What hath RuPaul wrought? Drag Race is now a global franchise, with international editions popping up in every country where you can find an Ulta within 100 miles of a gay bar. That means there's a lot of Drag Race content available to watch every week, with 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.
Welcome to the inaugural edition of Pop Heist's Drag Race Gem of the Week, a regular column wherein we (or, I mean, I) single out one special queen from all of that week's competitors and crown her the Queen of Gems. Or the Gem of the Week. Y'know, right now we're open to suggestions when it comes to the title, but not the queen in question!
The Week: Dec. 29, 2024 to Jan. 4, 2025
The Episodes: Canada's Drag Race 5x07, "The Devil Wore Custom"; RuPaul's Drag Race 17x01, "Squirrel Games"
The Gem: Makayla Couture
There are two ways to shine on a Drag Race season. You can give drag excellence, serving looks and stunting pretty. You can wow every single human with at least one functioning eye with your blinding beauty — or you can give good TV. You can be the confessional queen with the quotes. You can be the queen who naturally finds her light, knows her angles, reads the room, and pops off accordingly. Queens can win Drag Race the competition or Drag Race the show — and in "The Devil Wore Custom," Makayla Couture was playing to win both.
Makayla Couture gives drag excellence on the regular, but this episode saw her transfer her keen eye for edgy eleganza to Brooke Lynn Hytes — the host of Canada's Drag Race. In the most gaggy challenge we've seen in a while, the remaining queens were tasked with creating — from scratch! — a look for Brooke to actually wear on the runway. Unprecedented. And Makayla is not a seamstress, by any means. But as Makayla has proven week after week, you give her a challenge and she will rise to it. Unless it's Snatch Game. But how often are you called upon to do a hilarious Oprah Winfrey impression in your gig-to-gig life? Moving on.
Makayla crafted a stunning, form-fitting gown for the statuesque MC, and then topped it off with what I can only describe as titty chandeliers. That's the level of detail you get with Makayla. She's going to give you what you want, and then she's gonna give you what she wants — and she wanted Brooke Lynn to have the most decadent nips in Canada. Performing at this level is how you win the game (even if Makayla didn't win the challenge).
And then? After getting glowing critiques for a challenge that she knew she easily could have flopped? Makayla literally said that nothing could take away the high she felt, basking in that praise. And then her Season 5 sister Xana tried ever-so-not-gently to turn Makayla's high horse into glue by pointing out that Brooke tripped a little on that gown. And then we got an Untucked monologue on par with the all-time great Untucked monologues.
"I'm sorry. No, shut it up, shut it up. Put this glass down. Hold my thing. All right. You know what? No point in this fucking competition have I ever tried to make you feel low and every single time I'm feeling good about myself, you try to bring me down. So you know what? I'm gonna save my fucking energy and fuck y'all. Like, fuck this bitch. I have never! I have never tried to make you feel fucking low and this is the shit you pull?! You know what? I'm so fucking done. I'm done! Fuck you!"
No, we actually got two monologues separated by Makayla storming out of the Werk Room, and footage of the judges' hearing her all the way on the main stage. Then Makayla came back for the pièce de résistance:
"And she tripped up on your fucking outfit too. Let me tell you something: You are a small, tiny ass human being and that is exactly why you bring down everyone else in the room. So I'm gonna let you know now: I am Makayla motherfucking Couture. Don't ever try to make me feel small. Because I don't do that to you. You are disgusting and you've truly lost a friend, 'cause I'm done with you. Done! Please, change the fucking conversation."
Girls all across Canada will be lip-syncing to this in bars this weekend.
And this is why Makayla Couture is the first Drag Race Gem of the Week: because not only does she serve top-tier, standing ovation level drag, she also knows how to make great television. To deliver one of the most ferocious Untucked monologues in a week where you did well? That's a gem, right there.
And for what it's worth — EXCLUSIVE — Xana told Pop Heist that she and Makayla are good, y'all. "It was something that I'm glad we got to experience and we got to experience that together," said Xana. "We did a viewing party together [for this episode] and we got to giggle through the whole scene."
Welcome to the Hall of Gems, Makayla Couture. Long may you reign — and by "long" I mean until next Monday!
