In Review: Brook Lynn Has The Strongest Record, With Competition From Yvie
In the run-up to the finale, Brook Lynn Hytes leads, while Yvie Oddly finds herself a close second. As has been the trend throughout the entire competition, Brook Lynn Hytes leads the pack (82) while Yvie Oddly is a close second (76). A'keria Channel Davenport looks unlikely (35) to win, while Silky Nutmeg Ganache lands squarely at the bottom (9) of the pack. Should Ms. Ganache win, RuPaul may very well have a riot on her hands.
Speaker Corey Johnson makes his final prediction: “After an incredible season by her (and me), Yvie Oddly will be taking the win.”
All the data points in the following analysis came from data collected here. The aggregate data can be found here.
Past analyses: E0 | E1 | E2 | E3 | E4 | E5 | E6 | E7 | E8* | E9 | E10* | E11* | E12*
* There was no analysis for this week. A lot of life changes on my end!
Survey Methodology
This episode twelve survey received a total of 6,767 votes across 340 unique sessions and was conducted from 5/18–5/20. Survey responses corresponded with the 5/18 survey post on Reddit. Presented with two randomly-selected contestants, respondents answered the question, "Between these two, who is more likely to win RuPaul's Drag Race Season 11?" The survey is not a scientific sample, nor is it weighted to reflect any particular demographic.
Competition Performance
With the competition all wrapped up, we can finally look back to see how our top four performed. However, if we know anything from Season 9, it's that competition performance isn't everything (so sorry Shea), so consider that it's only one but a significant factor.
Let's take a look back, shall we?
Brook Lynn Hytes
Brook Lynn Hytes likely has the best track record of any queen who has been on the show, ranking highly or outright winning more than a majority of the episodes. It's hard not to imagine her success or failure in attaining the crown as a referendum on this virtually impeccable track record.
Maxi-Challenge Wins: 3
Brook Lynn Hytes clearly dominated the competition in one major area: design. All three of her maxi-challenge wins were due to her success in a design challenge. These were the Whatcha Unpackin? sewing challenge, the Monster Ball ball challenge, and Bring Back My Queens! makeover challenge. In fact, the only design challenge she did not win was the From Farm to Runway sewing challenge, in which she still placed highly. These three wins were evenly dispersed throughout the season, winning one challenge for every four episodes.
HIGH Ranking: 6
Brook Lynn was almost always in the top. To put in another way: over the twelve competition episodes Brook Lynn landed in the top for 75% (9) of them. I'm almost certain that's a record-breaker.
SAFE Ranking: 0
That's right. Ms. Brook Lynn has never not received critique on the runway. Quite an astonishing feat, no?
LOW Ranking: 1
Brook Lynn ranked low only once: her poor performance in Why It Gotta Be Black, Panther? This was her last poor performance on an acting challenge.
Lipsync's For Your Life: 2
It's hard to imagine that Brook's lipsync's in the bottom hurt her chances in any tangible way. Her first lipsync with Yvie was jaw-dropping enough to warrant both queens staying in the competition, while her second against her competition fling, Vanessa Vanjie Mateo, fit her narrative arc neatly.
Yvie Oddly
Yvie Oddly is an interesting queen with an interesting track record. For the first two-thirds of the competition, she dominated the field and was considered a strong competitor to Brook Lynn Heights, but toward the end, fell into the middle. Almost as if it was a curse, she never landed in the top after lipsyncing against Brook Lynn Hytes. Complicating her chance at seizing the crown, she's only won one maxi-challenge, while every other queen has won two or more.
Maxi-Challenge Wins: 1
Yvie had only won one maxi-challenge, and this was for her performance in Good God Girl Get Out. Sadly, this one maxi-challenge win was shared with Scarlet Envy. She likely could've earned a second win, though, for her strong lyrics and exceptional performance in the Queens Everywhere music video.
HIGH Ranking: 5
Yvie Oddly ranked high five consecutive times—another feat—following her first win, between episodes three and seven. Her streak died out after she lipsync'd against Brook Lynn in episode eight. However, she ranked highly in a diverse array of maxi-challenges, including: Acting, Musical, Ball, Dancing, and Sewing.
SAFE Ranking: 4
If she wasn't ranked highly, she was safe—particularly toward the end of the competition.
LOW Ranking: 1
Yvie Oddly only ranked low once and this was in the makeover maxi-challenge.
Lipsync's For Your Life: 1
Yvie Oddly lipsync'd for her life against Brook Lynn Hytes and both of them turned out a performance and kept Ru's attention. Since this lipsync, though, she failed to end up in the top.
A'keria Channel Davenport
The only pageant queen to make it to the top four, A'keria Channel Davenport has a mixed record. The queen of untucked, she has been safe in half of all of her competition, but has a diverse record of success. She won one dancing and one acting challenge.
Maxi-Challenge Wins: 2
A'keria won two maxi-challenges: standing out in the Dragylmpics dancing challenge and surprising the judges with a hilarious performance in L.A.D.P.!
HIGH Ranking: 2
The polished pageant queen's talents shone in design challenges, ranking highly in both the Whatcha Unpackin? sewing challenge and Bring Back My Queens! makeover challenge that Brook Lynn Hytes ultimately won.
SAFE Ranking: 6
While Yvie and Brook Lynn were the two queens that consistently ranked highly, A'keria Channel Davenport consistently ranked as safe. This didn't change throughout the competition—for ever four episodes, A'keria ranked safely in two of them, making her the unofficial queen of untucked.
LOW Ranking: 0
Interestingly, A'keria never earned a low ranking, despite being behind Brook Lynn and Yvie, who both have. On the flip side, this meant that whenever A'keria was in the bottom, she ended up lipsyncing.
Lipsync's For Your Life: 2
Though A'keria never earned a low ranking, when she ended up in the bottom three, she always ended up lipsyncing. Notably, A'keria Channel Davenport is the only queen to make it to the top four who had also lipsync'd in the damning bottom six lipsync. In fact, she was the only queen in the top seven to had lipsynced on that (cursed) lipsync.
Silky Nutmeg Ganache
Lauded for her over-the-top personality, Silky snatched two maxi-challenge wins and ranked highly in three other challenges that required she put that big personality to task. On the flip side, Silky struggled with her runways and outfits. She was safe in the sewing challenges, but struggled in the Monster Ball and ended up lipsyncing for her poor performance in the makeover maxi challenge.
Maxi-Challenge Wins: 2
Silky Nutmeg Ganache has won two maxi-challenges that were both reflections of her big personality: her performances as Oprah in Trump: The Rusical and Ts Madison in the Snatch Game. Notably, in winning the Snatch Game, she drew a contrast with the top two queens who were lipsyncing that week.
HIGH Ranking: 3
Silky earned three high rankings which were evenly dispersed throughout the season, ranking high in one challenge for every four episodes. These were in two acting and one dancing maxi-challenges.
SAFE Ranking: 4
Silky Nutmeg Ganache has been safe in four maxi-challenges. She was safe the first two episodes of the season, but since then broke out from the pack.
LOW Ranking: 2
This queen of confections was in the bottom three three times, but lipsynced only once. She was spared from lipsyncing for her poor performance in the Monster Ball ball challenge and the Dragracadabra acting challenge.
Lipsync's For Your Life: 1
Ms. Ganache lipsynced only once—after a poor performance in the makeover maxi challenge, where she sent home fan favorite Nina West.
More to come...
In addition to a write-up and analysis of the winners of the competition, we'll also be releasing an analysis of all the data we've collected throughout the competition. Look for that after tomorrow and potentially this weekend.