The return of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars introduces new challenges, guest judges and an entirely new cast dynamic where contestants will be sent home, not by the judges, but by each other.

In the show, RuPaul offers the best drag queens from past seasons who didn’t come out on top another shot to redeem themselves and become America’s next drag superstar. 

While standard seasons of the show are entertaining, I love watching queens that I am already familiar with and getting right into the action, rather getting introduced to a bunch of randoms in the first few episodes.

Considering only the best queens get invited back for All Stars, the competition is obviously intense. Already from the first episode, I can identify the clear front-runners as well as competitors who are seemingly invited simply to fill a spot.

Queens such as Roxxxy Andrews and Yekaterina Petrovna Zamolodchikova (otherwise known as Katya, my personal favorite) bring a level of charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent expected of an all star. The “filler queens,” like Adore Delano, fail to deliver the same character and glamour of other competitors.   

The first episode’s main challenge is a talent show that truly showcases each queen’s strengths and place among the competition.    

The new system by which the queens are eliminated presents an entirely new dynamic to the show that brings even more entertainment. Contestants can no longer form alliances like they have in the past, because they will need to vote each other off of the show. The new elimination system has already created a good amount of confusion and turmoil among the queens.

I look forward to seeing the challenges that await this season, because the past season brought obstacles that constantly pushed the queens to their best.