's not quite on the same level as her competitors and says her return would just be beating a dead horse.
- Heroic BSoD: After her third time in the bottom (in only three episodes) Chi Chi finally admits she doesn't think she's really as up to par as her competitors as she thought, and basically says she wouldn't be surprised if its her time to go.
- No Budget: Averted! Unlike Season 8, Chi Chi claims that she can afford a nice wardrobe and wigs.
- Popcultural Osmosis Failure: Attempts to play Maya Angelou for the Snatch Game, but not only does she spell her name wrong, but she seems to have no idea who Maya Angelou is besides a poet who speaks very methodically. A reference towards I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Ru flies right over Chi Chi's head.
Aja (7th)
Original Appearance: Season 9 (9th)
"Ayo sis! I have some unfinished business."
- The Baby of the Bunch: Aja is the youngest contestant ever in a season of All Stars, beating out Tatianna and Adore Delano by 4 years. On top of that, she appears on All Stars 3 less than a year after Season 9.
- Break the Haughty: Admits Season 9 was this for her, she walked into the season thinking she was perfect and would steamroll the competition, only to be read to filth for not being HD ready and going home early. However, she says she's thankful for that experience and that it made her a better queen.
- Graceful Loser: While she does mention frustration that Bebe eliminated her after Aja had helped her sew her own challenge winning outfit, she keeps positive about her departure and just expresses happiness that she did as well as she did.
- Heroic BSoD: After being in the bottom two and being continuously cut off and belittled by Bebe, Aja realized Bebe had no intention of saving her should she win the lip sync and had a minor breakdown, saying the conversation left her entire mood changed.
- Popcultural Osmosis Failure: Actually gets scolded during the Studio 54 Disco runway for her look reading more 60's than 70's, and for not even knowing how to pronounce France Joli, even though Aja claims she was using her as a reference. Ru tells her that being 23 isn't an excuse, and Drag Queens have a duty to know their 'Herstory' and where they came from.
- Took a Level in Badass: In season 9, Aja was consistently safe or in the bottom. She starts All Stars 3 by winning the first challenge.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Calls Bebe out in the sixth episode for not only taking all the credit for making her own outfit when Aja helped her, but for not even letting Aja plead her case to stay and constantly cutting her off during deliberation.
BenDeLaCreme (6th / quit)
Original Appearance: Season 6 (5th + Miss Congeniality)
"Hi everyone! It's me, BenDeLaCreme! ...again."
- The Ace:
- Dela wins an unprecedented four challenges in a row and five challenges total. She's also the first contestant in the history of the show to win the Snatch Game in two seasons. The only time she gets called out by the judges was when she is just safe in the fifth episode for only giving 100% in the challenge instead of her usual 120%.
- She's arguably The Ace of the entire Drag Race franchise, considering that she has the best statistics of any queen to have ever participated, which is made even more impressive considering that she finished in sixth place after voluntarily quitting the competition.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: As Goth Kitty, she identifies three things that make the world a crappy place: bigotry, the GOP, and misplaced tucks.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Shangela points out how Ben's 'playing the game' just as much as everyone else, and how she can tell how carefully BenDeLa chooses her words to minimize confrontation, making her demeanor seem almost manipulative.
- Blessed with Suck: Really treats winning the $10,000 Lip Sync for Your Legacy as this, she's in tears after having to send Morgan home in the first episode and neither the win itself nor the money offer her any comfort. The other queens just roll their eyes over the theatrics of Ben's reaction.
- Camp: Dela's natural aesthetic, she embodies the '60s in her acts.
- Goth: Becomes so upset over Morgan calling her out over her elimination that during the Girl Group challenge Ben channels all her angst and a negative emotions into a rather uncharacteristic goth girl persona, a stark contrast to her normal terminally delightful drag character.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Come the sixth episode when tasked with sending home someone from the top five, Ben realizes that she just doesn't care as much about the crown as her competitors do and eliminates herself.
- Hypocrite: Gets called out by Morgan for her elimination, since Ben made a big deal out of playing a fair game and eliminating a queen based on judges' critiques, only to immediately turn around and eliminate Morgan due to a clash of personal interests.
- I Did What I Had to Do: After winning episode 1's lip sync, she declares that the queens had come to the consensusnote that the weaker queen of the bottom two should be the one sent home each week...and she must protect this system by eliminating Morgan. Not because Morgan was the worst that week, but because she planned to eliminate the bigger threat given the opportunity.
