Sashay Away! Who Was Eliminated in the 'RuPaul's Drag Race' Season 17 Premiere?

GREEN LIGHT. RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 17 is a go. Round one of a two-part split premiere (which has become the norm for Drag Race in recent years), began with a rousing game of Red Light Green Light a la Squid Games. Only instead of Young-hee murdering players, in RuPaul‘s version of Squirrel Games, a giant version of Lil’ Poundcake pied those who kept voguing after the red light signal. Among those fighting to keep their mugs whipped cream-free were Victoria “Porkchop” Parker (of course the first eliminated), Trinity the Tuck, Kylie Sonique Love, Morgan McMichaels, Jaymes Mansfield and our 14 fresh Season 17 queens. 

As luck would have it (with perhaps a spritz of production interference), the only queens to cross the finish line un-pied were the Season 17 girls. Then, unlike recent seasons, all 14 proceeded to enter the Werk Room and kick things off. 

Like last season, we’re starting off with the talent show challenge, the Rate-A-Queen twist is back and a big-named celebrity guest judge (Katy Perry this time) is here. However, unlike in previous seasons, the queens split themselves into two groups of 7, with one competing in Episode 1 and the other in Episode 2. Also unlike Season 16, its the non-competing queens who will be rating those in the other group. At the end of two weeks, the lowest rated queen from each group will face off in a lip sync battle with the loser sashaying away. 

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After a fairly diplomatic conversation the queens competing in Episode 1 were decided as Joella, Acacia Forgot, Jewels Sparkles, Lucky Starzzz, Suzie Toot, Arrietty and Lydia B. Collins. That leaves Lexi Love, Kori King, Lana Ja’Rae, Sam Star, Onya Nurve, Hormona Lisa and Crystal Envy with talents next week.

Here’s everything that went down in Episode 1 of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 17 including who went home: 

Who was eliminated in the RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 17 Episode 1?

Trick question! As has become tradition, no one was eliminated in the premiere episode. After competing in the talent show and walking in a mask-themed runway, the seven competing queens were rated by the seven sitting this week out. The bottom queen in Episode 1 will be lip syncing against the bottom queen from Episode 2 with someone presumably heading home at the end of next week’s episode. So you’ll have to stay tuned to find out who went home.

Related: ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars’ Renewed for Season 10

Who was in the bottom of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 17 Episode 1?

Acacia Forgot

In the talent show, the country music queen bucked tradition and sang live rather than lip syncing to a pre-recorded number (as all six other girls did). Due to some alliances at work Arrietty, who was arguably worse, was saved and Acacia became the first queen headed into next week’s Lip Sync For Your Life.

Related: 20 Questions with the ‘Drag Race’ Season 17 Queens at the Rockefeller Center Ice Rink (Exclusive)

Who won Episode 1 of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 17?

Suzie Toot

In a slightly shocking upset (based on RuPaul’s general disdain for the old school Broadway comedy queens), Fort Lauderdale’s queen took home the first week’s win. Her tap dancing number was highly rated by her fellow queens, pushing her into the top two with Jewels Sparkles. Suzie then won the lip sync to Katy Perry’s “Woman’s World,” Unlike last season, however, Suzie did not win immunity. 

As a side note, a very entertaining subplot of this episode (reportedly filmed in May 2024) is how prepped Drag Race was for a Katy Perry comeback. Selecting her as the guest judge, dedicating a whole Werk Room segment to her and choosing “Woman’s World” only to have her flop in historic ways come July/August 2024 is camp. Plus, was it just more or was she edited to sort of seem a bit rude (even to RuPaul)? VERY INTERESTING. 

Related: Everything to Know About ‘The Traitors’ Season 3 Including Its Release Date

What is the Rate-A-Queen twist?

The Rate-A-Queen twist, which premiered last season, has returned for Season 17. In this twist rather than being placed in the top or bottom by the judges, the queens rank each other and are scored accordingly. However, in Season 16 the two groups of queens each rated themselves where in Season 17 they are rating the other group. It remains unclear if it will only be used in the premiere or will play a larger role in the season. 

Which queens are left on RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 17?

After the premiere, all 14 queens remain. They are: 

Acacia Forgot
Arrietty
Crystal Envy
Hormona Lisa
Jewels Sparkles
Joella
Kori King
Lana Ja’Rae
Lexi Love
Lucky Starzzz
Lydia B. Kollins
Onya Nurve
Sam Star
Suzie Toot

Related: ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Drops Season 17 Trailer With Deranged New Twist