In the history of split premieres on RuPaul’s Drag Race—which I delved further into in last week’s instalment of Xtra’s drag newsletter Wig! (shameless plug, sign up now, plug, like and subscribe)—there’s always been one version that’s considered the “better” premiere. In Season 6, the second premiere earned more plaudits than the first; in Season 12, it was the other way around. Both Season 13 “premieres” were better-liked than the lip sync-a-palooza in the actual first episode, but fans liked the Porkchop queens’ “Phenomenon” a good deal better than the winners’ circle’s “Condragulations.”
This season, I’d say the first premiere was quite a bit better than the second, owing to a few factors. The first seven queens as a group were livelier, largely thanks to an immediately friendly cast dynamic and some standout personalities like Kornbread “The Snack” Jeté and Kerri Colby. There are a couple of great queens in this second crop, but they’re a quieter bunch on average. They also bring a much more limited range of talents to the CNTs—the “Charisma, Nerve and Talent Show,” to refresh your memory—that produce a repetitive challenge showcase.
But overall, this premiere just feels like it lacks spark. I almost wish RuPaul had shown them footage of what the first group did to light a fire under their asses: this is what you’re up against starting next week. If the first premiere was a pleasant surprise that gave me hope for this season, this episode is a return to my pre-season expectations. I do still think Season 14 will shape up to be enjoyable, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes a minute (and some eliminations) to really get going.
At least there’s a flash of the first premiere queens in the cold open, which I appreciate—it helps us keep the bead on the dynamic of these two groups. (Unlike in Season 12, they leave no lipstick mirror message to their compatriots.) But after the theme song, the introduction of guest judge Alicia Keys and the promise of $100,000 (this season “powered by CashApp”) we’re all in for the rest of the episode with Group 2.
Credit: Courtesy VH1
As the first in the workroom, Jorgeous is here to let us know that she is inarguably gorgeous. And she’s right! She’s a dancing queen, as is her second premiere sister Jasmine Kennedie. (In a cute moment, they both excitedly recognize each other from social media.) Both will later pull out dance numbers during the talent show, showing that if you ever have to lip sync against them, you best be worried. Although I actually worry about this for them: advertising you can survive a lip sync is fodder for Ru to put you in the bottom repeatedly.
They’re not the only dancers, though. DeJa Skye, a Fresno queen, proudly declares that even though she’s a plus-size queen, she can move with the best of them. Lady Camden, a British queen who now lives in Sacramento (she and DeJa are familiar from working the same circuit), also proudly declares herself a dancer, with the ballet experience to back it up. Interestingly, Camden’s drag is very different from what I expected based on her promo look. She styles herself like a Spice Girl, and emphasizes her love of British pop girl acts—the first of many times I will be surprised by Camden in this episode.
Rounding out our selection are the delightfully Southern (not to mention just plain delightful) Angeria Paris VanMicheals, who tells us cheerfully, “You can call me Angie!” and two Midwestern sisters who know each other pre-show: Daya Betty and Maddy Morphosis.
Crystal Methyd’s drag relative (they don’t call her mother), Daya claims the ’80s and ’90s grunge movement as her inspirations, and as the other queens note, she sounds and paints much like Crystal. Maddy Morphosis has already inspired a great deal of discourse online about her casting. She is a cisgender, straight male—the first such queen in Drag Race herstory. At first, Maddy attempts to downplay her sexuality, though she certainly plays at it by entering the workroom in Guy Fieri-style drag. Daya, however, knows that Maddy is straight, and while she doesn’t say anything, she does hint at it in a conversation about who is a “gold star gay.” Eventually, Ru himself mentions it in front of the other queens, and while there’s some initial surprise, they generally seem more intrigued than anything else. Camden and Angeria both seem impressed, even, in their confessionals.
Credit: Courtesy VH1
Ultimately, I agree with Season 13 queen Gottmik’s attitude, as she explained while quoting a tweet on Fashion Photo Ruview: your drag can be valid without inherently being good. And that goes for all the dolls! They will be judged on the same criteria this season, and they’re going to have to turn it in order to stick around. Angeria gets off to a good start by winning the photo shoot mini-challenge, which sees the queens pose in a giant tub of orange Tic Tacs.
This is… a convoluted challenge, to say the least. Originally, DeJa poses with just a small bowl of Tic Tacs, but then in a scripted bit, Ru pretends he’s angry with the photographer, and reveals the bigger bowl behind the wall. Does Ru do this with every queen, or just DeJa? Does every queen find what’s claimed to be Santino Rice’s hat buried in the bowl? (Maddy’s response to finding this is a flat “What?” in her confessional, which feels like the only proper reaction.) The results of this photo shoot are solid across the board, but I do prefer the wheel challenge from last week’s premiere.
During his check-ins with the girls, Ru seems immediately entranced by Angeria (“I could talk to you all day”), while with Daya, he finally calls out the talent show performers’ reliance on lip sync acts. Pressed repeatedly to explain how a lip sync to P!nk’s “Get the Party Started” will show who she is as a drag artist, Daya fails to produce a convincing answer. (Contrast her non-answer with DeJa’s about doing a “how to cheer” routine, which she uses as a chance to reveal that she’s a dance and cheer coach.)