- Irony: After her self-elimination Bendela is able to go home with a clear conscience... except not quite since she has to come Back for the Finale, because all the other eliminated queens have to decide the top two. You know, the kind of system she'd just taken a stand against.
- Jack of All Trades: Comedy, burlesque, acting, improv, impersonations, hot-gluing outfits, singing ... Ben really can do it all, as 5 wins out of 6 episodes clearly demonstrates. Lampshaded during the Andy Warhol soup can challenge when her soup flavor is simply presented as an "All-Purpose Soup" that can do everything.
- Mrs. Robinson: Dela plays a cougar to great effect in the Bitchelor challenge.
- Nice Guy: Is trying very hard to emanate this character, she was Miss Congeniality of Season 6 and expresses concern that she doesn't want fans to think she's become bitchy since then.
- Patter Song: Lip syncing to Ru's song "Call Me Mother" in the style of a Broadway Musical Julie Andrews came across this way, dishing out swag rhymes while keeping the lighthearted demeanor Andrews is famous for. During deliberation Ru even expresses awe that Ben could nail the lyrics so well in just a few hours, when it took Ru 5 days to record the track due to how busy the song is.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Benign example, but in the sixth episode Ben realizes the only reason she wanted to return to the show in the first place was to prove herself to her fans ... which winning 5 out of 6 episodes (and 2 and a half of the lip syncs) she realizes she has already done. She realizes she doesn't care about the actual title as much as the other girls do, so she eliminates herself and leaves the show on her own terms.
- Sudden Humility: Out of no where states she doesn't think she should have won 'The Bitchelor' challenge over Trixie ... but as Shangela notes, not only did Ben not volunteer her prize if she really felt like that, but she's playing a Wounded Gazelle Gambit since she's been winning every challenge thus far.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Invoked but averted, Dela won Miss Congeniality in Season 6 and jokes that now she can be mean this time, but come the actual show is so obsessed with being 'congenial' that her competitors worry she may sabotage herself. This actually comes to pass in the sixth episode, she is so non-confrontational and against competition that she ultimately eliminates herself as the crown and title just don't mean much to her.
Morgan McMichaels (5th)*
Original Appearance: Season 2 (8th)
- Conflict Ball: Her MTQ videos suggests that this is why she was brought back- she's famous for causing drama. She's half-responsible for creating Untucked's first big fight ("Bitch I am from CHICAGO!") and got so deeply into a feud with Season 2 winner Tyra Sanchez that Tyra was banned from performing at Morgan's home club.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: While she is thankful Ben brought her back into the competition, she is a little perturbed that Ben may have only did it because she felt guilty about eliminating Morgan first, and not because Morgan genuinely deserved to return.
- Hoist by Her Own Petard:
- Publicly declares that if she were in charge of an elimination, she would boot the bigger threat, not the poorer performer. She ends up getting eliminated because that attitude made her a bigger threat than the other eligible queen.
- In the episode after being picked to return to the competition, she chooses a character in the Chick Flick challenge that didn't play into her talents specifically to impress the judges. Sure enough, she falls flat and she's eliminated.
- My Greatest Second Chance: Eliminated in the first episode, but gets to return to the competition after the sixth episode. Subverted however, as she was eliminated one episode later.
- Playing Against Type: States this is why she chose the insane ballerina character of Beige Swan over something she would be more comfortable with, such as Sharon Frokovich or The Queen, she wanted to play against type for the judges and impress them ... it doesn't work out though and she ends up eliminated.
- Reality Show Genre Blindness:
- Announces to the Werk Room that if she wins a challenge she will send home whoever she considers her biggest competition, even if that person didn't do the worst that episode. Gets immediately called out afterwards that declaring this outloud was probably a stupid move, and sure enough, when Ben wins the first challenge she sends Morgan home specifically because Morgan made her intentions known to everyone.
- When given the choice of her character for the Chick Flick challenge, Morgan picks the very difficult Black Swan-Expy character instead of something more inside her range of talents specifically because she didn't want to play it safe. Thing is, Morgan has missed almost all the other episodes, and the other queens point out so late in the game she really should have picked something she knew she could excel at instead of taking such a major risk that ended up sending her home.
