RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars E1 - Let's Get All Star-ted

By Chris Feil

RuPaul is bringing back some of the biggest names in Drag Race herstory and honey she is not holding back.

The premiere of this new season of All Stars (let's full-stop forget the team-based first All-Stars existed, shall we?) is a new benchmark for the series, providing more drama and unexpected twists than ever before while still keeping the focus on the queens' personalities. Even the evolution of the contestants' personas provides some refreshing surprises with past villains like Phi Phi O'Hara and Roxxxy Andrews out to prove that they should be known for something more than their past bitchery. In fact, assumed early frontrunners took a back seat in this premiere in favor of the girls looking to battle perceptions on their way to the crown.

But Drag Race is quite eager to shake up the formula this season, something that the show desperately needs in order to raise the stakes on these powerhouses and to combat the diminishing returns of series staples like Snatch Game. And the first big twist is ruthless: the queens that perform best in the main challenge will Lipsync For Their Legacy, and the winner gets both $10,000 and the right to eliminate a queen. Oh, y'all wanted a twist? The genius here is that the very structure of the show is built to bring more drama.

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Vintage '84: Travel Back in Time...

1984 is our "Year of the Month", as we work towards the Supporting Actress Smackdown on the last Sunday in the month (more on that soon). So let's steep ourselves in that year that was a bit. It was an Olympics year (Los Angeles in summer, Sarajevo in winter), the Ethiopian famine alarmed the world and prompted that "Do They Know It's Christmas" music world response, the first Apple Macintosh went on sale, TV brought us the premiere of the ubiquitous Wendy's commercial "Where's the beef?", several franchises that still won't go away debuted in early forms, for better and worse (The Terminator, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Transformers), the first MTV Video Awards was held, featuring Madonna's historic "Like a Virgin" performance, and there were two sudden confusing celebrity deaths (35 year old comedian Andy Kaufman to cancer -- which later prompted hoax theories -- and 26 year old beefcake superstar Jon-Erik Hexum who died of an accidental gunshot on the set of his TV show).

Indiana Jones becomes a franchise | Madonna, Kathleen Turner, and Daryl Hannah all become superstars, Geraldine Ferraro is first female VP candidate, and Rob Lowe is the hot new boytoy

Marinate in the Juices of 1984 via Movies, Music, Theater, and Television after the jump...

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Drag Race All Stars Begins Aug. 25!

Get ready for the return of your favorite drag queens because later this month RuPaul's Drag Race is giving us another All Stars season. Can you believe we are already getting more eleganza when it feels like season 8 just ended?

In case you haven't seen the cast, here's our returning queens:

• Adore Delano (Season 6)
• Alaska (Season 5)
• Alyssa Edwards (Season 5)
• Coco Montrese (Season 5)
• Detox (Season 5)
• Ginger Minj (Season 7)
• Katya Zamolodchikova (Season 7)
• Phi Phi O'Hara (Season 4)
• Roxxxy Andrews (Season 5)
• Tatianna (Season 2)

That is an overload of season five realness, but if it means the return of Rolaskatox, we are perfectly okay with that. Tatianna is the only returning early season competitor and maybe the season's underdog - don't forget she was the original Snatch Game winner with her Britney Spears ("I got lost!"). Overall this cast is heavy with strong performers ready to bring the drama. This round is forgoing the first All Stars season's drama-undercutting teams concept in favor of a new twist:

You heard that right: the best performers will lipsync against one another and the lipsync winner will choose the queen that sashays away. Could it lead to another Rolaskatox domination? Does it stack the deck against lipsync assassins like Alyssa Edwards and Coco Montrese that were never strong performers in actual challenges?

Season 2 of Rupaul's Drag Race All Stars begins Thursday, August 25th. Whose return has you most excited and what queen do you wish was in the cast?

It's National Donut Day!

On this crucial day, as you scarf down a delicious free pastry at various places offering them, remember the great Tangerine (2015) and share your donut, bitch.

Which of the following celebrities, all pictured with donuts (because The Film Experience is nothing if not committed), would you most want to share a donut with?

BEAUTY BREAK - CELEBRITIES w/ DONUTS

Reese Witherspoon

More pastries (and also celebrities) after the jump...

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And the Season 8 Drag Race Winner is...

Last night, our favorite reality not-so-guilty pleasure wrapped up it's eighth season. RuPaul's Drag Race definitely came back strong this season after the underwhelming seventh stumbled. This crop of queens was among the most talented and dynamic, resulting in the show's best top three ever. Whether the eventual winner would be the boisterous Bob the Drag Queen, the heartwarming and inventive Kim Chi, or the glamazon Naomi Smalls, we the adoring audience could hardly complain.

After each of them performed fun lipsyncs to original tracks (available on iTunes *wink*), their individual interviews provided the night's best entertainment: Bob got a video message from Carol Channing praising her Snatch Game win to Bob's aghast tears; Kim dished on her relationship with her mother (who still has no knowledge of Kim's success) and delivered the night's best read aimed at the Pit Crew; Naomi gushed about the approval from her idol Naomi Campbell and shared hugs with her giant family.

But which queen is America's Next Drag Superstar? We'll avoid spoilers (if you haven't yet watched) and save the crowning for after the jump!...

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