Last week saw the start of Season 13 with a big twist and no queens being sent home. Now we catch up with Ep2 and find out the aftermath.
If you want to avoid spoilers for Rupaul’s Drag Race, stop reading now.
It was an unusual start to Season 13 which proved to be unlucky for some as pairs of queens (and one threesome) were sent straight from the Werk Room to the Main Stage where they competed in a lip sync battle. The losers were all given the pork chop with many fearing that they were having a very short stint on Drag Race. However, there was of course, a twist; each of the seven losing queens was told to wait in the Pork Chop loading dock. After the last queens arrived to the dock Rupaul announced over the tannoy that they all had a chance to remain in the competition, but they must first vote off one of their fellow loading dock queens.
In episode 2 we pick up where the dramatic cliff hanger left us as each of the seven queens has to select a lipstick, All Star style, and place it in a ballot box. After all the queens had voted, Rupaul announced there was a tie between Utica and Elliott with 2Ts and a second round of voting would take place. Following this Rupaul announced that it was Elliott who would be getting the pork chop and he left the loading dock disappointed.
Meanwhile in the Werk Room, last week’s six winning queens speculated about what has happened to the others. Rupaul entered the room and surprise revealed that Elliott would be joining them before setting the mini challenge of pulling together two runway looks; a ladylike daytime look and a vampy nighttime look.
With all the girls getting ready in the mirrors, it was clear that they were suspicious of Elliott with Tina thinking he might be a spy. Elliott didn’t help matters by pointing out to Kandy that most girls who come in saying they are so-and-so’s drag daughter tend to go out first. You could see that Kandy was riled but managed to not bite back.
The daytime looks were served with Gottmik, Tina and Symone winning for me. Nighttime saw Kandy Muse, Tina and Lala Ri in latex, Olivia giving Kim Khardashian vibes and Elliott served a Victorian Ms Whiplash.
Back in the Werk Room and Kandy was still agitated by Elliott’s earlier comments and echoing Tina’s thoughts that he might be a spy. At this point I must say that I could use subtitles for Kandy! (Something Ross Matthews agrees with later).
This week’s maxi challenge was to write lyrics, record vocals and then choreograph a routine to Ru’s new song. With all the queens sat around the table, Elliott once again poked the bear that is Kandy and Olivia revealed that he actually writes music so wants to do well in this challenge.
In rehearsals on the main stage, no one put their hand up to take on the choreography with Elliott keeping quiet that he is a dancer. Tina and Kandy reluctantly took control leaving many of the other queens nervous. Suddenly Elliott decided to speak up and suggest moves but still not revealing that he’s a trained dancer. A possibly risky strategy.
As the music played out, Gottmik freaked out as her lyric ‘I was born a girl’ rang in her ear and she panicked as she hadn’t mentioned to the other queens yet that she was trans. Next day in the Werk Room, Gottmik was chatting to Olivia (an early bet for Miss Congeniality) about it and you could tell she was relieved to have it in the open.
The queens confronted Elliott to spill the tea on what happened when he was given the pork chop and he gave them all the juicy details warning them they will need to make room for the other queens. The discussion turned to who the queens think is their biggest competition in the room with Tina and Gottmik seen as the biggest threats.
This week’s special guest judge was the familiar face of choreographer Jamal Simms and the category was Lame you Stay. But first the girls had to perform a routine to Ru’s new song Condragulations. It was a solid performance with each queen holding their own.
Runway winners for me were Lala Ri’s OTT Real Housewives golden opulence look and Tina’s Tinman fashion fantasy. The critiques saw all the girls receiving praise and after deliberations Ru announced Olivia and Symone were the winners of the week and no one would be going home. It then meant that Olivia and Symone would lip sync for the win and a cash tip of $5,000.
The lip sync was to Dua Lipa’s Break My Heart and Olivia, in her classy outfit, played a cutesy, ditzy beauty pageant style character whilst Symone, dressed in her boxing outfit, was more subtle playing it straighter. It’s was a fairly tame lip sync and I would have given it to Olivia but Ru chose Symone as the winner. The latter is definitely one who could go very far in this competition.
Ru promised more twists were to come as the credits rolled and we were teased that next week the remaining six losing queens would have a similar performance task to this week.
Rupaul’s Drag Race Season 13 is available on Netflix in the UK with new episodes added every Saturday.
Read previous episode recaps here.