- Reality Is Unrealistic: Her "Beige Swan" character's hissing noises were based on how swans actually sound in real life, but since most people don't know this, it led to a very confusing performance, as Ross Matthews points out.
- Take That!: After her second elimination she is quick to give every queen on the stage a hug, even the one who sent her home, saying that 'she's not Phi Phi'.
- Tempting Fate: After returning to the fold she spends a good deal of the episode talking about how queens who return to the show typically go home the same episode they are brought back ... and goes on to be sent home herself the same episode she returns.
- This Is a Competition: Claims outright she doesn't want a repeat of last season where the queens only eliminated each other based on judges critiques. She reminds everyone this is a competition, and if she wins a challenge she will send home whoever she feels is a threat.
- The Unfavorite: Self-invoked, when reminded that sending home the wrong queens can cause backlash in the real world, Morgan curtly states that she knows she's probably the least popular/noteworthy queen of the cast, so everyone else is basically a "fan favorite" over her. This is also why she doesn't care who she sends home, as she expects backlash regardless of who it is.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: First eliminated from All Stars 3, and as her season originally aired way back in 2010, she really missed out on the opportunity to show how far she's come (like Tatianna last All Stars did). She returns to the competition in the Girl Group episode to get a second chance to show what she can do, but ends up going home the very next episode without really getting to spread her wings.
BeBe Zahara Benet (3rd=)
Original Appearance: Season 1 (winner)
"Mother, another day; another slay. Who's first?"
- As Long as It Sounds Foreign: During the Girl Group challenge she sings some vaguely African-style chant during her part, but when questioned about it by the judges during critiques she admits it was just gibberish that sounds ethnic but doesn't actually mean a thing.
- Ice Queen: Has a very frigid and haughty demeanor throughout the entire competition, and while that may be interpreted as a high level of confidence, the fact she couldn't defrost that chilly persona caused the other queens to decided to vote her out of the top two of the season.
- It Was His Sled: Her being in this season was a tightly kept secret, and she wasn't officially revealed until the season premiere. However, a new season of Drag Race means several drag queens suddenly cancelling appearances around the same time; this evidence, along with actual leaks, meant fans already knew BeBe would be back. Averted within the show—some queens had expected the secret queen to be Valentina.
- It's All About Me: When Aja confronts her about not sharing the credit for her challenge-winning look, Bebe quite abruptly shuts her down and says the judges' compliments were meant for her and her alone.
- Living Legend: Was the winner of Season 1 of Drag Race, when every other queen in All-Stars 3 was top 4 at best in her original season. Many of the queens are intimidated just by her presence due to her track record.
- Motor Mouth: Not usually, but during deliberation after winning the fifth episode challenge, she refuses to let Aja get a word in edgewise to defend why she shouldn't be sent home. Aja tries to explain why she wants to make it to the top, but Bebe just steamrolls her, telling Aja she should be proud with just how far she's gotten and cutting her off curtly before excusing herself from the conversation, leaving Aja visibly shaken.
- Popcultural Osmosis Failure: Does not know who Ornacia is, the memetastic bejewled mannequin head from Season 6 of Drag Race. The other queens are dumbfounded at this, and realize even though Bebe won the first season, she might not actually watch the newer seasons of the show.
- Pride: Has no lack of overabundant confidence, as she is quite sure of herself and sees no faults with her run on All Stars, even outright ignoring judges' critiques. Trixie comments that while that sort of confidence can be an asset, it can also be a major flaw. This proves to be a major part of her undoing in the finale, she treats her eliminated competitors at arms' length and comes off as cold, so they decide to vote her out of the top two.
- Proper Lady: BeBe has the most poise and dignity of the entire cast, which Dela worries could hold her back in comedy challenges.
- Reality Show Genre Blindness:
- During a lip sync she takes off her wig, having nothing but her natural hair underneath. Taking off your wig (and not having another wig or surprise underneath) has become a lip sync taboo ever since season 4, and indeed as soon as Bebe does it Ru's smile disappears and Ben is declared the winner of the lip sync.
- When the eliminated queens are brought back to decide who should make it through to the top two, Bebe meets with them and treats them coldly, making sure she gives her own big speech without trying at all to be personable, and sticking to her guns that she still doesn't want to reveal who she would have kept/sent home had she won the redemption challenge. In the end the eliminated queens say Bebe comes off as so above it all they couldn't as a majority pass her through to the final lip sync.
