‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 13 Hasn’t Sent a Queen Home Yet—and That’s Great

There is one universal truth that binds every single reality competition show, no matter hyper specific skill on display: it sucks to go home first. But someone always has to go home first, be you a model, designer, glass blower, or Instagram influencer. It’s just a rule—and y’all know RuPaul’s Drag Race is very into breaking rules. Here we are, three weeks into Season 13 of Drag Race, and not one queen has been sent packing. I know there’s a contingent of the fandom that lives for the drama, but I’m here for this. 2021 is already a terrifying horror-show of anxiety, and I have welcomed three, stress-free weeks of elaborate get-to-know-you games.

This isn’t exactly a new development for Drag Race, as they frequently flout the formula. They first split up the premiere into a two-parter for Season 6, but queens were still eliminated in those episodes. No one went home in the Season 9 premiere; instead, they added Cynthia Lee Fontaine to the cast—but the eliminations started up with Episode 2. Last season, Season 12, began with a two-part premiere wherein no one was eliminated. Season 13, this season, did the exact same thing—except they preceded that two-parter with an all lip sync episode! If you measure time in a reality competition show by when people are sent home, then Season 13 will have spent an entire month on essentially its premiere episode.

Episode 1 was an all lip sync extravaganza where the cast was split up into pairs and half the queens were “eliminated.” Episode 2 started with an elimination fake out (the lip sync losers voted Elliott with 2 Ts out, but she really just joined the winners) and then put the lip sync winners through a runway show and musical performance. And Episode 3 followed the same structure, but with the lip sync losers. The opening three-part premiere has been so drawn out that I’ve cycled through feeling confused, entertained, bored, angry, and ecstatic. This is truly beyond the Aiden Zhane (that’s a suitable replacement for “beyond the pale,” right?)—and I’m into it. Three weeks, eight lip syncs, zero eliminations. Fully ridiculous, and fully welcome.

Here’s why I love it and here’s why Drag Race should really consider sticking with variations on this formula moving forward: RuPaul’s Drag Race is the only reality competition show I can think of wherein the contestants have to drop their own dollars in order to compete. All the other competition shows—Top Chef, Project Runway, Glow Up, The Circle, The Bachelor, The Voice, Great British Baking Show, etc.—just require that you show up. The glass blowers on Blown Away don’t have to bring their own glass!

But when a drag queen gets the call for Drag Race, they have to scramble to assemble all the looks they’ll need for a whole season’s worth of mini challenges, maxi challenges, and runways. A crafty queen like Monique Heart or Roxxxy Andrews can plan on making some runway looks in the Werk Room with the fabric provided, but that is a risky way to save money and not every queen is a skilled seamstress. It’s not wrong to assume that every queen you see on RuPaul’s Drag Race has spent at least $10,000 of their own money (or Visa’s) just to get on the show. Going home first on Drag Race hurts your heart and it hurts your purse.

That’s also why Drag Race has been increasingly kind to the queens that go home first. They bring them back for challenges (Tempest DuJour and Soju) or whole seasons (Shangela and Vanjie)—or they put them in a broccoli costume and inexplicably edit them into every episode of the season (Dahlia Sin). And Victoria “Porkchop” Parker, the first queen to go home way back in the first episode, has become a Drag Race icon for that very reason. Fully 12 years after she sashayed away, the lip sync losers of the Season 13 premiere were sent to the Porkchop Loading Dock.

There’s also the added COVID-ness of it all. The Season 13 queens had to quarantine in full isolation for 10 days before setting foot into the Werk Room. Imagine dropping $10,000 on multiple suitcases of eleganza, spending almost two weeks stuck in a hotel room, and then getting sent home on day two of filming! No ma’am!!

That’s why we should all be in favor of this super-extended premiere! Seriously—the queen who goes home first (in Episode 4!) will have shown 7 different looks (entrance look, two fashion show looks, a girl group look, a look in next week’s challenge, and two runway looks) and performed in at least 2 lip syncs. That’s in addition to a whole month wherein they got to bask in the lucrative attention of being an active, participating Ru girl!

Compare that to what a first-out queen usually gets to show: 3 looks, a lip sync, and essentially an hour as a queen vying for the crown. This new format gives the divas—especially the ones who aren’t going to go far—the screen time and exposure they deserve after working so hard to get on the show.

And if you really need to see queens get the chop every week, you can always tune into RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Season 2, currently dropping new episodes on WOW Presents Plus every Thursday! They’re doing things the old fashioned way while the flagship series gives every single queen an extended stay in the spotlight. And after all the twists and turns we’ve seen so far, who knows if anyone will even go home in Episode 4! Whatever happens, these queens are all worth watching.

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