From behind the All Stars 2 mirror to center stage on Global All Stars, Alyssa Edwards came back, back, back again to claim the RuPaul’s Drag Race franchise’s first worldwide crown.
The Mesquite, Texas native, canoe queen, and OG season 5 contestant flexed her might on a worldwide platform Friday, when RuPaul crowned her as the RuPaul’s Drag Race Global All Stars winner — and the new recipient of a $200,000 check, a crown and scepter, and a spot in the new international pavilion inside the Drag Race Hall of Fame.
Alyssa’s domination over the competition was apparent from the beginning, with the drag icon winning the season premiere’s talent show challenge, and coasting through the rest of the episodes without once placing in the bottom.
On the final episode of the season, Mama Ru asked Alyssa and her fellow finalists Kween Kong (RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under), Kitty Scott-Claus (RuPaul’s Drag Race UK), and Nehellenia (Drag Race Italia) to bestow a message about the important of drag on a global stage, which Alyssa answered in earnest.
“From Mesquite, Texas, there was nobody like me on television. I had a father that put Superman in front of me, and that was not my superhero,” Alyssa said, tearing up. “There will be another Justin that will be at home, in some small town somewhere with the same father and upbringing that will watch this and go, ‘Because this person is brave and courageous, maybe I can be as well.'”
That answer was enough to push Alyssa — a seasoned dancer and professional dance coach, as outlined on her Netflix series Dancing Queen — through to the final four-way lip-sync battle to Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance,” which each of the queens completed on their own, without anyone else on stage with them.
In the end, Ru crowned Alyssa as the Global All Stars winner, marking the longtime fan-favorite queen’s first crown after three competitive seasons.
“Always and forever: Alyssa Edwards,” Alyssa said after taking her scepter and staring straight into the camera to deliver one of her signature tongue pops.
“She’s a winner, baby. She’s a winner!” Alyssa added in a confessional. “This has been a long time coming.”
Outside of Alyssa’s victory, Drag Race France (hosted by season 12 alum Nicky Doll) contestant Soa de Muse won the season’s Miss Congeniality award (known as the Miss Global Peacemaker Award, as deemed by RuPaul), following a vote among the cast. Ru also revealed that the title came with a cash prize of $10,000.
“Thank you to all of my sisters, thank you so much,” an emotional Soa said as she accepted the honor.
The end of Global All Stars caps a monumental year for the international Drag Race series, which also saw the crownings of Nymphia Wind at the end of season 16, season 14 contestant Angeria Paris VanMicheals as the All Stars 9 champion, and a score of other globally crowned queens, from Drag Race Mexico season 2’s Leexa Fox to Lemon triumphing over the latest edition of Canada’s Drag Race: Canada vs. the World.
Ahead of her Global All Stars bow, Alyssa reflected on some of her best Drag Race moments from the past in a video for Entertainment Weekly (above) — particularly her iconic “Shut Up and Drive” lip-sync against Tatianna and subsequent elimination of the drag artist formerly known as Phi Phi O’Hara on All Stars 2.
“We both high-fived each other and hugged and said, ‘Let’s put on a show!’” Alyssa said, of the duel against Tatianna, before reacting with glee over the memory of RuPaul deciding to keep both queens — and asking them both to eliminate one of the remaining contestants. “I knew who I was eliminating,” Alyssa recalled, noting that both she and Tatianna pulled the lipstick of an unamused Phi Phi. “I said, honey, if I’m going to be back in this Werk Room, I can’t do no negativity, no energy, baby, we’ve got to sage this room, we’ve got to get that energy up out of here. This is drag, it’s not personal, let’s have fun.”
All episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race Global All Stars are now streaming Paramount+.