Unfortunately for DeJa and Daya, neither of their routines work out on the main stage. DeJa falls into the comedy trap that Orion Story did last week, not nailing her punchlines hard enough for the bit to work. It feels like she was going for something like Trinity the Tuck’s tucking tutorial from the All Stars 4 talent show, but it falls flat. Daya’s uncreative routine idea translates to a mess of a performance, one that commits the cardinal sin of making me think of Drag Race Down Under. Though Karen From Finance could, somehow, survive the talent show while unimpressively making balloon animals, Daya’s own circus antics fail her.
Credit: Courtesy VH1
Angeria joins the girls doing lip-syncing routines, but her original track gives her an edge. She has a repetitive “CHECK” refrain in her song that makes it super catchy, and she pulls off a fog-assisted reveal at the beginning of her performance. I think it would’ve rated high at best in the other premiere, but amid a weak crop, she’s the easy winner. I don’t love that the two queens who lip-synced to original tracks are the two winners of these premieres, though. Like I said last week with Kornbread, I worry it sets a standard for the future (watch the Season 15 queens all march in with original tracks to perform). But I’m split, as Angeria and Kornbread are (give or take a Willow Pill) my favourite queens of this whole cast. I’m excited for them, but nervous for the future.
Maddy’s overly earnest guitar routine almost lands her in the bottom—as with June Jambalaya’s dance last week, you just can’t play it that serious on Drag Race—while Camden avoids the same trap with her ballet routine by dragging it up. Camden feels like the only other real threat for the win besides Angeria; Jorgeous and Kennedie get praised, but their numbers feel too safe. Maddy, on the other hand, only saves herself with a smash of a runway, playing with her height by doing a decapitated head look. It’s the clear standout from a conceptual point of view among these looks, though Angeria’s wine-coloured dress is the most stunning garment.
DeJa and Daya must lip sync to guest judge Alicia Keys’ “Fallin’,” and unfortunately for Daya, she has no clue how to get into this song. She’s overly emotive to the point of coming across as insincere. DeJa slides into the mood of the song immediately, and most importantly, she still moves well despite it being a slower song. Ru declares DeJa a Lip Sync Assassin, granting her the chance to stay, while Daya sashays away.
I will admit once again that my hopes for this season have been tempered by this premiere. It’s not a bad episode of Drag Race by any measure, but if this is our baseline for an “average” episode of this season, it’s too low. Still, I don’t want to rush to any conclusions: we still have to see how the groups mesh. And those chocolate bars are just around the corner. What does Drag Race’s latest twist have to offer? We’ll find out on Friday.
Untucking our final thoughts
✨Time to check back in with my crew of watch party friends, whose reactions I’ll be sharing all season long. One friend pointed out that Maddy declaring herself “the camp queen” is in and of itself a camp act. The straight, cisgender male queen is the camp queen? Camp! That friend is stanning Maddy the loudest of anyone, but across the whole group, everyone was very impressed by Maddy’s runway look.
✨Alicia Keys is this week’s guest judge, and you can see her experience previously coaching on The Voice in her work here. She’s positive above all else, but doesn’t get quite as invested in the proceedings as Lizzo did last week. The best moment for her is appearing behind the makeup mirror to talk to the girls, like the eliminated queens of All Stars 2 did once upon a time. Though I have to wonder: Was she just sitting there patiently waiting as the queens discussed Maddy’s sexuality?
✨After VH1 offered a “sneak peek” of the Queen of the Universe premiere last week, they did the same this week with the premiere of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 6. ViacomCBS really wants the girls to sign up for Paramount+! That said, I think the premiere is one of the weaker episodes of the season, but I cannot recommend AS6 as a whole enough. An absolutely terrific season.
✨No performance on the runway from Ru this week! I thought we might get one for his other major Mamaru single, “Blame It on the Edit,” but perhaps that would have been too meta. (Or controversial.)
✨It takes Camden forever to get all the Tic Tacs out of her outfit. They practically pour out when she gets out of the Tic Tac tub. She finds even more when de-dragging after the mini-challenge!
✨Camden and Angeria flirt with each other during their entrances, with Camden lavishing praise for Angeria’s accent. “We can find us a room and just talk to each other all day!” Angeria responds.
✨Not the use of the “Rhythm of the Night” sample for a photo of Crystal Methyd!
✨There’s been some speculation online about what’s happening with the elimination format this season. Even though it’s just guesswork, I’ll throw a spoiler warning here and encourage you not to read the final bullet point if you want to go into the next episode completely blind.
✨So after Orion’s elimination last week, no Whatcha Packin’? interview—the long-running web series in which Michelle Visage interviews eliminated queens—was published. This is a red flag that something’s up. Is it possible either, or both, of our first two eliminated queens are coming back? If they are, that strikes me as misguided: the string of non-eliminations at the start of last season was wildly unpopular. Good for Orion and Daya if one or both of them returns, but it would be tough to shake off the feeling of having been eliminated first.
The next episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race will air Friday, Jan. 21, at 8 p.m. EST on VH1 in the U.S. and on Crave in Canada. Check back every Monday and Tuesday after new episodes for our recaps and power rankings, and subscribe to our drag newsletter Wig! for exclusive Drag Race content delivered straight to your inbox every Tuesday afternoon.
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