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The 'Drag Race All Stars 7' badge twist shakes things up.

Drag Race's All Winners Season Has A Game-Changing Twist, So Here's How It Works

There may be no eliminations, but there's more strategy than ever.

Paramount+

Just when you thought you had Drag Race all figured out, leave it to Mama Ru to completely change the game. RuPaul is known to test out shocking new formats in Drag Race’s All Stars seasons, and All Stars 7 is probably the most game-changing twist yet. I mean, they had to go big for the first all winners season, right? Although Ru explained the new rules in the season premiere, there was a lot going on so many viewers may still be confused about how the Drag Race All Stars 7 badge twist works. Here’s everything you need to know.

The huge, unexpected change in All Stars 7 is that for the first time ever, there will be no eliminations throughout the competition. So, how will a winner be crowned? This time around, the name of the game is collecting Legendary Legend Stars. These are enamel pins, much like the RuPeter Badges awarded on Drag Race UK, which Ru will awards to the top two queens each week. Basically, this season is operating on a points system, and whichever four queens have the most badges at the end will lip sync for the big win.

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Seems simple enough, right? Not so fast — there’s another wrinkle in the twist that adds a whole new level of strategy. After the two Legendary Legend Star winners of the week lip sync against one another, the lip sync victor is given the power to “block” one contestant of their choosing by giving them a platinum plunger. The blocked queen can still win next week’s challenge, but they won’t receive a Legendary Legends Star, meaning they won’t be a step closer to the finale.

Another important note is that the lip sync winner cannot block their fellow top two-placing queen, so the only way to be guaranteed safety from the blockings is to be in the top two.

Because of this twist, the strategy in All Stars 7 will be different from any past seasons. In the past, it was often customary to vote off the queen who performed weakest in the challenge, but now, it’s much smarter to “block” the queen who is the biggest threat to winning Legendary Legend Stars. Oh, and since eliminations aren’t a thing, the winning queens will have to own up to their decisions in the Werk Room after each blocking.

Expect a season of twists like never before when new episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 7 drop at 3:00 a.m. ET on Paramount+.