"Girl Groups" is the fifth episode of the sixteenth season of ''

RuPaul's Drag Race ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' is an American reality competition television series, the first in the Drag Race (franchise), ''Drag Race'' franchise, produced by World of Wonder (company), World of Wonder for Logo TV (season 1–8), WOW Presents Plus, ...

''. The members of the Swedish

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s b ...

duo

Icona Pop Icona Pop ( ) are a Swedish synth-pop duo that formed in 2009, with electro house and indie pop music influences. Its two members, Aino Jawo (born 7 July 1986) and Caroline Hjelt (born 8 November 1987), grew up in Stockholm and created what the ...

are guest judges.

Amanda Tori Meating Amanda Tori Meating is the stage name of Amanda Philipps, an American drag performer, theatrical actor, and wig stylist who competed on season 16 of ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. Education Amanda Tori Meating graduated from the Stivers School for th ...

is eliminated from the competition, after placing in the bottom two and losing a

lip-sync Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , like the word ''sink'', despite the spelling of the participial forms ''synced'' and ''syncing''), short for lip synchronization, is a technical term for matching a speaking or singing person's lip movements ...

against Q.

Episode

For the episode's mini-challenge, the contestants are tasked with creating a front cover and author biography for a bestselling book.

Sapphira Cristál Sapphira Cristál (born September 27, 1988) is the stage name of O'Neill Nichol Haynes, an American drag performer who was both runner-up and Miss Congeniality on season 16 of ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. She is also a classically trained opera singer ...

wins the mini challenge. For the main challenge, the contestants are tasked to write and perform verses for

RuPaul RuPaul Andre Charles (born November 17, 1960) is an American drag queen, television host, singer, producer, writer, and actor. He produces, hosts, and judges the reality competition series ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' and has received List of awards ...

songs from the album ''

Black Butta ''Black Butta'' is the fifteenth studio album by RuPaul, released on January 6, 2023. The album features guest appearances Skeltal Ki and Eric Kupper, with the songs "Star Baby" and "Show Me That You Festive" released as the lead singles in Nove ...

'' in groups of four. Geneva Karr, Plasma, and Sapphira Cristál are the team captains. * "Star Baby", Team Q.D.S.M. includes

Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the diffuse sky radiation, appearance of indirect sunlight being Rayleigh scattering, scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc ha ...

, Q,

Morphine Love Dion Morphine Love Dion, known out of drag as Michelle Orozco (born January 4, 1997), is an American drag performer best known for competing on season 16 of ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. Career On ''Drag Race'', Morphine Love Dion was eliminated on the t ...

, and Sapphira Cristál * "Courage to Love", Team Lovah Girlz includes

Plane Jane Plane Jane (born February 4, 1998) is the stage name of Andrew Vladimir Dunayevskiy, an American drag performer who competed on ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' season 16. Early life Dunayevskiy is the child of Russian Jewish immigrants. Dunayevskiy w ...

, Plasma, and

Xunami Muse Michael Alexander White, better known as Xunami Muse, is a Panamanian drag performer based in the United States (under DACA). She competed on season 16 of ''RuPaul's Drag Race'', where she placed 9th. Early life White was born and raised i ...

* "A.S.M.R Lover", Team Thicc & Stick includes Geneva Karr, Megami,

Mhi'ya Iman Le'Paige Mhi'ya Iman Le'Paige (born 1988/1989) is an American drag performer who competed on season 16 of ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. Career Mhi'ya Iman Le'Paige competed on season 16 of ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. For the Snatch Game challenge, she imperson ...

, and

Nymphia Wind Leo Tsao ( zh, 曹米駬; born July 23, 1995), known professionally as Nymphia Wind ( zh, 妮妃雅‧瘋), is a Taiwanese-American Drag (entertainment), drag performer and dressmaker. In 2024, Nymphia Wind was crowned the winner of RuPaul's Drag ...

On the runway, the category is "Faster Pussycat, Wig, Wig". In additional to RuPaul and

Michelle Visage Michelle Visage (born Michelle Lynn Shupack, September 20, 1968) is an American television personality, singer, broadcaster, producer, and actress. She gained recognition as a member of the dance-pop group Seduction (group), Seduction, who char ...

Ts Madison Madison Hinton, known professionally as Ts Madison, is an American entertainer and actress. With the reality show ''The Ts Madison Experience'', she became the first Black transgender woman to star in and act as executive producer of her own rea ...

is a judge and members of the Swedish synth-pop duo

are guest judges. Team Thicc & Stick is the winning team, with Geneva Karr, Megami, Mhi'ya Iman Le'Paige, and Nymphia Wind all winning the challenge. Team Q.D.S.M. and Team Lovah Girlz are the losing teams. Amanda Tori Meating and Q receive negative critiques, and are announced as the bottom two, while the rest of the queens are declared safe. Amanda Tori Meating and Q lip-sync to "

Emergency An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...

" (2015) by Icona Pop. Amanda Tori Meating is eliminated from the competition.

References

RuPaul's Drag Race season 16 episodes {{LGBTQ-tv-prog-stub

Episode

See also

References