All Stars 10: Denali confirms she ‘walked off stage’ after lipsync loss and claims show is ‘biased’

RuPaul‘s Drag Race All Stars 10 star Denali has spoken out about episode 8’s controversial lipsync winner and the show’s ‘biased’ judging after fan reception to the episode.

All Stars 10 is over halfway finished, and with the Orange and Pink Bracket having served up excellent drag, a healthy dose of drama and six semi-finalists, the Purple Bracket has just one episode left until its winners are selected.

In the Bracket’s first episode, season 7, All Stars 2 and 6 star Ginger Minj landed in the top two alongside season 14’s Daya Betty, with the former taking the win for the design challenge.

In episode two, Ginger again placed in the top two, this time with season 13’s Denali, after a country girl group challenge. Following a lipsync to Miley Cyrus’ “See You Again”, Ginger took home that win, too – but not everyone has been thrilled with the result.

Many fans have claimed favouritism from the show, with others saying that Denali’s lipsync performance was the stronger of the two.

At Roscoe’s Tavern, a bar in Chicago that regularly holds Drag Race viewing parties hosted by fellow Drag Race alum Naysha Lopez, Denali was asked by the crowd: “How obvious was it on set that this was Ginger’s bracket?”

In response, ice queen Denali said, “I will repeat what I have been saying to myself and what I have experienced. This is RuPaul’s Drag Race; it is a formatted, biased competition show with a lot of subjective judging.”

“At the end of the day, it is literally woven into the fabric of Drag Race for it to favour certain individuals. Certain people who are really good at the show, certain people that RuPaul really likes, that her humour vibes with, that everything is a match with, or people that are very experienced in it as well.”

Denali then noted that if all the challenges were geared towards her skillset, she would assume she was being afforded an advantage; Ginger is famously a country queen with strong improv and comedy chops. The first episode’s challenge was design with a comedy spin, and episode three will host an improv skit.

“You guys are not unintelligent, you guys have been a part of this show for a long time, you understand it”, the All Stars 10 queen said.

“However, with saying that, Ginger Minj is extremely good at Drag Race,” Denali continued. “I would not want to take away, at all, her ability to do really well in this show, and we saw it.”

“We were like, ‘Wow, you were really good at the show.’ Let me say this, so hard, because this fandom definitely thinks sometimes that things are just black and white.

“Two things can exist at once. This show is built to favour people; those people can also be really good at this show. That’s all I will say on that.”

Did Denali walk off stage at the end of All Stars 10 episode 8?

Elsewhere in the viewing party, Denali added that she was “extremely upset” and “really mad and really disappointed” when the winner of the lipsync was announced.

She then confirmed a recent fan rumour that she “walked off” stage at the end of the episode, rather than dancing on-stage with the rest of the bracket.

The moment is cut out of the edit, but viewers can get a glimpse of Denali pumping it to the back of the All Stars 10 stage as the music plays.

“Immediately, in my mind, I needed a little bit of space, so I walked off stage. I did my processing in about five seconds….

“You’ll see that I’ve done my processing almost immediately, and I go, ‘Ginger, congratulations. You did amazing, that’s awesome,’ because you have to manage your emotions on TV. And I didn’t want to come off as ungrateful.”

Chicago’s ice queen added: “And I know I ate that lipsync”. Period.

The Purple Bracket have just one more episode until their number is slashed in half, and three competitors advance to the semi-finals, where they will join the Orange Bracket winners Aja, Bosco and Irene the Alien, and the Pink Bracket‘s Jorgeous, Lydia B. Kollins and Mistress Isabelle Brooks.

RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 10 continues on Fridays on Paramount+ in the US and WOW Presents Plus internationally.

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