‘RuPaul’s Drag Race 17’ Episode 2 introduces the ‘Badonka Dunk’ elimination twist with a splash

On Episode 1 of the split premiere on RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 17, seven contestants competed in the first part of “Drag Queens Got Talent.” Rated by the seven queens that didn’t perform, Suzie Toot and Jewels Sparkles scored early frontrunner statuses as the top two while Acacia Forgot sank to the bottom, set to go head-to-head in the “Lip Sync for Your Life” against the lowest rate queen from the second group.

Showcasing their talents for RuPaul Charles, Michelle Visage, Ts Madison and special guest judge Doechii in the second round were: Crystal Envy, Hormona Lisa, Kori King, Lana Ja’Rae, Lexi Love, Onya Nurve, and Sam Star. Placing the performers as tops or bottoms via the Rate-a-Queen twist were the week one participants: Acacia, Arrietty, Jewels, Joella, Lucky Starzzz, Lydia B Kollins, and Suzie.

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Read on for our recap of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 17, Episode 2, titled “Drag Queens Got Talent,” which aired on MTV on Friday, Jan. 10.

“I’m a little bit worried for our auntie grandma”

Instead of RuPaul greeting the queens with a second mini challenge this week, he had RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Season 2 winner Lawrence Chaney march in to the Werk Room to announce that for their next runway they’d walk in the “Is It Cake?” category, showing a look that exposes their backside in a fashionable way. The one queen that was most nervous about the category was Lucky because she doesn’t think body exposure fits her aesthetic all that well, but a bit of flirting from Arrietty was enough to lighten her mood. In another corner of the room, Kori had her eyes set on Lydia as a potential romantic connection.

While whispers of love floated in the air, Jewels and Arrietty wasted no time vying for “villain of the season” in their own private discussion about which queen’s performance they were most worried about — not because they’re threatened, but because they were expecting a flop. Hearing that Lexi, who Arrietty referred to as “grandma,” would be roller skating on the Main Stage, Jewels predicted that “the roller blading could go really bad. If she falls?… that could be bad.” Fairly enough, Lexi was also nervous about her act because of the Season 8 runway on skates where queens like Bob the Drag Queen and Naomi Smalls were wholly unsuccessful.

“Get to the chorus, don’t bore us”

Once again, the judges outsourced the judging of the performances to the queens themselves, but that didn’t stop them from sharing their thoughts about both the runway presentations and the talent show. The entire panel was “enamored” by Sam’s country charm and found Lexi’s skating “very impressive.” Doechii gave Onya her flowers for creating a concise and smart hook in the rap track “In-n-Out” because she didn’t waste any time getting to the catchy part.

After both Hormona and Joella walked to “Is It Cake?” in Marie Antoinette-inspired looks, Michelle let out a stern warning to all future contestants: “stop doing Marie Antoinette.” Michelle’s point was that it’s already been done so well in the past, and many times, so there’s no reason for anyone to attempt a new perspective on the overdone concept. Consider yourself on notice, queens of Season 18.

“It is life or death for me”

As we saw in the first week of Rate-a-Queen results, alliances and friendships came into play this week for the peer assessments. Jewels rated her drag aunt Sam high and Arrietty repaid the favor to her ally Lana by placing her first, both in the hopes of saving their friends from appearing in the bottom. Already vulnerable to elimination because of her own bottom placement, Acacia strategically rated Hormona lowest because she felt she could “take her on the best” in the lip sync.

Sure enough, stand up comic Hormona was rated as the overall bottom performer of the week. At the other end of the spectrum was Lexi and Crystal, who performed in a lip sync to Doechii’s song “Alter Ego” for the top placement of week. Lexi annihilated Crystal in that head-to-head and earned an official maxi challenge win and a $5,000 cash tip.

As the two bottom queens of the weeks, Hormona and Acacia were up for elimination in the LSFYL to “yes, and?” by Ariana Grande. Acacia had the moment of the battle when she popped a makeup brush out of her exposed butt cheeks, a move that likely saved her and left Hormona vulnerable to final elimination. But before RuPaul excused Hormona from the competition, she offered her a last chance to stay with the “Badonka Donk” dunk tank. In this twist, any queen up for elimination will choose one of 10 levers that could potentially dunk Michelle Visage into the tank — drop her into the water and “you get to stay,” but “if you don’t, you will sashay away,” explained Ru. With an 80% chance of going home (because two of the 10 levers will dunk Michelle), Hormona chose lever #7 and to the chagrin of her sisters hoping she’d go home, she chose correctly and earned herself a lucky second chance.

Next time on Drag Race…

The queens “take fashion inspiration from Monopoly” in their first design challenge of the season with Jewels warning Onya to “have your moment coz you’re not gonna too have many more, b*tch.” Comedian Sandra Bernhard serves as guest judge.

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