Article written by Kendra Beltran

After what felt like 84 years, season 13 of ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ is coming to an end on April 23, 2021, and the opinions are flying about who will take home the crown, the title, and the $100,000. Four queens are in it to win it, but with this not being ‘All-Stars,’ we’re pretty sure only one will be declared the supreme - but who?

When we look at their report cards, Gottmik takes it. Other than that drawn-out premiere where every queen had to lip-sync for their life mere minutes after strutting into the Werk Room, Gottmik has yet to battle it out against her season 13 sisters. If she wasn’t winning, she was at the top with three wins, and only had a singular week where stumbled that found her standing alongside Tina Burner and Utica for their less than perfect soda pop commercials. As perfect her Gottmik’s record may seem, one queen is right behind her.

Anyone with a love of rolling the dice would have bet Rosé was going to sashay away midseason because while she was picture perfect, she was still kind of just there. I saw her as that straight-A student that thinks they’ll get into their #1 college pick but then realizes they had zero extracurriculars to back up the grades. However, once they got to the Rusical, as Rosé would say “mama,” she shined. After that, she won two more times and like Gottmik, only stood in the bottom three, never the bottom two. The only thing Gottmik has above Rosé is that the New York songstress lost that very first lip-sync to Olivia Lux.

Looking at the stats, Gottmik and Rosé are primed to be the final two BUT let’s be real, you don’t have to have a stunning report card to take the crown. Look at season 9’s Sasha Velour who only had a couple of wins, and season 11’s Yvie Oddly who had just one. In the end, it comes down to what they rock on the runway and how good they turn it out in those lip syncs, which could be Gottmik and Rosé’s downfall since fans have seen Symone and Kandy Muse turn it out because they’ve both fell into the bottom throughout the season. Also, during the final runway where each queen performed solo - Symone and Kandy outshined the other half of the top 4.

Kandy Muse has the personality and lip sync abilities to push her a little further in the finale than many probably expect, but Symone has that on top of flawless runways. Like Gottmik, Symone has rarely - if ever - turned that corner on the main stage and disappointed the judges and fans alike. From the start, Symone has said she is presenting herself as unapologetically Black as she can, and baby, it’s done nothing but keep her on everyone’s mind. She’s a huge fan favorite for a reason. As are the other three for a variety of reasons; Gottmik brought a whole new representation to the game, Kandy’s personality WAS the season, and Rosé’s polished ways pleased.

If the finale plays out like past ones and we see two pairs lip-sync to determine the final two - it can go several ways depending on the initial matchups. I feel like Kandy Muse could take out Gottmik and Rosé based on her performance alone. However, I think we all know RuPaul has their favorite in mind going in and will make it so Symone and Gottmik are the final two. From there, my heart says Symone by my brain says Gottmik because if we’re looking for someone to be the next ambassador for the brand, it’s the queen that has been consistently remarkable on the runway, can perform like no other, and has proven they can learn from a challenge and grow.

April 16, 2021 — Andrew Christian
Tags: Gay Culture