- Stealing the Credit: When her outfit wins the Studio 54 Disco challenge, Bebe neglects to admit to the judges that Aja helped her cut and/or sew her garment, taking all the credit herself (Michelle even asks point blank, 'you made this all yourself?!').
- So Okay, It's Average: In spite of returning as the only queen who won her season, BeBe had not won a single a challenge in the first four episodes. Trixie even calls this out in the fifth episode in that Bebe for all her grandeur had yet to really prove herself (until Bebe wins that particular episode, of course).
- Took a Level in Jerkass: When Aja calls her out for not giving her any credit on stage for helping her sew her outfit, Bebe quite rudely shuts her down and says the compliments from the judges were her's and her's alone, and giving Aja credit wouldn't have saved her anyway (this after it was noted everyone else on stage did admit when they got help, Bebe being the only exception).
- The Unreveal: Refuses to reveal which lipsticks she chose for who she would send home nor who she would have had stay had she won the Girl Group lip sync. Bebe claims it's in honor of Ben's sacrifice, although the other queens are fairly certain it is because Bebe doesn't want to risk making an enemy of one of the other queens so close to the end of the competition. This gets brought up again when the eliminated queens want to know who she would have picked (presumably under unspoken threat of them using their power to eliminate her from the final two over her head) and Bebe still doesn't budge.
Shangela (3rd=)
Original Appearances: Season 2 (12th), Season 3 (6th)
"Looks like the box got an upgrade and so did I! Halleloo, I'm back bitches! ...again."
- Achilles' Heel: Can sing, dance, tell jokes, and do just about everything the competition requires out of her ... except sew. In spite of learning how to sew for two months, creating an outfit is just not in Shangela's wheelhouse and when a sewing challenge comes around, she fails rather spectacularly.
- All for Nothing: She spent the whole season carefully (and openly) gaining allies, playing strategically and eliminating other queens based on who would keep her on (while referencing Game Of Thrones almost Once an Episode during the Confession Cams). Of course, Shangela couldn't have anticipated that Ru would bring back all the eliminated queens, not to mention giving them the vote on their pick for the top two of the season, and suffice to say, a lot of those queens didn't take kindly to Shangela's strategy. And just like that, she gets unceremoniously eliminated in the finale, prompting one of the show's most infamous Death Glares from Shangie.
- Bait-and-Switch: After winning Snatch Game, she makes a big speech about how the queen she is eliminating may have struggled on her season but left the show to become a fan favorite, making it really sound like she's about to eliminate Trixie (Trixie herself in tears as she expects the shoe to drop), only to reveal she's eliminating Chi Chi instead. To be fair, Shangela's speech could basically apply to almost any of the girls that season (except Bebe).
- Call-Back : Constantly references jokes she's made and themes she's used in previous seasons, such as entering the workroom behing a box front prop, wearing two different outfits with her Catchphrase 'halleloo' printed on them, and wearing a sparkling corn-inspired tearaway on the third episode runway. Lampshaded by Dela upon her entrance and seeing her box: "well, hallewho could this be?"
- The Chessmaster: Her strategy for All Stars is really a careful game of her making alliances with queens she not only thinks will remain loyal to her but who will also win future challenges so they can be in a position to save her, as well as some good old fashioned passive aggressive bullying to keep her allies in line. Every time she makes even a slightly strategic decision, expect a Confession Cam with Shangela explaining her reasoning and probably making a Game of Thrones reference.
- Commuting on a Bus: All Stars 3 marks her third time competing on the show, minus cameos in Season 4 and All-Stars 2. This time, she's had seven years to improve since Season 3.
- Genre Blindness: States this was the reason she failed Seasons 2 & 3, she assumed drag was all about performance and thus didn't invest any time on the polish, but states since then her make-up and fashion is well up to par. Sewing, on the other hand, is still a problem for Shangie.
- Genre Savvy: Like Season 3, she knows full well she's on a reality t.v. show and partially bases her eliminations on who will keep her in the competition.
- Graceful Loser: Despite visibly holding back tears, she takes her elimination in stride, saying she's proud of how much she improved.
