SPOILER ALERT: This article contains details of the “Drag Extravaganza” episode of Weakest Link
Hosted by Jane Lynch, the NBC game show Weakest Link is known for its cutthroat elimination method of contestants via rapid-fire rounds of trivia where each round gives the contestants an opportunity to win more and more money. Each round ends with the players voting one contestant off, and the last one left takes home all the prize money.
Already a hyper competitive situation, adding drag to Weakest Link only elevates the ferocity, fabulousness, and of course, occasional shade.
The competition included eight queens including RuPaul’s Drag Race alums Scarlet Envy (season 11 and All Stars season 6) and Olivia Lux (season 13); as well as Woo Woo Monroe who also works as a sheriff in San Jose, CA (who would’ve thought?!); trained opera singer Gila from Denver, CO; Cierra Symone Campbell representing Birmingham, AL; Kat Sass from Chicago; Pickle from Los Angeles; and veteran queen Lili Whiteass from Providence, RI.
Round 1 starts and the queens are off to a rocky start especially when Pickle is asked: “In 1889, journalist Nellie Bly went around the world in 80 days inspired by a novel by what French author?”
It’s not a very easy question, but Pickle clearly did not know the answer and said “Chaka Khan!” in what seemed like a moment of panic (by the way, answer is Jules Verne).
The round ends and Jane Lynch throws some shade of her own saying to the queens: “I know it’s hard to run in heels, but we’re just asking you to run a chain and earn $25,000. You stumbled your way to $3,000!”
The queens laugh in agreement.
Now, it’s time for the first round of voting the weakest link out. Statistically, Gila is the weakest link – and Woo Woo, Cierra, Kat, and Olivia agree. Lili votes for Kat while Scarlet votes for Pickle and vice versa. That said, the stats were right. Gila is the weakest link and she sings her way off stage.
The queens currently have $3,000 banked from the first round. For the second round, the amount of money up for grabs is $50,000. Let’s hope they do better this round…
Okay, turns out they don’t.
All hope is lost when one of the queens thought that Hooters had a delivery service called “Knockers.” As the round ends, Lynch shades them once again for adding only $7,500 (out of $50,000!) to their piggy bank. On their performance, Lynch recommends they “should have lip synced a smart person’s answers.”
Voting starts and from the jump it’s Scarlet’s turn to go home – and the queens votes are in line with the stats. Meanwhile, Scarlet votes for Cierra, who has an affinity for flipping her hair with every answer to a trivia question.
Hopefully, the queens will reach the $75,000 available in round 3 – because third time’s a charm, right?
Well, not really.
It is clear trivia isn’t these queens’ strong suit – but they all look sickening. They only raked in $6,000 from round three, which brings their total to $10,500.
It’s now getting down to the nitty gritty and technically, the weakest link for the round was Pickle – who works for Drag Story Hour in Los Angles. However, Kat performed poorly in the round.
Woo Woo and Lili vote for Kat, while Cierra and Olivia vote for Pickle. Kat votes for Lili, and Pickle votes for Cierra. Votes are all over the place this round – leaving Pickle and Kat in a tie as the weakest link, making the strongest link of the round, Lili, the deciding factor.
Lili, who originally voted for Kat as the weakest link and has the opportunity to change her mind…doesn’t.
Kat, who looks sickening, leaves the stage, and encourages other women like herself to participate in drag.
Round 4 ups the amount of possible coin to $100,000. Fingers are crossed that the queens at least add $50,000 to their bank… or maybe at least $25,000.
The round starts and finishes with a quickness and Cierra banks a lot of money – which proves to work in her favor. She is technically the strongest link but that doesn’t keep Lynch from jokingly shading them, saying they “blew it”. They banked $12,500 which brings their total bank to $29,000.
Pickle is voted the weakest link by Woo Woo, Lili, Cierra, and Olivia. Pickle votes for Cierra (There’s definitely a bit of silent, but tense competition between the two throughout).
Nonetheless, it’s unanimous. Pickle is eliminated and as Lynch says is “downgraded to a drag princess”.
Round five the pot is up to $250,000 and I’m just hoping they at least add $10,000 to their total bank. The round kicks off with Cierra answering and in the end, they only add $7,500 to their total bank.
“Who’s drag name should have been ‘Mrs. Questions’?” quips Lynch at the end of the round.
The strongest link of the round is Lili while the weakest is Cierra – but Olivia is unanimously voted out. She voted for Cierra.
It’s down to the finale three and there is now $500,000 available to add to the total bank. It’s getting intense. As the round starts, Cierra is the only one banking but is struggling with the questions. When it comes time to vote, Cierra and Lili vote for Woo Woo, who is statistically the weakest link of the round, to leave. And she does. Meanwhile, Woo Woo voted for Lili.
It’s the final round. Each queen will be asked five questions. The total bank of $46,500 will be awarded to the queen who has the most correct answers.
First up: Lili. She incorrectly answers a question about Rosa Parks while Cierra’s knowledge of Lebron James attempt to trademark “taco Tuesday” worked in her favor.
Lili gets on the board with her knowledge about Walt Disney and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Cierra moves ahead with points when she realizes that Lil Yachty, Bruno Mars and Dolly Parton have all given Oprah a shout out in one of their songs.
Lili is clearly embarrassed when she calls the famous gorilla that learned sign language “Helen Keller but after knowing what the “R” stands for in RMS Titanic (it stands for Royal), Lili takes the lead – and then wins when Cierra couldn’t name the Soviet leader that changed his birth surname to incorporate the Russian word for steel in his name.
Cierra answered “Hitler” and unfortunately for her that was not the right answer. Fortunate for Lili, she wins $46,500.