Drag Race All Stars 11 Crowns A Winner In Underwhelming Finale — Did The Right Queen Win?

Neither Silky Nutmeg Ganache nor A'keria C. Davenport will be buying anyone a new TV after the finale of "RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 11," now streaming on Paramount+.

The season's remaining six queens — A'keria, Silky, Crystal Methyd, Dawn, Jasmine Kennedie, and Joey Jay — faced off one last time on Friday in the show's first-ever "Disco Smackdown" for the crown, resulting in one of the more surprising "Drag Race" finales in recent memory (and not necessarily in a good way).

The first major gag came when RuPaul announced that Crystal, as the winner of last week's challenge, and Jasmine, as the queen with the highest MVQ rating from last week, would be skipping the preliminary round of lip syncs. (And just like that, everyone immediately regretted giving Jasmine that sympathy vote.)

With former guest judge Evan Mulrooney now serving as an honorary member of the Pit Crew (with the golden speedo to match!), the games were ready to begin. Silky's name was the first to be drawn, allowing her to choose her own opponent, and the reverend decided to "start light" with Dawn. (Ouch.) One Ru-veal and a bit of baton twirling later, and Silky was named the winner of the battle, making Dawn the first to be eliminated. Not a huge surprise.

The next face-off, however, left us gooped. When we found out that A'keria and Joey would be battling to the tune of Diana Ross' "The Boss," we figured that Ms. Davenport had it in the bag. So imagine our surprise when Ru announced that the winner was — wait for it — Joey! To be fair, A'keria didn't put up much of a fight. The historic lip sync assassin was uncharacteristically low-key in her performance, and as the "Drag Race" titan sashayed away, we had to wonder if she gave up before it even began.

Poor Joey Jay barely had a moment to rest before competing in her next lip sync, facing off against Silky Nutmeg Ganache in the second round. Much like Silky's battle against Dawn, this felt like a foregone conclusion, especially after Silky revealed that she was a huge fan of the song — Barbra Streisand's "The Main Event/Fight." But like A'keria C. Davenport before her, Silky brought a somewhat subdued version of herself to the stage, essentially handing the win over to Joey. Seriously, where was the fire we're used to seeing from Silky, the queen who dominated the Rudemption Lip Sync Smackdown back in "All Stars 6"? She was nowhere to be seen on the stage this week.

Next up, Crystal and Jasmine finally got their moment with a lip sync to Amii Stewart's "Knock on Wood." Both queens did what they do best; Crystal kept things kooky, while Jasmine pulled out just about every move in her arsenal. This one probably could have gone either way, but Ru had to make a choice, sending Crystal through to the final around against Joey.

If you told us at the beginning of the season that Crystal would be one of the last queens standing, we wouldn't have doubted you. But Joey? The wild card?! Not even noted psychic Kelly Mantle could have seen that one coming.

"MacArthur Park" was the perfect soundtrack for the season's final lip sync, though we can't say that either Crystal or Joey delivered a performance worthy of Donna Summer's iconic disco tune. The looks were there — Joey was a vision in white feathers, while Crystal wore a fiery number which she stripped off to reveal a sparkly nude bodysuit — but neither queen brought the energy we've come to expect from the final lip sync of the season. With the memory of Myki Meeks and Nini Coco's epic final face-off still fresh in our minds, this didn't even remotely compare. And this is supposed to be "All Stars," people!

In the end, the winner of "RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 11" was... Crystal! When asked if she had anything to say, she declared, "I guess there is a method to my madness!"

Are you glad that Crystal won the season? Are you surprised how far Joey made it in the Disco Smackdown? And were you disappointed with some of the queens' low-energy performances? Weigh in via our poll below, then drop a comment with more of your thoughts.