- Impossibly Tacky Clothes: Shangela is anything but a seamstress, and come the Andy Warhol sewing challenge she makes a rather hideous disco dress, Trixie even stating it's probably the single worst outfit in the history of Drag Race.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Spends the entire competition playing the game like she's on Game of Thrones, which while that gets her far in the show it doesn't really make her popular with the eliminated queens. Come the finale when the axed queens get to pick who of the final four will become the final two, they swiftly pass Shangela over and eliminate her (Shangela herself puts it best, there are three queens who are pissed at her for eliminating them, two who resent her because she's there and they aren't, and Ben who knows in the back of her mind had she not eliminated herself, she'd be the frontrunner instead of Shangie).
- Mathematician's Answer: Right before revealing her lipstick in episode 4 she makes a speech about how the queen she's about to eliminate may have failed during her original season of Drag Race, but then went on to become a breakout hit with the fan, the show really making it sound like she's about to eliminate Trixie. Thing is, with the exception of BeBe (who won her season) that speech could literally be applied to anyone on that stage, Shangela herself included!
- Method Acting: When tasked to play Mariah Carey, she really starts acting like an entitled and vapid diva during rehearsal, pissing off choreographer Todrick Hall and fellow competitor, Milk. Come the challenge itself she delivers a hilariously accurate diva performance, getting kudos from Todrick in spite of working his nerves with the diva routine during practice.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Gets scared out of doing Miss Cleo for the Snatch Game after Ru clocked her Jamaican Accent as sounding more Irish instead (and proceeded to stay Irish even after being pointed out as such).
- Out-Gambitted: By none other than RuPaul herself. Shangela spent the entire season gaining allies; whenever she was in the top two, she would save a queen from elimination based whether or not they'd save her if the tables were turned. This strategy promptly bit her in the ass when Ru brought back all the previously-eliminated queens and had them vote on the top two for the crown. Since this includes queens Shangela either eliminated or would have eliminated, they unsurprisingly did not vote for her to be in the top two despite having the strongest track record after Dela.
- Running Gag: Keeps comparing her methodology of competing in Drag Race to Game of Thrones.
- Took a Level in Badass: Shangela is infamous for starting two different seasons in the bottom two, and not knowing how to sew. She takes one of those fashion fails, upgrades it, gets lavish praise from Vanessa Williams (who had been a judge for the original challenge) and ends up winning the night.
- You Might Remember Me from...: Shangela references her many TV appearances right out the gate to show her overall improvement.
Kennedy Davenport (2nd)
Original Appearance: Season 7 (4th)
"Round 2, bitches."
- The Atoner: Acknowledges that she was "bitchy" back in season 7 and admits she wants to do better. How successful she is actually being in that atonement is up for debate, as Kennedy is still a very abrupt and no-nonsense queen naturally.
- Dark Horse Victory: In terms of stats come the final four, Kennedy was by far a distant fourth and quite unlikely to be any sort of contender for the crown compared to Shangela (who had the best stats), Trixie (big fan favorite with second best stats), or Bebe (first winner of Drag Race who had barely been on the bottom). However, when Ru changes all the rules and has the eliminated queens pick who would move on to the final two, they pick Kennedy by a landslide due to finding her situation more sympathetic and inspirational, as well as realizing Kennedy just needs the win more than the others who all already have successful careers outside the show.
- Everything's Better with Rainbows: This marks the second time Kennedy wears a rainbow gown for her finale runway, her saying that wearing a rainbow fills her with gay pride.
- Jack of All Trades: While she's known for being a pageant queen and a dancer, Kennedy reminds Ross and the viewers that she's got serious comedy chops.
- Jerkass Has a Point: A recurring thing for Kennedy. In episode 1, she gets into a brief spat with Shangela after Kennedy expresses surprise at Aja's return, which the others take as her underestimating her. However, when you think about it, Aja has at this point had maybe a matter of months to improve her drag and performance skills, while queens like Bebe and Morgan have had almost 10 years; so Aja returning now, against such seasoned queens, is a surprise.
- Oh, Crap!: Visibly stunned when placed low for the second episode, since she clearly thought to be safe.
- Technician Versus Performer: Kennedy is known as the Dancing Diva, but only when it comes to free-styling. When she is required to be more technical in her dancing and follow choreography she has a very hard time landing the moves, as shown when she puts out a sub-par Janet Jackson in the Divas' Live challenge.
- This Is a Competition: When Ben tries to convince the girls that they should eliminate like they did last All Stars, based heavily on the judges' critiques, Kennedy is quick to shoot that idea down, stating she plans on playing the game and make her own choices, even if they are not considered fair or are based on anything other than personal grudges or preferences.
