The first episode of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” concluded with a shocker. The 13 queens competed in six separate Lip Sync For Your Lives. The winner of each moved on to the winner’s lounge. The seven losers — — Denali, Elliott with 2 Ts, Joey Jay, Kahmora Hall, Rosé, Tamisha Iman and Utica Queen — got the pork chop. At the end of the premiere, RuPaul Charles revealed that they would have to vote out one of their own.
Below, check out our minute-by-minute “RuPaul’s Drag Race” recap of Season 13, Episode 2 to find out what happened on January 8, beginning at 8/7c. After following along with our live updating blog, be sure to sound off in the comments section about your favorite queens on VH1’s reality TV show, who annoys you the most, and who you think will ultimately join the “RuPaul’s Drag Race” winners list.
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8:01 p.m. – Last week’s cliffhanger left the losing queens shellshocked by the announcement that they’d be responsible for sending one of their own home first. Rosé pointed out that all they’d have to go on is first impressions and so just like that they went into the booth to choose their lipsticks. Once all the votes were in, Ru declared a tie between Elliott and Utica and asked that the remaining queens choose one of those two in a second vote. In that vote, the queen that received the porkchop was Elliott.
8:05 p.m. – Back in the werkroom the winning queens arrived for a new day without any clue of what happened to the losing queens. Soon after, Ru arrived with a surprise guest: Elliott! He said that Elliott “didn’t receive a fair shot” and so was brought back to join the winning queens in their first official challenges of the season.
8:09 p.m. – For this week’s mini challenge Ru wanted to check their fashion with a tw0-look runway: a lady-like daytime look and a vampy nighttime look. With Elliott in the room all the girls were concerned that she might be there to spy on them and although that wasn’t true she wasn’t afraid to throw some shade at Kandy Muse. Elliott made the point that girls that come to the show declaring who their family members from past seasons are usually don’t do too well in the competition. Although it was directed at Kandy, the rest of the winning queens took offense to it, too, solidifying their idea that Elliott can’t be trusted.
8:18 p.m. – In the “Daytime Drama, Mama” walk, Gottmik showed off a latest rainbow mini dress, Kandy worked a glamorous red wrap dress, LaLa Ri went with a simple southern style curtain dress that got caught in her heel, Olivia Lux was midcentury in a simple purple feathered dress, Symone presented a bare chest in a vibrant (and caped) business suit, Tina Burner glammed it up in a sequined red babydoll look, and Elliott capped it off in a long red dress and matching beret.
8:22 p.m. – In “Nightime Is the Right Time” second walk, Gottmik switched into a sexy black velvet dress with a pasty on one nipple, Kandy returned in red with a latex bodysuit and messy makeup, LaLa came out in a dominatrix black and caged chest look, Olivia had a shiny burgundy dress and what she said is a rare brunette wig, Symone put on a mustard and orange wrap dress, Tina also came in latex in more red (and yellow and orange), and Elliott looked like a dark circus master with a whip and feathers.
8:30 p.m. – While derobing in the werkroom, Kandy was still heated about Elliott coming for her earlier in the day. But there was no time for drama with Ru’s quick return to present this week’s maxi challenge: a group performance of his song “Condragulations.” The seven queens were asked to create their own original verse and then choreograph themselves in order to prove that they are winners.
8:33 p.m. – During the writing session, Olivia was the most excited because she actually writes music. Even with a songwriter in the room, the queens were nervous and felt the pressure of knowing how important a first challenge is to their time on the show, but also their legacy.
8:39 p.m. – Needing to plan their own dance moves, the queens took the stage for a leaderless rehearsal. Literally, none of them wanted to step up to take charge of the choreography. Elliott, a trained dancer, privately refused to do it because of her vulnerability as a previous losing queen. LaLa also kept quiet despite feeling underwhelmed by what the group was coming up with. Later in the day, Elliott began to help direct the dancing which further ostracized her from the girls who continued to think that her delay in leading was another sign that she’s a mole.
8:49 p.m. – As the queens got ready the next day, Gottmik opened up to Olivia about her struggle with gender dysmorphia as a trans male drag queen. Olivia agreed that rehearsal wasn’t the time to talk about it and was supportive of her journey. Gottmik stressed that as a man who does drag, she took uses female pronouns in drag and male pronouns out of drag, taking on the interchangeability of pronouns as most drag queens tend to do.
8:51 p.m. – Elsewhere in the werkroom, Elliott was still the center of attention with the group finally telling her that they thought she was a spy. Elliott was able to tell them what happened in the porkchop lounge and that she was voted out unanimously in the revote. At that point it was clear (if it wasn’t already) that the rest of the losing queens were likely coming back as well, but at least they’d get to be “nice” to Elliott now that they knew she wasn’t a double agent.
9:00 p.m. – On the main stage, Ru was joined by Ross Mathews, Michelle Visage and tonight’s guest judge Jamal Sims, who typically choreographs for the queens but notably did not tonight. First up was their group performance featuring vocals by Gottmik, Symone, and Olivia and raps by Kandy, LaLa, Elliott and Tina and then, well, half-assed dancing by all of them.
9:04 p.m. – In the “Lamé You Stay” runway, Gottmik was inspired by a sea dragon in tendrils of fabric, Kandy went pinup in lingerie, LaLa was wrapped in gold from head to toe, Olivia looked elegant in white and mint green, Symone took on a boxing theme in shorts and a robe, Tina finally dropped the red fabric for an all silver Tin Man fantasy, and Elliott had an Ariel wig and a sea green and blue dress.
9:11 p.m. – Ross told Gottmik that her mini challenge looks earlier in the week were fun and together with the main stage look showed versatility. Jamal and Michelle clocked her for overthinking the choreography and it made her performance a letdown. Michelle did like Kandy on the main stage, but asked her to explain the day look, but across the board Ross liked the unpredictability of Kandy. LaLa got high marks for her gold look on the stage and was told that her confidence in the performance really shined through.
9:14 p.m. – Ross called Olivia a joy and Michelle and Jamal loved the looks that she presented in all the challenges. Symone also won over the judges in every moment and Michelle said that she’s “not afraid to go for it” while Ross and Ru were already calling her a star. Michelle was happy to see that Tina was finally not wearing red, orange and yellow and Jamal called her performance amazing, but Michelle also advised her to be more aware of performing for television and not like they would in a bar. Jamal said that Elliott looked like she was waiting to show her stuff throughout the group performance and Ross backed that up by saying that she proved she deserved to stay.
9:24 p.m. – After deliberation, Symone and Olivia were declared top two of the week, leaving the rest of them safe and asked to step to the back of the stage so that the top two could lip sync against each other to be the winner. The top two faced off for a cash tip of $5,000 to Dua Lipa‘s “Break My Heart.” Both queens used their garments to great effect and delivered really strong theatrical performances. Symone’s use of her long braids as props was brilliant and likely gave her the edge over the also strong Olivia. That’s right, Symone was named the season’s first solo winner and took the early frontrunner status of the season.
NEXT WEEK: The other six queens get their chance to impress the judges with second impressions.
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