Who’s in the ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars’ Season 10 Semifinals? Bracket Format Explained

Elizabeth Chin June 30, 2025, 1:30 pm

RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars Season 10 Purple Bracket in Episode 8 — Paramount+

RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 10 has been a season of drama, twists, turns, and a slightly confusing new format. With the season a little over halfway done and the “Tournament of All Stars” semifinals fast approaching, here is a breakdown of the new format, what you’ve missed during the brackets so far, and what you should know going into the semifinals on Paramount+.

How do the RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 10 brackets work?

RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, and the flagship series, plays with format frequently. While every season has similar elements in terms of challenges (there’s almost always a Snatch Game and a “Rusical,” plus mini and runway challenges), the ways the queens are eliminated can vary season to season. In All Stars Season 7, no queens were eliminated at all. Instead, they competed for stars, and the queens with the most stars advanced to the finale. Host RuPaul and his team likes to keep viewers on their toes by changing the formats frequently, as it’s part of the show’s formula since its inception to poke fun at the different rules across the reality competition genre.

All Stars Season 10 is the first time a bracket format has been used, and it has the largest cast in the history of Drag Race with 18 queens. They have been divided into three brackets of six. Over the course of three episodes, each bracket competes in challenges to earn points. The top three queens with the highest number of points after the three weeks move on to the semifinals, while the other three queens are sent packing.

Points Breakdown

Terrible news for the gays who can’t do math. The point system is a bit complicated.

Every week, there are two winners. They both earn two points and then “Lip Sync for Their Legacy” for one extra point. The four bottom queens are then given a Most Valuable Queen (MVQ) point that they must give away to another queen in the bracket.

Paramount+

What happened during the RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 10 brackets?

The Orange Bracket (Bracket One)

The Orange Bracket had a little something for everybody. There was a variety of challenges in this bracket. First was a head banging rock performance of the song “Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner,” for which the queens had to write lyrics. Then there was a whodunnit murder-mystery improv challenge called “Murder on the Dance Floor,” and finally a makeover episode featuring collegiate women’s basketball players. Like many past All Stars seasons, the runways in all of the brackets did not come to play. Notable runways were Irene the Alien’s (formerly Irene Dubois) Family Resemblance look with Estelle the Alien, Olivia Lux‘s Lil Kim look for the Slits and T*ts runway, and all of Bosco‘s looks, especially her entrance look.

For drama, this bracket was a congenial one. MVQ points were evenly distributed and alliances like Aja, Olivia Lux, and Deja Skye‘s Melanation Station were made and kept. There were some squabbles, but most were resolved within the episodes. And Aja finally challenged Michelle Visage‘s common “It looks a little costume-y” critique. But the most impressive part of this bracket was Irene the Alien blowing everyone out of the water by winning every challenge, despite going home in the first episode of her original season.

The Pink Bracket (Bracket Two)

The Pink Bracket was for the musical-challenge lovers. It started off with a design challenge where queens had to create looks from materials found in giant 8-Balls. Then there were not one, but two musical challenges: a “Rappin’ Roast,” which combined the songwriting challenge and a roast, and Starbooty: The Rebooty, a crime-solving musical inspired by the Starbooty films from the mid-1980s and 2007 starring RuPaul. Standout runways were Tina Burner‘s 8-Ball look, which was a huge improvement from her design challenge in Season 13 (the coat was LINED!) and Lydia B Kollins‘ Wild, Wild West look.

Much like a fork being found in a kitchen, of course there was drama in this bracket. With queens like Mistress Isabelle Brooks and Nicole Page Brooks, there was never a dull moment. The main gag of the bracket, and maybe of the season, was Mistress and Jorgeous conning their way into receiving two MVQ points, leaving Nicole Page Brooks and Kerri Colby, who both had an “alliance” with Mistress, with zero points. The other queens tried their best to beat Mistress, but her scheming succeeded, landing her a spot in the semifinals.

The Purple Bracket (Bracket Three)

The Purple Bracket was filled with comedy. First, there was a Wicked-themed design and comedy challenge where the queens paired up to create good and wicked-witch looks and characters. Afterwards was a country songwriting challenge for the first ever Stagec**ch Festival, inspired by festivals like Austin City Limits and Stagecoach. The Bracket ended with a canine-themed improv challenge where the queens starred as a variety of dogs competing for the love of a golden retriever in The Golden B*tchelor. The most interesting runway theme was the Paper Dolls Runway. All of the looks were impressive but the standout ones were Acid Betty‘s Marie Antoinette inspired look, Ginger Minj‘s Elizabethan Shakespearean look, and Denali‘s alebrije look that was inspired by Mexican folk-art sculptures.

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This bracket was the most congenial out of the three. The most touching moment was when Acid and Alyssa Hunter pooled their points together for Cynthia Lee Fontaine, meaning she received three out of the four MVQ points. There wasn’t much stand out drama. Denali was upset over losing the Episode 8 lip sync but it was resolved in the next episode. The most drama came from Daya Betty’s uneasy relationship with Alyssa after not receiving Alyssa’s second MVQ point. The final MVQ point distribution was one of love and tears as each of the bottom queens gave each other a point and a heartfelt message. The sweet exchange ended with Cynthia beating Denali by one point for the final spot in the semifinals.

Who’s in the RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 10 Semifinals?

The Orange Bracket

Irene (7 points)
Bosco (6 points)
Aja (5 points)

The Pink Bracket

Jorgeous (7.5 points)
Lydia B Kollins (7 points)
Mistress Isabelle Brooks (4.5 points)

The Purple Bracket

Ginger Minj (8 points)
Daya Betty (6 points)
Cynthia Lee Fontaine (5 points)

What will happen in the RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 10 semifinals and finale?

The queens are back and ready to rumble. In the next episode, the three brackets are merging and one queen will be sashaying away. While the queens are sporting new looks, it seems that old habits die hard with Mistress already stirring up drama, much to Ginger’s dismay.

Next week will be everyone’s favorite challenge, Snatch Game! It seems the show is leaving behind the Snatch Game of Love format and returning to its roots since there isn’t a thin pink sugar wall in sight. And our favorite “Toot or Boot”-ers, Raja and Raven, will be making guest appearances as contestants.

Although the details of the first semifinal episode have been revealed, production has remained tightlipped about the penultimate episode. If the show keeps the same format as the first semifinal episode, then one more queen will be sashaying away and seven queens will advance to the finale. However, they could switch things up and eliminate two or three more queens instead.

If your favorite queen did not make it to the semifinals, don’t worry. RuPaul has alluded to a wild card lottery twist that will reintroduce an eliminated queen into the game. Regular judges Michelle Visage, Carson Kressley, Ross Mathews, and Ts Madison will each have the opportunity to choose a queen they want to bring back. Then, one queen will be chosen from the list to compete in the final Lip Sync Smackdown. Will this even out the playing field after the underhanded tactics, twists, and drama that happened during the brackets? Or will it become another twist that is widely disliked by the fan base like All Stars 3‘s jury vote?

The finale will be a Lip Sync Smackdown for the Crown If the format remains the same as the previous Smackdowns or Lip Sync LaLaPaRuzas, the remaining queens and the Wild Card Lottery queen will be paired off to lip sync against each other. The final victor will then be crowned the winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 10.