- The Unapologetic: She stands by her decisions and her snarks, whether they be based on legitimate gripes or personal hurt feelings, and says (more than once) that she owes no one an apology if they took offense to her comments.
- The Unfavorite: Talks about how she wants to use All Stars to become one of the Drag Race girls fans want to see first, and not a "Second Thought Queen" that's sitting alone until the last five minutes after fans have already met with the queens they actually came to see.
- WTH, Costuming Department?:
- Kennedy's entrance look is a mishmash of disco ball mirrors, shards of glass, and a wig that resembles a mushroom cloud. Fans immediately made memes comparing it to Pokemon.
- Invoked during her Redemption Runway, in which she wears an upgraded version of her infamous Death Becomes Her outfit, this time with a tearaway to reveal she really has been crystallized this time.
Trixie Mattel (winner)
Original Appearance: Season 7 (6th)
"Snatching trophies? *laughs* I am a trophy."
- Always Second Best: Gets frustrated with Ben because she puts it, both she and Ben are Darkhorses, but Ben's horse is so ahead of the competition that Trixie doesn't feel like she even can catch up. Finally breaks out of this come the fifth episode (as well as coming through and winning the entire season!).
- Black Comedy: Trixie's forte. Her face looks like a Barbie doll, but her humor is beyond messed up.
- Caustic Critic: Tying in with the above, she's not afraid to lambaste her sisters in the confessionals. Fans are divided on if this is funny or just rude.
- Cursed with Awesome: When she's given the lead role of Sharon Frokovich for the Wedding Chick Flick challenge, Trixie is upset that she's been given a role with little character and the most lines ... until she gets out on set and realizes having so much of the focus centered on her gives her the opportunities to make it funny and steal the spotlight, which she does!
- Deadpan Snarker:
- Is renown for her dry wit, but this attitude may have bit her in the ass during the Girl Group challenge in which she snarks to guest judge Adam Lambert, to which he took seriously. He lambasts her during critiques for coming off as over it, to Trixie's complete shock since she was just trying to be funny.
- Also nearly bites her in the ass again come deliberations when she chats with Bebe, with Bebe taking Trixie's blasé attitude as an indicator that she didn't care if she was eliminated or not.
- Genre-Busting: Trixie jokes that she is the most successful (and only) folk drag musician.
- Hates Being Touched: Casually mentions that when she's not in-character and on-stage she doesn't like being hugged.
- Heroic Second Wind: Is constantly bested during the first half of the season and nearly gets eliminated in the Snatch Game, the single challenge Trixie was the most confident about, leaving her troubled. After that, Trixie revs up and starts winning challenges (even being praised for pulling herself out of her first half-season funk by the judges) and going to score a surprise victory, snatching the crown in the finale!
- Nice Guy: In comparison to Shangela and Bebe, while Trixie can be snarky she still comes off as friendly plus she never actually eliminated anyone in the competition. This is quite likely a major reason why when the eliminated queens get to vote on who to pass through to the final four, they pick Trixie (and Kennedy) over Shangela (who has been playing a cutthroat game all season) and Bebe (who comes off as very haughty).
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: Even after reaching an understanding about Thorgy's hateful note with Shangela, it still gets brought up quite a bit in the following episodes.
- Split Personality: Discusses this after being called out for being too dour and snarky by Adam Lambert, stating that while on stage and in drag she's full of energy and effervescent, off-stage she's just an introverted white boy who doesn't like hugs.
- Take That!: While setting up their stations Trixie picks one out specifically because she remembers Pearl had that mirror ... and since Pearl coasted her way to the top three, Trixie is hoping to feed off that energy herself. She never forgets to remind Milk about her breakdown either.
- Took a Level in Kindness: After being called out by Adam Lambert for her poor attitude and snark when recording her track for the Girl Group challenge, she purposely tried to always smile and be pleasant with Ross Matthews acting as director in the next challenge, hoping to avoid a repeat critique.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Gets called out by Shangela when the latter finds a hateful note left by Thorgy taped to her station. It wasn't so much that Trixie kept the note, but propped it up in a way as if she was proud that Thorgy had badmouthed Shangela. When Thorgy returns to the show during the Girl Group challenge she actually takes Shangela's side in this, stating that the note was meant to be private and Trixie should not have put it up where anyone could see it.
