"The Unauthorized Rusical" is the eighth episode of the tenth season of the American

reality competition Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

television series ''

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, ...

'', which aired on

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

on May 10, 2018. The episode has contestants attempt to get

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 ...

to fake slap them for the mini challenge, and sing live a

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

about

Cher Cher ( ; born Cheryl Sarkisian, May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Goddess of Pop", she is known for her Androgyny, androgynous contralto voice, Music an ...

for the main challenge.

Billy Eichner Billy Eichner ( ; born September 18, 1978) is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, and television show host. He is the star, executive producer, and creator of Funny or Die's '' Billy on the Street'', a comedy game show that aired on truT ...

and

Andrew Rannells Andrew Scott Rannells (born August 23, 1978) is an American actor. He is best known for originating the role of Elder Kevin Price in the 2011 Broadway musical ''The Book of Mormon (musical), The Book of Mormon'', for which he was nominated for th ...

serve as guest judges, alongside regular panelists RuPaul,

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 ...

, and

Carson Kressley Carson Kressley (born November 11, 1969) is an American television personality, actor, and designer. Beginning in 2003, he appeared in the Bravo series '' Queer Eye for the Straight Guy''. He was also the motivational host of the TV show '' How ...

Episode

Mini challenge

The seven remaining contestants are asked by RuPaul to participate in an improv mini-challenge, called "Slap Out of It", that pastiches a similar scene from the finale of season two. Each queen has to try and make RuPaul fake slap them.

Asia O'Hara Antwan Mason Lee (born July 7, 1982), better known by the stage name Asia O'Hara, is an American drag queen, reality television personality, and costume designer. She is most well known for competing on the tenth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' ...

, who is accidentally slapped for real by RuPaul, wins the mini-challenge.

Main challenge

For the main challenge, the contestants are tasked by RuPaul to perform and sing in a live tribute act to American singer and actress

, titled "Cher: The Unauthorized Rusical". The contestants portray Cher from different phases of her career: Aquaria as Disco Cher, Asia O'Hara as Movie Star Cher,

Eureka Eureka often refers to: * Eureka (word), a famous exclamation attributed to Archimedes * Eureka effect, the sudden, unexpected realization of the solution to a problem Eureka or Ureka may also refer to: History * Eureka Rebellion, an 1854 g ...

as Rock Star Cher,

Kameron Michaels Dane Young (born July 23, 1986), known professionally as Kameron Michaels, is an American drag performer who came to international attention after competing on the tenth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. Originally from Columbia, Tennessee, sh ...

as '60s Cher,

Miz Cracker Miz Cracker (born April 19, 1984) is the stage name of Maxwell Elias Heller, an American drag queen and television personality. He is best known for placing fifth on the tenth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' and for being a runner-up on the fif ...

as Comeback Cher, and

Monét X Change Monét X Change (born February 19, 1990) is the stage name of Kevin Akeem Bertin, an American and Saint Lucian drag queen, singer, podcaster, and reality television personality. She is known for competing on the tenth season of ''RuPaul's Drag R ...

and The Vixen as Variety Show Cher. The queens rehearse with

Todrick Hall Todrick Hall (born April 4, 1985) is an American singer, rapper, choreographer, and YouTuber. He gained national attention on the ninth season of the televised singing competition ''American Idol''. Following this, he amassed a following on Yo ...

. The musical features Chester Lockhart, uncredited as

Sonny Bono Salvatore Phillip "Sonny" Bono ( ; February 16, 1935 – January 5, 1998) was an American singer, songwriter, actor, and politician. In partnership with his second wife, Cher, he formed the singing duo Sonny & Cher. A member of the Republican Pa ...

, performing alongside Kameron during the '60s Cher segment.

Runway

RuPaul introduces guest judges

and

, and reveals the theme for the runway: "

Glitter Glitter is an assortment of flat, small, reflective particles that are precision cut and come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. Glitter particles resemble confetti, sparkles and sequins, but somewhat smaller. Since prehistoric times ...

ific". On the main stage, Monét receive positive comments for her performance and mixed reviews for her runway look, conversely for both Eureka and Miz Cracker with their runway and performance; all three contestants are deemed safe. Kameron receives praise for both her runway look and Cher performance, and wins the main challenge. Aquaria, Asia and The Vixen are complimented for their runway looks, but their performances place them in the bottom three. Aquaria is declared safe, while Asia and The Vixen

lip sync Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , like the word ''sink'', despite the Hard and soft C, spelling of the participial forms ''synced'' and ''syncing''), short for lip synchronization, is a technical term for matching a Speech, speaking or singin ...

to "

Groove Is In the Heart "Groove Is in the Heart" is a song by American dance band Deee-Lite, released in August 1990 by Elektra Records as their debut and lead single from their first album, ''World Clique'' (1990). Written and produced by the band, it was a hit in man ...

" by

Deee-Lite Deee-Lite was an American House music, house and Dance music, dance music group formed in New York City. The group's Single (music), single "Groove Is in the Heart", which was released in 1990 from their debut studio album, ''World Clique'' (19 ...

. Asia wins the lip sync and The Vixen is eliminated from the competition.

Results

Reception

Oliver Sava of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...

'' said "Slap Out Of It" "might be the best ''Drag Race'' mini-challenge ever".

Yahoo! Entertainment Yahoo!, once one of the most popular web sites in the United States, is as of September 2021 a content sub-division of the namesake company Yahoo Inc., owned by Apollo Global Management (90%) and Verizon Communications (10%). It has offered a wide ...

Lyndsey Parker Lyndsey Parker is an American entertainment journalist and author. A former managing editor at ''Yahoo! Music'', she focuses on music and pop culture. She is the author of ''Reality Rocks,'' a column that covers television shows such as '' The V ...

said the musical "needs to go straight to Broadway and win all the Tonys. I could watch 'Cher: The Rusical' over and over, and I'd never want to snap out of it." Amanda Duarte of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' wrote, "The Rusical should have been unauthorized by the producers of this program. The off-Cher (Sherm?) songs, the fact that none of the terrified, dead-eyed queens had ever done a Cher impression before, and the insane final number in which they attempted the Watusi in front of a bunch of glittery foamcore cockroaches added up to the kind of triple threat that warrants a restraining order. The whole thing was (TW: Cher puns) half-bred. I wanted to ''

Silkwood ''Silkwood'' is a 1983 American biographical drama film directed by Mike Nichols, and starring Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell, and Cher. The screenplay by Nora Ephron and Alice Arlen was adapted from the book ''Who Killed Karen Silkwood?'' by ''Ro ...

''-shower it off me. I wished I could turn back time. I cannot remember a worse challenge in the herstory of this show. I was moan-struck."

References

External links

* (May 13, 2018),

Cher: The Unauthorized Rusical
at

IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

{{Portal bar, LGBTQ, Music, Television, Theatre, United States Cultural depictions of Cher RuPaul's Drag Race season 10 episodes Rusicals