WARNING: SPOILER ALERTS AHEAD. Do not read on if you haven’t watched the latest episode yet. Instead, check out this fabulous interview we just did with drag legend Miss Coco Peru!
RuPaul’s Drag Race season 13 kicked off in a way that it never has before. Each queen had to lip sync against one (or two) of their fellow competitors which put them in two different groups by episode’s end: the winners who kiki’d in the werk room after their victories and the losers who were shipped to the Porkchop Loading Dock where they waited to find out if any or all of them were being sent home for good.
Episode one ended on a cliffhanger where RuPaul told the losing group that each of them had to vote for the queen they felt deserved the chop similar to what the show has been doing on the past four seasons of All Stars.
They were all shocked by this but it quickly turned into an “it is what it is” kind of situation. The seven vote and it becomes a two-way tie between Elliott With 2 T’s and Utica Queen. Then the other five re-vote with a unanimous decision to send Elliott packing.
Elliott is gobsmacked, of course, but little does she know at this point that the other queen’s knocking her out will work in her favor (at least for now).
Moving on. We get our first “It’s a new day” segment! Except its just with the winning girls (LaLa Ri, Olivia Lux, Gottmik, Tina Burner, Symone, Kandy Muse) who briefly recap the insanity they dealt with during the week prior.
Ru then makes his way into the werk room and stuns the queens with yet ANOTHER TWIST by saying that he’s bringing someone back from the losing group. The doors open and Elliott emerges, leaving all but Tina (who won the lip sync against her) confused as to who the hell she is and why she’s there.
The Emmy-winning host then reveals the first mini challenge of the season where the queens have to get dressed up in their most fabulous daytime and nighttime lewks. But there’s juicy drama that begins before any of them have the chance to hit the runway courtesy of brought-back-to-life-let’s-start-some-s**t contestant Elliott.
Elliott decides to throw a little shade towards Kandy which, honestly, was hilarious to watch. She did this by bringing up how queens who boast about coming from a house with previous contestants (IE Kandy with Dahlia Sin & Aja) tend to go home first and asked her if she was worried about that happening to her this season.
Kandy, who hasn’t been shy at showing off her bold personality and loud mouth so far, was kind of phased by this but didn’t flip out on her the way I thought she would. TBH, I don’t think what Elliott asked was too shady as she did bring up factual information in relation to said question.
It’s mini challenge time and the judges are ready to read while sitting six feet from one another. Gottmik was the personal standout for me as her dresses contrasted one another wonderfully all while being deliciously fashion forward. So did Symone, who has literally done no wrong up to this point and I am HERE FOR IT.
Next up was the maxi challenge where the girls had to come up with their own individual verses and do a group choreographed number to Ru’s song “Condragulations”.
A lot of the focus of this part of the episode was on Gottmik who sang about how he was born a woman before becoming a trans male. The other queens found this out on the recording of the track before he was able to tell any of them his truth which left him in a very startled state. He later spoke to Olivia about it who was nothing but kind which was heartwarming to witness.
Outside of that it was an awkward situation for the entire group as none of them wanted to take charge with the dance part of their routine. Elliott, who claims to have a major background in this, purposefully held back for a while until she came up with a couple of steps which left the others impressed minus Tina who made a hilarious Julliard reference in her confessional.
Elliott later spills the tea about what happened to her and the Porkchop Loading Dock girls, leaving the winning group stunned as some of them thought she was simply a spy.
The girls then pull out all the stops on the main runway with their colorful fashions, cute choreography and lyrics that fit their personalities. This, IMHO, paled in comparison to the season 12 girls who did “I’m That Bitch” right in front of Nicki Minaj, but it was still entertaining nonetheless.
It was fashion round two after that as the girls werked it out in their most fabulous lame (prounounced LA-MAY) lewks.
They all looked fabulous however Lala Ri’s gold ensemble was the most breathtaking to witness and my personal fave. The mainstay judges (Ru, Michelle Visage, Ross Mathews) and guest Jamal Sims then critiqued each queen where it became a nitpicking kind of situation as they struggled to find any major negatives about them.
Luckily none of them get sent home, leaving Gottmik particularly relieved as she thought she would be lip syncing against Kandy based on the judge’s feedback (they worried about the former’s confidence while the latter received criticism for her overall fashion choices this episode).
Olivia and Symone are crowned as the top two queens of the week where they lip synced again each other to Dua Lipa‘s “Break My Heart” to be the overall winner and score a cash prize of $5,000 dollars.
Symone wins (her second in two weeks) leading me to believe that she will not only go the distance but possibly win the whole damn thing when this season ends.
Next week the shift focuses back to the losing group who are doing a rinse & repeat kind of thing the winning girls did. I’m getting a sense that they will all be safe and that the first queen to really get the chop won’t happen for another two weeks. Sigh.
Other notes from episode 2:
Denali voting to send home Joey Jay for wearing cheaper feathers compared to hers was petty on a level I didn’t know existed.
Jamal Sims remains fine as hell.
It was nice to see Tina Burner dressed in something that wasn’t McDonald’s red. And that’s a compliment, not shade.
I’m digging Michelle Visage embracing her grey hairs. She looks absolutely gorgeous with them.
Check back this time next week hunties for my episode 3 RuCap!