Drag Race is now a global franchise, airing multiple episodes every week.* There are dozens of queens werking it out for not just their country's respective crown, but for our attention. Every queen is captivating — but only one of them is a true gem. Pop Heist's Greatest Drag Race Queen of All Time of the Week singles out one special queen from that week's competitors and crowns her for a one-week reign.
The Week: July 21 to July 27
The Episodes: Drag Race France 4x03 "Drag Vinci Code, The Musidrag"; Canada's Drag Race All Stars 1x03 "The Design Auction"; Drag Race Down Under vs. the World 1x01 "Look Who's Back In the House!"
The Queen: Nicole Paige Brooks (Down Under vs. the World Season 1)
Nicole Paige Brooks has a Drag Race trajectory that I would bet 90% of all the RuGirls wish they had. Regardless of where you placed in the elimination order on your original season, be it first out or narrowly missing the finale, you want to be wanted as badly as the fandom now wants Nicole Paige Brooks. Her rise to this level of prestige, from IYKYK to you f'ing know, is maybe the best thing to come out of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 10 — and Down Under vs. the World is here to make the most of it. Luckily for all of us, Nicole Paige Brooks is here to play.
Of course, it's not like she could ever possibly be anyone other than herself. After a daylong international flight, NPB stormed into Down Under's Werk Room in a sickening gown ... and lipstick all over her teeth. Nicole doesn't care! You cannot get this girl! And that's NPB's charm: she gives unbothered yet mischievous at all times, a confounding cocktail of vibes that is oh so addictive.
Case in point: the arrival of Raven into the competition. Nicole's Season 2 sister. The queen that sent Nicole home in s2e02. The queen that does RuPaul's makeup, and is presumably only able to compete because Ru ain't here no more someone else beats Michelle Visage's mug. Everyone else in the cast is shooketh because a clear franchise favorite — and I mean, a favorite of the literal franchise as an entity that sends paychecks — has entered the chat. NPB seems primarily bummed that ... she's not the only OG in the room.
But all of that is preamble to Brooks' first Maxi Challenge performance, a design challenge wherein she was stuck with the most hideous gray fur fabric. We're talking '80s bathmat found at the Goodwill. Immediately, I thought the show got the gal. And then? And then?
And can we talk about the mug for a moment? Because NPB leveled up in the months between All Stars 10 and this.
She looks like an alien queen beamed aboard the Enterprise to seduce and dominate Captain Kirk (in the '80s movies, specifically).
Nicole Paige Brooks turned it out with a Dynasty meets Def Leppard by way of The Flintstones power bitch look, defying the odds and giving all the other girls reason to gag. Why she wasn't in the top, why she didn't win, is beyond me! But so what — the show didn't bestow upon her a win, so we will bestow upon her the title of The Greatest Drag Race Queen of All Time This Week.
Follow Nicole Paige Brooks on Instagram at @thenicolepaigebrooks
Last week's Greatest Drag Race Queens of All Time: Daisy Superbitch
