Why Kahanna Montrese Deserves to Win the First-Ever Drag Race All Stars Fame Games -TGN

Kahanna Montrese has given us looks, performance, drama, growth. That’s an All Star. (Paramount/Kahanna Montrese)

RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 8 is finally – Finally – almost completed, but there are still two questions to answer: who will be the winner and who will be the “winner”.

This time inside RuPaul’s never-ending effort Drag race formula she introduced the Fame Games.

Here’s how it works: Each week, the eliminated queen enters the Fame Games, aka a chance to show off the looks they would have worn on the runway that week. The new, slightly convoluted idea is likely a response to fan criticism that queens spend tens of thousands of dollars on runway looks that then never make it to the air.

A fan vote, now closed, will determine which eliminated queen really took their A-game to the runway, with the queen then being awarded the “Queen of the Fame Games” title and a not-to-be-missed $60,000 tip.

The thing is, there’s really only one queen worthy of that coveted Queen of the Fame Games title: Kahanna Montrese.

When the All stars 8 cast list dropped earlier this year, fans were surprised to see more than a few early queens in the lineup. Kahanna, who finished 14th in Season 11 in 2019, was one of them. With little appreciation from the rabid Drag race fandom, there wasn’t much anticipation for her ru-turn.

Still, she plunged into the competition in episode one by smashing the first girl group challenge, unveiling the week’s best “Signature Drag” look on the runway, and becoming the season’s first top queen of the week.

Moments later, the Vegas-based stunner gave us one of the season’s best lip syncs to Beyoncé’s “Freakum Dress,” to season nine royalty Aja.

“I’m back, and I’m here with a glow-up,” she said during her girl group verse, and boy, did she mean it.

Admittedly, in the weeks that followed, she was at the bottom maybe four times, eventually being eliminated in sixth place. OK, she faltered in the acting and comedy challenges. But really, the Fame Games are all about the looks — and Kahanna Montrese gave us some gag-worthy pieces of clothing, before and after she said goodbye.

Her “Net Gala” and “Miss Fill In The Blank” looks were probably the best two on the runway in their respective weeks, while she could and should have been on top for episode three’s ball challenge.

That banana look? As Katya once said, she’s at the “crossroads of glamor and comedy, and you can find her on the corner selling her ass”.

Since she’s come relatively far in the competition, we’ve only been blessed with one “Fame Game” look since she left: her constructed snowflake eleganza glam for the “Snow Bunny” runway. Still, it was by far the most glamorous look of the week, even when compared to those still in the competition.

In the most recent episode, fans saw all the eliminated queens return to compete in a variety show, for a chance to massively boost their Fame Game votes.

The top two performers, who ended up being Jaymes Mansfield and LaLa Ri, lip synced, with the winner spinning a wheel to determine whether their votes would double, triple or quintuple.

While Kahanna didn’t finish in the top two, which reduced her chances of winning the overall fan vote, the point is that she absolutely could have done it.

Again, her performance — a cheerleader-inspired call-and-response rap complete with some pretty awesome choreography — was worthy of a top spot.

There was a backflip, a lift, some light twerking; all that, had the episode been edited differently, could have seen her win again.

The main reason why Kahanna Montrese should be called Queen of The Fame Games is simple: she has come an extraordinarily long way in such a short time.

Four years ago, she was eliminated in the first episode of Season 11 for a bad runway look. She got the heel in the second, thanks in part her astrological sign look disappoint the judges.

Now she’s made a comeback, making her mark and showing arguably more growth than anyone else on the All stars 8 form. She has given us some of the most polished looks, the most captivating performances, a touch of drama, and a character journey to admire.

“My mission was to show growth, who I am and what I represent,” Kahanna wrote in a tweet last week. “I’m an All star because I haven’t given up since I went home 2nd. I worked HARD on my craft. I put in self work and dedication to get better.

“I really feel like I brought my best self to it All stars 8. So I hope you will vote for me.”

That’s why we hope the fans voted for her too.

RuPaul’s Drag Race All stars 8 finale airs Thursday, July 20 on Paramount+ in the US and on WOW Presents Plus in the UK and internationally.