No one could have prepared me for the premiere of Season 15 of RuPaul’s Drag Race. I was screaming from beginning to finish by the talent show, critiques and the first porkchop who sashayed away. I’ll be writing weekly about my views on each episode, so stay tuned for the tea! 

MTV released an hour long “Meet the Queens” sit down to get to know the racers a little better before the premiere. Contestants were asked about who they are, what they do and why they deserve to be the next Drag Race superstar. 

Immediately, I was drawn to Salina Estitties, Irene Dubois and TikTok stars Sugar and Spice. Estitties personality drew me in with her “chola” realness and Dubois for her galactic inspirations. 

You could have fooled me by saying Sugar and Spice being the same person, but no, the first ever twins are competing on Drag Race. The twins are famous on TikTok for their transformations and doll-inspired looks. During the premiere, the pair admitted they had not done many live performances or shows which made me wonder what they were going to be like during the challenges. 

RuPaul decided to split the 16 queens into groups of two before joining them together. I could not believe that the first group got to meet guest judge Ariana Grande one-on-one while the others didn’t. I cannot lie that Grande’s Werk Room entrance in homage to Vivacious wardrobe malfunction where she struggled to unzipper her costume to reveal herself had me burst out laughing.

For the mini challenge, both teams completed a photoshoot while either a fan was blowing random objects into their face or a car wash with water spraying them in the face.  I mention this only because Spice taking off her wig and replacing it with a shower cap was a poor choice. I felt myself cringing because she was saying how rebellious she was, but even RuPaul was visibly perplexed.

Things started to heat up after the two groups joined together for the talent show rehearsals. I personally started to notice how hilarious Mistress Isabelle Brooks was when she was making jabs at the choreography. I felt for baby queen Marcia Marcia Marcia being ignored when she tried to input choreography advice. Everyone was stressed to stand out. 

I’m going to get straight to the point and say Anetra’s talent show will go down in “herstory” as one of the best performances ever. She is already breaking records for most-watched act. The judges and queens could not hold in their surprise and adoration  the entire time on stage. I have watched Anetra’s talent show daily since the premiere. She proved to be one of the strongest competitors with her lip synch, stunt and runway look. Her win in this episode was totally deserved. 

Sasha Colby’s lip sync to “Zombie” had me enchanted. As one of the older queens, her experience in live performance set her apart from others who chose to do the same. Jax had me screaming when she revealed her hair to be her jump rope and proceeded to do repeated back flips in heels. 

Luxx Noir London, Estitties and Brooks lip syncs perfectly showed who they were and did not come to play. Marcia Marcia Marcia also shocked us with her comedy dance performance. I wish I could have watched the entirety. 

Not everyone shined this time around. Dubois had people waiting for a punchline in her campy comedy act. I don’t think I laughed once for her but at her when everyone was roasting her in the confessionals. Mayari told us she was a dance queen, but her choreo did not stand out with a K-Pop song. Princess Poppy’s lip sync comedy routine was also extremely disappointing because it was not funny at all. 

Ultimately, Amethyst and Dubois were at the bottom. I was rooting for Dubois with her uniqueness, but she was out lip synced by her counterpart. Although it may have been an early exit, Dubois’ performance was so bad I’m sure I’ll see it in a Ms. Mojo video soon. 

So far, this season is a battle between the young, social media driven queens and traditional performance queens. I’m eager to see how much live performance and social media experience will play into how well everyone does in the challenges. I can’t say a top four yet, but check in next week for my picks.