This post contains spoilers for the premiere episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 16.
RuPaul must know it’s an election year because she’s putting democracy first on the newest season of Drag Race, henny! On Friday, MTV aired the premiere — another split one — of the drag competition show, introducing viewers to the first seven of 14 queens set to compete for the crown of America’s Next Drag Superstar and $200,000.
During the premiere, guest-judged by the gorgeous Charlize Theron, Ru introduced the newest twist to how this competition will be played, putting power in the hands of the competitors with a The Circle-style voting system where queens will get to rank each other to determine who gets to be in the top and the bottom each episode.
Along with the voting change, the winner each week will receive “immunity” in a future episode, bringing back an element of the show that last existed in 2013, when icons Jinkx Monsoon, Alyssa Edwards, and Coco Montrese competed for the crown. (If you’re a Drag Race newbie, that’s a season you have to rewatch.)
Anywhomst, back to Season 16! The episode featured the typical first-episode shenanigans: entrance looks with gaggy intro lines, a photoshoot taken on a Ring-like doorbell camera, a talent show presentation with a throwback MTV Spring Break backdrop, and a RuVeal-themed runway.
All episode, Theron provided stellar feedback and caught onto the dirty jokes (“I’m only blonde up here too! I never thought about it,” she hilariously quipped at Carson Kressley). She also looked stunning as she entered the Werk Room and surprised the queens with homemade malva pudding from her native South Africa.
“Given the climate in our country right now, there’s a lot of energy put toward your community not existing,” Theron told the girls in a sweet speech. “I truly believe that all of that is coming from a place of fear. The beauty of what your community brings and the truth of who you are and represent will come out.”
In Untucked, she commended the queens for being open to feedback and opened up about the struggles of fame: “For me, it was really weird,” she said. “I can’t say that I have ever gotten to a place where I’m used to it. I’m not.”
Philly-based Sapphira Cristál dominated this episode, winning both the photoshoot mini challenge and landing in the Top Two for her opera-singing talent show number that completely wowed the judges. The old-school-embracing queen dominated her lip-sync against Q, and proved that she’s not one to be played with.
Sapphira Cristál in the ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 16 premiere.
MTV
After episode one, this writer decided to do his own Rate-a-Queen ranking, using this first episode to predict how well the gworls will do this season.
1. Morphine Love Dion: I’ll say it now: Morphine is poised to be the silly, lovable, chismosa star the entire season. She strutted into the Werk Room with a lovable “holis!” in a Kali Uchis-referencing look that gagged the girls on Twitter when it came out several weeks ago. She calls herself the “Latina goddess of Miami,” and her face is beat. Like seriously, her makeup is insane. For her talent show, she performed a commendable lip-synced number to Rosalía’s “A Palé,” and gave some of the best reads during confessionals. Her runway was a miss, and even though she didn’t rank in the Top Two this episode, she’s going to slay this season. Just watch!
2. Q: Every season has its sewer, and on this one, it’s this one. Q dazzled all episode, and proved to be a triple threat: she’s hilarious (she did a puppet ballet number for her talent show that enamored the judges), her makeup is stunning, and she pulled together a Maleficent-y ensemble for the runway that she sewed herself and Theron adored! (Who else’s approval do you need?) Q deservedly landed in the Top Two.
3. Dawn: This queen is out of left field in all the right ways. Dawn describes herself as the “ethereal elf goddess of Brooklyn” and delivers some of the most stunning looks this episode: gorgeous, extravagant silhouettes and out-of-the-box concepts with her striptease drag number. If you’re making Ru do her signature cackle in the first episode, you’re already on the right path.
4. Sapphira Cristál: Sapphira has the elements of old-school drag that RuPaul (and so many on the show) enjoys. She walked in with a classic, royal blue feathered look and won the photoshoot mini-challenge. The queen took a huge risk opting to sing live — and an opera song, no less! — as her talent show, but did stunningly, mixing in comedy with fake subtitles to her Italian opera. Her runway look was not a favorite, but her lip sync to Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul” against Q really put her up there.
5. Xunami Muse: Miss Xunami carries this effervescence that is palpable, even if she didn’t deliver it anywhere this episode: her entrance look was meh, her performance was basic compared to her peers, and her runway look was just OK. She has big shoes to fill, after all: her drag mother is Drag Race royalty, Kandy Muse. I look forward to seeing this Panamanian Afro-Latina queen pop off this season. (She’s the cutest queen out of drag so far, so we’re blushing!)
6. Mirage: Oh, Mirage. “The legs of Las Vegas.” This Latina baddie described herself as a “stripper who shops at Claire’s” and that’s exactly what she delivered all episode. She’s ditzy and chaotic, but in a lovable way. Something about her entrance look and silliness reminded me of last season’s Sugar and Spice.
7. Amanda Tori Meating: There are some queens that you know right away will be “early outs” and Amanda is definitely one of them. She displayed some half-baked Eighties influences in her entrance and runway looks and with makeup that was clocked by her fellow competitors during Untucked and by the judges. Dawn suggested “Marcia Marcia Marcia’ing” her, referencing last season’s queen whose makeup significantly improved throughout the season, but I’m not sure if there’s anything worth saving here. Sapphira dragged her accurately: “Your personality is better than your drag.” Ouch!
The other 7 queens will be introduced during next week’s episode, which airs Friday at 8 p.m. on MTV.